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Showing Original Post only (View all)Liberal Racism: 25 Things I Learned After I Wrote About ISIS and White Racism at the Daily Kos [View all]
Copying, pasting and the posting of articles from DailyKos is permitted as long as attribution is provided.
bychaunceydevegaFollow
Racism is not an opinion. It is a fact.
White supremacy is one of the most powerful social forces and ideologies in the United States (and the West). As such, it is reflected in our political discourse, and both intentionally (through active racism) and unintentionally (implicit bias) reproduced by individuals.
Online spaces are a great lens into white supremacy because they are a type of public arena where individuals can drop the mask of social conformity and desirability, revealing their private thoughts and true selves.
Thus, comment sections are transformed into a space where backstage racism can be transformed into direct and public acts.
I have shared my essays here on the Daily Kos for several years. There are some good and sincere folks here who I have talked to via email and through other mediums. There are likely many lurkers who read, give recs, and share work they find valuable and useful with their friends, family, colleagues, and others in their personal networks.
By definition, those individuals who frequently comment on and read political websites are outliers relative to the general population. And while the Daily Kos is a liberal or progressive website, it still reflects the biases, habits, and beliefs of the individuals who frequent it.
For example, if a given society is racist, sexist, and homophobic, then its members and culture, to varying degrees, will be a reflection of those values. Some will resist them; others will actively reproduce and support them; most will go about their quotidian lives, a herd or mass public to be directed one way or another as their personal whims and desires pull, and cues from elites direct them.
White liberals love to point out the racism of conservatives and republicans. This is an easy task in the post civil rights era because the Tea Party GOP is the United States de facto White identity party.
It is far more difficult for white liberals and progressives to look in the proverbial mirror and to take a personal inventory of their own possessive investment in whiteness, and how they reproduce white supremacy as a lived ideology.
Liberal or aversive racism is the counterpart to the symbolic and old fashioned racism practiced by conservatives and the White Right.
My most recent posts on the Daily Kos (an essay on Dr. Martin Luther King and White memory; a new piece on ISISs barbarism and the lynching of black Americans by white people) have been met with many hundreds of comments. Those essays were also shared many thousands of times on Facebook and other social media.
Collectively, the comments on my essay on ISIS, as well as white historical memory and Dr. King, are a lesson in the enduring power of liberal racism. I have learned much from them.
As I have done in the past, what follows are some helpful guidelines and observations for people of color (and white folks of conscience) who dare to speak some truth to power about race or racism at the Daily Kos.
1. White people are very sensitive. Many of them get very upset and angry when you tell the truth about racism, white supremacy, or white privilege. Never speak plainly and directly to liberal racists. They may wilt.
2. Liberal racists and their allies believe that it is unnecessary to comment on the plain on the face fact that black Americans were burned alive in much the same as ISIS did to the captured Jordanian, Muadh al Kasasbeh.
3. Addendum to the above. The spectacular lynchings of black Americans by white people were a long time ago so it should not be discussed anymore lest white people be made uncomfortable. For the White Gaze a long time ago is compressed to 50 years.
4. Be prepared for the deflection and dismissive comment that, everyone knows this stuff! Why are you bringing it up!
5. If you want to talk about racism and how black folks were subjected to horrific violence by white peoplemuch of it worse than what ISIS visited upon Muadh al Kasasbehduring Black History Month, one must get permission from white people first. This is especially true during Black History Month because black folks tend to get too confident and back sass white folks during those 28 days.
6. The idea that white people who benefit in the present from systems of material advantage and other unearned privileges, outcomes that are the direct result of racial terrorism against non-whites, should own their history, is very upsetting and provocative to white folks. Never forget that White America and White Americans are a people and a country without a history.
7. If you talk to white people about racism you should speak in the same tone and manner as Bill Moyers.
8. Second Bill Moyers rule. White folks, especially liberal racists here on the Daily Kos and elsewhere, will only believe something is true and appropriate to discuss if a white man like Bill Moyers says it is.
9. Third Bill Moyers rule. Well-documented events, such as horrific violence against black Americans as committed by whites, only occurred if a white person says they did. The white speaker effect is very real in Americas racial discourse.
10. Class issues and real progressive politics trump any concern about race and racial justice.
11. Daring to talk about the burning to death murder of Muadh al Kasasbeh by ISIS and how it resonates with the burning to death murder of thousands of black people by white Americans is a type of black racial narcissism.
12. White supremacists and liberal racists have much in common with their rage at the premise that a black person would dare to talk about white on black lynchings in the United States and ISIS.
13. White supremacists and liberal racists at the Daily Kos channel much the same animus and rage at black folks who tell them things they do not want not want to hear. The former are just more honest; the latter pretty up their racial ugliness just a bit more.
14. Liberal racistslike their Right-wing compatriotswill derail, distract, and obfuscate your claims.
15. Liberal racistslike their Right-wing compatriotsalso use standard troll tactics such as picking on one word in a title or other questions of grammar and emphasis to avoid dealing with the facts you have presented.
16. White supremacys reflection is very ugly to most white folksespecially those who have not disowned Whiteness.
17. These people are especially upset by the premise that someone like them, in their own immediate family, neighborhood, or other relation could/would have participated in a lynching, owned slaves, or benefitted from an act of inter-personal or institutional white supremacy.
18. Remember that being a victim of white racial terrorism is the present lived experience for non-whites in the United States and elsewhere. These are living memories. And yes, many of the victims of white racial terrorism are still alive.
19. Whiteness is ahistorical: one of the primary advantages of being white in America is the luxury of being an individual unmoored from the past, history, and perpetually living in a bubble of white innocence.
20. If the word thug is the new nigger then when white folks call a black person angry, combative, bitter, unhinged, or disrespectful they are channeling the new uppity the latter being a crime that not too long ago could be punished by the lynching tree.
21. Right-wing racists are much more honest, and thus easier to deal with, than liberal racists.
22. At some point in the conversation, white privilege deems that white folks who are unhappy with how a person of color dares to talk about racism will somehow be magically transformed into the real victims.
23. The rules for how white supremacy and white racism should be discussed must always be set by white folks so that they can be told what they want to hear, their assumptions about their goodness and innocence validated, and their egos stroked.
24. Racist River Dancing. At some point, a liberal racist, will call you a nigger in everything but name. Liberal racists are very good at calling blacks who make them upset niggers by using many more than just one efficient word. I grant liberal racists the permission to call me a "nigger" if they are sufficiently aroused to anger. It is much more efficient than the racial river dance--it will also keep their teeth white.
25. Liberal racists at the Daily Kos get very upset when you write an essay thatgasp!gets attention, goes viral, has many comments, or hits. Because of course, the only reason someone writes something online at the Daily Kos is to work in obscurity. Moreover, never be a black or brown person who writes something popular and critical about white racism at the Daily Kos. Remember that haters are always gonna hate.
A wise person told me that the ultimate disrespect is to look at someone and lie to them. I have, however reluctantly, come to the conclusion that liberal racists prefer lies to the truth. Consequently, they are not worthy of any respect.
If the Daily Kos is indeed a cathedral, many of its members will condemn you, calling thee a heretic if you dare to talk critically about whiteness and white privilege. In many ways, white liberals are of the same faith as white conservatives on matters of justice and the colorlineseparated in belief from one another only by virtue of their membership in a different denomination.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/02/06/1362846/-Liberal-Racism-25-Things-I-Learned-After-I-Wrote-About-ISIS-and-White-Racism-at-the-Daily-Kos
Racism is not an opinion. It is a fact.
White supremacy is one of the most powerful social forces and ideologies in the United States (and the West). As such, it is reflected in our political discourse, and both intentionally (through active racism) and unintentionally (implicit bias) reproduced by individuals.
Online spaces are a great lens into white supremacy because they are a type of public arena where individuals can drop the mask of social conformity and desirability, revealing their private thoughts and true selves.
Thus, comment sections are transformed into a space where backstage racism can be transformed into direct and public acts.
I have shared my essays here on the Daily Kos for several years. There are some good and sincere folks here who I have talked to via email and through other mediums. There are likely many lurkers who read, give recs, and share work they find valuable and useful with their friends, family, colleagues, and others in their personal networks.
By definition, those individuals who frequently comment on and read political websites are outliers relative to the general population. And while the Daily Kos is a liberal or progressive website, it still reflects the biases, habits, and beliefs of the individuals who frequent it.
For example, if a given society is racist, sexist, and homophobic, then its members and culture, to varying degrees, will be a reflection of those values. Some will resist them; others will actively reproduce and support them; most will go about their quotidian lives, a herd or mass public to be directed one way or another as their personal whims and desires pull, and cues from elites direct them.
White liberals love to point out the racism of conservatives and republicans. This is an easy task in the post civil rights era because the Tea Party GOP is the United States de facto White identity party.
It is far more difficult for white liberals and progressives to look in the proverbial mirror and to take a personal inventory of their own possessive investment in whiteness, and how they reproduce white supremacy as a lived ideology.
Liberal or aversive racism is the counterpart to the symbolic and old fashioned racism practiced by conservatives and the White Right.
My most recent posts on the Daily Kos (an essay on Dr. Martin Luther King and White memory; a new piece on ISISs barbarism and the lynching of black Americans by white people) have been met with many hundreds of comments. Those essays were also shared many thousands of times on Facebook and other social media.
Collectively, the comments on my essay on ISIS, as well as white historical memory and Dr. King, are a lesson in the enduring power of liberal racism. I have learned much from them.
As I have done in the past, what follows are some helpful guidelines and observations for people of color (and white folks of conscience) who dare to speak some truth to power about race or racism at the Daily Kos.
1. White people are very sensitive. Many of them get very upset and angry when you tell the truth about racism, white supremacy, or white privilege. Never speak plainly and directly to liberal racists. They may wilt.
2. Liberal racists and their allies believe that it is unnecessary to comment on the plain on the face fact that black Americans were burned alive in much the same as ISIS did to the captured Jordanian, Muadh al Kasasbeh.
3. Addendum to the above. The spectacular lynchings of black Americans by white people were a long time ago so it should not be discussed anymore lest white people be made uncomfortable. For the White Gaze a long time ago is compressed to 50 years.
4. Be prepared for the deflection and dismissive comment that, everyone knows this stuff! Why are you bringing it up!
5. If you want to talk about racism and how black folks were subjected to horrific violence by white peoplemuch of it worse than what ISIS visited upon Muadh al Kasasbehduring Black History Month, one must get permission from white people first. This is especially true during Black History Month because black folks tend to get too confident and back sass white folks during those 28 days.
6. The idea that white people who benefit in the present from systems of material advantage and other unearned privileges, outcomes that are the direct result of racial terrorism against non-whites, should own their history, is very upsetting and provocative to white folks. Never forget that White America and White Americans are a people and a country without a history.
7. If you talk to white people about racism you should speak in the same tone and manner as Bill Moyers.
8. Second Bill Moyers rule. White folks, especially liberal racists here on the Daily Kos and elsewhere, will only believe something is true and appropriate to discuss if a white man like Bill Moyers says it is.
9. Third Bill Moyers rule. Well-documented events, such as horrific violence against black Americans as committed by whites, only occurred if a white person says they did. The white speaker effect is very real in Americas racial discourse.
10. Class issues and real progressive politics trump any concern about race and racial justice.
11. Daring to talk about the burning to death murder of Muadh al Kasasbeh by ISIS and how it resonates with the burning to death murder of thousands of black people by white Americans is a type of black racial narcissism.
12. White supremacists and liberal racists have much in common with their rage at the premise that a black person would dare to talk about white on black lynchings in the United States and ISIS.
13. White supremacists and liberal racists at the Daily Kos channel much the same animus and rage at black folks who tell them things they do not want not want to hear. The former are just more honest; the latter pretty up their racial ugliness just a bit more.
14. Liberal racistslike their Right-wing compatriotswill derail, distract, and obfuscate your claims.
15. Liberal racistslike their Right-wing compatriotsalso use standard troll tactics such as picking on one word in a title or other questions of grammar and emphasis to avoid dealing with the facts you have presented.
16. White supremacys reflection is very ugly to most white folksespecially those who have not disowned Whiteness.
17. These people are especially upset by the premise that someone like them, in their own immediate family, neighborhood, or other relation could/would have participated in a lynching, owned slaves, or benefitted from an act of inter-personal or institutional white supremacy.
18. Remember that being a victim of white racial terrorism is the present lived experience for non-whites in the United States and elsewhere. These are living memories. And yes, many of the victims of white racial terrorism are still alive.
19. Whiteness is ahistorical: one of the primary advantages of being white in America is the luxury of being an individual unmoored from the past, history, and perpetually living in a bubble of white innocence.
20. If the word thug is the new nigger then when white folks call a black person angry, combative, bitter, unhinged, or disrespectful they are channeling the new uppity the latter being a crime that not too long ago could be punished by the lynching tree.
21. Right-wing racists are much more honest, and thus easier to deal with, than liberal racists.
22. At some point in the conversation, white privilege deems that white folks who are unhappy with how a person of color dares to talk about racism will somehow be magically transformed into the real victims.
23. The rules for how white supremacy and white racism should be discussed must always be set by white folks so that they can be told what they want to hear, their assumptions about their goodness and innocence validated, and their egos stroked.
24. Racist River Dancing. At some point, a liberal racist, will call you a nigger in everything but name. Liberal racists are very good at calling blacks who make them upset niggers by using many more than just one efficient word. I grant liberal racists the permission to call me a "nigger" if they are sufficiently aroused to anger. It is much more efficient than the racial river dance--it will also keep their teeth white.
25. Liberal racists at the Daily Kos get very upset when you write an essay thatgasp!gets attention, goes viral, has many comments, or hits. Because of course, the only reason someone writes something online at the Daily Kos is to work in obscurity. Moreover, never be a black or brown person who writes something popular and critical about white racism at the Daily Kos. Remember that haters are always gonna hate.
A wise person told me that the ultimate disrespect is to look at someone and lie to them. I have, however reluctantly, come to the conclusion that liberal racists prefer lies to the truth. Consequently, they are not worthy of any respect.
If the Daily Kos is indeed a cathedral, many of its members will condemn you, calling thee a heretic if you dare to talk critically about whiteness and white privilege. In many ways, white liberals are of the same faith as white conservatives on matters of justice and the colorlineseparated in belief from one another only by virtue of their membership in a different denomination.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/02/06/1362846/-Liberal-Racism-25-Things-I-Learned-After-I-Wrote-About-ISIS-and-White-Racism-at-the-Daily-Kos
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Liberal Racism: 25 Things I Learned After I Wrote About ISIS and White Racism at the Daily Kos [View all]
DonViejo
Feb 2015
OP
I will love this one forever and BTW ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
NoJusticeNoPeace
Feb 2015
#1
Some duers who are complaining about bringing up America's dark racist past desperately need to
dissentient
Feb 2015
#2
I think the point was for us to stop pretending that Isis is doing the unthinkable.
bravenak
Feb 2015
#13
How about torturing, raping, and murdering innocent human beings in cold blood?
YoungDemCA
Feb 2015
#23
my question should have been directed to bravenak's post. thanks for your assistance, but i
ND-Dem
Feb 2015
#26
And we make a fatal mistake if we believe all of those white Christian Americans are dead and gone.
NoJusticeNoPeace
Feb 2015
#52
There are people complaining this comparison has even been brought up in the
dissentient
Feb 2015
#10
Liberal deflection. One need not tolerate opinions on current events if one knows enough history
lumberjack_jeff
Feb 2015
#3
Are you honestly suggesting that we cannot have two thoughts on the atrocity by ISIS?
salib
Feb 2015
#77
What you say is true, of course, but it is also true that too many people who identify as liberals
tblue37
Feb 2015
#71
If you want to call me a garden variety racist piece of shit have the backbone to say it openly.
Nuclear Unicorn
Feb 2015
#127
"It will be a cold day in hell before I take instruction from the likes of you."
Nuclear Unicorn
Feb 2015
#134
a lot of posters at DU aren't liberals; i assume the same is true at kos. so attributing all racist
ND-Dem
Feb 2015
#15
On the contrary, many of the worst offenders are proud, self-described "liberals" or "progressives"
YoungDemCA
Feb 2015
#21
since in general, we don't know who people posting on the internet actually are, or what they
ND-Dem
Feb 2015
#29
"Right-wing racists are much more honest, and thus easier to deal with, than liberal racists"
AgingAmerican
Feb 2015
#39
Girl... I even paged bravenak to this thread before I realized she'd already seen it
Number23
Feb 2015
#96
Oh I know bravenak, here & I are pretty close in age... I stopped biting my tongue on the
giftedgirl77
Feb 2015
#99
Heh... you've only been here since 2013 and you've ALREADY stopped biting your tongue
Number23
Feb 2015
#101
The problem with her statement is the fact that we deny they things we do and did.
bravenak
Feb 2015
#88
I dunno, I think that white people have a culture and history, but it's not monolithic.
Spider Jerusalem
Feb 2015
#118
You could almost get a drinking game started based on the predictable defensive responses. n/t.
Ken Burch
Feb 2015
#119
Nothing could be sweeter than someone leaping up and unintentionally highlighting in the most
Number23
Feb 2015
#100
I find it interesting the number of replies that pick one number or another to get upset with
ScreamingMeemie
Feb 2015
#76
10. “Class issues” and “real progressive politics” trump any concern about race and racial justice.
Number23
Feb 2015
#92
I hesitate to give my opinion because I will be asked why I take this personally or am upset
uppityperson
Feb 2015
#110
"It's wonderful how some of the replies here perfectly illustrate the problem!"
Number23
Feb 2015
#113
Nice. And i would say that the issue is really what you have the POWER to do with those prejudices.
kelliekat44
Feb 2015
#124
This. Is. GREAT!!! Thank you for this totally spot-on analysis. I will be rereading it
DesertDiamond
Feb 2015
#132