Archive for September, 2008

This might be offensive, but only to racist white people who think they’re not racist. (Haha, I just made it so if you flame me in the comments, that means you admit that you’re a racist white person who doesn’t even know he’s racist. Haha, You can’t win!)

First, I can say “whitey,” right? Cuz I’m super white with only white friends in a mostly white community. That’s how I know it’s sometimes difficult to understand white privilege and “benign” racism without reading about it on the internet, so I can say “whitey.” Right? Oh, don’t worry, our white privilege makes racial slurs against us impossible, so you shouldn’t be offended anyway. For real. We’re super privileged, you and me. (Oh, look, I just used an objective pronoun where I should have used a subjective pronoun, but nobody will call me a dumb whitey. It’s cuz I’m super privileged. Whee!)

Ok, so I was reading around Dawn’s Shared Items and found an article that I wanted to share with my (probably 100% white?) readers who probably have mostly white friends and live in mostly white communities. And because I keep hearing from people who are in their 30s, just like me, who really think racism doesn’t exist, or who say with a pout that if McCain wins, “it’ll be blamed on the fact that we’re a country of racists, but we’re not! *sniffle* We just want 4 more years of the same shit, I promise!” Uh-huh. Nobody wants another 4 years of the same shit and there are not enough evangelical Christians to vote for McCain while praying for his death to make a difference in the election. And I think there might not even be enough full-on racists to vote McCain into office. But, I fear, there may be enough people who don’t know that they’re voting for McCain because he’s a big ol’ Whitey McWhiterson, and these people will make the stupid, stupid difference in this election, effectively changing their benign racism into super malignant racism. So, this article is for the people who think they’re not racist, but are voting for McCain based on nothing. Because, are you seriously afraid Obama will give us socialized healthcare and that’s why you’re voting for McCain? Please! He’s going to be so busy cleaning up other Republican messes that he’s not going to be able to do that. At least until his 2nd term.

An excerpt or two or five (they were all so good, and I’m afraid you won’t click over there, so I had to give you five. Go there and read the rest. And then repent of your racism and vote for Obama because he’s the better candidate. Resist racism! Especially racism that thinks it isn’t racism, but it so totally is because, Why Would You Vote For McCain?!?)

White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents, because “every family has challenges,” even as black and Latino families with similar “challenges” are regularly typified as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay.

White privilege is when you can attend four different colleges in six years like Sarah Palin did (one of which you basically failed out of, then returned to after making up some coursework at a community college), and no one questions your intelligence or commitment to achievement, whereas a person of color who did this would be viewed as unfit for college, and probably someone who only got in in the first place because of affirmative action.

White privilege is being able to be a gun enthusiast and not make people immediately scared of you. White privilege is being able to have a husband who was a member of an extremist political party that wants your state to secede from the Union, and whose motto was “Alaska first,” and no one questions your patriotism or that of your family, while if you’re black and your spouse merely fails to come to a 9/11 memorial so she can be home with her kids on the first day of school, people immediately think she’s being disrespectful.

White privilege is being able to attend churches over the years whose pastors say that people who voted for John Kerry or merely criticize George W. Bush are going to hell, and that the U.S. is an explicitly Christian nation and the job of Christians is to bring Christian theological principles into government, and who bring in speakers who say the conflict in the Middle East is God’s punishment on Jews for rejecting Jesus, and everyone can still think you’re just a good church-going Christian, but if you’re black and friends with a black pastor who has noted (as have Colin Powell and the U.S. Department of Defense) that terrorist attacks are often the result of U.S. foreign policy and who talks about the history of racism and its effect on black people, you’re an extremist who probably hates America.

And finally, white privilege is the only thing that could possibly allow someone to become president when he has voted with George W. Bush 90 percent of the time, even as unemployment is skyrocketing, people are losing their homes, inflation is rising, and the U.S. is increasingly isolated from world opinion, just because white voters aren’t sure about that whole “change” thing. Ya know, it’s just too vague and ill-defined, unlike, say, four more years of the same, which is very concrete and certain.

Read the whole thing.

Also, this is good:

Suppose you are a hiring manager and have four young candidates to choose from to work in your business. The job involves managing a diverse group of people, having a basic knowledge of economics, politics, foreign relations, education, law, and government. You need someone who is a team-player, is decisive, and has a “get the job done” attitude.
Looking at these four educational resumes*, without knowing their race or their gender, who would you give an interview to?

Seriously, click that link and look at their educational resumes. You wouldn’t even consider Palin and McCain for an interview. LOOK! I’m not lying.