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sandwichwarrior.livejournal.com) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
talkpolitics2011-07-14 02:51 pm
sandwichwarrior.livejournal.com) wrote in talkpolitics2011-07-14 02:51 pm
Pride, Personal Exploration, and Class Warfare.
This post started as a reply to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
malasadas' post on The State of White People in America incorperating elemenents of a reply I made to amazements earlier untitled post, that grew out of hand.
For the most part I find myself agreeing with malasadas' observations, but there is a critical aspect that I think many on the Right tend to gloss-over and most on th Left outright ignore. I feel that this is also the cause of the percieved discrimination against whites.
This aspect is White Pride.
Now for many people, both black and white, the image conjured by those two words is this...
My skin is pale (bordering on reflective) and my ancestery reads like a travelogue of Eastern and Contental Europe with occasional raids north into England and Scandinavia. I can claim no particular ethnic or cultural classification other than being of White/European decent.
To express any pride in this fact is to risk being labeled as one of those in the image above. But you know what? Though it is politically incorrect to admit it, I am proud.
In my admitedly biased opinion Western European Civilization is the best civilization ever. My ancestors, when they weren't too busy killing each other, conquered the known world and produced minds like Euclid, Machiavelli, Bach, Shakespere, Dostoyevsky, and Einstien. Yes there were a lot of right bastards in the mix as well, but do the Mongolians go around apologizing for Genghis Khan?
The accepted narrative of US politics is that of a class war between the oppressive white majority represented by wall street and thier political champions the GOP vs. the freedom seeking minorities, academics, and thier political champions the Democrats.
Imperialism is bad, Multi-culturalism is good, etc...
There is much to this narrative that is true and this is why it persists, but asmalasadas said, it's a gross simplication and dismissive of the complicated interplays of societal trends across many different groups and individuals.
Personally, I dislike the term "Class War" as I feel that one's "Class" is most often an arbitrary designation usually assigned by someone in no position to do so. For instance, I am white and thus part of the "ruling class", I'm also a broke college student in a predominantly hispanic nieghborhood, if I'm supposed to be in charge clearly I'm doing something wrong.
This difficulty is also illustrated in my reply toamazements
It would be easy to argue that Obama's energy policies are clearly an attack on Rural Americans. Increased fuel prices lead to fewer available jobs and higher food prices. Trust me, when your job involves driving a truck or tractor $4.00 a gal adds up quick. And the push for more public transportation does little to benefit those outside major population centers. The Message Leftists have embraced seems to be "who give's a fuck about those ignorant slope-heads in the flyover states?"
Leftists like to portray the tea part as some many headed deamon that rose from the darkest depths of ignorance and racism but is it any surprise that they're angry?
Yes there is a Class War but the sides are constantly in flux and too numerous to count. The Rich left fights the poor right, The rich right exploits on the poor left, the Rural fight the Urban, and the media acts as mercenaries.
We need a new narrative.
malasadas' post on The State of White People in America incorperating elemenents of a reply I made to amazements earlier untitled post, that grew out of hand.For the most part I find myself agreeing with malasadas' observations, but there is a critical aspect that I think many on the Right tend to gloss-over and most on th Left outright ignore. I feel that this is also the cause of the percieved discrimination against whites.
This aspect is White Pride.
Now for many people, both black and white, the image conjured by those two words is this...
My skin is pale (bordering on reflective) and my ancestery reads like a travelogue of Eastern and Contental Europe with occasional raids north into England and Scandinavia. I can claim no particular ethnic or cultural classification other than being of White/European decent.
To express any pride in this fact is to risk being labeled as one of those in the image above. But you know what? Though it is politically incorrect to admit it, I am proud.
In my admitedly biased opinion Western European Civilization is the best civilization ever. My ancestors, when they weren't too busy killing each other, conquered the known world and produced minds like Euclid, Machiavelli, Bach, Shakespere, Dostoyevsky, and Einstien. Yes there were a lot of right bastards in the mix as well, but do the Mongolians go around apologizing for Genghis Khan?
The accepted narrative of US politics is that of a class war between the oppressive white majority represented by wall street and thier political champions the GOP vs. the freedom seeking minorities, academics, and thier political champions the Democrats.
Imperialism is bad, Multi-culturalism is good, etc...
There is much to this narrative that is true and this is why it persists, but as
malasadas said, it's a gross simplication and dismissive of the complicated interplays of societal trends across many different groups and individuals.Personally, I dislike the term "Class War" as I feel that one's "Class" is most often an arbitrary designation usually assigned by someone in no position to do so. For instance, I am white and thus part of the "ruling class", I'm also a broke college student in a predominantly hispanic nieghborhood, if I'm supposed to be in charge clearly I'm doing something wrong.
This difficulty is also illustrated in my reply to
amazementsIt would be easy to argue that Obama's energy policies are clearly an attack on Rural Americans. Increased fuel prices lead to fewer available jobs and higher food prices. Trust me, when your job involves driving a truck or tractor $4.00 a gal adds up quick. And the push for more public transportation does little to benefit those outside major population centers. The Message Leftists have embraced seems to be "who give's a fuck about those ignorant slope-heads in the flyover states?"
Leftists like to portray the tea part as some many headed deamon that rose from the darkest depths of ignorance and racism but is it any surprise that they're angry?
Yes there is a Class War but the sides are constantly in flux and too numerous to count. The Rich left fights the poor right, The rich right exploits on the poor left, the Rural fight the Urban, and the media acts as mercenaries.
We need a new narrative.
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