This trifecta is really great, in a hair-pulling way:
Ignoring racism won’t make it go away? Well given that the group saying this is targeting “Whites”, I’d like to point out some past racism that we don’t really recognize anymore.
Jews
Italians
Germans
Irish
Polish
Catholics
Gypsies
The list could go on and on. But let’s face it, in American race-politics all of these groups are recognized as “White”, but in the past they were as heavily discriminated against in America as blacks in the deep south. Hell, we list the Third Reich as the pinnacle of racist hate…did they execute ANYBODY that wouldn’t be considered “White” under today’s race politics?
But we moved on. Hell even if you go by clearly defined traits, why is it that East and Central Asians aren’t horribly oppressed minorities? In American race-politics if you’re Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, or Cambodian et al, you’re treated the same as if you were white, even if your skin is the same color as a Black or Hispanic person.
Sorry guys, your skin color has NOTHING to do with your current predicament. Sure there are a handful of hardcore racists in America…but there are people who hate the Jews, the Catholics, and anything they can label as “Chinamen”….but they carry ZERO weight, and their own bigotry limits their own social influence.
Americans as a whole don’t give a shit what you look like, they just care about how good a person you are. Unless they are the kind of racists that pitch this stuff…you see this is GOOD racism, I guess, and they must push it further, because they are filled with hate.
I love Ott’s last line. That was spot-on.
This whole white privilege thing has bugged me for a long time now. It’s valid for me to say that I’m not responsible for slavery, since I never owned a slave. I can’t feel guilty about what I had no part in doing. That being the case, these activists have to hunt for some other accusation to throw at me. Ooh, I’m white, so I was born guilty, and I need to be saved. Of course, since my ancestors were out pillaging and swilling beer, there’s a part of me that wishes that genes were destiny.
But if being followed in a store by security is the measure of injustice these days, I’m waiting for protestors to stand up for my cause. I was a teenager once. I got observed when I went shopping. I have to say to the whining classes, if that’s the best you got, y’all need to shut up and get a real job.
Yeah in Maine when I was growing up we didn’t have much as far as minorities. I believe the #1 minority in Maine is still “Native American”, and the Northeast tribes can pretty much all pass as whites if they so please. I did go to school with a “Miguel” but he didn’t have skin any darker than mine.
That being said in High school trench coats were VERY popular, and as a general rule if you were wearing a trench coat the store keepers would keep a keen eye on you, because no matter what color you skin was, those big coats were GREAT for smuggling out stolen goods. And in Maine in the 90s, those people being followed were WASPy whites. Of course I never got followed like that when I wore my trench coat…but I suspect it was because I often paired it with a shirt and tie and one of my Great Grandfather’s Fedoras, because I wasn’t going for the “Thug” look, I wanted to look like Humphrey Bogart…right down to knotting the belt at my waist and letting the buckle flap.
They seemed to have made me for the g33k that I was! 8)
Weerd,
Forgive me for getting personal and feel free to ignore this.
I have been coming to this site for several months now and I have only one complaint. I wish you posted MORE. Seriously, I enjoy the site very much.
BUT, it’s often difficult to get a grasp on a persons personal personality (ppp) over the net.
Let’s see if I have this right. Trench coats, fedoras, weerd beards, ducklings…etc. Shall I assume that you search out “ironic clothing” at second hand stores as well?
How ’bout this. A Che shirt with Guy Fawkes face superimposed over Che’s face with a “hope and change” caption? Nice huh? Three idiots for the price of one…how ironic!
I’m guessing that you are one twelve-pack of PBR away from being a full blown hipster!
(sent with respect and meant only for amusement)
They didn’t have hipsters back in the 90s!
And I drink PBR because its cheap and tastes good! 8)
(BTW I wasn’t a hipster, I was just a dork!)
You’re never too old to be a hipster. You have to “intelligent” your way clear of it.
By the way, I drank PBR back in the ’60’s. You know, before it was ironically cool. Not only was it cheaper back then, it also tasted better.
(again, meant in humor from one dork to another) (although I did truly PBR)