Blaming White Males For Our Social Misfortunes
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That generalizations are to be scrutinized is my take on this. The most foul things are supported by generalities and general principles which distract us from the hidden devils lurking in the details.
From William Blake:
“for Art and Science cannot exist but in minutely organized Particulars…”
…nor, in my opinion, can truth or the general good. Amongst Liberals I know, it’s the thing to blame white males for most of our social ills and that includes racism. Whether or not that’s true, it’s a good example of including someone, or some idea or some deed in a general category and then attempting to denounce all things one has so summed up.
I’m a white male, therefore I’m not only a racist, but a reactionary and abuser of women unless I’m proved to be otherwise and even then, how many random anecdotes does it take to defame 100 million people? Really, only a handful and especially now where such things, true and manufactured are explosively spread around the world. A black man asked to leave a Starbucks or a yogurt shop proves that “we have a race problem” and to argue that it’s not a representative or a random sample will only earn one condemnation as a racist or even a raaaaacist. Is it on the increase or decrease or is it the same as it was? The generalist doesn’t care because his purpose is to enrage and divide and thus to control.
It’s not that I’m arguing that we don’t have a problem with racism, just that dealing with minutely organized particulars using gross generalizations is the plea Blake describes. Ten cannot really be said to be “typical” of 10 million, yet so many political arguments do exactly that. Even if most white men were racist, it doesn’t argue that most racists are white or that most victims of bigotry are black. Furthermore, these general condemnations, being tools of the manipulator, the anger monger and the flatterer of bigots serve to polarize and inspire more of the same in one’s opponents.
A perfectly respectable man is misjudged by some small town waitress and all white people are to blame. Some would call that the Niagara effect, wherein from a drop of water one can describe an ocean. I call it the Facebook effect, where one man climbing a wall is an invasion, one bigot defames a race. It’s used by people of every political persuasion—gross bigotry and dishonest rhetoric create an equal and opposite reaction and the war continues.
If I claim that all Mexicans are lazy; all African Americans males are dangerous or any other such things, I’m a bigot and a racist, but what about when I apply it to another race or gender? A just and equitable society does not result from payback or retribution. In my opinion, the cure for general opinion is a specific experience where education, enlightenment, and acceptance may result.
Unfortunately, with the way it’s going, we don’t have much time.
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I don’t think the good Reverend Al has a fan base. Somehow he managed to make himself the black guy the media goes to whenever it has a black issue.
You’re right there. Whenever there’s a black issue they, meaning MSNBC, go straight to Big Al, at which point I switch to SpongeBob.
Sharpton was, and still is, an opportunist. He went from an obscure, rather poor black preacher in Harlem to national prominence on the back on one alleged mistreated black girl.
Hence the apology I believe he owes. He ruined the lives of a number of people, including some policemen and of course Tawana Brawley who made false rape accusations and yes, Virginia, that happens.
He was fat back in his Tawana Brawley days, and while he lost that weight he didn’t lose that nonsensical bluster.
I loathe Al Sharpton. He is now and has always been a race baiter, and yet, he has a huge fan base on MSNBC. I don’t get it unless it’s that tribalism Glenn mentions.
Not a fan of Al. Sorry to say, I lost a good friend once for suggesting that he owed some people an apology. That people thrive by continuing and accelerating divisiveness and tribalism is, I think, the big problem of our time. Seeing anyone different as an enemy is one of the reasons Communism failed from the start, that religion has turned to crusading and violence and it may do the same for our society.
We do not have a race problem in America, unless Al Sharpton moves into the neighborhood, then we do.
Black, white, yellow, brown, indifferent. All meaningless, beyond the eye of the beholder.
The trend for a long time is to find racism in everything. Some of my favorite jokes use Al Sharpton or a Rabbi as a main character. In fact any joke is made funnier if a Rabbi is in it somewhere. The only good thing about Trump is that he’s become a great punchline. Before him adding a white guy, unless he was Polish of course, made a joke boring. Say “two white guys walk into a bar..” and nobody listens. Start off with “Al Sharpton and a Rabbi walk into a bar..” and you have everyone’s attention. Tasteless humor is as American as apple pie and the banjo. One can laugh and still support Colin Kapernick. I do both.
I don’t mind….get blamed all the time anyway….all I did was lose track of time in the pub! “Your dinner’s in the cats”…..don’t care…blame me….used to it 😜
I was going to write a similar article today, following my read of the yogurt shop article. Now, however, I don’t have to, because your words are my thoughts.