Riemann
January 10, 2019, 7:59pm
68
andros:
…When it comes to lived experience and emotion, I do my godamndest to “shut up and listen,” without immediately undercutting that with “ok, now here’s where you’re wrong.”…
We’re agreed that our first inclination should be to shut up and listen. But unless you deny that it’s even possible for a black person to simply be a nasty toxic asshole, at some point we are allowed to engage our critical faculties and address claims and viewpoints on their merits. I listened to a lot of his ranting in the “Living While Black” thread before getting sick of him. I checked, it was at post #491 , and I still think this is an accurate assessment:
And by the evidence of this thread you think a constructive approach to life for a black person today is to treat “white folks” as a monolithic enemy, right? Rather than human beings.
So you’re a fan of Robin DiAngelo. She has some insightful things to say. But it’s one thing to challenge widespread unconscious racist assumptions, to disrupt white people’s comfortable privilege; it’s quite another to make preposterous sweeping generalized accusations that alienate rather than enlighten. You give angry, ignorant, patronizing lectures, with little regard for facts or evidence, accusing all “white folks” of collective guilt; then seek to dismiss any negative reaction as white fragility, so that anyone who disagrees with you or challenges your claims is conveniently just affirming the validity of your worldview, right?
Well, just as Carl Sagan pointed out that they also laughed at Bozo The Clown, not all negative reactions among “white folks” are solely attributable to white fragility. Perhaps you’re not the proud crusader that you think you are. Perhaps you’re an ignorant divisive scumbag with scant regard for facts or evidence. I feel so fragile that I can’t embrace that.