I'm going crazy
A little every day
And everything I wanted
Is now driving me away
I woke up this morning
To the sound of breaking hearts
Mine is full of questions
And it's tearing you apart
And this is home.
- Sheryl Crow
That's what it feels like around here lately. This isn't my only Internet home, but I tend to hang around here more than any one other place.
Thus, I get to dip as deep as I choose to, at any given moment, into the writing of the people here.
I like that. I like it that it's the writing of the people. That there is always a surprise.
I'm okay with the fighting. I'm okay with the fighting over the fighting.
I'm okay with all of it because this is a new thing, and the PTB haven't killed it yet, and I hope they never do, and I hope it spreads, like some kind of marvelously healthy disease.
And of course, it has; it has a lot. There would be no Soapblox if not for Daily Kos? Am I correct? Look at all of those wonderful Soapblox blogs. Cool. Yes, even those of you who run Soapblox blogs and don't like me; I say unto you that you're cool, too.
Now, back to the election.
This is a Tim Wise speech that he gave at CSU Sonoma last April. It's about racism (which is his metier, and he gets it; he really, really gets it)
In the context of this truly wonderful speech, he discusses the economic history of the USA with regards to "big government," and points out whom it benefited solely for many, many decades (white people), and the economic disparity that exists to this day with regards to people of color, largely related to their being excluded from any such huge governmental hand-outs historically.
He really puts it together wonderfully, as he argues how much racism is behind this "small government" meme; i.e. nobody even brought up the subject until those people of color started wanting the same benefits. It was cool as long as it was white people getting their stuff underwritten by the feds; it was cool as long as it was white single moms being paid to stay home with the kids.
I recommend watching this highly. It's about an hour long, but a real treat.
Racism was a big factor in the 2010 mid-term elections. I sure as hell heard it discussed down here in Little Texas, from about 2006 on.
My neighbors are the people who came out to elect people like Susana Martinez for NM Gov. Teabagger, Palin-promoted Susana. Oh, I can't wait. I really should write about her, just to vent. I already set up a Google alert.
I see trolls here (won't name who) carrying on about the historic loss of House seats (since 1948?) Well, surprise surprise; when you break new ground, you get backlash.
I have mixed feelings about O, to say the least, but I'm a leftist; I have mixed feelings about lots of people :-)
Wise addresses this in the video, btw. He takes on the meme of "pulling the race card," says it's a totally false meme, implying as it does, that it actually works. He argues that it never works, it just backfires. Nobody "pulls the race card," and in fact, people go out of their way to avoid doing so.
Thus, we're not "pulling the race card," although it's surely a huge elephant in the room.
(Though there are other, perhaps more workable elephants.)
A lot of Wise's video is about just that; the common and consistent refusal of white people to acknowledge racism, to acknowledge how ingrained it is in us - and even in people of color! That meaning not that people of color experience subconscious hostility towards white people - but that they experience subconscious hostility towards people of color!
It runs that deep.
Wise winds up saying that all of this isn't because white people are evil. It's because we don't have to acknowledge the bigotry against people of color. It's optional to do so. There are no real penalties, or any such are minimal and easily avoidable ones, for failing to acknowledge, let alone act on our own internalized bigotry, let alone that of anyone else.
Then he connects that to how men don't have to acknowledge sexism, straight people don't have to acknowledge homophobia, etc. Because it's optional to do so.
He says that one acknowledges such bigotries because one makes the choice to listen to someone who is a victim of one or more of these prejudices, and then to believe these victims, simply because they are the experts on this subject. Not you.
You make the choice to take responsibility, even for something you didn't create, when you start first by engaging in such listening.
Really, it is one fantastic speech. Take the time to watch it, if you're not familiar with this guy. Or even if you are.
Love,
Miep