This post will likely get me in trouble with many of my Liberal and Progressive compatriots, but it needs to be said. My take is different than many.
This rant is not in defense of the “white guys” or anyone else. It is a call for folks, to be honest, and in doing so, we can likely move forward in Trump’s era.
Let me first get a few of my core beliefs out of the way. I want the post read accurately.
- Selection based mostly on one’s skin pigmentation is silly genetically, socially, and morally. A construct based on color is designed to divide. We could have used hair color, eye color, body size, body type, gender, sexuality, religion, etc. to categorize to create arbitrary gradations of worth to ensure a beneficial hierarchy to some. Then again we do that to a lesser extent.
- No race has a monopoly on hate, racism, and all the negative isms between peoples.
- No race has intellectual superiority over another.
- No gender has intellectual superiority over another.
I get it. The MTV video was made to be funny. Hell the MTV video is funny. In fact, many of the statements hit the mark. I will gloss over them without any in-depth narrative as you can research it if you want to corroborate my narrative.
- America was never great for anyone who was not a white guy with means. This is inarguable as it was codified within the constitution. White guys without means could aspire to wealth and land owning. They had potential access. People of color and women didn’t. As America became more liberal, that reality began to change and it is still changing. Until every single American has equal access to success, then we cannot talk about making America great again.
- Black Lives Matter is not the opposite of All Lives Matter. All Lives Matter assumes that Black Lives Matter. The current reality is that black lives in particular and people of color in general matter a whole lot less to our society. We see this in police treatment, news reports of the missing, etc. Black Lives Matter is an assertion in a society that likes to claim all lives matter when in practice it could not be further from the truth. For those who are not considered people of color, try to see, feel, and live vicariously through a friend of color. You do not need to ask them anything. Just absorb their existence in restaurants, a traffic stop, a doctor visit, shopping at a store, or in any other setting.
- Having a black friend or for that matter, a friend of another race does not inoculate one from being a racist.
- The justice system more so than not gives white guys in the aggregate a break. The racial makeup of our prisons is probative.
So what is my problem with the video? I do not think it is helpful. It speaks to those who already know those things. It does little to speak to those who don’t. We are all conditioned by our upbringing. Something has to change in our lives that allow us to empathize, to see through the eyes of others. Moreover, while it is vogue to make fun of the racist Trump voter, — I disagree with Michael Moore and Vice-President Joe Biden; a lot of the white working class that voted for Trump were racist. — Liberals and Progressives have similar problems.
The best response I saw on Twitter to the MTV video says it all.
Meanwhile, @MTVNews board of executives is whiter than the passengers and crew of the fucking Mayflower. pic.twitter.com/37YyUL61Ec
— Best Mom Eva (@mombot) December 20, 2016
Back in 2015, I was very disappointed by the reaction Black Lives Matter received from the ‘Liberals and Progressives’ attending Netroots Nation 2015. I wrote about it in a piece titled “Reaction by some Liberals at Netroots Nation to Black Lives Matter disappointing” where I said the following.
The Netroots Nation conference is a yearly gathering of Liberal bloggers, writers, organizations, and politicians. It is a place for learning, sharing failures and successes, networking and much much more. Most importantly it is the place where the enlightened congregate in a country led astray by a plutocracy intent on maintaining its power by creating false divisions. This is has been ingrained in the DNA of this country. It is for this reason that at first I was extremely disappointed by the response of many of my fellow Liberals to the Black Lives Matter protest – but more about that later. Let me digress. …
The disappointment with some of my Netroots Nation brothers and sisters was their willful inability to empathize. Activist liberals that have stood for civil rights, that have marched for civil rights, that have had their skulls cracked for civil rights were now either dismissive or critical of a group whose mission is noble.
Here is the deal. If you want to reach people, do not make fun of them. Those racists in Appalachia or around the corner are not much different from most. They learned how to be that way. Misinformation, fear, and ridicule keep many of them that way. Most importantly, the disease of the isms cannot be attributed solely to the white guys. If Trump is your barometer, note that many white women, black men, and Latinos voted for him as well.
Progressives and Liberals need to look in the mirror. As we preach equality, look at the leadership in many of our organizations. As we condemn the white guy’s racism, when will we condemn the sexism, misogyny, and homophobia emanating from many of our Black preachers and many sects within Islam (the one part Bill Maher is partially right about)? When will we actively indict the church for many of its own sins current and past?
We have all kinds of prejudices that need eradicating. We need not focus on one group, the white guys are being played by the plutocracy as much as anyone else, lest we are doing exactly what they hope we would. They want to divide us so we fight among ourselves as we keep our eyes off of the real culprit, the plutocracy.