He Said/She Said Who Can Say?

[babylonsister]

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/he-saidshe-said-who-can-say-by-digby.html

He Said/She Said Who Can Say?

by digby


Christ on a cracker. Is this for real?

Everybody's racist, it seems.

Republican Rep. Joe Wilson? Racist, because he shouted "You lie!" at the first black president. Health care protesters, affirmative action supporters? Racist. And Barack Obama? He's the "Racist in Chief," wrote a leader of the recent conservative protest in Washington.

But if everybody's racist, is anyone?

The word is being sprayed in all directions, creating a hall of mirrors that is draining the scarlet R of its meaning and its power, turning it into more of a spitball than a stigma.

And isn't that stupid statement goddamned convenient for the actual racists?

This isn't difficult to sort out at all, although the AP seems to be having a real problem with it, which means the villagers are feeling all funny about their own feelings.

Here's something I wrote a couple of months ago when this came up during the Sotomayor hearings:

Not Your Grandfather's Bigotry

Liberals who follow politics closely are no doubt disoriented to see someone as accomplished as Sonia Sotomayor attacked for being a bullying racist by a bunch of racist bullies, but I think we should probably get a grip and understand that this is what racism looks like in 2009. The assertion of white male privilege through whining victimization is one of the main ways it will be manifested going forward. And it's quite effective --- it appeals to people's own hidden prejudices in a way that doesn't socially embarrass them and allows them to use fairness as a weapon, which is a great relief to bigots who have been on the defensive for decades.

But it's important to remind good people who are possible recruits to the reverse discrimination claims that the world is still overwhelmingly run by wealthy white men and any protestation that they need affirmative action is laughable

Rule of thumb: the people who are telling their millions of fervent followers that we need to go back to segregating buses and claiming that Obama hates white people? They're the racists. Easy as pie.

[L0oniX]

1. Jimmy Carter just said that most of these attacks have its roots in racism.

I think I will side with him on this.

[gratuitous]

2. Digby's very, very good

But I think she missed an essential component of the racist-baiting: That is, by painting everyone and everything as racist, the actual racists hope to blend in and appear mainstream. It's not accidental in the least. It's a calculated move that you can watch for yourself as it unfolds.

1. Racists act in a racist fashion.
2. Racists, hating to be called on their racism, accuse their accusers of racism.
3. In the confusion, some people who should know better act confused.
4. Racists exploit the confusion to spray racism all across the spectrum.
5. The explainers fan out, and further muddy the waters.
6. The keepers of the media flame shrug their shoulders because they don't want to call their good racist friends racists.
7. The racists and their friends, who dominate the discourse, pretend that everyone's a racist to some degree, and the controversy magically disappears.
8. The racists continue to be racist.
9. By this time, anyone pointing out numbers 1 or 8 are dismissed as hopelessly out of touch with the zeitgeist.
10. The racists laugh their racist laugh, and start all over again.

[BlooInBloo]

3. "racists hope to blend in and appear mainstream" - And they're aided and abetted by "regular"...

white folks.

Only when the rest of us refuse to tolerate their presence, and stop providing cover for them, will racism be on the way out.

[gratuitous]

5. Indeed, it doesn't work very well without help

Just because a person is racist doesn't mean he or she doesn't have friends who aren't racist. In fact, if one has a friend who's racist, acknowledging that fact gets pretty close to calling oneself racist. So it becomes, "Roy? Yeah, he's a little off in some ways, but he's okay." And that bad fart lingers a little longer.

[babylonsister]

4. I don't think she missed it at all...

The word is being sprayed in all directions, creating a hall of mirrors that is draining the scarlet R of its meaning and its power, turning it into more of a spitball than a stigma.


And isn't that stupid statement goddamned convenient for the actual racists?