Comments on: Not the Man

By: sheckyMerman

sheckyMerman — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 12:51:34 +0000

Oh, yeah, Julius, right on, I agree! I get philosophical with this stuff. I’ve seen some instances of “inverse racism,” as I have called it. I have some acquaintances who can’t see that some people of other races do indeed do bad things, or can do no wrong (even when they do wrong, of course not because of their race, but because of their criminal activities).

It definitely can be maddening!

By: julius

julius — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 14:55:40 +0000

@ sheckyMerman: I agree totally on the lowest common denominator / substandard comment. Unfortunately, most people see society as a zero-sum experience where they have to take from someone else in order to advance. The “me first” attitude that these people adopt unfortunately holds everyone back and keeps a lot of the racial and social boundary lines in place by perpetuating the situation.

With regard to “reverse discrimination” I was using the term to describe the condition of discriminating because you think you’re being discriminated against. I certainly understand that discrimination is discrimination whoever is doing the discriminating.

By: sheckyMerman

sheckyMerman — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 12:30:11 +0000

PS, there’s no “reverse” to discrimination– discrimination/racism/sexism/religionism/sizism are all isms of their own, no matter who’s doing it to whom!

By: sheckyMerman

sheckyMerman — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 12:28:33 +0000

The saddest part of “we’re all in this together” is that we are, and nobody sees it! The beauty of equality would be that everyone would be on the level playing field, not pushing anyone back down to “substandard.” It’s why I kind of cringe watching Homer Simpson… we’re kind of programming ourselves to be Stupid Dads, ya know…?
:-/

By: Andrew Koop

Andrew Koop — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 18:51:06 +0000

i definitely get the whole concept of white male privilege for certain. i also feel my share of white, liberal guilt for things, as you’ve mentioned, that are beyond my control. it’s the piled on guilt that causes these special encounters. we are the first generation to grow-up reading about the ridiculously messed up things that our white, male ancestors did. walking around with this guilt all the time actually does nothing to help equality. instead, it ups the tension.

we should have been forced to take classes on self-forgiveness in addition to “why you suck because of your ancestors 101.”

By: julius

julius — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 18:33:52 +0000

It’s really not a great time to be a normal white guy. We bear all of the burden for generations of men that we didn’t even know and have the completely unrealistic label from every “minority,” which these days amounts to everyone that isn’t a white man according to most definitions, that they’re somehow rigging the system to keep others out. It’s like reverse discrimination sometimes, and some people feel like they need to take it a step further and hate you personally in addition to a broader societal hatred against anyone with light skin and a penis. Sometimes it just makes a guy feel really cornered.

By: Andrew Koop

Andrew Koop — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 17:21:20 +0000

yes, a dangerous game. i believe this is what john edwards was referring to early on in his campaign. he, however, did not put it as gracefully as senator cook.

“man” is so vaguely defined that we often find ourselves fending off barbs meant for our parents’ generation. i find myself muttering, “trust me, i get it,” three or four times every day.