The Culture Of The Smug White Liberal

[Squinch]

112. Yes, I agree with that. We all should be judged by what we are doing to solve our

problems. I have no problem with that.

I have a real problem with the following:
She denigrates the reality in white privilege and microagression, and the act of calling out racism, homophobia, misogyny and bigotry as being part of what is wrong with the smug white liberal. There is nothing wrong with acknowledging any of those things, no matter who you are. She also uses the classic conservative language of accusing liberals of "policing people's language and thoughts."

She pushes for school choice, which devastates schools, especially those in struggling neighborhoods, and it is a corporate boondoggle and a conservative darling issue.

She talks about white liberals as "look(ing) down on those with less education and deem them unable or unworthy of being able to make personal decisions for their own lives." This is the argument that conservatives have used forever against liberals to justify right-to-work, to fight against unions, and to weaken or dismantle public assistance of all kinds. The language, again, is classic conservative.

She says that the poverty in her city is caused by "liberal insiders." She suggests that stop and frisk policies are the fault of the liberals in her city.

She blames "our culture of political correctness and liberalism" for poverty rates, high incarceration rates and unemployment rates among African Americans. "Political correctness and liberalism," though conservatives hate them and would like them to cause problems, are not at the root of any of those problems.

She forwards the completely bogus idea that the media is full of white liberals, which we all know is simply not true, and then blames that nonexistent liberal media for the negative portrayal of people of color in the media.

Her points about white liberals often segregating themselves socially and about the continuing policies, especially with respect to policing and housing,in liberal cities that are detrimental to African Americans are well taken. I agree that these are places where the smug white liberal is failing our own "liberal-ness" as well as failing the African American community. I also agree with her when she says "{African Americans} must take control of the narrative about our issues". No problem with any of that.

There is plenty of blame to be laid at the feet of the smug white liberal for not forwarding the issues of African Americans, but most of the things she blames - namely political correctness, liberalism, people making decisions about their own lives, school funding, the nonexistent "policing of people's thoughts", the acknowledgment of white privilege, microaggression, bigotry, homophobia and misogyny - are not faults at all, much less the defining faults of the smug white liberal. They are things conservatives like to say are what is wrong with liberals.