"White Feminist Privilege in Organizations" - an Adventure in Hilarity
Courtesy of firecat at http://firecat.livejournal.com/716757.html,
this is freaking hilarious. Semi-true, but also hilarious.
From Hepshiba's Pad at
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/05/22/957012/-White-Privilege-Diary-Series-
The first hilarious thing is how deadly-serious the writer takes the nonsense-accusation of "privilege." It's a nonsense-accusation, because it is clearly literally untrue (there is no "private law" giving white women superior authority over black women) and even untrue metaphorically speaking (as the white women have absolutely no magic way of forcing the black women to "submit to their authori-tay," as Cartman would put it). But as loyal Leftists, the feminists have to take this accusation of witchcraft seriously.
The second hilarious thing is that it is nevertheless true, because white feminists are for the most part laughably ignorant of how anyone lives outside the white upper middle classes. They're descended ideologically from the puritan feminist movement started by Susan B. Anthony, and have a deep despite for anyone who isn't Just Like Themsevlves. (This is why they can be so utterly blind to the threat of shari'a, which after all doesn't directly impinge on their own lives).
The third hilarious thing is that the mainstream feminist organizations are in fact so humorlessly intolerant and deadly serious about everything that it's quite true that a majority of the women running it can freeze out the "women of color" who try to raise, um, "colorful" issues to them. Once the majority of the leaders of the organization have defined something as irrelevant to the Movement, it is irrelevant, and Artemis help any woman who dares disagree!
The fourth hilarious thing is that the white feminists imagine that by some ritual self-examination over their imaginary "privilege" that they can somehow improve matters. No doubt they will then "listen" to the "women of color," the Poor Little Brown Dears, and pat them on the head and tell them they're oh so special! -- before going back to ignoring them just as they were doing before, in terms of any practical effect on the behavior of the white feminists. For, you see, "awareness of privilege" is all about boasting about how self-aware one is -- since all whites get the Magic Privilege, there is nothing to be done in practice about it. Which leads to ...
The final hilarious thing about the whole "privilege" concept is that nobody, especially not the white feminists (and I suspect EVEN LESS the feminist "women of color") seems to notice that it is simply a restatement of the old race and gender-based caste system that afflicted American society for so long, only to almost die four to five decades ago. Since no one can not accept "privilege," and the most one can do is "be aware of" one's privilege, it's just one little step to accepting one's privilege and taking full advantage of it.
I give the Left two generations at most before they start openly asserting that whites are superior to nonwhites. Which will very much make me laugh. Especially when everyone but lily-white upper-class types start deserting the Democratic Party in droves.
Thank you, firecat, for affording me and my readers this opportunity for entertainment! Was this your intention?
this is freaking hilarious. Semi-true, but also hilarious.
From Hepshiba's Pad at
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/05/22/957012/-White-Privilege-Diary-Series-
The first hilarious thing is how deadly-serious the writer takes the nonsense-accusation of "privilege." It's a nonsense-accusation, because it is clearly literally untrue (there is no "private law" giving white women superior authority over black women) and even untrue metaphorically speaking (as the white women have absolutely no magic way of forcing the black women to "submit to their authori-tay," as Cartman would put it). But as loyal Leftists, the feminists have to take this accusation of witchcraft seriously.
The second hilarious thing is that it is nevertheless true, because white feminists are for the most part laughably ignorant of how anyone lives outside the white upper middle classes. They're descended ideologically from the puritan feminist movement started by Susan B. Anthony, and have a deep despite for anyone who isn't Just Like Themsevlves. (This is why they can be so utterly blind to the threat of shari'a, which after all doesn't directly impinge on their own lives).
The third hilarious thing is that the mainstream feminist organizations are in fact so humorlessly intolerant and deadly serious about everything that it's quite true that a majority of the women running it can freeze out the "women of color" who try to raise, um, "colorful" issues to them. Once the majority of the leaders of the organization have defined something as irrelevant to the Movement, it is irrelevant, and Artemis help any woman who dares disagree!
The fourth hilarious thing is that the white feminists imagine that by some ritual self-examination over their imaginary "privilege" that they can somehow improve matters. No doubt they will then "listen" to the "women of color," the Poor Little Brown Dears, and pat them on the head and tell them they're oh so special! -- before going back to ignoring them just as they were doing before, in terms of any practical effect on the behavior of the white feminists. For, you see, "awareness of privilege" is all about boasting about how self-aware one is -- since all whites get the Magic Privilege, there is nothing to be done in practice about it. Which leads to ...
The final hilarious thing about the whole "privilege" concept is that nobody, especially not the white feminists (and I suspect EVEN LESS the feminist "women of color") seems to notice that it is simply a restatement of the old race and gender-based caste system that afflicted American society for so long, only to almost die four to five decades ago. Since no one can not accept "privilege," and the most one can do is "be aware of" one's privilege, it's just one little step to accepting one's privilege and taking full advantage of it.
I give the Left two generations at most before they start openly asserting that whites are superior to nonwhites. Which will very much make me laugh. Especially when everyone but lily-white upper-class types start deserting the Democratic Party in droves.
Thank you, firecat, for affording me and my readers this opportunity for entertainment! Was this your intention?