Quote:
Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop
I haven't read White Fragility, so I can only assume he is being unfair about what it says, but it feels like a long exercise is intentionally missing the point. I'm not sure that calling him racist helps much -- it creates more heat than light.
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The idea that someone wouldn’t read the underlying book for the article they are sharing is a strange phenomenon, for sure. But whatever. I’m not commenting on Taibbi, who I think lost his mind years ago.
But what I’d like to know (and this seems on point given the book’s thesis) is why are white people so very acutely knee-jerk resistant to any implication that what you have said is racist? I’m not sure this phenomenon exists with any other topic. You can hold racist ideas (small and large, conscious or implicit). There are degrees of racism. A lot of it is based on ignorance. Why is it that if someone says, “Dude, that’s racist,” all dialogue shuts down and we need to then manage your feelings for the next fifteen minutes until you are able to function as a thinking human being again?
“It creates more heat than light.” Get the fuck out of here with that bullshit. Jesus.
TM
