Politics

White Privilege

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This is fantastic article outlining mainstream present moment examples that we are experiencing as a nation in regards to White Privilege. There is white priveledge in the US and around the world for that matter. It is unmistakably true about the US as it is for Brazil, my current vantage point. It is disgusting and unfortunately most people still don’t see it. We are taught in the US to not see the racism and built in biasness that runs so deep in the United States. Like a lot of things, it is hard to see something that is right in front of our eyes every day, especially if we have always been taught to look at other things. We, as Americans, try to hide it, try to make up for it in some sectors, but if you actually research the issues you will see that minorities and women generally come out on bottom… while white men, continue to be on top… We live in a White World and as my white friends will probably dispute this, it is absolutely true.

I got this article from a friends site www.myspace.com/portuguese_poetress – Thank you Amy.

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Here is the article:
White Privilege

This is Your Nation on White Privilege
By Tim Wise
9/13/08

For those who still can’t grasp the concept of white privilege, or who are looking for some easy-to-understand examples of it, perhaps this list will help.

White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents, because “every family has challenges,” even as black and Latino families with similar “challenges” are regularly typified as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay.

White privilege is when you can call yourself a “fuckin’ redneck,” like Bristol Palin’s boyfriend does, and talk about how if anyone messes with you, you’ll “kick their fuckin’ ass,” and talk about how you like to “shoot
shit” for fun, and still be viewed as a responsible, all-American boy (and a great son-in-law to be) rather than a thug.

White privilege is when you can attend four different colleges in six years like Sarah Palin did (one of which you basically failed out of, then returned to after making up some coursework at a community college), and no one questions your intelligence or commitment to achievement, whereas a person of color who did this would be viewed as unfit for college, and probably someone who only got in in the first place because of affirmative action.

White privilege is when you can claim that being mayor of a town smaller than most medium-sized colleges, and then Governor of a state with about the same number of people as the lower fifth of the island of Manhattan, makes you ready to potentially be president, and people don’t all piss on themselves with laughter, while being a black U.S. Senator, two-term state Senator, and constitutional law scholar, means you’re “untested.”

White privilege is being able to say that you support the words “under God” in the pledge of allegiance because “if it was good enough for the founding fathers, it’s good enough for me,” and not be immediately disqualified from holding office–since, after all, the pledge was written in the late 1800s and the “under God” part wasn’t added until the 1950s–while if you’re black and believe in reading accused criminals and terrorists their rights (because the Constitution, which you used to teach at a prestigious law school, requires it), you are a dangerous and mushy liberal who isn’t fit to safeguard American institutions.

White privilege is being able to be a gun enthusiast and not make people immediately scared of you.

White privilege is being able to have a husband who was a member of an extremist political party that wants your state to secede from the Union, and whose motto is “Alaska first,” and no one questions your patriotism or that of your family, while if you’re black and your spouse merely fails to come to a 9/11 memorial so she can be home with her kids on the first day of school, people immediately think she’s being disrespectful.

White privilege is being able to make fun of community organizers and the work they do–like, among other things, fight for the right of women to vote, or for civil rights, or the 8-hour workday, or an end to child
labor–and people think you’re being pithy and tough, but if you merely question the experience of a small town mayor and 18-month governor with no foreign policy expertise beyond a class she took in college and the fact that she lives close to Russia–you’re somehow being mean, or even sexist.

White privilege is being able to convince white women who don’t even agree with you on any substantive issue to vote for you and your running mate anyway, because suddenly your presence on the ticket has inspired confidence in these same white women, and made them give your party a “second look.”

White privilege is being able to fire people who didn’t support your political campaigns and not be accused of abusing your power or being a typical politician who engages in favoritism, while being black and merely
knowing some folks from the old-line political machines in Chicago means you must be corrupt.

White privilege is when you can take nearly twenty-four hours to get to a hospital after beginning to leak amniotic fluid, and still be viewed as a great mom whose commitment to her children is unquestionable, and whose “next door neighbor” qualities make her ready to be VP, while if you’re a black candidate for president and you let your children be interviewed for a few seconds on TV, you’re irresponsibly exploiting them.

White privilege is being able to give a 36 minute speech in which you talk about lipstick and make fun of your opponent, while laying out no substantive policy positions on any issue at all, and still manage to be
considered a legitimate candidate, while a black person who gives an hour speech the week before, in which he lays out specific policy proposals on several issues, is still criticized for being too vague about what he would do if elected.

White privilege is being able to attend churches over the years whose pastors say that people who voted for John Kerry or merely criticize George W. Bush are going to hell, and that the U.S. is an explicitly Christian
nation and the job of Christians is to bring Christian theological principles into government, and who bring in speakers who say the conflict in the Middle East is God’s punishment on Jews for rejecting Jesus, and
everyone can still think you’re just a good church-going Christian, but if you’re black and friends with a black pastor who has noted (as have Colin Powell and the U.S. Department of Defense) that terrorist attacks are often the result of U.S. foreign policy and who talks about the history of racism and its effect on black people, you’re an extremist who probably hates America.

White privilege is not knowing what the Bush Dotrine is when asked by a reporter, and then people get angry at the reporter for asking you such a “trick question,” while being black and merely refusing to give one-word answers to the queries of Bill O’Reilly means you’re dodging the question, or trying to seem overly intellectual and nuanced.

White privilege is being able to go to a prestigious prep school, then to Yale and then Harvard Business school, and yet, still be seen as just an average guy (George W.Bush) while being black, going to a prestigious prep school, then Occidental College, then Columbia, and then to Harvard Law, makes you “uppity,” and a snob who probably looks down on regular folks.

White privilege is being able to graduate near the bottom of your college class (McCain), or graduate with a C average from Yale (W.) and that’s OK, and you’re cut out to be president, but if you’re black and you graduate near the top of your class from Harvard Law, you can’t be trusted to make good decisions in office.

White privilege is being able to dump your first wife after she’s disfigured in a car crash so you can take up with a multi-millionaire beauty queen (who you go on to call the c-word in public) and still be thought of as a man of strong family values, while if you’re black and married for nearly twenty years to the same woman, your family is viewed as un-American and your gestures of affection for each other are called “terrorist fist bumps.”

White privilege is when you can develop a pain-killer addiction, having obtained your drug of choice illegally like Cindy McCain, go on to beat that addiction, and everyone praises you for being so strong, while being a black guy who smoked pot a few times in college and never became an addict means people will wonder if perhaps you still get high, and even ask whether or not you ever sold drugs.

White privilege is being able to sing a song about bombing Iran and still be viewed as a sober and rational statesman, with the maturity to be president, while being black and suggesting that the U.S.should speak with other nations, even when we have disagreements with them, makes you “dangerously naive and immature.”

White privilege is being able to say that you hate “gooks” and “will always hate them,” and yet, you aren’t a racist because, ya know, you were a POW so you’re entitled to your hatred, while being black and insisting that black anger about racism is understandable, given the history of your country, makes you a dangerous bigot.

White privilege is being able to claim your experience as a POW has anything at all to do with your fitness for president, while being black and experiencing racism and an absent father is apparently among the “lesser
adversities” faced by other politicians, as Sarah Palin explained in her convention speech.

And finally, white privilege is the only thing that could possibly allow someone to become president when he has voted with George W. Bush 90 percent of the time, even as unemployment is skyrocketing, people are losing their homes, inflation is rising, and the U.S. is increasingly isolated from world opinion, just because a lot of white voters aren’t sure about that whole “change” thing. Ya know, it’s just too vague and ill-defined, unlike, say, four more years of the same, which is very concrete and certain.

White privilege is, in short, the problem.

Intellectuals, Obama and the WeatherUnderground

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Okay, just a little food for thought… we are who we are and we are never going to be anyone else and can never really know what it is like to be anyone else. I am sure you agree with this line of thought. I am a white American woman, aged 28, who grew up in the center of California in the countryside between two rural towns, went on to join a sorority at Fresno State University but left and dove into mid-level management at the age of 20, lived in national parks for 7 years and then dramatically changed my life and moved to Brazil after falling in love with someone on foreign exchange. My story is completely unique, as your story is completely unique. I have definitely come across a variety of people in my life, but I will never know what it is like to be a man, or to be black, or to be an Ivy League graduate or to be the first black president of the prestigous Harvard Law Review. I don’t know what it is like to grow up in Hawaii. I don’t know what it is like to have a very non-American name. I don’t know what it is like to lack a father figure while growing up with my grandparents.

With that said, I do know what it is like to finally start to see the world and the US for what it is. To finally have that breakthrough moment where you say… humn… things just aren’t right… it doesn’t make me unAmerican, and it doesn’t make me unpatriotic, in fact just the opposite because it drives me to ask questions and to research to find the answers about what we do and why we do it. I feel more American now than I ever did and am grateful for this every day.

I remember watching the WeatherUnderground documentary a few years ago… one of many documentaries I have seen in my adult life and to be quite honest… even though I don’t agree with what they were doing, I understood why they were doing it. There is a big difference. People go about things the way they see best, we always try to do what is right, we try to follow through with our convictions – that is why people join the Armed Forces or join the clergy or go to a University. Everyone has a different and totally unique way of looking at things and working towards their goal. I think above all else, trying to understand the reason of why people do what they do is of the utmost importance. That is where the real answer is, at the root, it always is.

To be able to see things for what they are. To be able to atain a birds eye view is to turn a blizzard into a breeze as they say. To be honest this is why Intellectuals are Intellectuals. Those Intellectuals usually go on to teach in the most prestigious Universities and write books and become successful in the Academic world, this is no coincidence. They have the ability to see beyond what most people see and have revelations and realizations about the things that have always been right in front of us.

Yes, I can vote from abroad…

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I have had many people say that they didn’t know that one could vote from abroad… and to be honest, neither did I until I moved here and decided to find out. There is even a Democrats Abroad group here in São Paulo that I have become affiliated with through the elections. It is wonderful to be around other Americans, expatriates like myself who know what it is like to live in a different culture, living a different reality. It is different, very different yet oddly similar in the same vein…

I Voted for Barack Obama

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I voted for Barack Obama. I sent in my Absentee Ballot the night of the 2nd Presidential Debate between he and Senator McCain. Since the reality is that we live in a two party system and if I want to make change I see that you have to go a bit mainstream and have done so this round. So of the two major candidates I can certainly say that Barack Obama is my choice. He is an intellectual and this is apparent. He seems to take the high ground and looks out for the middle class that has been totally beaten down in the last few years.

He embodies the “American Dream” with all odds against him, yet he has been able to get to this point and I am cheering him on to continue. Can you imagine having the name Barack Obama growing up in school? Kids are ruthless and cruel, we all know this is the truth, and it is much easier to pick on the one that doesn’t fit in than to pick on our own crowd… I imagine that Barack Obama has faced a lot of ridicule over things that he could not change in his life. Along with that he is was born to a white mother and black foreign father, who left his life at an early age. All odds were against him. Living abroad with his mother for a short time when he was young and then returning to Hawaii to be raised by his grandparents must have been hard. He has had to face adversity in every aspect. His family didn’t have much money, they even had to rely on the government at one point in order to make it through tough times. Dispite all of this, he rose above and realized that he could change his life and his situation, so he did.

He worked his way up to the Ivy League graduating from Columbia University and then Harvard Law School. Along the way he used scholarships and loans to pay for his education, like most of us have to. He became the first black President of the Harvard Law Review. After graduating he wrote a book and then decided to move to South Chicago to work for the people, creating jobs and opportunities, revitalizing the area. He taught at University of Illinois as well, another major feat. Then came his US Senate career, short as it may be, but then had the guts and the drive to run for President of the United States. He has let nothing hold him back, in fact it seems as though it has made him stronger in a variety of ways. He has faced adversity and has pushed forward to get to this point. I believe in someone who has this much drive and will to succeed.

A natural born leader, he spreads inspiration and hope. He is a motivator and can see the big picture. He understands what America is about now, where we have been and where we should go. He has had quite a life which has shaped him to be who he is today. I want someone like that, who has exposure, breadth and depth to lead our great nation. The time for change is now.

The Puppet – Sarah Palin

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I wrote this back on Sept 13th and thought I had published it…

Mccain is using palin as his puppet. she has obviously been coached on what to say when doing a solo interview. this is utterly obvious. he has chosen his young firey running mate who hasnt been exposed to washington so that she can do his dirty work. She will do his dirty work as well, she will take on that bitch role while mccain still maintains a nice guy image and keeps his reputation. he is too far into it now to change and go against his “Friends” and colleagues, he has watched it go on for years and years without doing anything. he needs someone like palin to come in and fight.

she is like a loaded gun, quoted saying that “we cannot second guess” and that we “cannot even blink” when making a decision, even one concerning war.

She is a perfect example of why big corporations give young aduts such opportunity in leadership. She will do whatever they ask her to do, following their direction completely not thinking about it. She will do this because she hasn’t been exposed to the rreasons why not to… she will do it because she is the hometown sweetheart and will do her best in anything she does… in this case as a republican politician running for the vice president of the united states. totally underexposed… totally immature in regards to worldly affairs. Totally lead.

Surfwise Documentary Comments

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My Goodness! I finally saw Surfwise, a documentary about the Paskowitz family! A basic rundown is that an esteemed doctor decided to do things his own way. He found a woman who would live the kind of life that he wanted and set out on a 25 year adventure of traveling around, having children and living a life in an alternative way. It really is an interesting story.

I understand the idea of removing yourself from regular society to avoid its nasty influences, as it seems to be a theme amongst the counter culture for quite some time. I understand the idea that we should go back to being a bit more primative than we are now, especially with what we consume in our bodies, not to mention the wanton consuption of capitalism. I understand the idea of procreating so that you send more seeds out into the world that are a bit more like you and a bit less like others, hopefully in turn spurring some change along the course of life.

The vagabond lifestyle full of freedom and liberty is very attractive on so many levels. Definitely as an individual, even as a couple I can imagine. However throwing a kid into the mix really does turn it a little sideways, let alone adding in 9 kids… there is definitely a reason that they had all boys up until number 8. One of the kids said that they were either going to be a rockstar or homeless which is really rather interesting because as I percieve it is only a fine line between the two, or at least there used to be before music became so commercial… and funny thing I actually saw the Black Flys play when I was in my teenage years.

Their lifestyle definitely set them apart from everyone else. Not having the opportunity of a formal education in our society would have a dramatic effect on anyone and it seemed to be commonly expressed through their interviews… except the one guy who was very jim morrison-ish who said he was going to keep the dream alive. That is fantastic but what about that oldest guy, he was fucking crazy. seriously, when he was singing that song that he wrote for his dad and in a matter of minutes he had worked himself up into quite a sweat and tears even, my god. there is a lot of angst and frustration still lingering. Also, that same guy, “the captain” is the one who injected business into the Paskowitz family’s life even though he said that he was in line with his fathers ideas… it just goes to show that everyone, no matter where they are will always percieve one thing a little different than the other.

Going off the grid has definite appeal, but I think if there is one thing that became so apparent to me is that if you do, you will end up falling so far behind what else is going on in the world. Which may be alright, if you decided to never return, but things will continue to evolve no matter what… It is about the consciousness that we must have in our daily lives that will propel us into that next level. Any extreme either way is extreme and in some fashion does cut you off or away from the rest.

It then also made sense to me why we have gone this route of processed easy accessible food, and lines of credit so that everyone in the pack can keep up (unfortunately lead by corporations with dollar signs in their eyes). Why make things harder than they have to be when there is another way of doing things? Sure you can regress because you find that it is more rewarding or beneficial to do so, but I think the key idea that I got was that we just need to have a sense of freedom and general moderation to enjoy what is out there in our daily lives. Those kids are products of something that they didn’t choose, like all children are… someone mentioned recently how childhood is an affliction that everyone suffers from… and they just had it a little different and how many adults can look towards that and fantasize how wonderful it would be to leave it all behind, live in volunatry poverty for the sake of freedom and just be. Children aren’t quite that way and we are really only this way as adults because our lives weren’t really like that growing up… is it a case of the grass is always greener?

Sex every night. That is definitely a luxury that should not be overlooked. I did like his idea of having sex with 100 women and finding his mate that way. That when he learned to “eat pussy” his life changed!!! WOO HOO! That the most important aspects were to be a good husband, a good father and of course a great lover (I wrote this down last night!). About keeping the passion alive… and being sexual. I was particularly fascinated with his idea that it is due to lack of sexual expression that we then become more pornographic in our society… that was an interesting viewpoint… and I might just have to agree… However, on tv kids programs here it is more common than not to see a bikini wearing hot brazilian babe dancing for no apparent reason… I haven’t really been exposed to porn here, but I can definitely say that there are A LOT of transvestites and one of the largest gay parades in the world held here in São Paulo every year… there might be some correlation to that as well…

This is crap

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How is it that the wealthier Americans who have absolutely benefited during Bush’s reign are now denying that they did actually benefit and that they should buck up and help out now. Obviously the government has been hand in hand with the major corporations in the past 8 years, so much so that they allowed corporations to actually govern and decide what was best for the US by throwing money at corrupt politicians who let it slide as they were also getting in on the cut.

How can they deny this? Of course they can. Right? If you are educated enough to know how the system works and how to get your cut out of it… The idea of investing so that your money will make money for you- which obviously is a lot easier when you have money to begin with (hence the big corporation and shareholder ties). Or by picking up the National BestSeller by Robert Kiyosaki illustrating how to become incorporated so that one can exploit government loopholes, avoid paying taxes and in turn become wealthy.

Politics – Is Palin just a diversion?

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I don’t want to be the one who thinks that everything is a huge conspiracy, but I have to wonder. Why is it that in the last few months of Bush’s Presidency he is pushing all kinds of things through while the media is totally focused on Sarah Palin. Is it part of McCain’s and Bush’s plan to divert the attention so that Bush can do just a little bit more to mess up our nations economy and relations?

Is it because Bush knows that McCain is his buddy and will do what he asks because McCain and the Bush family have been close for years? Is it a big master plan that the general public is totally unaware of? I am so confused and appalled that McCain has picked Palin as his running mate anyway, so is it too far off base to question the bigger motives of the Republican Party who are in fear of a sure loss of power?

Are the Republicans setting up the nation in such a way that the Democrats have to try to come in and save the day against the odds like Clinton had to? Until something happens under the Democratic reign that then leads the general public to think that going Republican again is the answer… Each party has to deal with the effects from the last. It is like any job really, but on a bigger scale, obviously. Think of how many times you have stepped into a new position where you have had to deal with all of the stuff that the last person didn’t do right or did in a different way than you would have? It takes time to reverse and reform anything.

If the McCain and Palin come into power it will be more of the same for sure and they will have to deal with the poor decisions that the Bush Administration made. If Obama and Biden come into power they will have such a huge project to undertake, that will overwhelm them to no end. They will be criticized eventually for not bringing the change that was promised because of the odds that they have had to play against. It will paint them in such bad light, until later when the bigger picture becomes clear…