White Comfort – Politics Plus

Yesterday, I had a chance to read the story from Friday about charges having been dropped against Courtney and Nicole Mallery, the black ranchers in the county I live in who were charged with – something – essentially for being the victims of deliberate and premeditated harassment. It took too long, but it has finally happened. I thought y’all would want to know.

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Short Takes –

Daily Beast – The Texas Mall Shooter’s Radicalization Is No Surprise
Quote – This past Saturday, May 6, a gunman opened fire outside of a mall in Texas, slaughtering eight people, including children. (The shooter was killed by police at the scene.) The sheer brutality of this massacre was captured profoundly in the statement of a witness who tried to find a pulse on a little girl—only to turn her over and reveal that she had no face. This time the shooter wasn’t white. He was a 33-year-old man of Hispanic heritage, which immediately allowed some far-right pundits to play off any suspicions that this might again be related to white supremacist rhetoric. But as should be obvious by now, white supremacy can be upheld by non-white people (just as white nationalists can be superfans of someone who practices Orthodox Judaism, like Ben Shapiro).
Click through for full opinion. He goes back to 2017 (Canada) and examines the phenomenon of non-white white nationalists. The line between delusion and self-hatred is evidently perilously thin.

Southern Poverty Law Center – Buffalo Massacre: A Year Later, White Supremacist Propaganda Continues to Spur Violence
Quote – The “great replacement” theory is a central tenet of white nationalism. Steeped in racist and antisemitic narratives, it falsely asserts there is a concerted and covert effort to replace white populations in white-majority countries with immigrants of color. The conspiracy theory has inspired many other attacks carried out by white extremists against people of color, immigrants, Jewish people and Muslims. Once a fringe idea propagated by hate groups and other extremists – frequently in online message boards – the “great replacement” theory and ideas akin to it have been normalized and dragged into the mainstream, in part, with the help of conservative political figures, media personalities, lawmakers and lobbying groups.
Clicl through for retrospective. To paraphrase Chesterton, sometimes it isn’t news we need so much as to be reminded.

Food For Thought

Yesterday, I got to see Virgil. I passed on greetings, and He said to tell y’all they are appreciated. Today he seemed to have grasped that he willnot be getting out of prison alive, but he asked me – and I know it wasn’t s much as every five minutes, but it was often – how long we had been married (39 years this May) and also, though much less frequently, how old he is (79 – will be 80 in July.) He didn’t appear at all frustrated by not knowing, at least. I left at exactly the right time – five minutes later and the glare would have been too much.Neither visitors nor inmates are allowed watches, but there are a few windows in the room, and they face roughly west, so that if there is sun the light hitting the floor (snd eventually the wall) acts like a makeshift sundial. Six stripes on the south wall means time to go. Once we get back to DST it shouldn’t be a problem – visitation ends early enough that I’ll be fine staying until it’s over – and that will happen for my next visit on March 12. Now, in November, it appears there may be what we called in the military a fire drill, but using an ethnic slur which I won’t repeat. My state has passed legislation to keep DST, as has Ohio. Missouri and Texas have not. California voters have passed a referendum, but the legislature has yet to act. Needless to say, Australia will not be affected by us. For anyone in the US, I highly recommend a bit of research on your state between now and November.

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Short Takes –

Crooks & Liars – Beltway Media Still Doesn’t Understand Where Right Wingers Get Their Ideas
Quote – In 2016, Stephen Gossett of Chicagoist recounted the history that these Times reporters don’t seem to know: “There is a very simple two-part explanation as to why this happened: President Obama’s adopted hometown is Chicago; and Chicago struggles with gun violence. So its not surprising to find an example that stretches all the way back to Obama’s first presidential campaign.”
Click through for article. Yes, Obama is still the bogey-an for way too many people, and probabloy some arenot even MAGAs.

Medium – 5 Reasons Why White People Are Afraid of Disposing of Their White Comfort
Quote – White comfort shows up everywhere, for instance, in the workplace when keeping Black people a way from senior positions, discriminatory hiring practices. Also, in schools that refuse to teach Critical Race Theory, states that ban books, and the way white people avoid discussing race relations and racism. All of these instances, are sensitive to white people because it pricks them into their skin like a needle; they feel like they are being attacked because they are being asked to be held accountable, and face the reality of the changing world that is being inclusive of everyone but them for once.
Click through for article. White privilege, white fragility, white comfort – they are very similar, though there are subtle differences. All are so subtle yet all-pervasive that many white people don’t know they exist, and often actively fight the idea that they exist. People of color know that if they say or do anything which distirbs white comfort, even someting as innocuous as being in a particular place, their risks extend all the way up to death.

Food For Thought

Politics Plus

Open Thread May 15, 2023

Open Thread February 27, 2023