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From Raw Story
The National Park Service has approved an application for a year anniversary commemoration of Charlottesville's violent white supremacist rally to be held in Washington, DC.
DC's WUSA9 reported that NPS approved the application but has not yet issued permits for the rally set to be held at Lafayette Square, a seven-acre park just north of the White House. The event is to be organized by Jason Kessler, the organizer of the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville where 32-year-old Heather Heyer was hit and killed by an alleged white supremacist.
"This year we have a new purpose," Kessler said, discussing the upcoming rally. "That's to talk about the civil rights abuse that happened in Charlottesville, Virginia last year."
Kessler claimed it wasn't his fault that "that stuff happened," and said that in the months since the rally ostensibly intended to "defend" a statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee, "white civil rights" have taken a hit.
"We're not able to peacefully assemble. We're not able to speak," he told WUSA. "I keep telling people if your right to rally and your right to protest means that someone else's life might be in danger, then it is no longer free speech but it is hate speech."
(Score: 2, Troll) by Arik on Sunday June 24 2018, @11:03PM (10 children)
I'm sorry that had to happen to you.
"When you *are* the normative barometer, you don't even need to think about these things. The world fits you like a tailored glove to a hand. Don't give me that "butbut poor people" stuff either. I *am* poor. I spent years eating out of trash cans. I had all too many, but at the same time not enough, meals of plain rice or "air sandwiches.""
So you know from personal experience that this is bullshit, but you still believe it. That's some mental gymnastics.
"I still have white privilege, which is to say, as much as it sucked being this poor, being black or Latina on top of it would have made it so so much worse. Much harder to get work, for one thing."
Really? You really think it 'would have made it so much worse' to have looked like the majority? You did say "whites" were the minority where you grew up, we're still talking about the same area, right?
Didn't you just tell us that when you're the 'default' that's privilege?
But somehow when the default is black, it's no longer privilege?
Did I say gymnastics? I think we might have to upgrade you to contortionist.
If you really want to be sensitive to privilege and fair to all people, those are supposed to be some of your core beliefs, right? If you really want that you should try to develop some empathy for the other side. That's not to say that they are right, or that you should adopt their position. They aren't right, and that's the last thing I would want you to do. But as it is you clearly don't have any clue where they come from in life, how they could think what they think or say what they say - with that empathy I really think you could really reach people and change minds for the better. But you can't develop empathy for those you view as subhuman.
And don't tell me that being "white" somehow guarantees you empathy, it doesn't. The life of a white person in NYC doesn't actually have much in common with the experiences of most of the country.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 3, Funny) by Runaway1956 on Monday June 25 2018, @02:38AM
Great post. I'm all out of mod points. I forgot to water the mod garden several times last month, so there aren't enough to go around.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Monday June 25 2018, @05:31AM (8 children)
*face-fucking-palm*
Actually the default where I grew up was southern Chinese, didn't become black default until I was in the Bronx, and even then there was plenty of competition with Latin@ people for "default" in that neighborhood. Know something odd, though? *All my bosses were white.* And I never had trouble getting work. I got interviews and even promotions I really did not deserve, even (maybe *because* of...) being the only white girl in the place. It was a very clear pattern. Even odds that if I had been Marisol or Laquisha or whatever that would not have happened.
What even are you saying here with this post? I honestly don't get it. So "the life of a white person in NYC doesn't actually have much in common with the experiences of most of the country," but I was also...er...help me out here, disadvantaged because of being rarer than hens' teeth in the neighborhoods I lived in...um, but somehow that makes me viewing *someone else* as subhuman. What the actual fuck. Untangle yourself and try again, please?
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Arik on Monday June 25 2018, @01:28PM (2 children)
The most openly racist boss I ever worked for was Chinese, and I really thought he hated Indians like nothing else. He told some of the most vicious 'jokes' I've ever heard and the butt was always an Indian. Really nasty stuff that I couldn't even bring myself to repeat. And yet he surprised me by hiring Indians, several of them, and he treated them well, at least as well as he treated everyone else if you get what I'm saying. He might hate Indians in the abstract, but he loves money more, these guys were making him money so he loved them. And so it was this really crazy situation in a way, all this hatred and prejudice concentrated in this little company and money and also status and privilege (he was the boss, we were the hired help) was all focused together and there was so much potential for such a very ugly situation and... it didn't happen. Everyone involved was more interested in doing the job and making the money and keeping the situation stable so it would keep working for them that expressing their racism (and believe me, the Indians had plenty of vicious jokes of their own, and so did the white guys for that matter) just got pushed waaaay down the priority stack for all involved. And over time I saw those hard attitudes soften. Not all the way, for sure not! But noticeably.
I'm sorry if you find it tangled, but I guess that's kind of my point. Reality is tangled. Your position is complicated *and so is everyone elses.* Simplistic slogans and formulas don't work so well for modelling it. Dark skin, or light skin, can be an advantage in some situations and a disadvantage in others. You don't accurately reflect that when you sloganize it into things like 'white privilege.' There was a time in this country and others when that was a real thing, there was a time when we had segregated drinking fountains you know, but that was a long time ago. That was before I was born, before most of us were born, in many cases before our parents or even our grandparents were born. A lot of your rhetoric seems to be aimed at reassuring yourself that it is still that way, I can see how that gives you outrage and purpose. But there is no white privilege today, in fact anytime the law respects race at all it is to favor non-whites, so if there is any privilege left in the system, in the structure of the system rather than in individuals administering it, it is actually non-white privilege.
Now is there individual prejudice left? You bet your arse there is! But that reality is a very complicated and tangled mess, and it is not well suited to sloganeering, not suited to legislative remedy, and examining it deeply leads to empathy rather than outrage. Would that be such a bad thing? If Americans from different backgrounds could start to understand and appreciate each others positions and concerns?
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 26 2018, @12:13AM (1 child)
Excellent point and one which most any liberal person will agree with. I guess you're "side" hasn't been paying attention when "we" agree with you on topics, instead you listen to Fox News and take their word for it that all the liberals are "coming to getcha!" The piece I quoted is exactly what liberals want but we're fighting against generational racism that is very widespread to the point of being subconscious even in "liberals".
What conservatives need to do is approach this situation with humility instead of indignation. A massive % of your fellow conservatives are quite racist, with a small % being actually not racist. With the Muslim issue we've seen plenty enough comments calling for Muslims to condemn the actions of violent Muslims, why don't we get that with conservatives? Regarding the Charlostville vehicular murder all we're getting in this article are defendants! What. The. Actual. Fuck.
Look in the mirror! If that looks good then look to your left and right, statistics say you will find a racist asshole. Start there.
(Score: 2) by Arik on Tuesday June 26 2018, @02:00AM
You started off so well but that second sentence, wow.
"My side?" That's entirely the point here. I'm not taking a stand for one side or the other, I'm taking a stand against polarisation, against BOTH regressive leftists and regressive rightists.
I've never fit in the right-left duopoly, I consistently reject both of these 'sides.' As a result, when I'm talking with blue folks, I get typecast as a red, and when I'm talking to reds, I get typecast as a blue. I'm neither. I'm team purple I guess, all by my lonesome out here, trying to pull people back to the center not split them up further.
"Look in the mirror! If that looks good then look to your left and right, statistics say you will find a racist asshole. Start there."
Yeah, look, here's the thing. You're actually not too far from right on that. Racists are everywhere. On the right - and on the left, I see it constantly. But we have to live with these people, we can't just go shoot them all, that wouldn't work. We have to start from tolerance, not from the inquisition.
What if I gone nuclear outrage on my Chinese friend when he started talking about Indians, do you think that would have changed his attitude in the least? Probably hardened it. Instead I rolled my eyes and tolerated him, and a few months later I introduced him to some Indians that I knew he would really like... and that DID change his attitudes, slowly, a little. Think about it.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 25 2018, @08:58PM (4 children)
Welcome to the wonderful world of affirmative action. How do you think the more deserving applicants feel about your undeserved success at their expense? Did you stand up for their violated civil rights and mistreatment? Or was it rules for thee, not for me?
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday June 26 2018, @07:40AM (3 children)
Yes, I did ask "why did I get this when $PERSON's been here longer?" The usual response was "because you do the job better." And you know, that's likely not a lie. Still felt weird, though. Maybe I was overthinking it?
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 26 2018, @02:03PM (2 children)
Did you really expect them to say it was because women were under represented in your position even if was the true reason? Whatever the case, it kinda undermines the whole gender gap/unfair treatment of women agenda doesn't it? My employer has hired plenty of horribly incompetent employees into management positions regardless of their sex. Our board just hired a totally useless president and I have no doubt she was chosen for optics because of the current diversity climate. She immediately hired a man from her former employer to make the decisions and do the job she was hired to do. (newly created VP slot) But hey, she's the queen of selfies and photo ops. Consider that next time someone rolls their eyes when listening to outrage over the good-ole-boy hiring network.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday June 26 2018, @06:39PM (1 child)
Uhhh...considering this was at the perfume and jewelry section of the local Macy's, no, women were *not* under-represented in that position. What the actual fuck. It was ALL women.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 26 2018, @07:54PM
Interesting... You said:
And all of those interviews and promotions were at Macy's jewelry counter? Or that was the only one you bothered to ask why you received preferences? And it does not change the fact that no manager is going to admit hiring based on AA quotas. That leads to unwinnable lawsuits from the rejected applicants.