tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post1149511630223601206..comments2024-03-26T06:17:49.527-07:00Comments on Had Enough Therapy?: Today's New FlagellantsStuart Schneidermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12784043736879991769noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-21791519728669416012016-09-15T09:58:30.834-07:002016-09-15T09:58:30.834-07:00Ares, I guess it's my toxic whiteness that cau...Ares, I guess it's my toxic whiteness that caused me to save for retirement.Sam L.https://www.blogger.com/profile/00996809377798862214noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-38058916881983514042016-09-14T19:03:08.049-07:002016-09-14T19:03:08.049-07:00Sam L. said... Toxic whiteness seem to be a mental...Sam L. said... Toxic whiteness seem to be a mental disease for those who think all white people have it. How white must a white person be to be white? One drop of white blood? Fifty percent or more? Remember that Obama is a 50%er.<br /><br />Interestingly my pastor talked about White Supremacy a few years ago, although not directly in his sermons. He said American whiteness wasn't genetic, but cultural, although light-skin is important I guess. Jews didn't used to be white, but now they are in the club. He said even light-skinned Korean Americans like himself can aspire to be white, even with no northern European ancestry.<br /><br />https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CranGbb6Po Iconocast Episode 43 With Jin S. Kim "White Supremacy and the Logic of Empire"<br /><br />I did my best to argue one-on-one against the terminology, and that's the real problem, what people say, and what they mean by what they say, and what is heard are often very different things.<br /><br />Overall, I'll stick with Wendell Berry's approach and the art of sales resistance, and avoiding debt most of all. <br /><br />Perhaps what "Toxic whiteness" is now reduced to is the magical thinking that getting in in ever more debt now will allow you to prosper and pay it back later, always later, with interest, all without ever compromising your values or principles. Oh, and don't forget "toxic whiteness" is about a faith in a comfortable retirement based on other people in the future getting into large amounts of debt to keep your asset values up until you've sold them all.<br />Ares Olympushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09726811306826601686noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-85639665005641868832016-09-14T18:47:11.053-07:002016-09-14T18:47:11.053-07:00Ignatius Acton Chesterton OCD said... Ares, you be...Ignatius Acton Chesterton OCD said... Ares, you believe in global warming. The joke's on you. <br /><br />That's a rather weak insult. You must have been rushed. Interestingly your dismissal don't constitute reality any more than my belief in unknown long term risks that we should consider.<br /><br />If you ask me if I think climate change is what will sink civilization as we know it, I'll say not alone, but along with a soon to be 9 billion people and an ever larger fraction looking for a good place to live, you have to think migration and refugees are going to increase in the future for many reasons including war, which is sometimes triggered by localized climate crises, human caused or not. Its really hard to attribute any specific cause to convince people to uproot the safety of a place they know.<br /><br />But we'd better get working on our walls, which will be 10 feet higher if you question my demand that you pay for it. And 1000 mile long walls however useless in reducing migrations, at least help people know they are not welcome, just in case they were not sure.<br /><br />It's still amazing that people want to live in a place they are not welcome. I guess its because there are so many places to hide and keep a low profile, which usually means avoiding criminal activity.<br /><br />I bet many illegal immigrants might even promise to wash cloth bags for their grocery shopping, if only they would be allowed to stay and not be designated as a rapists, murders or I assume some nice people.<br />Ares Olympushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09726811306826601686noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-71041565428750674922016-09-14T16:47:27.059-07:002016-09-14T16:47:27.059-07:00Ares, you believe in global warming. The joke'...Ares, you believe in global warming. The joke's on you. Ignatius Acton Chesterton OCDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18222603717128565302noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-45044047531304538162016-09-14T16:46:25.400-07:002016-09-14T16:46:25.400-07:00I'm so glad you're here, Ares... so glad y...I'm so glad you're here, Ares... so glad you're here. Your prose moves me. Thank you for being such a sharp researcher. Share it on your own blog. It needs you. We need you to tend to it. Ignatius Acton Chesterton OCDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18222603717128565302noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-68754141839484204252016-09-14T12:51:19.252-07:002016-09-14T12:51:19.252-07:00If it's "unfair" status, give it up....If it's "unfair" status, give it up. No one's stopping you. I'm sure there's a spare Safeway cart somewhere in San Francisco<br /><br />I'm thinking, though, it's more appealing to just talk about it. Conspicuous piety.Trigger Warningnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-41957070897253285692016-09-14T12:31:47.458-07:002016-09-14T12:31:47.458-07:00What about Sen Lieawatha Warren? What about Sen Lieawatha Warren? Trigger Warningnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-56183087402681321822016-09-14T10:24:16.409-07:002016-09-14T10:24:16.409-07:00On "Toxic whiteness" I'm in full agr...On "Toxic whiteness" I'm in full agreement the language of toxicity itself appears to be toxic. I did a search and found this recent article, and it turned into making Trump. It is curious her examples of toxic whiteness are basically about men.<br /><br />https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/your-whiteness-is-toxic-and-other-wasplaining-kpk-jrmk/<br />---<br />“Your whiteness is toxic”<br /><br />This was a comment directed at me on Facebook recently. For the record, I really try NOT to engage in FB political fights, especially with people I don’t know, but, in this case, I had made what I thought was a fairly innocuous (although definitely privileged) comment: that voting is an important form of civic engagement. <br />...<br />My parents were not racist; nor later, when homosexuality became part of the political discussion, were they homophobic. They believed voting was an important element of civic engagement but they were also very involved in their community and church. I do not believe I was raised in a toxic environment.<br /><br />But I do believe that my whiteness is a little bit toxic.<br /><br />I also believe we are living now in an era of toxic whiteness, with Donald Trump being the crowned prince of the movement. Brock Turner and his Dad whitesplaining rape is another good example.<br /><br />Affluenza teen yet another.<br />...<br />Donald Trump’s casual, flagrant racism is the hallmark of this toxicity. He knows he can get away with it, just as Brock Turner believed he could get away with violating an unconscious woman behind a dumpster. Brock says his drunkenness (and hers) excuses his behavior, but he was not so drunk that he didn’t know to try to run away when he was caught.<br /><br />And while I do know some white people who actively fight against racial inequality and discrimination of all kinds, a lot of us do what I am doing right now: we say we believe it is wrong while living in our safe, protected bubble. <br /><br />We vote for liberal candidates and think our job is done. We think our progressive, inclusive beliefs are good enough effort. And this is the reason my whiteness was called “toxic.” <br /><br />Hello, my name is Kara and I am a toxic white person. I live in a world where I can take action or not take action against social injustice because it “doesn’t affect me personally.”<br /><br />I live in a world where I can teach my son that his vote matters; in fact, because he is a white male, I can teach him that he can be anything he wants to be and mean it in earnest. <br /><br />I did nothing to earn my privilege, just as I did nothing to earn my heterosexuality; but I can rest easier than most of my fellow citizens because of both of them.<br /><br />I don’t feel guilty about being white. I do feel guilty about not fully using the status and privilege it has unfairly conferred on me to make the world my son is growing up in a more inclusive and better place. I have taught him that he has a responsibility to his community in general and the less-privileged specifically. <br /><br />But I need to step up my game and embody this for him so he understands sooner than I did how much work there is left to be done.<br />---<br /><br />I don't think toxic is a helpful word. From the article above, it seems more to just mean "entitled to be oblivious to the hardships of others not like me."<br /><br />So there's an assumption that if we could all pay attention and be empathetic, we could do small things to make life better for others.<br /><br />She uses the word "inclusivity" and that's a good value to have, but clearly also has its own blind-spots, if it means dividing the world between entitled people who can often freely act badly without consequences and unentitled people who are often hit by large negative consequences for otherwise small bad decisions.<br /><br />Her case might be stronger if she named some women as well, who are attractive enough to get what they want, and make sure someone else always pays when the bill comes.<br />Ares Olympushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09726811306826601686noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-27655513038526596692016-09-14T09:48:38.828-07:002016-09-14T09:48:38.828-07:00Stuart: The modern version of the plague is obviou...Stuart: The modern version of the plague is obviously: global warming. It was caused by the sin of the Industrial Revolution and can only be stopped if we engage in empty penitential gestures-- like renouncing plastic shopping bags in favor the germ-ridden burlap bags.<br /><br />Actually reducing the wastefulness plastic bags have nothing to do with global warming.<br /><br />If marketers have their way someday soon we'll all wear plastic disposable clothing as well. Think of all the money and time we'll save when we no longer have to wash our germ-ridden clothing.<br /><br />We can Make America Great Again by acting completely different than our ancestors who foolishly believed in crazy virtues like temperance and humility.<br />Ares Olympushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09726811306826601686noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-81145367046943083252016-09-14T06:58:36.469-07:002016-09-14T06:58:36.469-07:00Aren't we the wry one?Aren't we the wry one?Dennishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14962996070458991675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-3795846194294242622016-09-14T06:30:46.003-07:002016-09-14T06:30:46.003-07:00This is why I'm voting for Hillary, or her rep...This is why I'm voting for Hillary, or her replacement if she goes completely vegetal before the election. <br /><br />Rather than vote for a person who might (who knows?) attempt to stem the tide, I want to hurry it along so I may live to see a day that the APA declares Toxic Whiteness a disorder by acclamation, and legislatures decide that White Privileging is a hate crime.<br /><br />That's when the need for conspicuous virtue signaling will cease and the real penance will begin. To paraphrase one of my personal heroes, the white Progressives will discover that never before was so much owed by so few to so many.<br /><br />Trigger Warningnoreply@blogger.com