Aaargh. Wading into it: I'm grateful for my "white privilege". I wish everyone had it.

[BainsBane]

105. I definitely have animus

Last edited Mon May 12, 2014, 06:07 AM - Edit history (1)

You know why? Because I haven't once been able to post a thread in GD about feminism, rape, or related issues without being told I'm a troll or engaging in flamebait.

This whole thing about privilege began months ago with a single thread where someone mentioned white privilege. That spawned dozens and dozens of threads saying how awful it was to use that term. This is part of an ongoing pattern of delegitimating the views, experiences, and concerns of people of color and feminists. African American posters are told that they should be honored by meals of fried chicken and watermelon, that their natural hair is ugly, or that they are "out of their element" and should go back to their own group when they try to join discussions about race. All of that happens on DU, and people get pissed off. So you want me to worry about the feelings of people who work to silence the voices of anyone who isn't exactly like them? I'm not going to do it.

Additionally, those people don't see themselves as poorly educated (and I don't necessarily think they are, unless your metric is the absence of advanced degrees. ) They see themselves as the only legitimate "leftists" and the rest of us as right-wingers and trolls. Today one called bell hooks an ally of Bill O'Reilly. Another has made it his mission to get John Conyers out of congress. There have been witchhunt threads about members of color, while that is standard practice toward feminists, who certain members target in an effort to get us removed from the site. The fact is there are people who want this to be a forum to conform entirely to their dictates: they think it's okay for women and people of color to participate only if they think, write, and behave exactly like those self-entitled white members.
If anyone utters a word or post about a subject that those members don't think important (like marijuana and Snowden), they attack them as trolls or sock puppets.

If all of our feelings count, that means ALL of us, not just the white male posters of a certain outlook. I'm tired of being called a right-winger because I care about issues of objectification and believe rape porn is destructive. I'm tired of being accused of trolling for posting about rape and violence against women. It appears to me that you have walked into the end of this show and think you know the beginning. I don't believe you do.