The Second Narrative Is That She's The Victim Of Racism

Heroes are meant to be one-dimensional. That’s why you’re not supposed to meet them. 

Heroes act as an uninterrupted stream of awesomeness. They don’t fail, they don’t quit, they don’t poop. We mere mortals get to admire them. We get to cheer for them. And more importantly, to aspire to be like them. 

But something’s changed with many young people’s heroes today. 

Don’t get me wrong, they’re still one-dimensional, but now, that dimension is almost always their victimhood. This has become such a habit that it’s as if they can’t see the person anymore. Only the tale of oppression that they can superimpose on top of them.

In my article, The Remarkably Unpopular Tale Of Black Progress, I wrote about a sporting hero; Surya Bonaly. I wrote about her decision to perform an illegal backflip during the Olympic finals just to please her fans. I wrote about the fact that she had points deducted for doing so and that she didn’t care. And I wrote about how, because she’s black, a worrying number of people can only see her through the lens of victimhood.

Siete tried to help me see her as he did. 

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Siete:

I take the larger point that black people should not go around with some kind of persecution or inferiority complex and talk about "racism" being the center of everything. That's something I agree with.

The Bonaly story, though, is rather curious. There are various narratives that you can hang around that story. First is that she was doing an illegal move, and docking away points was the rightful decision, regardless of the contestant's race. The second narrative is that she's the victim of racism. And the third narrative is she's a symbol of black empowerment that should be celebrated anyway. I can't pick and choose between these 3 narratives because there's a case to be made for each of them. I can't say whether each one is right or wrong.

The other point that I'm going to make is that there are three threads going on right now. There is the story of black advancement which I won't talk at length cos the original poster know much better than I do. Then there is the story of how white people are grappling with the legacy of colonialism and conquest and enslavement over the centuries. And there is the story of Asian advancement, which is already complex and diverse when you talk about the East Asians, let alone when you include people from the subcontinent or the Middle East.

These three narratives seem to me to be like ships passing in the night. They don't talk to each other, they barely understand each other, and there is very little inter-cultural communication between them. They all come with bags of philosophical baggage, and there is very little attempt to learn from each other's experience.

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Steve QJ:

“The second narrative is that she's the victim of racism.”

But what, exactly, is the "case to be made" for this narrative? If the answer is nothing more than, "because she's black and she didn't win," we have a serious problem, no?

Bonaly performed an illegal move after performing below her best due to injury and was awarded 10th place. The move was awesome and made her a legend.

This very clearly supports narratives one and three. Looking forward to hearing your argument for two.