Featured Post

A Dog Named Buff (This is not a musing about a general topic like the others)

A Dog Named Buff (This is not a musing about a general topic like the others) The article about the dog who waited by the highway mont...

Tuesday, September 12, 2017

Proud to be White

Proud to be White

The following interesting article was sent to me recently which provided the basis for the musing which follows the article. 

SAD, BUT VERY TRUE. THINK ABOUT IT BEFORE YOU REACT.
Subject: Proud to be white. I have been wondering about why Whites are racists, and no other race is... Proud to be White Michael Richards makes his point...
Michael Richards better known as Kramer from TVs' Seinfeld does make a good point. This was his defense speech in court after making racial comments in his comedy act. In it he raised a few interesting points...
Someone finally said it. But how many are actually paying attention to this?
There are African Americans, Mexican Americans, Asian Americans, Arab Americans, etc. And then there are just Americans... You pass me on the street and sneer in my direction.
You call me 'White boy', 'Cracker', 'Honkey', 'Whitey', 'Caveman'... And that's OK...
But when I call you Nigger, Kike, Towel head, Sand-nigger, Camel Jockey, Beaner, Gook, or Chink... You call me a racist.
You say that whites commit a lot of violence against you...
So why are the ghettos the most dangerous places to live in?
You have the United Negro College Fund.
You have Martin Luther King Day.
You have Black History Month.
You have Cesar Chavez Day.
You have Yom Hashoah.
You have Ma'uled Al-Nabi.
You have the NAACP.
You have BET...
Imagine if we had WET (White Entertainment Television)... we'd be racists.
If we had a White Pride Day, you would call us racists.
If we had White History Month, we'd be racists.
If we had any organization for whites only to 'advance' OUR lives, we'd be racists.
We have a Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, a Black Chamber of Commerce, and then we just have the plain Chamber of Commerce.
Wonder who pays for that???
A white woman could not be in the Miss Black American pageant, but any color can be in the Miss America pageant.
If we had a college fund that only gave white students scholarships... You know we'd be racists.
There are over 60 openly proclaimed Black Colleges in the US ...
Yet if there were 'White colleges', that would be a racist college.
In the Million Men March, you believed that you were marching for your race and rights. If we marched for our race and rights, you would call us racists.
You are proud to be black, brown, yellow and orange, and you're not afraid to announce it. But when we announce our white pride, you call us racists.
You rob us, carjack us, and shoot at us.
But, when a white police officer shoots a black gang member or beats up a black drug dealer running from the law and posing a threat to society, you call him a racist.
I am proud... But you call me a racist.
Why is it that only whites can be racists???
There is nothing improper about this e-mail...
But let's see which of you are proud enough to send it on.
I sadly don't think many will.
That's why we have LOST most of OUR RIGHTS in this country.
We won't stand up for ourselves!
BE PROUD TO BE WHITE!
It's not a crime YET... But getting very close!
End of sent article

Musing About the Topic

The article is interesting but I think misleading and avoids the issue of each ethnic group trying to be “proud” of something which by definition implies they are the superior ethnic group. If there are admirable personal traits/personalities which are possessed by all those in a particular group then I guess that group can be proud of themselves. I have taught an endless number of students of every ethnic background and I have not found any admirable human trait to be found only in certain ethnic groups.  Personally, I am only proud of things which are the result of my own efforts and goals. Many things about us just are. White, black, or brownish just are. Tall or short just is. Ugly or handsome just is, etc. Mischievousness sets in when we start being proud of these sorts of things. Patriotism and religious allegiance fits in here as well. I was just born in this country. I inherited a certain religion. It is hard to see where pride fits in too well in all these areas. As I matured I no longer felt obligated to any particular religious belief, or felt white was a better color, or felt right or wrong, my country was always right. Religious, racial, and patriotic furor simply lead to conflict and wars. I don’t even like national anthems being used by politicians at sport events. This ‘my country right or wrong’ is not a healthy mindset for any country. Hitler was most effective with this mentality and look where that led to—massive destruction in Germany and all over the globe. Look at all the wars of the most vicious kind generated by religious conflicts.  It is still going on and sometimes it is just between two different sects of the same religion. But all this as it may be, let’s look at the article in question here. 

From this point I think we need ask ourselves, if we are white in this country,  would we rather be of any other ethnic group? Most will certainly say no.  My opinion here is that we would only find any significant number (in our country) of differing ethnic people who might say “I’d rather be white”. In general anywhere across the globe being in the majority is the most comfortable fit. Next come those societies in which the minorities are in small numbers. Usually very little friction there, the majority does not feel threatened. The real problem comes when a minority is a considerable percentage of the population in that country. America is unique in that we have sizable numbers of several ethnic minorities which then as a group becomes threatening to the majority white population. This alone creates tension. 

The rest of the article to me, is misleading. I really can’t remember when anyone called me “white boy”, “cracker” etc. Maybe that is because I don’t recall calling anyone Nigger, Kike, , etc. I can’t even quickly think of any derogatory nicknames because it just doesn’t seem there is any need for me to do so.

All this insulting stuff comes from media ‘entertainment’—including movies, internet chat rooms, responses to articles on the internet, etc. It is the media which fosters most of this name calling. In fact, it is certainly rare, and I wander around a lot, to hear any of that name calling in public interactions. For one thing, it would be almost a sure way to find oneself verbally or physically attacked.

As far as the comment about the ghettoes being a dangerous place to live in, this is hardly a comment on ethnicity as much as it is the economic status of ghettoes. White ghetto areas are as dangerous per capita as minority ghettoes, but there are far more minority ghettoes. It need be remembered that every government is responsible for all the communities within it. Environment plays a huge role in how children in their formative years end up. I wonder what kind of person I would be to today if I had grown up in a ghetto of any sort. Since I caught just about every childhood disease, and medical care being what it is in ghettoes, I guess I would have just died young. 

As far as named days go, the truth is, if we look it up, just about every day seems to have some groups day attached to it like Secretaries day, etc.  Below is just a list of what the first 4 days in Sept are named for:

September 1st
September 2nd
September 3rd
September 4th

If there are not a lot of White this or White that events or days this is typical of the majority race in any country. Only minorities feel the pressure to signify days or events for themselves. For example, if one belongs to some sort of ethnic race which only comprises 10% of the population, you might want to have an artistic painting contest for just members of that race. It is natural when most of the people around you are not of your ethnic background, to seek events or whatever when people of that group can gather together. Remember, most Americans are Christians so why do we have to have dozens of different Christian Sects?  There is no law stating there cannot be a White Pride Day or White History Month, but until recently whites were in such a great majority that it would have seemed ridiculous.  All the advantages that go to any majority eliminate the need for such things.

What is happening is that the white majority is shrinking and this naturally is resented by the white population just as religious fundamentalists greatly resent that all denominations are suffering huge reductions in membership. 

It is understandable when white blue collar workers find jobs disappearing en masse as computers and machines take over work they used to do, while at the same time minority groups are gaining more access to all kinds of jobs, that much of the anger will be directed at  those competing for the fewer jobs available. 

There are no statistics which demonstrate minorities are getting a greater share of the better paying jobs in our country based on the percentage of their minority in the population. We could have a White Chamber of Commerce but what white wants to do that? Most every active member in the Chamber of Commerces across the country are heavily white, certainly far greater than their percentage in their community. 

Anytime in a democracy where majority rules, minorities need protection. It is human nature. That is why we have a court system to protect the rights of any minority. There are whites who attend black colleges, they cannot be denied admission by law. But most whites view black colleges as low level colleges (they probably are) and would rather attend a school where most of the students are white. 

As far as marching for rights, what rights are there which are being denied to whites?  People tend to march for rights others have which they do not, or opportunities they don’t have which others have, or living situations others have and they don’t, etc. As long as property taxes are the primary source of funding for schools, or medical care based the ability to pay for  insurance, just how are people born into a ghetto supposed to get good schools or good health care, and so on? How many people in this country are willing to spend the same kind of tax money on every child in the country to give them a good education?  

Be this all as it may, why is it that these tensions between ethnic groups are suddenly coming to a boil?  When people in general are doing well and life gets better with time, then people, in general, are amendable to better relations with diverse ethnic groups. But for decades now, more and more people find their lives getting slowly worse, not better with time. Still, all this “in general” stuff doesn’t give much clarity to the situation. There are many factors which contribute to this sudden anger of so many against various minorities and of course minority anger against majorities. In this new and first time historical age, where humans have now overpopulated the planet, it is natural for groups to start turning on each other as everyone competes for limited natural resources. The United States is less affected right now than many other parts of the world, only because we got a later start. But we have chosen governmental priorities the last 60 years which have put the welfare of our own population in a precarious position. First is the Eisenhower prediction that the industrial/military complex would become the major portion of our spending budget. Like many ‘empires’ before us, we have built a global ‘empire’ too expensive to maintain and one which is now causing us to be in perpetual warfare in multiple places around the world. We are the only country with military bases all over the world, and all these military engagements have placed our citizens as the primary target of terrorists across the globe. We are no longer the beacon of hope for the poor, the less fortunate, the oppressed, etc. but the target of their anger. Secondly, when any country finds themselves in an economic situation in which 43% of adults do not make enough money to qualify to pay federal tax, this is a genuine tax collection problem. To fully acerbate this problem 2-5% of our population own 90% of our wealth. And these 2-5%, with precious few exceptions, absolutely are addicted or compulsive about gaining even more wealth. Enough will never be enough for this segment of our population. And their wealth currently has the power to virtually control all three branches of government. 

At the same time all this is happening, minorities of various ilk, have been gaining rights that they never before had, but others had.  Add to this, with people living longer, we have an older population who like older populations before them, have varying degrees of genuine nostalgia about life when they were younger. It is not just the nostalgia here, but longer longevity makes them a greater burden for a longer period of time on the younger population. Everyone becomes conflicted about just who is going to pay or should pay for the medical and financial care of the elderly. With modern medical advances we can keep people alive and to varying degrees healthy for decades, but at an expense which is astronomical. Politically we are now in a new and strange situation. Most issues which are serious and bearing down on us from all directions are complicated, and beyond the wherewithal of the average citizen to have enough knowledge to vote intelligently. Everyone ends up susceptible to professional brainwashing. It’s an emotional circus. 

If we are white in this country, especially older and white, this complicated mess is a bit overwhelming and frustrating. And things weren’t like this before all these various minorities started to get new rights (to them, others already had them), new opportunities (for some members of the minorities, but rarely for those most in need of new opportunities), more level playing fields (again mostly for some, but not those minority people most in need). It is absolutely true if, for example, that black manager of the store wasn’t the manager, a white person would be able to have that particular job. All this sort of stuff creates real genuine confusion to everyone in our society. Many whites begin to feel “do I count at all anymore?”, many blacks at the bottom of their own economic strata feel “none of all this shit is making my life any better”, and many hispanics feel “they entice me to come over here and do the crappy work no other Americans will do, at a slave wage, and now they want to deport me when this is the only life I have known for years.”  All these things coming down at once generate anger on so many sides, for so many different reasons. All this anger elected Trump. The problem is Trump has never been interested in anyone else’s misfortunes or limitations at all.  His motto has always been “in any interaction between two people always be sure the other person gets the short end of the stick.”  Any group who thinks Trump will make things better for them is really disillusioned. Trump radiates addiction to personal wealth, power, revenge, and intolerance to diversity. He simply makes it okay for everyone to lash out emotionally, and blame others for any personal predicament.  Affirmative action of past years meant well, but any affirmative action works only if the targeted group is all citizens who grow up in urban, suburban, or rural poverty. With few exceptions the blacks who benefitted from affirmative action were the middle class blacks who didn’t need any special help. For them it just meant they could attend Harvard instead of the University of Toledo, or get promoted ahead of whites. 

But there is a genuine oddity here.  There are far more people today who appreciate diversity and intermix with all sorts of different ethnicities, religious beliefs, gender differences, varied sexual orientations, and so on—especially younger people. When I wander home from a play late in the evening  toward a EL train in a vibrant city entertainment street there are so many groups of really mixed young people all having a genuine good time together—every color, every shape, the ugly and the good looking, the dumb (we’re all dumb) and the dumber and I think how nice if everyone could feel like these people feel about each other. Maybe when we see these groups we should capture enough such groups and put them in Congress, draw a name from a hat and make one of them president, pick one of each of differing ilk, and put them in the Supreme Court. Then we would have a government in which the leaders were all of good will toward all of our citizens. It certainly would beat what we have now. 

Here’s another interesting phenomenon: in the midst of all this antagonism between ethnic groups, the number of interracial marriages has grown at an exponential rate. Of course that becomes an irritant to many in and of itself. My guess is that some people, trying hard to get along with someone of a different race, find the efforts of both leads to a genuine attraction that would never have occurred were they dating someone of the same race. Sometimes I guess, for some, for reasons unknown, diversity is an attraction. Even people who express the generalized feeling that white people are now being discriminated against, often have exceptions in their personal life and have close ties with someone of a different race. Nevertheless these exceptions are felt to be just that, exceptions.

All the complexities that apply to this question of white majority anger, or minority anger, have not been covered in this musing. This is an emotional situation, not a purely rational one, and we all are left with emotional feelings. It is like when the doctor says, “stop worrying about this”, how do we stop worrying? We could say to ourselves, “stop feeling this way about other ethnic minorities”, but too often, feelings are feelings, and depending how strong they are, those feelings will remain. How many parents have been angered when an off spring falls in love with someone of different race or religious or cultural bent.  While there really are no facts to throw around, we may try our best, and in the end we accept or we lose a good relationship to an offspring when such a coupling leads to marriage. 

Even the dumbest amongst us understands it would be better “if we could just get along”, but even the smartest amongst us hardly have the insight to create such a social state. It does seem that the laws which govern the evolutionary process, depending on diversity and all the commotion that comes with diversity, are needed for evolutionary process. It is what it is I guess. 


Given all these important issues which are coming down the pike at us from various directions—we, like it or not, are now in the political age of feelings. Feelings are rampant, and even labeled alternate facts. Progress is good, but has led us to a tangled web of babbled feelings and what this portends for the future is anyone’s guess. I think Sheebiejiebee my cat knows, but she keeps it to herself.   
Posted by at