I'm glad that you wrote this. I am guilty of having mentioned the things you shine a light on (African complicity, age old non-race-based slavery, etc.). Yea, that does have a bad feel.
In keeping with the title of this commentary, thinking about it, it was likely an emotional response to the ubiquitous "Dear white people" articles tellin…
I'm glad that you wrote this. I am guilty of having mentioned the things you shine a light on (African complicity, age old non-race-based slavery, etc.). Yea, that does have a bad feel.
In keeping with the title of this commentary, thinking about it, it was likely an emotional response to the ubiquitous "Dear white people" articles telling me that I must acknowledge the evil of whiteness with an implicit me being evil because of my membership in the white tribe. Not explicit but obviously implicit. I'll refrain from a rant on monoliths.
Trying to not let my inner Marine speak here, I'll just say that I do get tired of that crap. <-- emotion! It's not an excuse, I'll try to hold that stuff in check in the future. Thank you.
With regard to that being aimed at you, people do tend to latch on to one small thing not in the context of the larger thing when they don't like the larger thing but have no adequate response to it. Again emotion - frustration about a valid challenge to their cherished "truth."
"it was likely an emotional response to the ubiquitous "Dear white people" articles telling me that I must acknowledge the evil of whiteness with an implicit me being evil because of my membership in the white tribe."
Absolutely. Following my own advice to understand where people are coming from, I completely see how the ubiquity of these articles blaming white people for the actions of other white people from hundreds of years ago will end up causing defensiveness. That's why I told spike not to buy into that nonsense.
*I* get frustrated reading about how all white people are forever complicit in the evils of slavery and Jim Crow. So I can only imagine how annoying it must for you.
But yeah, I don't feel as if the defensiveness is aimed at me exactly. It's just the degree and frequency of it, especially as I'm clearly *not* blaming white people of today for the sins of everybody who ever looked like them, that gets a bit grating after a while😅
I think you make a good point, Dave. It’s not a lack of empathy or even a ‘white guilt’ response, to me. It’s the feeling of essential unfairness of being tagged with baggage based on immutable characteristics and needing to call out hypocrisy to maintain personal integrity. Yet the calling out does lack empathy, which is why Steve’s comment on the ‘sweet spot’ between rational persuasion and empathy rings so true.
I'm glad that you wrote this. I am guilty of having mentioned the things you shine a light on (African complicity, age old non-race-based slavery, etc.). Yea, that does have a bad feel.
In keeping with the title of this commentary, thinking about it, it was likely an emotional response to the ubiquitous "Dear white people" articles telling me that I must acknowledge the evil of whiteness with an implicit me being evil because of my membership in the white tribe. Not explicit but obviously implicit. I'll refrain from a rant on monoliths.
Trying to not let my inner Marine speak here, I'll just say that I do get tired of that crap. <-- emotion! It's not an excuse, I'll try to hold that stuff in check in the future. Thank you.
With regard to that being aimed at you, people do tend to latch on to one small thing not in the context of the larger thing when they don't like the larger thing but have no adequate response to it. Again emotion - frustration about a valid challenge to their cherished "truth."
"it was likely an emotional response to the ubiquitous "Dear white people" articles telling me that I must acknowledge the evil of whiteness with an implicit me being evil because of my membership in the white tribe."
Absolutely. Following my own advice to understand where people are coming from, I completely see how the ubiquity of these articles blaming white people for the actions of other white people from hundreds of years ago will end up causing defensiveness. That's why I told spike not to buy into that nonsense.
*I* get frustrated reading about how all white people are forever complicit in the evils of slavery and Jim Crow. So I can only imagine how annoying it must for you.
But yeah, I don't feel as if the defensiveness is aimed at me exactly. It's just the degree and frequency of it, especially as I'm clearly *not* blaming white people of today for the sins of everybody who ever looked like them, that gets a bit grating after a while😅
I think you make a good point, Dave. It’s not a lack of empathy or even a ‘white guilt’ response, to me. It’s the feeling of essential unfairness of being tagged with baggage based on immutable characteristics and needing to call out hypocrisy to maintain personal integrity. Yet the calling out does lack empathy, which is why Steve’s comment on the ‘sweet spot’ between rational persuasion and empathy rings so true.
Enjoyed your comment!