partly because they don't understand it, like they don't understand sarcasm
partly because when you see what they call "jokes" it's just bleakly ignorant sadism and cruelty
partly because they operate on fear and laughter dispels fear
since anyone you might be able to reach out there does understand humor, it can be a very effective way to undermine the support of fascists and bigots
@thepoliticalcat Some years ago, I went to visit my kids in college. We went out to eat and while walking back to campus, an old white woman sitting on a bench called us niers when we walked by. One of my kids looked at her dead in the face and said "We might be niers, but you're going to be dead soon." I was taken aback and laughing my ass off all at the same time. I almost said something to him, but decided not to because fuck her and good for him. Enough. @benroyce
@StillIRise1963
How was Osama bin Laden a bigger threat to this nation than the tangerine twattgrabber... why one was executed and the other is effing still standing? Seems to me, a terrorist is a terrorist regardless where he's from or how much money he claims to have. Trump's lies about COVID killed MANY MORE people than 9/11 and yet that murderer is free and running for a lifelong term in the peoples house.
@Npars01 It happens in the grocery store every day. White women grab/move their purses when they see my less than 5ft. tall Black self pushing my cart down the aisle.
@StillIRise1963@Npars01 happens to my wife. She told me about this when we started dating and going places. Sure enough. Pisses me off just thinking about this
@StillIRise1963 Such a sad way to choose to go thru life. It’s not pie. Someone else being happy and successful doesn’t take anything from them. Translating that perceived loss into an overall fear of a person in such unrealistic ways is such bullshit.
@StillIRise1963@Npars01 I know it's obviously nowhere near the same, but people are automatically afraid of me to, even as a white guy. I'm 6'9" and that's enough for people to literally cross the street when they see me coming. One guy turned and ran for his life. And I get it, it hurts. It's demeaning. I'm the kind of guy who would jump in the middle of an assault to save the victim. But when I started walking with a cane, it all stopped. Now people will bump right into me on the sidewalk
@thepoliticalcat@StillIRise1963@Npars01 shit why these folks so scared . Rural TX like that. Couple months back me and a friend was walking and I saw this white woman look at us and literally crossed the street so she kept away . Ts crazy
@Npars01@StillIRise1963 that shit happens to me all the time specially when there is a group of us. They clutch there purses like we gonna rob they ass 😅
@StillIRise1963 He & a slim majority of whites in this country want to relegate all Black Americans to functional enslavement utilizing the carceral powers of the state to declare black citizens to always already be criminals & thus deserving of perpetual imprisonment & exploitation. I say this confidently, as a white person fully cognizant of my tribes' not terribly well hidden agenda.
@Stybba3019 The white agenda is acted out every day, all day long, our entire lives. We know white people well. We've cleaned white houses, cooked white food, wet nursed and raised white children. We've all had to navigate the various facets of white society the entirety of our collective existence for over 400 years. It could be that we know white people even better than they know themselves.
@StillIRise1963 I fully believe you understand white people better than we know ourselves. To be white is to live in a condition of willful blindness of our deeds, desires & intentions. It's like air or water - invisible to us until it is no longer ubiquitous & we can't avoid the loss of that protective environment. To the majority of my tribe, they can't imagine not being "white" in that way. Thus, their war on the rest.
@Stybba3019@StillIRise1963 When "white entitlement" was a new concept to me, I had to do some amazing mental gymnastics in order to see it. I could almost feel my brain clunking as the gears shifted. But once seen, you can't unsee it.
@StillIRise1963@anne_twain I remember the exact moment I pulled the veil aside. I was in my teens, late 70s-era, & firmly believed racism was "behind us", with just a lingering problem of a few southern racist whites. The nation was now a fair place for everyone & failure to succeed was the individual's fault, but was anxious about my own opportunities (white, poor, female, misogynistic family). I read an article in a magazine that showed demographics for poverty. 1/2
@StillIRise1963@anne_twain I knew how to read statistics. The article even had a chart to help & showed how non-whites, particularly black citizens, were disproportionately impoverished. My first thought was "Good! Better chances for me!" Maybe not that crudely, but that clearly. Then I sat, shocked at myself, for having thought it good that they should struggle because it was to my benefit. That started my path to thinking critically about racist structures of power in the US. 2/2
@Stybba3019 Thanks for sharing that story. I think it's really important for white people to admit out loud that they have thoughts like these or "reactions" to Black people. Catching yourself, questioning yourself and critically assessing where this comes from, what it really means and who you want to be is what needs to happen to change this. Because the reality is that only white people can change white people.
@StillIRise1963@anne_twain YES! Being "white" in the US (vs just having European ancestors) is to participate in a structure of power & privilege that deliberately immiserates others. "The cruelty is the point," as someone observed. We must be honest & courageous enough to stop being white. That's on us to do the work & oppose white supremacy.
@thepoliticalcat@StillIRise1963@Stybba3019@anne_twain
The stronger the challenge to White Supremacy, the more drastic the measures to maintain and enshrine it.
When democracy was compatible with White Supremacy, it was encouraged (with provisos to maintain White control overall even in Black majority regions). Now with demographics shiftting toward an overall White minority population, they want to discard democracy altogether as a threat to their hold on power.
@Okanogen@thepoliticalcat@StillIRise1963@Stybba3019 Whenever one group oppresses another group, the long-term effect is that the oppressors live with fear of retaliation for the harm they've done to the other group. They fear the oppressed will rise up against them, seize power and wealth and oppress them in turn.
So it's necessary for the oppressors to keep up the oppression and any sign of the oppressed wanting power (eg equality) or freedom from oppression, will be quashed, often violently.
This goes on for generations.
The fear that Indigenous Australians would seize power and take revenge was triggered by a recent referendum on whether or not Indigenous Australians should have a taxpayer funded lobby group (the Voice to Parliament) that would give them a fighting chance against mining and industry lobby groups. After a nasty, fact-free campaign by conservatives, a majority of Australians voted "No". /2
@Okanogen@thepoliticalcat@StillIRise1963@Stybba3019
2/ The same dynamic is playing out in the Middle East where Israel has kept Palestininans oppressed, groups like the PLO and Hamas have retaliated and Netanyahu has decided to redouble the oppression by decimating Gaza and its population.
While this action may give Netanyahu some temporary feeling of satisfaction or triumph, he, his children and grandchildren will now have to live with the fear of reprisals.
The way to avoid this chain of hatred and violence is not to oppress others in the first place. But once started, it's very difficult to stop.
@anne_twain@thepoliticalcat@StillIRise1963@Stybba3019
Well, possibly because the original thread was about American White Supremacy. But, obviously you can't let it lie. Why is that? Do you have an issue with our fight against White Supremacy here? Obviously there are issues in your own country, are you lashing out because of that? Maybe solve your own problems?
@anne_twain@thepoliticalcat@StillIRise1963@Stybba3019
Maybe it's you that should "calm down"? You seem quite agitated that your deflection to some other topic is neither germane, nor appreciated.
What is wrong with you? Perhaps you are lashing out because of your own insecurities?
The topic was white supremacy. That other countries support it too is relevant. The way another country's citizens work against white supremacy is relevant also.
Why do you evidence a need to dismiss the opinions of others when the relevancy is obvious?
@PeterLG@anne_twain@thepoliticalcat@StillIRise1963@Stybba3019
Because it's just more trolling with the "whataboutism".
What about the Middle East?
What about colonialism?
That's why. And here you are.
You have problems in Australia. Sure. We know. Solve them.
"Whataboutism" is pointing out that the "other side does it to" as a defence of "so we can do it too."
Sharing common experiences in white supremacy is NOT engaging in whataboutism; sharing ideas on methods to combat white supremacy thinking is certainly NOT whataboutism.
I'm not arguing with anyone over any such thing. I'm insisting that the shitty thing exists everywhere and we all need to fight against it wherever we find it.
Stop it, Cat. Many of us cream-skins acknowledge the mistakes of our ancestors both near and far and try our damnest not to emulate them. Yes, you have a different perspective as we're only trying to do better while you have to live with it. You know how we help? By being allies. You don't want allies, only enemies? Fine, but that's a you problem, and I'll not let it drive me away from trying to do better and teach my kids to do better.
WS is a cancer on society as a whole and needs to be excised completely; we all have a role to play in that. Everywhere.
Becauee you are attacking me. Directly. "Because it started with you..." and "... mantle of righteousness ..." IS an attack on me and all of my generation. You might like to think about that yourself. That is exactly how you drive away people who actually want change.
Since you, personally, don't want modern cream-skin allies, I'll accede to your wishes and unfollow you, mute you, and mute this conversation.
I'll be over here, doing what I, in my limited capacity as an old white guy, can. Be well.
@Okanogen It’s time to let some other color, establish why they should be privileged, 😉 or better, yet avoid that pitfall, and help us to truly become the advanced species some of us think we could be, if we could just stop trashing the planet. 🤔
@JSharp1436@StillIRise1963 the GOP would scramble around for a couple of days trying to distance themselves from the statement and then try to normalize them
@StillIRise1963 He should be mouthing these things lying drunk in a gutter in some dark alley behind a pub, not on a podium in front of 1000s of cheering fans.
Imagine attending the Black Conservative Federation Gala and cheering for this racist grandpa as if his government won’t be throwing us into camps the second they get another chance. 🤡
@StillIRise1963 On Thursday, I had a conversation with my neighbor who is a lifelong Republican (voted for Trump in 2016 but not 2020). He told me about playing one of Trump’s golf courses in CA some years ago and asking the bartender if Trump ever came around and what he was like. The bartender told him that the Latino and non-white employees could only work in the background, out of sight from any customers. (My neighbor isn’t voting for him in 2024.)
"Let's put aside treating Black people like a monolith, which he did over and over again — Donald Trump's career has been marked by a detailed history of racism," she said. "He was sued in the 1970s for housing discrimination based on race. He settled that suit."
@StillIRise1963@MHowell@courtcan To be fair, we have racist politicians here as well and people sadly vote for them, but at least they are not convicted rapists, professional fraudsters and mentally challenged white evangelical wannabe dictators.
@StillIRise1963@PJ_Evans@Rik_Dhuyvetters@courtcan shares.
Also, it's the whole party. Trump just normalized using his outside racism voice inside. Stephen "Goebbels" Miller was an aide to Jeff Sessions, and worked for numerous other Republican members of Congress, while at the same time contributing white nationalist material to Breitbart and other far right sites, in just one example. Nazis are openly mingling at CPAC right now.
@MHowell His crazy, criminal ass gave them the opening they needed to push their agenda, 40 years in the making, forward. I hear them saying we'll let you crime, if you let us stack the judiciary, SCOTUS and the rest of it. But, their problem is they can't control him. @PJ_Evans@Rik_Dhuyvetters@courtcan
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