Two schools of thought on the use of the word (you'd think no one smarter than OF should have trouble understanding the history behind it, but WF never fails to surprise): Chris Rock's distinction between Black people and n-----s is relevant as well as funny. There's also Whoopi Goldberg's statement "I don't know any, and I'm not one." "Wypipo" doesn't bother me. I understand that it's a descriptor of a certain kind of person. If I can turn Whoopi's statement around: I do know lots of 'em. Lived among 'em for the first 50 years of my life (q.v. Saturday Night Fever and any media set in Staten Island). But I am not one of them. Now, this: Refers to a specific subcategory of white person. It has the double meaning of "some Internet asshole who wigs out at other people's posts when 90% of his are just drive-bys." If Lubak can't remember Shirogayne's name (I mean, it's a whole four syllables; I bet his widdle fingers get tired typing it), he's just earned himself a new name. Now watch how he responds to this.
You know why I don't like crackers and wypipo? Because they increase the likelihood of the race card being used against me when I'm attempting to enforce store policies. And while I hate being backed into a corner where adrenaline takes over (that shit hurts when you can't direct it into flight or fight), where I'm being accused of accusing them of 'x' or whatever, I get why they're doing it and it fucking sucks - for everyone. They shouldn't be in a position where they perceive my policy enforcement is a directed sleight against them because they've experienced racist shit from others. Yet, culturally, wypipo do a great job of putting them in that position. Ironically enough, in my experience, it's the crackers and wypipo that pull most of the shit that require the policies in the first place.
When you make it about feelings, you can expect many people to vector off, for the simple fact that emotions can neither be verified nor disproven. Not a problem until that feeling becomes the basis for a mandate or prohibition. Then suddenly you're taking someone's word for something where you're expected to comply. Basically, jumping at their whims because they say so.
You're right. A better start would be everyone refusing to use gasoline. Will you be leading the charge?
That they exist, or that they represent the exact thing being articulated out loud in the moment? Of course, you knew which one I meant, so you went with the other one.
When I have a place to set up for a hybrid vehicle to charge every night? Absolutely. In the meantime, fuck the oil industry.
It doesn't really touch my lived experience (like it would a res living metis like captain millennial), but the perfunctory nature of things like land acknowledgements strike me as pretty hollow.
The best thing to do after listening to a land acknowledgement is to steal a personal item from the speaker, acknowledge that you stole it, and ask them why they still want it back. Did they not hear your acknowledgement?
Twice with that fucktarded little comic, and it still does nothing to refute. Stomping your feet and complaining accomplishes nothing. Trading snarky memes in some social media echo chamber circle jerk accomplishes nothing. Insisting the important problems are someone else's to solve accomplishes nothing. There is no real version of the desired change that asks no sacrifice of you, because we are each of us part of the problem.
Presupposing society deserves and can be improved? I try not to overconsume and overspend. I avoid debt, live in a tiny studio apartment and bicycle to work. It's not much, but you also can't deny what our appetite for debt, cheap consumer goods and petroleum does to undermine us as individuals and collectively. I also refrain from wrecking shit and hurting people to make a point, so there's that. As for racism, I can't fix other people. You can't dictate thought. I can resolve not to propagate it myself, and I believe I have been successful in that regard. You can dismiss that as nothing, but imagine if everyone did the same.
Thanks! Still won't watch AbramsTrek. He blew up Vulcan just to show he was a bigger badass than his predecessors. Fuck him.
Thank you for your honest answer. I will say that it's true not everyone can be fixed, but it's also on the oppressor groups to call out their own on bad behavior to disincentivize people the shit entirely. Not just about racism, but sexism, queerphobia of all stripes, ableism, etc. Pro-black as I am, it infuriates me when I see other black folks using our history to shit on gays or blame Latinos for gentrification of black neighborhoods (of which I see A LOT in online San Diego groups, as though Mexicans weren't the predominant racial group here since forever )
other than i prefer to walk or take public transit, our lifestyles ain't so different of course, I'm a bit more predisposed to the notion that helping others pays forward to my own benefit in other ways.
It's nice to see you've grown, remember when you used to insist voting was pointless because one person couldn't make a difference.
I am not averse to helping others. I oppose being deprived of the choice or expected to do so unconditionally. I can actually be quite amenable and useful when nobody is trying to impose their will on me.
Oh, I still believe it's pissing in the wind to put out a forest fire. There are more productive things you can do at the individual level.
And that whole rigged individualism thing is a disease in this country. Quite literally. Sure, there's stuff we can do as people, but we do live in a society that we'd be better off giving a sliver of a tenth of a fuck about beyond our bubbles. I mean, 65,000 voted in any swing state would've meant another 4 years of Trump.
You might be surprised to learn I don't entirely disagree, but we might differ on what form giving a fuck about others might take. Some of it is inconvenient and compromising at the individual level, and runs contrary to the temptation to indulge that delicious schadenfreude. The basic question is whether you're promoting a utopian vision, or if you just want it to be your turn as oppressor.
