9 ms·
I think this is really important to acknowledge. Intersectionality (i.e. subtlety and hollistic thinking) is actually a great way to think about inequity. But a
by stefco_ 10y ago
I think this is really important to acknowledge. Intersectionality (i.e. subtlety and hollistic thinking) is actually a great way to think about inequity. But a lot of people who are interested in intersectionality are blind to many struggles specific to poor white males (I say this as a relatively privileged person Far removed from that demographic). Poor white males might skew more sexist and racist, but that is largely in response to upbringing, poor education, and poor economic opportunities. It is a big blind spot in many otherwise very liberal people's thinking to exclude poor white males, and that exclusion breeds resentment from a potential ally in addressing problems of inequity (and it contributes to a vicious cycle of racism/sexism leading to exclusion leading to more racism/sexism).
Not saying this is an easy fix, but many other liberal people I know seem shockingly uninterested in even treating this as a problem.
- jordanb 10y agoI think it goes even deeper than that. I think for many people poor white men are one the category of people who it's still acceptable to hate. https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/09/30/i-can-tolerate-anything-except-the-outgroup/ https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/09/30/i-can-tolerate-anythin...
- fasquoika 10y ago>There is a partly-formed attempt to spin off a Grey Tribe typified by libertarian political beliefs, Dawkins-style atheism, vague annoyance that the question of gay rights even comes up, eating paleo, drinking Soylent, calling in rides on Uber, reading lots of blogs, calling American football “sportsball”, getting conspicuously upset about the War on Drugs and the NSA, and listening to filk – but for our current purposes this is a distraction and they can safely be considered part of the Blue Tribe most of the time Damn that hits close to home
- doktrin 10y ago> calling American football “sportsball” who does this, and why?
- Fripplebubby 10y agoThose who wish to signal their disinterest - American football is often construed as nonintellectual and skews lower socioeconomically than, say, the "Hamilton" audience. So to feign a complete lack of familiarity with it puts you above those people who understand and enjoy it.
- doktrin 10y agoInteresting. I'm not much of a football fan myself, as I'm apparently missing whatever part of the brain is required to enjoy watching team sports. However, I'd certainly encourage any sports fans who specifically dislike football to read what Hunter S. Thompson wrote on the subject. His passion has sold me on the merits of the game - even if it's still not my personal cup of tea.
- 13of40 10y ago> feign a complete lack of familiarity with it Believe it or not, some of us are actually completely unfamiliar with it. I watched the Superbowl once about ten years ago, and that's literally the extent of my lifetime exposure to football.
- daveFNbuck 10y agoI heard John Hodgman use it on his podcast and thought it was a funny way to communicate that I'm just not interested in that category of entertainment. I find it works for all televised sporting leagues in the US. I use it mostly when people try to talk with me about sports at work. "Did you see last night's game?" "Were they playing sportsball again last night?" "Oh yeah, you don't watch sports" This conversation works without me having to know which sport is in season.
- gliese1337 10y agoI have never referred to American Football as "sportsball" specifically, but I have used the term "sportsball" as a catch-all term for "sports that I am not interested in". E.g., "Oh, you think it's annoying when I talk about video games? Well, I think it's annoying when you talk about sportsball."
- c0nfused 10y agoThis is a pretty good article to read in case you have the time.
- kelvin0 10y agoStarted reading this, and already it makes you reflect on some assumptions and clearly exposes some very interesting ideas. Brilliant writing.
- briandear 10y ago"Poor white males might skew more sexist and racist.." [citation needed]
- reitanqild 10y agoNot a native English speaker but I would take "might" in this setting to signal "this might or might not be true and I am not necessarily endorsing this view but..." or "one might argue that".
- ralfd 10y agoI read this as "lets throw a "might" in to be less blatant, but this is what i believe".
- jessaustin 10y agoDo you agree then with GGP that personal beliefs require citation?
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- Retric 10y agoPoor white males might skew more sexist and racist, but that is largely in response to upbringing, poor education, and poor economic opportunities. Might in that context is, a substitute for 'while it is true that' not a weasel word like probably.
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- Kequc 10y ago"White males" might skew more "sexist and racist", I can't believe this is still stated without a hint of irony. It was a blatant the first time I heard it, and it's still blatant today.
- ykler 10y agoMy experience is that sociologists are all like the woman who wrote this article: totally aware of the issues involved in dealing with multiple binary variables and a little embarrassed by the overly fancy and political word "intersectionality." Maybe you are right about other liberal people, but you will never meet a sociologist with this blindspot.
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- stefco_ 10y agoIt's decidedly harder to be intelectually lazy when your job depends on understanding nuance. I find that people who actually use these terms as part of their job (unsurprisingly) tend to have a much better understanding of them than laypeople who mainly want to sound like they have the correct political opinions for their social demographic.