The Left’s Compulsive, Circular Argument About Racism
You hate white people. We get it.
Tonight, this popped into my email from America’s paper of record, the New York Times:
The foundation of Western Civilization, two of the greatest nations in history, is part of a “white supremacy” problem. I would go into this ludicrous article, but it’s just one more variation on the whole circular “white people are evil” argument they obsessively make on the Left these days.
We’ve certainly seen plenty of it in the wake of the Kyle Rittenhouse decision, which, just as a refresher, involved a white 17-year-old shooting three white rioters that attacked him, killing two of them. Certainly, that couldn’t be about race somehow, could it? A white kid shooting three violent criminals that attacked him? You’d think so, but…
Wait, it’s a racist system because a white guy shot other white guys that chased him, cornered him, and put his life in danger?
We’ve heard an awful lot about imaginary black Kyle Rittenhouse and how he supposedly wouldn’t have gotten justice. Not only is there absolutely no reason to believe that, if imaginary black Kyle Rittenhouse were conservative and the white rioters trying to kill him were liberal, pretty much the same exact people would be cheering him on or wanting him to go to jail because he’s a “white supremacist in a black body” or something (if they can have an imaginary Kyle Rittenhouse, I can imagine what they’d say and I’m pretty sure I’d be closer to the mark than the Bubba Smollet’s of the world).
White rioters try to kill white non-rioter who kills them instead. Black Americans hardest hit or something.
Have you ever known someone who was obsessive-compulsive to the point where they felt compelled to count every telephone poll that they pass? There’s no logic to it, but somewhere in the deep recesses of their brains, it makes them feel more in control to count and it’s mentally painful for them not to do it. Liberals are like this with race. What they are saying is usually complete nonsense, but black liberals need an excuse for their failures and white liberals, who believe racism (against black Americans anyway) is the ultimate sin, need to feel like they’re good, non-racist people unlike all the imaginary white supremacists they’re always raging at.
Of course, when a liberal talks about a “white supremacist,” he may actually be talking about a black guy who’s conservative or a white guy who believes in a colorblind world, deeply admires Thomas Sowell, and wishes, God help us all, that Kanye West would run for President on the Republican ticket. There is very little relationship between what liberals call racism and reality. However, if you picked out people, places, and things that liberals find threatening or scary and called racist, the overlap would be nearly perfect.
So, how is this possible? Well, black Americans have been monolithically voting for Democrats for decades and they’ve gotten nothing in return for that except crime, poverty, mediocre schools, and patronizing lectures about how they’re too dumb to even figure out how to get a driver’s license. Since that’s the case and Democrats have no intention of doing any better, they essentially say to black Americans, “Sure, we may do nothing for you, but you can’t vote for the other guys because they’re RACIST.”
Then, once the social media era came along and promoting outrage became one of the best ways to draw eyeballs, liberals realized that racism could be a “twofer.” It could potentially help turn out the black vote AND put money in the pockets of liberal news outlets. There was just one problem. Actual racism was and still is in short supply. Keep in mind, this is a country that just elected and reelected a black President. The now-notorious “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville that was supposedly the pinnacle of white supremacism in the modern era? It only led to “hundreds” of Tiki Torch carrying racists from all across the country showing up. “Unite the Right 2” in 2018 was even smaller.
As a practical matter, racism, bigotry, and white supremacy are at their lowest ebb in American history, yet the Left is more rigidly fixated on it than ever before. So, how do they square that circle?
They hire and promote black liberals whose entire careers are built on coming up with new and creative ways to claim things are racist. These people are boring and have never said an interesting or profound thing in their lives, but they are shameless enough to call pretty much anything and everything you can think of racist. When is the last time you said, “Wow, that Joy Reid really made a good point,” or “Man, I can’t wait to hear Eric Michael Dyson’s take on this because that guy is razor sharp!” Even Ta-Nehisi Coates, who gets hyped up as some kind of genius is just as much of a mediocre hack as the Shaun Kings and Tourés of the world. He just has a more constipated writing style that makes it easier for people to pretend he is saying something unique when it’s just another variation on, “Here’s what’s wrong with white people.”
You might think that white liberals would object to this, but they fully understand that doing so might mean they’re the next ones to be called “racist.” Besides, by prostrating themselves in front of the race hustlers, they’re hoping they won’t be included in the “bad white people” that their allies rail at non-stop. If you want to see the lengths liberals will go to in order to be “good white people,” watch this video. It’s painful…
Perhaps the worst part about these claims of racism is that they are a non-logical, circular argument.
If liberals say you’re racist, they do not have to offer any proof of that assertion. Instead, if you’re accused, you are expected to provide proof that you’re not a racist, but it can just be waved off if liberals really don’t like you. The starting point of the argument for liberals is, “Well, we all agree that America is systematically racist.” If you don’t agree, well, that’s just racist. How do prove the country isn’t racist? Well, black liberals, whose entire careers are dependent on claiming that the country is racist, have to agree that it isn’t. If you try to use statistics to make your case that the country isn’t racist, that makes liberals uncomfortable, so it’s not allowed. If you try to suggest alternate reasons black Americans may be having problems, that’s racist. So, how do you prove you’re not racist? Be a black liberal. Even black conservatives are treated as mouthpieces for racists. If anything good happens to a white American, it must be white privilege. If anything bad happens to a black American, it must be racist. If you suggest treating everyone as an individual instead of a member of a group, that’s just what a racist would say. Instead, all of us must think of ourselves as part of a group. Except for white people. They’re not allowed to do that. Instead, they have to be the designated fall guys for every other group. If you complain about that, it must be “white fragility.”
There’s no way to win this argument because there is no real argument being made. There are bad faith assertions being made by people who are using your own human decency against you. You’re thinking, “I’m not racist and I don’t want anyone to think I’m racist, so how do I get through to the Left?” Meanwhile, they’re thinking, “Accusing these people of racism benefits us and I don’t care whether it’s true or not.” How do you deal with that? Be a good person, be colorblind, do the right thing because you think it’s right, and stop bowing down to the race hustlers. If they take a knee, “boo.” If a politician starts babbling on about racism, vote them out of office. If Colin Kaepernick is for it, that’s a pretty good reason to be against it. Stop trying to shake hands with people who only want to take the opportunity to slap you in the face because of the color of your skin. You can’t stop the people trying to divide the country by race from doing what they do, but you also don’t have to meet them halfway, give them an inch, or play their game. When the Benjamin Crumps and Al Sharptons of the world are rightfully treated with the same disdain as the Richard Spencers and David Dukes, then we’ll know it’s possible to have rational conversations about this topic again. When the people claiming that others are racist are treated with more skepticism than the people unjustly accused of being racist, then there’s a discussion to be had. Until then, stop giving the Left a pass for their racist rhetoric against white people.
Leftists have no argument. Their ideology is their religion, and they are true believers. No fact, no truth, no persuasion will budge them. Your advice is perfect - "Be a good person, be colorblind, do the right thing because you think it’s right, and stop bowing down to the race hustlers."
When I was growing up in the 1960s and 1970s, every white person I knew was very sympathetic to the problems of black people. They felt bad for black people and wanted to help fix their problems. I'm not saying there were no racists in the country, but I didn't know any. There were lots of white people who were very anti-racist. Okay, most of them were anti-racist in theory, but weren't doing anything about it. But they certainly weren't racists.
In just the last few years, I've noticed a profound change. More and more white people I know are fed up with the perpetual search for grievances and accusations of racism. They're losing their sympathy for black people's problems because they're coming to the conclusion that it doesn't matter what they do, it doesn't matter how non-racist or anti-racist they are. It will never be enough.
Is it fair? No. From every opinion poll I've seen, most black people are not extremist race hustlers. They just want to be treated with respect and live their lives. They're not making constant impossible demands. But a small number of liberal race-hustlers -- most of them white, actually -- are poisoning race relations.