Well, I agree that our experiences are different based on when and where we lived and who we are. You know I believe that quite strongly. Being white, I was never really racialized (kinda by definition) in larger society. I was aware of my race, because I grew up in a very diverse place and heard all the spoken and unspoken rules about what I could do/like/wear etc because I was white. Gotta say I always thought it was dumb. But, I try not to make too many waves… lt’s interesting that you think (if I understand you) that black people have fewer bad feelings about whites now than in the past… my dad was born in 1939 and he was of the opinion that blacks had a deep distrust of whites which is not something I ever observed, so you are probably right. The “discourse” is very much about “white supremacy“ and speaking of racism kinda like original sin (in that it is unpurgable) and throwing out phrases like “white tears” and such. It’s hard to imagine that some people don’t take that as permission to be a jerk in a way that they maybe would not have before? I don’t know. So given all that maybe I’d say the 1990s and early 2000s seemed like it has less racial tension. I fully admit that I may have been oblivious to it… or it could have been that I lived in some of the most diverse cities in America then, and now I live in one that is very segregated. Maybe if I was still in Maryland, just outside DC, I’d feel differently.
It's deep stuff for sure. I will never claim to know it all. (Hell, I can barely wrap my head around some of it.)
I will concede this: The younger generations--I think in part due to social media--feel very free to express themselves publicly, oftentimes with a lot of (ostensible) passion, be they Black, White, right, left, whatever.
But when young people speak passionately, real or fake, there's usually a limited amount of wisdom behind their words.
So I find myself, frankly, questioning their authenticity: i.e., "How much of this outrage is kids tryin' to look edgy and cool, or 'trendy'?" "How much of it is peer pressure to play a certain role?"
Some of them want to be TikTok famous.
If you're young today, you are immersed in a culture in which seemingly everybody around you is at some point playing to the mics and the cameras. It has been this way for quite some time now, and when a thing becomes a thing, followers follow.
I have witnessed some of the most woke nonWhite people with White best friends who are *not* super-woke. The Black Lives Matter demonstrations of 2020 had more White participants than Black--a lot more. (That was nowhere near the case in '92 with Rodney King.)
How are we supposed to reconcile this?
I like John McWhorter's term: performative. That is to say, I don't think people are flat-out faking it, but some are being dramatic as heck.
My elementary school teachers used to love to say, "The emptiest wagons make the loudest noise."
Does that apply here? I don't know, but I'm guessing sometimes. =)
I can attest to the lack of perspective of the young, wisdom probably varies, but the lack of perspective is pretty ridiculous. I think that is the biggest problem with “wokeness.” Being close with many “woke” white ladies who pride themselves on being “allies” of all kinds and there is a lot of pressure to be “nice” and virtuous because we have been socialized to only have value through supporting other people. It’s hard to see so much self flagellation.
For a long time, the majority of white people just really believed racism was over. Obviously that isn’t true. I think all the “good people” are overcompensating. White guilt is a powerful force, but sadly, I don’t think it actually does anything to make racism less. In some ways, like John and Glenn point out, those beliefs reinforce some deeply racist ideas instead of rooting out racism. I’m glad that the BLM movement showed that not all white people are secretly racist. That’s good at least. But from my perspective it seems to have amped up the noticing difference and a desire amongst the privileged to spend a lot of effort obsessing over it.
I think I’ve said this before, but it is hard for me (and probably a lot of other people) to distinguish what is real from what is a performance or a grift or a narrative. I find it really frustrating. I, of course, want to be “a good one” I just have no patience for the virtue signaling and intolerance it seems to require. And especially don’t have the patience for all the “Identities” that I’m supposed to be constantly preoccupied with.
Well, I agree that our experiences are different based on when and where we lived and who we are. You know I believe that quite strongly. Being white, I was never really racialized (kinda by definition) in larger society. I was aware of my race, because I grew up in a very diverse place and heard all the spoken and unspoken rules about what I could do/like/wear etc because I was white. Gotta say I always thought it was dumb. But, I try not to make too many waves… lt’s interesting that you think (if I understand you) that black people have fewer bad feelings about whites now than in the past… my dad was born in 1939 and he was of the opinion that blacks had a deep distrust of whites which is not something I ever observed, so you are probably right. The “discourse” is very much about “white supremacy“ and speaking of racism kinda like original sin (in that it is unpurgable) and throwing out phrases like “white tears” and such. It’s hard to imagine that some people don’t take that as permission to be a jerk in a way that they maybe would not have before? I don’t know. So given all that maybe I’d say the 1990s and early 2000s seemed like it has less racial tension. I fully admit that I may have been oblivious to it… or it could have been that I lived in some of the most diverse cities in America then, and now I live in one that is very segregated. Maybe if I was still in Maryland, just outside DC, I’d feel differently.
It's deep stuff for sure. I will never claim to know it all. (Hell, I can barely wrap my head around some of it.)
I will concede this: The younger generations--I think in part due to social media--feel very free to express themselves publicly, oftentimes with a lot of (ostensible) passion, be they Black, White, right, left, whatever.
But when young people speak passionately, real or fake, there's usually a limited amount of wisdom behind their words.
So I find myself, frankly, questioning their authenticity: i.e., "How much of this outrage is kids tryin' to look edgy and cool, or 'trendy'?" "How much of it is peer pressure to play a certain role?"
Some of them want to be TikTok famous.
If you're young today, you are immersed in a culture in which seemingly everybody around you is at some point playing to the mics and the cameras. It has been this way for quite some time now, and when a thing becomes a thing, followers follow.
I have witnessed some of the most woke nonWhite people with White best friends who are *not* super-woke. The Black Lives Matter demonstrations of 2020 had more White participants than Black--a lot more. (That was nowhere near the case in '92 with Rodney King.)
How are we supposed to reconcile this?
I like John McWhorter's term: performative. That is to say, I don't think people are flat-out faking it, but some are being dramatic as heck.
My elementary school teachers used to love to say, "The emptiest wagons make the loudest noise."
Does that apply here? I don't know, but I'm guessing sometimes. =)
I can attest to the lack of perspective of the young, wisdom probably varies, but the lack of perspective is pretty ridiculous. I think that is the biggest problem with “wokeness.” Being close with many “woke” white ladies who pride themselves on being “allies” of all kinds and there is a lot of pressure to be “nice” and virtuous because we have been socialized to only have value through supporting other people. It’s hard to see so much self flagellation.
For a long time, the majority of white people just really believed racism was over. Obviously that isn’t true. I think all the “good people” are overcompensating. White guilt is a powerful force, but sadly, I don’t think it actually does anything to make racism less. In some ways, like John and Glenn point out, those beliefs reinforce some deeply racist ideas instead of rooting out racism. I’m glad that the BLM movement showed that not all white people are secretly racist. That’s good at least. But from my perspective it seems to have amped up the noticing difference and a desire amongst the privileged to spend a lot of effort obsessing over it.
I think I’ve said this before, but it is hard for me (and probably a lot of other people) to distinguish what is real from what is a performance or a grift or a narrative. I find it really frustrating. I, of course, want to be “a good one” I just have no patience for the virtue signaling and intolerance it seems to require. And especially don’t have the patience for all the “Identities” that I’m supposed to be constantly preoccupied with.