January 10, 2015
Pocket paradigms
One of the besetting sins of many
in the progressive movement is that they have made white men
the enemy. In fact, no ethnic group in history has given up so
much power so quickly and so peacefully. Every social movement
of the past 50 years has depended on either the acquiescence
or active participation of large numbers of white men. To bash
them is both bad politics and bad philosophy, tossing out constituency
and logic at the same time. One of the basic reasons for the
Democrats' current problems is that they have implicitly treated
minorities and women, on the one hand, and white males, on the
other, as mutually exclusive groups. This perception has strongly helped
to send white males to the Republicans. While it is obvious that
white men have been responsible for most of the horrendous political
and ecological policies that have left us in our current situation,
it should be similarly obvious that most white men have also
been among their victims -- in everything from war to black lung disease
to economic exploitation. -Sam Smith
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2 comments:
The issue is not about white men, it is about the ideas and beliefs that all too many older white men embrace. Intolerance, bigotry, and fear-baiting are highly appealing notions to a particular demographic that also happens to coincide with that of the Tea Party/Christian fascist right-wing.
White males also were hit hard by the great recession, and were helped somewhat by Obama, certainly never by the GOP. The neo-confederate GOP gives whites their own party, which is considered enough to accomplish as a lost cause, no matter that the party does nothing for them. The white beltway media don't see a problem here, rather celebrate a party that they can belong to unashamedly, much as they love their racist NFL team. DC is a former slave district and auction center, is segregated, and is unlikely to cheerlead for the defeat of white supremacism.
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