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Institutional racism is highly corrosive to society. All we’ve done is create new grievances among poor whites to justify the guilt of upper class whites about

Institutional racism is highly corrosive to society. All we’ve done is create new grievances among poor whites to justify the guilt of upper class whites about things their grandparents did. Those people are rightly upset that the government has been openly racist to them their entire lives. How did that help? — I mean, besides soothing the feelings of elites that they’re not bigots, even though they made 1950s style racist policies about “too many” Jews and Asians in their universities. (Which is what triggered this lawsuit…)

solardev 3y ago
Yeah. There's nobody really fighting for poor white men, except maybe Bernie? But it's all too easy to capitalize on their grief and anger and redirect it into cultural wars instead. That anger is politically more potent left unchecked and weaponized than actually addressed. Some of the most down to earth, hardworking people I knew were poor white men with a dream: teachers, farmers, builders, activists, lawyers. They weren't interested in going into tech or finance or getting rich and retiring early or whatever, just to pursue their dreams and some semblance of happiness. Reminds me of old homesteaders. Same with the Black and Hispanic folks I knew at the same time, many of whom got support or scholarships of one kind or the other. On the ground, we were all just peers and friends and supported each other however we could. But officially the poor whites had no formal support network at all, while diversity programs had special buildings, funding, time, and labor devoted to the rest of us. My white peers never held that against me, as far as I know, but they did comment about how unfair it was to them to be punished for the sins of their (great grand) fathers. And I can't say they're wrong...
- zmgsabst 3y ago
  I find it interesting that certain people seem unable to comprehend that Donald Trump is the result of that racism by Democrats: Not because his supporters are racists, but because they’re done with an establishment openly bigoted towards them — and pathologically unwilling to address their needs.
  - solardev 3y ago
    Our politics are really, really ugly these days, with no room for this sort of nuance anymore. It's really sad. Talking one on one with people though, it's easier to find common ground. And sometimes make a new friend. But it's hard for sure when the elites are so insistent on a divide and conquer strategy.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - dahwolf 3y ago
    It is goes further back, and is way more international. In Western Europe, somewhere around the early 90s most social democratic parties abandoned their blue collar base. They used to fight for them. For reasonable hours, minimum wage, social benefits. I guess they were not cool or interesting anymore, as they shifted focus almost exclusively to minorities as well as various forms of elitist salon socialism. On top of being abandoned politically, blue collar got destroyed economically by manufacturing moving overseas. And if that wasn't enough still, they were next culturally destroyed and labeled bigots or privileged, on the basis of their skin or what is between their legs. This class, which is very large and makes sure shit works in society, is why you have Trump but also various other right-wing rises in Europe.
  - Timon3 3y ago
    Do you think that if there objectively wasn't "an establishment openly bigoted towards them", they'd believe that there is none? I don't think so. I think people are easy enough to manipulate that even in an objectively fair situation they'd feel that "an establishment is openly bigoted towards them". Look no further than the divide between "black lives matter" and "all lives matter" - the group you describe couldn't accept the first statement, they had to replace it with the second.

solardev 3y ago

Yeah. There's nobody really fighting for poor white men, except maybe Bernie? But it's all too easy to capitalize on their grief and anger and redirect it into cultural wars instead. That anger is politically more potent left unchecked and weaponized than actually addressed. Some of the most down to earth, hardworking people I knew were poor white men with a dream: teachers, farmers, builders, activists, lawyers. They weren't interested in going into tech or finance or getting rich and retiring early or whatever, just to pursue their dreams and some semblance of happiness. Reminds me of old homesteaders. Same with the Black and Hispanic folks I knew at the same time, many of whom got support or scholarships of one kind or the other. On the ground, we were all just peers and friends and supported each other however we could. But officially the poor whites had no formal support network at all, while diversity programs had special buildings, funding, time, and labor devoted to the rest of us. My white peers never held that against me, as far as I know, but they did comment about how unfair it was to them to be punished for the sins of their (great grand) fathers. And I can't say they're wrong...

zmgsabst 3y ago
I find it interesting that certain people seem unable to comprehend that Donald Trump is the result of that racism by Democrats: Not because his supporters are racists, but because they’re done with an establishment openly bigoted towards them — and pathologically unwilling to address their needs.
- solardev 3y ago
  Our politics are really, really ugly these days, with no room for this sort of nuance anymore. It's really sad. Talking one on one with people though, it's easier to find common ground. And sometimes make a new friend. But it's hard for sure when the elites are so insistent on a divide and conquer strategy.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- dahwolf 3y ago
  It is goes further back, and is way more international. In Western Europe, somewhere around the early 90s most social democratic parties abandoned their blue collar base. They used to fight for them. For reasonable hours, minimum wage, social benefits. I guess they were not cool or interesting anymore, as they shifted focus almost exclusively to minorities as well as various forms of elitist salon socialism. On top of being abandoned politically, blue collar got destroyed economically by manufacturing moving overseas. And if that wasn't enough still, they were next culturally destroyed and labeled bigots or privileged, on the basis of their skin or what is between their legs. This class, which is very large and makes sure shit works in society, is why you have Trump but also various other right-wing rises in Europe.
- Timon3 3y ago
  Do you think that if there objectively wasn't "an establishment openly bigoted towards them", they'd believe that there is none? I don't think so. I think people are easy enough to manipulate that even in an objectively fair situation they'd feel that "an establishment is openly bigoted towards them". Look no further than the divide between "black lives matter" and "all lives matter" - the group you describe couldn't accept the first statement, they had to replace it with the second.