When I talk to a Trump supporter about his (pick an adjective, I'm out) behaviors, their argument is that it's time someone stood up to "the establishment".
The blazingly obvious flaw in that thinking is the assumption that the way he's doing it is the only way.
I don't agree with them, and I don't agree that what we're seeing is the only way to heal racial divisions. I think we're all better than that.
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I'm not quite sure how anyone who made half his appointments from Goldman Sachs and the other half for their contacts with Russia is fighting 'the establishment".
and one doesn't need to be a racist piece of garbage to oppose the so-called "establishment".
see if you find a single trumptard who stands up to the kkk and neonazi scum. good luck with that.
what is important now for people like you and people like me who don't agree on an awful lot but who agree that neo-Nazis are vile and should certainly shouldn't be enabled, to stand up and be as loud as possible.
I don't worry about making the bullies mad. I worry that we won't.
and I keep remembering "all it takes for evil to prevail is for decent [people] to do nothing".
I think it would be far smarter to completely ignore them.
And then have people who disagree, communicating, listening and slowly improving relations.
The idiots would be completely neutralized with no screaming, no attacking, no deaths.
Things are only getting worse with this approach.
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Mac, I heard a guy on the news a few nights ago who has just written a book. His claim is that we can defeat racism by being MORE into our "identities," into being tribal, really building feeling of community around us and feeling of belonging in our own cultures, which defeats the reason for racist recruitment--needing a feeling of belonging, of a specific identity. If we have a strong sense of identity, of who we are, we will be more secure and less likely to be hostile or uncomfortable with other groups. Just being white isn't enough. It's way too global and ephemeral.
Wish I could remember where I heard him. It was an interesting and practical idea, actually. Some of the groups that try to "rehabilitate" racists claim the same underlying lack of a positive identity that sucks them in. The racist org gives broken folk a place to feel accepted and gives them a "tribe." Not so different from the lure of gang culture, actually.
That's not the ONLY factor or the only solution, but it was harmless and people have actually been talking about it for years--somehow recouping that feeling of belonging in something secure and positive.
Holy crap, that goes against all my impulses, but I'm open to anything at this point.
Let's not forget that it's Identity Politics, the division of people, that has so many (including myself) at odds with the Left.
Maybe the author might argue that it would depend on the way it's done. If it's done in a combative, divisive way, it simply can't work, because that's what got us here. If there's a way to do it in a civil, cooperate way, then maybe. Of course it takes two to tango...
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The tribe is the community IMO. No white or black tribes necessary. Local tribes, neighborhood tribes, school group tribes, sports/extracurricular tribes, religious tribes and so on. All of these are well integrated where I live and it is working well.
There are some things predominantly one race or the other, churches for example. There are none that I know of that are exclusively one race. The other race is welcomed (even appreciated), but church music is an acquired taste and we don't seem to acquire other flavors of music so readily. There are whites that prefer black churches (mostly 20 to 30-somethings) and black people who prefer white churches (mostly 60+ and Catholics).
We identify with common interests and common ties more than skin color. We had a rocky time for a bit after Katrina, but the haters mostly moved back to NO, into BR or across the river. The rest seem to have acclimated well and are with the program.
Like politics, IMO, race relations is a local thing until you turn on the TV.
