{"id":7113,"date":"2016-11-13T19:55:39","date_gmt":"2016-11-13T23:55:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/?p=7113"},"modified":"2016-11-13T15:54:58","modified_gmt":"2016-11-13T19:54:58","slug":"the-cool-racism-for-the-postmodern-hipster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2016\/11\/the-cool-racism-for-the-postmodern-hipster.html","title":{"rendered":"The cool racism for the postmodern hipster"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

White privilege<\/a>. \u00a0Of course it\u2019s racism. \u00a0It\u2019s taking the complex experience that is human existence and boiling it down to skin color. \u00a0It allows us to dismiss the concerns or suffering of people because of the color of their skin. \u00a0That so many academics and leaders are hip to the groove just reminds us that when it came to arguing against blacks, Jews, homosexuals or others in previous eras, it was usually those same intellectuals and leaders who were leading the charge.<\/p>\n

Sometimes we like to imagine that all of the really bad things in history came about because thugs and hayseeds with pitchforks\u00a0assailed the hallowed halls of academia and centers of culture and demanded that their cowering superiors join the witch hunt. \u00a0Fact is, as often as not, it was those same superiors\u00a0in their positions of power and comfort who were able to move and shape the thoughts of their inferiors by channeling their anger, rage, suffering and prejudices against the right group of people. \u00a0That\u2019s often the way it has been, and it\u2019s likely the way it will continue to be.<\/p>\n

As I tell my boys, bigotry is the lifeblood of every civilization. \u00a0Every society needs to have its \u2018them\u2019, those people who are the problem, troublemakers, bad guys. \u00a0Those folks who don\u2019t matter, who get what they have coming, who deserve the blame. \u00a0It can be based on anything: lifestyle, race, religion, ideology, class, singing voice, you name it. \u00a0But there has to be a them<\/em> upon which to pile the sins of the world, or at least the society in question.<\/p>\n

In our case, the presence of so many white liberals falling over themselves to advance\u00a0the hip bigotry of the age shouldn\u2019t be surprising. \u00a0Seeing the way the wind is blowing, or perhaps overcompensating for deeply held prejudices and bigotry of their own, it shouldn\u2019t come as a shock to find out they\u2019re the first in line to say you can always tell a racist by the color of his skin, so therefore he gets what he has coming to him. \u00a0It wouldn\u2019t be something new for someone to declare his\u00a0own demographic to be the problem, and by that he means everyone else in his\u00a0demographic.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s obviously the wrong way to go. \u00a0But it\u2019s picking up steam. \u00a0Because, like all things that are bad, there is always a touch of truth. \u00a0Naturally it was easier for people of white, European heritage to get by in ages past while others struggled due to racism and discrimination. \u00a0That doesn\u2019t mean, even then, it was straight down skin color lines. \u00a0A poor white person starving in a Hooverville was not better off than a black lawyer living in Manhattan in the 1930s just because he was white. \u00a0They each may have had their problems, and they each might have suffered. \u00a0The idea that the suffering of one was worse or better based on skin color, however, should set off alarms. \u00a0But if human history teaches us anything, it likely won\u2019t.<\/p>\n

That some Catholics are jumping\u00a0on the bandwagon<\/a> shouldn\u2019t surprise us. \u00a0It isn\u2019t as if people of faith have been immune to riding the crest wave of the latest prejudices\u00a0in the past. \u00a0And in most cases, it\u2019s because you want to be part of that magical right side of history, which always seems right at the time, when it\u2019s the latest that all the important people are embracing.<\/p>\n

Like all bigotry, it\u2019s difficult to refute those who share the view. \u00a0Anyone who complains can either be seen as a hapless enabler of stale old racism, or a person in that group who is just fussing because they can\u2019t handle the truth. \u00a0But let\u2019s face it, when you mention that white people are struggling financially or are seeing spikes in suicide, only to be answered with \u2018it serves them right, they had their time\u2019, you can bet that this is an idea, \u00a0however insightful or meaningful in its origins, that won\u2019t bode well for the future. \u00a0Just like\u00a0this little piece demonstrates<\/a>\u00a0as it struggles to look at Jewish life in light of the suffering of the Holocaust, while pondering \u00a0the other side of privilege that Jews may enjoy because of their whiteness. \u00a0Sure, the Nazis were wrong to accuse Jews of being the race of privilege among the struggling Germans just because they were Jewish, but perhaps in America because they are white\u2026<\/p>\n

See the problem?<\/p>\n

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. \u00a0<\/em>Martin Luther King, Jr. \u00a01963<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I imagine that goes for their sufferings and joys as well. \u00a0For my part, I think my wife\u2019s priest said it best. \u00a0Ethnicity is a fact and can be a beautiful gift, race is an artificial construct that is itself an evil. \u00a0If you\u2019re ever confused about when it\u2019s race or when it\u2019s ethnicity, just ask yourself if it\u2019s being used to celebrate a group of people, or tear them down or dismiss their sufferings. \u00a0Best guess, that\u2019s where the answer will be.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

White privilege. \u00a0Of course it\u2019s racism. \u00a0It\u2019s taking the complex experience that is human existence and boiling it down to skin color. \u00a0It allows us to dismiss the concerns or suffering of people because of the color of their skin. \u00a0That so many academics and leaders are hip to the groove just reminds us that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2805,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[3],"class_list":["post-7113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-social-observations","tag-current-events"],"yoast_head":"\nThe cool racism for the postmodern hipster<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"White privilege. \u00a0Of course it's racism. \u00a0It's taking the complex experience that is human existence and boiling it down to skin color. \u00a0It allows us to\" \/>\n<meta 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