# White America doesn't understand democracy **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 8, 2018, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-america-doesnt-understand-democracy/824169 "2018-11-08T00:39:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-america-doesnt-understand-democracy/824169/21 "2018-11-08T08:58:49Z")
It was a tactical victory at best, and they’re digging in for the inevitable counterattack. ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-america-doesnt-understand-democracy/824169/22 "2018-11-08T10:11:10Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > Seriously, it’s obvious beyond belief that white America has this cartoonish understanding of what democracy really is. I think the only people who understand democracy in America are people who’ve been denied it, people who’ve been threatened with persecution. I apologize for the lack of melanin in my skin. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-america-doesnt-understand-democracy/824169/23 "2018-11-08T11:40:19Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > Seriously, it’s obvious beyond belief that white America has this cartoonish understanding of what democracy really is. Stupid racist rubbish. ---
**Author:** ![catflea12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f6c823/32.png) [@catflea12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/catflea12)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-america-doesnt-understand-democracy/824169/24 "2018-11-08T12:45:34Z")
pon-tif-i-cate: verb: to speak in a pompous or dogmatic manner ---
**Author:** ![WillFarnaby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/willfarnaby/32/514_2.png) [@WillFarnaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillFarnaby)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-america-doesnt-understand-democracy/824169/25 "2018-11-08T13:13:16Z")
Yes. White America doesn’t understand democracy, neither do you, and tragically neither do the persecuted. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-america-doesnt-understand-democracy/824169/26 "2018-11-08T13:40:26Z")
What is this thread about? ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-america-doesnt-understand-democracy/824169/27 "2018-11-08T13:46:33Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Not really, no. Jesus Christ, rich Republican Naperville turns blue for the first time in ever, and that’s not enough for you??? ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-america-doesnt-understand-democracy/824169/28 "2018-11-08T13:49:51Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > Seriously, it’s obvious beyond belief that white America has this cartoonish understanding of what democracy really is. I think the only people who understand democracy in America are people who’ve been denied it, people who’ve been threatened with persecution. _I want to know what democracy is, I want you to show me I want to feel what democracy is, I know you can show me_ ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-america-doesnt-understand-democracy/824169/29 "2018-11-08T13:55:29Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > What is this thread about? As best as I can tell, **asahi** is just giving himself one more opportunity to laugh at everyone who thinks there might be hope for America short of armed revolution. I’m not a big fan of cynicism in the first place, but some cynics are at least _interesting_. **asahi** is just tiresome. I was thinking he was getting to the point of having earned a Pit thread of his own. He’s saved me the trouble of starting one, AFAIAC, because here it is. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-america-doesnt-understand-democracy/824169/30 "2018-11-08T13:55:56Z")
I think it’s appropriate, in a thread about democracy, to interpret “White America doesn’t…” as “the majority of white America doesn’t…”. And interpreted in that way, the OP is absolutely, 100% true. The majority of white Americans (especially straight white male nominally-Christian Americans) interpret it as an an aberration when anyone outside of their group has any say in how the country is run, and feel they need to “take their country back again” in order to “make America great again”. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-america-doesnt-understand-democracy/824169/31 "2018-11-08T14:01:37Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Not really, no. No - we really did. Controlling the House is officially a big deal. I’m willing to grant that this is a tactical victory - we have a long way to go yet - but tactics, matter. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-america-doesnt-understand-democracy/824169/32 "2018-11-08T14:08:29Z")
Has **asahi** ever suggested any reasonable courses of action for those of us on the left side of the political spectrum? All I ever see is where he craps over everyone else for believing that we’re not all doomed. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-america-doesnt-understand-democracy/824169/33 "2018-11-08T14:20:54Z")
“And I don’t know whether I want white America to remember or fortoget\*, that Jesus Christ was the first nonviolent revolutionary.” -Stephen Stills, on _Four Way Street_ \*No really, that’s what he says. 🙂 ETA: Then adds, “Dig it, dig it, right on, dig it.” It was The Sixties, man. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-america-doesnt-understand-democracy/824169/34 "2018-11-08T14:24:32Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The majority of white Americans (especially straight white male nominally-Christian Americans) interpret it as an an aberration when anyone outside of their group has any say in how the country is run… I’d love to see you attempt to prove that. It’s such a sweeping, absolute statement that it is almost certainly not true. Most white Americans think it’s “an aberration when anyone outside of their group has any say in how the country is run”. Emphasis added in case you don’t see where your statement is “absolute”. And just to be clear, “straight white male nominally Christians” are a minority of white Americans. But feel free to try and prove your even less sweeping statement, too. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-america-doesnt-understand-democracy/824169/35 "2018-11-08T14:33:01Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Confused. Didn’t the Democrats win last night? Or did I miss something? Or have I fallen back into a time portal and its 2016 again? (If it is, BRB, have bets to place). > [@MrDibble](#): > > Not really, no. I basically agree with **Dibble** on this, although I think looking at this election in terms of one side “winning” is overly simplistic. In a multi-faceted election like we just had, I think it’s difficult to determine if one side won. The Democrats had some wins, for sure, but the Republicans had some, too. How you weight those wins in terms of an overall win depends on what type of analysis you do. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-america-doesnt-understand-democracy/824169/36 "2018-11-08T14:37:41Z")
Apparently RBG had a fall. And broke three ribs. Will be surprised if she gets to 2021 as a justice. Elections have consequences indeed. McConnell is probably rubbing one out right now. ---
**Author:** ![WernhamHogg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a587f6/32.png) [@WernhamHogg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WernhamHogg)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-america-doesnt-understand-democracy/824169/37 "2018-11-08T15:00:46Z")
Are you that lady in my Facebook neighborhood group? Because the odds of running into _two_ transcendent spirits in one week are pretty slim. ---
**Author:** ![PackerMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@PackerMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PackerMan)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-america-doesnt-understand-democracy/824169/38 "2018-11-08T15:29:40Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > Jesus Christ, rich Republican Naperville turns blue for the first time in ever, and that’s not enough for you??? Actually, it was those of us slumming in A Town that got Underwood in. Between Healthcare and Immigration issues, enough of us finally got out and voted. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-america-doesnt-understand-democracy/824169/39 "2018-11-08T16:28:22Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I think looking at this election in terms of one side “winning” is overly simplistic. Precisely. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-america-doesnt-understand-democracy/824169/40 "2018-11-08T16:54:56Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > Yes, and I think white Americans have no clue about their own society and politics. They have a whitewashed, sanitized version of it that they’ve never had to live because they’ve inflicted their shit on other people. You all call Huey Freeman a troll and dismiss him whenever he rants - without having any understanding and without trying to understand his perspective. > > But go ahead and be smug. So you, by your own criteria, have no idea what you’re talking about. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-america-doesnt-understand-democracy/824169.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-america-doesnt-understand-democracy/824169.md?page=3)