I'm just really finding it hard to be sympathetic and I don't think I should have to be.
We've all suffered. Many people lost jobs. Those of us lucky to keep them have either had to risk our lives or accept dramatic changes in our quality of life. Many more people lost friends and relatives and loved ones.
These people suffered way less under lockdowns than I have. Ours have gone on longer, we've had a continuous mask mandate, and there are way more restrictions than in the US. And demographically, they weren't unemployed Appalachian coal miners or something—they were largely middle or upper-middle class managers and owners.
After all that, their big complaint seems to be that there are...fewer white people? Like the planet is dying and there's a plague and there are empty buildings while people sleep on the streets, and the biggest concern these people have is fewer white people. Fuck 'em. I'm no fan of the carceral state but at this point I'm like let them rot in jail and experience what BIPOC get for driving with an expired license or smoking a joint. /rant
I'm no fan of the carceral state but at this point I'm like let them rot in jail and experience what BIPOC get for driving with an expired license or smoking a joint
One more thing: unlike driving with an expired license or smoking a joint, the insurrectionists' behavior on 1/6/21 had actual victims.
It's a good, well-needed article, but I wish they hadn't bothered with the Arendt quotation/reference, which has become basically a white-noise cliche at this point. :/
White Canadian saying that I have no empathy for these insurrectionists. Some of them already have other reasons to want to make me die prematurely anyway, whether they ever get to know of me or not. They've been taught to want all of this, so yes, go after their "teachers", too. I have some privilege still, and there are people I want to protect with that. The insurrectionists and their "teachers" are not among them.
I agree COMPLETELY. I'd go further than "irresponsible" and lean toward "biased", citing the ownership of most of our media by rich white conservatives.
Wow, it's pretty fucking amazing to me that author got all the way through that long article without once mentioning gun laws, or the lack thereof, and how easy it was for them all to get militaristic supplies for the Capitol siege (and get those supplies across state lines).
I'm glad to see someone even vaguely pointing out the bias of the Howley article, as I have been wincing about Howley since the headline crossed my vision. Howley is an apologist, whether or not that is the explicit intention. I don't think this article goes far enough-- please, in the bit about how "white Americans feel stripped of their birthright", put 'birthright' in quotation marks, O author, because they only THINK it's theirs-- but it's better than nothing.
And yeah, one of the huge manifestations of white privilege at this time is the way that media consider white people as individuals and not as parts of societal movements affected by the larger picture. It's an extremely aggravating manifestation of privilege, too, because it is unquestioned so very much of the time.
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malionette
no subject
Date: 2022-01-06 10:07 pm (UTC)We've all suffered. Many people lost jobs. Those of us lucky to keep them have either had to risk our lives or accept dramatic changes in our quality of life. Many more people lost friends and relatives and loved ones.
These people suffered way less under lockdowns than I have. Ours have gone on longer, we've had a continuous mask mandate, and there are way more restrictions than in the US. And demographically, they weren't unemployed Appalachian coal miners or something—they were largely middle or upper-middle class managers and owners.
After all that, their big complaint seems to be that there are...fewer white people? Like the planet is dying and there's a plague and there are empty buildings while people sleep on the streets, and the biggest concern these people have is fewer white people. Fuck 'em. I'm no fan of the carceral state but at this point I'm like let them rot in jail and experience what BIPOC get for driving with an expired license or smoking a joint. /rant
no subject
Date: 2022-01-07 01:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-01-07 03:51 am (UTC)One more thing: unlike driving with an expired license or smoking a joint, the insurrectionists' behavior on 1/6/21 had actual victims.
no subject
Date: 2022-01-07 12:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-01-07 12:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-01-07 01:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-01-07 01:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-01-07 05:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-01-07 05:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-01-07 06:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-01-08 07:02 am (UTC)And yeah, one of the huge manifestations of white privilege at this time is the way that media consider white people as individuals and not as parts of societal movements affected by the larger picture. It's an extremely aggravating manifestation of privilege, too, because it is unquestioned so very much of the time.
Thanks for this link.