tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-210284992120789343.post9024736666222551780..comments2012-02-16T07:53:00.193-08:00Comments on Destination Unknown: RE:Race, America, and white folksAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15750123022720169011noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-210284992120789343.post-40979119681948974122012-02-07T11:17:47.596-08:002012-02-07T11:17:47.596-08:00You know what? In keeping with the no fingerpointi...You know what? In keeping with the no fingerpointing philosophy behind your blog, I'd suggest that this whole 'white ideal' thing is really just a thing of the past. Today's 'ideal,' I'd argue, is to do something you love, whether or not it makes you financially stable. Being atypical has become more and more popular with time, and that'll surely make for an exciting future.Tim P.https://www.blogger.com/profile/05132249303240938227noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-210284992120789343.post-85447447000273139402012-02-07T09:24:26.180-08:002012-02-07T09:24:26.180-08:00Sorry I keep going on, but one more thing--
Thos...Sorry I keep going on, but one more thing--<br /> Those who DO fight for an education in a 'proper' field and succeed in breaching socioeconomic barriers are also highly admirable, as they are the ones who exemplify at personal cost that we're not all that different. Those few who remain stagnantly impoverished by chooce DESPITE opportunities they may have aren't always noble--- sometimes their impetus can be vengeful racism against whites, not just disapproval of the white mentality. Either way, white people started it.Tim P.https://www.blogger.com/profile/05132249303240938227noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-210284992120789343.post-43988239480541054522012-02-07T09:01:37.001-08:002012-02-07T09:01:37.001-08:00Rather, the structure (being the white 'ideal&...Rather, the structure (being the white 'ideal') was tailored for white people by white people, and in today's world the main factor that determines entry into this boring ideal is vocational education, which is much less accessible to those who are not already in the economic class of those who go to universities. So, maybe those who don't fight their way to a ''proper education" for a "proper job" would rather just break their backs in order to stay human. Which I think is admirable, and gives those folks the moral high ground.Tim P.https://www.blogger.com/profile/05132249303240938227noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-210284992120789343.post-80652990502092462072012-02-07T07:56:55.266-08:002012-02-07T07:56:55.266-08:00I should note that when the white mentality doesn&...I should note that when the white mentality doesn't take the form of an office 9-5 and two and a half kids, a passive adherence to white superiority in that we whites created the ideal, it often takes an actively adherent form: blunt racism. Hence the blue collar white and black co workers who hate each other. This has become less common, indicating to many that 'racism is over,' but that doesn't change the fact that the structure itself is white-madeTim P.https://www.blogger.com/profile/05132249303240938227noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-210284992120789343.post-40107842836267722312012-02-07T07:21:06.061-08:002012-02-07T07:21:06.061-08:00"How and why would an intelligent person rema..."How and why would an intelligent person remain in a slum, when outside of it they would have a better life? Maybe it is because they don't see the appeal of mindless hard work, moral 'superiority', or being 'white'?"<br /><br />Though I agree that ''whiteness" is a useless, degenerative concept that has evolved to very significant proportions, unjustly having 'benefited' all of us (directly or indirectly) who have white skin, there are certain things I've got to point out:<br />1) The image of the white man as a successful 9-5 businessperson who hates their job is a far cry from the small American white farmer who works very hard and who's probably much happier laboring on his land than his office-bound counterpart.<br />2) Poor people of all colors have no choice but to work very, very hard-- their sacrifice is almost always more physically strenuous than the 'stressed out' white man's. Farmers and people in slums everywhere have always worked hard in order to lead legitimate lives.<br />3) Whiteness became a MUCH bolder dividing line as are result of slavery, I agree, and Reconstruction, ideally, would have erased that line and eliminatedthe dichotomy altogether.... But with a head start in the social structure they controed, white people weren't just going to parse ther advantage out to free slaves and see eye to eye, nor were black people magically going to emerge from the giant hole dug for them by white people. What I'm getting at is, reconstruction didn't work amazingly because white peope had this economic head start AND an idea they zealously stuck to, passively or not, that the world was THEIR vessel and blacks were now just passengers because they couldn't be forced to row anymore-- but that doesn't mean the skipper could be black.<br /> Giving freed slaves farmland was NOT done in order to make them more like white people. It was a (half assed) way to provide work to a very poor population and keep them fairly separate from the growing community of people with 'white' jobs. Farming isn't a white phenomenon, though-- least white job out there.<br /><br /> White poverty is huge in America; the hardest workers are extremely poor; 'white' jobs that fulfill our image of success do so because white people created that image; the 'white' mentality is a horrible thing.Tim P.https://www.blogger.com/profile/05132249303240938227noreply@blogger.com