Friday, July 17, 2009

because i hate you and want you to suffer with me



Let's see:

Belief that systemic racism only targets white men: check! (1:07, 8:18, 9:53)

(Related) Automatic dismissal of examples of potential prejudice against people of color: check! (7:55)

(And finally the unsurprising and rather logical conclusion of 1 and 2) Belief that the rights of white men need active protection and by implication that the rights of people of color do not because they are not discriminated against: check! (9:28)

Belief that white men are (roughly) the only positive contributors to American history: check! (2:06)

Assumption that a person of color must automatically be unqualified for a position despite an extraordinary list of accomplishments: check! (0:39, 3:28)

(Related) Belief that a person of color must only be under consideration due to affirmative action: check! (0:52, 4:00)

(Also related) Assumption that he himself must have performed better in school despite not having that information: check! (5:53)

Ignoring the fact that there are racial groupings in this country that do not fall into "black" or "white," despite having a conversation about a Latina(!): check! (2:25)

Belief that we should only choose the "finest minds" to serve higher office and that by implication this explains why white men have been predominant throughout American history: check! (3:02, 6:45)

Assumption that our country's long history of racism has little or no impact on our current state of affairs: check! (5:10)

Bingo!

Saturday, July 4, 2009

the white flight of facebook

I am still digesting this, but it was so interesting that I couldn't not post it immediately.

awkward conversation

guy: (makes random joke, follows it up with): Good thing you aren't a Muslim or you probably would have killed me.
me: ...Isn't that a little... insensitive?
guy: Oh, that's me! I just make sure to offend everyone because otherwise that would be racist!
me: (Actually it kind of still is)
guy: Except for Italians, because they would probably kill me.
me: (Maybe you just awkwardly say stupid things when you just don't know what else to say...)
guy: It's okay, though, because I'm Jewish.
me: (He isn't stopping! Must do something!)
me: Have a nice day sir!