Comments | judge: Angry white guy, lol

judge

Angry white guy, lol

Mar 18, 2008 14:29

I kinda want to put this in here so when I'm older and mellow I can laugh at how angsty I was even in my 20s. While the following rant was prompted to finally be put down in text by a recent event, it is by no means a response to any single or even just recent happening.

I have alot of female friends. In a trend that someone somewhere will likely ( Read more... )

sexism, rant

Comments 9

sylvanfae March 18 2008, 20:53:31 UTC

I get ya. I'm afraid to jump into discussions of racism, where a lot of the time people are so eager to see it in every little interaction. Because I'm white. Even though I don't think of myself as white, and make a point of putting [x]Other or [x]Prefer not to disclose on forms. In fact, I sometimes wonder if I can pass for a Latina with my brown hair and eyes, when I go into a neighborhood panaderia with my half-Mexican boyfriend. I live among Latino neighbors.

I'm sure I've benefited from white privilege (despite my similar small-town, poor childhood), but I wish everyone could see how non-white or a-racial I am on the inside. I'm a human. Period. Just like all of you. But I also get annoyed that my opinion gets zero weight when I want to point out degree or overreaction. It feels like reverse racism. But I'm teh big bad white, so of course I'm whiny I see it that way! I'm used to pats on the head, as a former Mormon woman. I know what they feel like, and it IS the same thing ( ... )

judge March 19 2008, 02:05:45 UTC

On some level I can accept the whole pendulum swing bit, I really can. Like you say, it's just a natural sort of evolution. It just wouldn't singe my ass so much if it didn't invovle some of the same people screaming "EQUALITY" quietly condoning reversing the paradigm instead of balancing it. Hell, at least our forebearers had the courtesy to be honest that they were racists and sexists.

kakitaseigi March 18 2008, 20:56:11 UTC

I agree with you, but I'm also anti-affirmative action. So, yeah.

spooks21 March 18 2008, 21:37:16 UTC

I don't think it's fair either when a viewpoint is dismissed because of the person it comes from has or is _____. Even viewpoints based on erroneous facts or faulty logic still have a reason for being said and expressed, and usually there's something valuable in that notion or the core of the person's reasoning or whatever. Unless of course the reason is pure provocation, in which case, fuck that. Thus my problem with Baseball. There can be no discussion or exchange of ideas when that's not the reason the person is engaging in a conversation ( ... )

judge March 19 2008, 01:36:38 UTC

I do sort've get the gender aspect of it, even though I sort've sidetracked myself into the race part (the whole underpriveliged background thing). I get that "being a guy" automagically gets me some regard that women have to struggle to earn. My whole point really was wrapped up in the idea that "privelige" here gets thrown around a little too easily I think - for every "didn't get scammed by the car salesman because he was a guy" I get tossed in my face, I can counter with "got out of a ticket by virtue of being a pretty girl". Or for the "got a job promotion cuz he's a guy" there's the "got the job at all because she's a girl". Do I get to call that "female privelige"? No, we call that demeaning the gender, and honestly rightfully so, but they're effectively equivalent and only one gets to be used as a moral bludgeon ( ... )

spooks21 March 19 2008, 02:57:42 UTC

Yeah, I dig. You're not a moron, and so of course it's frustrating to have something dismissed out of hand instead of more discussion happening. But I never really talk about this stuff online, and what you were ranting about I have some experience in, or at least, I have talked to other guy friends about before a few times. That, and I like ruminating on the 'why' behind a lot of behaviors as opposed to the behavior itself, so your post had me thinking about why people say something like that. LO walls of text.

ceejishi March 19 2008, 00:25:07 UTC

My best friend now lives in southeastern Kansas (Coffeyville) and was told that she "had her city britches on" while speaking to a colleague. She's had to adopt an accent to fit in. My husband's home town has one stop light - it blinks. I totally commiserate with you on being from a small town with no prospects. I consider the state of Kansas to be a trap. If you're lucky, you get one chance in your life to leave. If you don't take it, you're done. If you take it, then return, you will never leave again. I'm never going back. Ever ( ... )

judge March 19 2008, 01:29:49 UTC

Yeah I'm not really trying to even try to posit that white privelige doesn't exist, but I think that 1) It's somewhat exaggerated to the non-white-males, and 2) Used often as an excuse to dismiss the opinion of a white guy asking questions that make self-righteous crusaders uncomfortable.

I AM CRUSADING AGAINST CRUSADERS, YOU SEE.

The fact that "minority issues" are handled in such a terrible grouping is a whole other problem, too. As a far-fetched example, someone who as you say came over first generation from a pretty decent situation gets lumped in with the african-americans who have genuinely had to deal with a family history of being marginalized and shit on. It's just so bizarre.

nouveauhippie March 19 2008, 15:16:52 UTC

Dismissing opinions in a discussion is silly either way and is generally a sign of someone not worth continuing to converse with on any topic of weight. If they are being dismissive of *any* opinion then there is a sense of having 'predetermined' that they are more knowledgeable than the other and therefore the other is inherently and irretrievably wrong ( ... )