Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Whenever some tribal/racial victim group—or D/S/C government–begins talking about the need for a “conversation,” one may be certain of several things:

1) Anyone participating in the “conversation” must fully accept the premises of the victim group before a word is spoken;

2) Whatever anyone not of the victim group might think or say is wrong, indicative of unearned and abused privilege, offensive, and racist;

3) Anyone not of the victim group is allowed only to fully agree, but such agreement must use precisely the words/terms the victim group is using today.  Tomorrow is a different matter.

4) Saying nothing is the ultimate proof of racism and is also actual violence.

5) Such “conversation” requires the forking over of vast amounts of taxpayer money.

6) Ultimately, the victim group side of the “conversation” amounts to: “SHUT UP YOU RACIST!!!!!!!”

But thank goodness for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.  That’s a portion of the masthead of their website in the header.  I’m not sure what to make of the woman with a beard, or maybe that’s a trans guy in transition to something or other, but we can be certain those faceless images are diverse and meaningful.  The NMAAHAC—nuhmaaaahhack?—is determined to start a “conversation” about race:

At the National Museum of African American History and Culture, we believe that any productive conversation on race must start with honesty, respect for others, and an openness to ideas and information that provide new perspectives.

In case you were thinking this sounded sane and rational, just wait, gentle readers, to learn what that new perspective is.  These people do, after all, work for the government in Washington, DC.

In that context, we recently unveiled ‘Talking About Race,’ an online portal providing research, studies, and other academic materials from the fields of history, education, psychology, and human development. Our goal in doing so was to contribute to a discussion on this vitally important subject that millions of Americans are grappling with.

Yeah, there’s certainly not nearly enough talk about race these days.  And most of the grappling is being done by the police and honest citizens trying to fend off Marxists/anarchists intent on “discussing race” through the application of property damage, theft, arson, assault, rape and murder.

Since yesterday, certain content in the ‘Talking About Race’ portal has been the subject of questions that we have taken seriously. We have listened to public sentiment and have removed a chart that does not contribute to the productive discussion we had intended.

Obviously, they thought that chart enormously helpful.  I wonder how many man hours—oops, person hours—went into producing it?  As a SMM public service, we’ll be exploring it after they tell us all about the “conversation” we’re going to have.

The site’s intent and purpose are to foster and cultivate conversations that are respectful and constructive and provide increased understanding. As an educational institution, we value meaningful dialogue and believe that we are stronger when we can pause, listen, and reflect—even when it challenges us to reconsider our approach. We hope that this portal will be an ever-evolving place that will continue to grow, develop, and ensure that we listen to one another in a spirit of civility and common cause.

Gentle readers, you’ll see exactly what kind of respect and understanding these people intend, and as always, the ultimate message is “shut up you racist!”  They have helpfully defined the terms that will limit the parameters of the “conversation”:

Whiteness and white racialized identity refer to the way that white people, their customs, culture, and beliefs operate as the standard by which all other groups of are compared. Whiteness is also at the core of understanding race in America. Whiteness and the normalization of white racial identity throughout America’s history have created a culture where nonwhite persons are seen as inferior or abnormal.

“Seen as inferior or abnormal?”  By whom?  Who actually thinks that way?  “White racialized identity?”  What, exactly might that be, and again, who thinks that way?

This white-dominant culture also operates as a social mechanism that grants advantages to white people, since they can navigate society both by feeling normal and being viewed as normal. Persons who identify as white rarely have to think about their racial identity because they live within a culture where whiteness has been normalized.

Oh, I agree entirely.  Whenever I see a non-white person walking down the street, the first thing that pops into my head is “look at that abnormal and inferior non-white racialized person.”  Doesn’t everybody?  The folks at NMAAHAC obviously think we white racialized people do.  I’m sure I have my grant of advantage certificate somewhere in my filing cabinet, which is doubtless yet another indicator of white privilege even though it’s black.

Thinking about race is very different for nonwhite persons living in America. People of color must always consider their racial identity, whatever the situation, due to the systemic and interpersonal racism that still exists.

Of course.  They can’t just be a person who happens to be Black, Hispanic, Indian, Asian, etc.  They can’t just be a person.  They have to be a Black person or a Hispanic person or an Indian person or an Asian person, because one can’t exist without filling their heads with thoughts of race every waking second. And why?  Because they’re surrounded by “systemic and interpersonal racism,” especially by people who aren’t aware they’re racist, which is the ultimate proof of “systemic and interpersonal racism.”  Let’s move on to the now erased chart, which eloquently explains their thinking, which is something they don’t want people to, um, think about.

Obviously, white culture is bad, bad bad, and even non-white people have—gasp!—“internalized” it.  Perhaps there’s a vaccine?  Under the heading of “Rugged Individualism” we learn individual liberty is bad, and so is self-reliance.  Don’t white people know the state is mother?  The state is father?  The state is big brother?  Therefore, independence and autonomy are also—you guessed it—bad.  Being in control of one’s “environment—life—is also self-evidently bad, and people should get what government, or Black Lives Matter, thinks they should get.

The horrors of the white family structure are almost too much to bear.  What’s wrong with people that think stable adults—male and female—with children are a model for non-white people?  What racists!  Oddly for a museum, these folks seem stuck in the 50s.  And what’s this about children having their own rooms and learning to be independent?  Why, that’s white people talk!  The horror.

Under “Emphasis on Scientific Method” we see the intellectual qualities that have made America the most advanced and prosperous nation in history, so obviously, those things are very bad.  As Joe Biden recently said, “truth” is much more important than fact.

Under “History,” we again see the qualities of the western enlightenment that have provided the material prosperity that allows folks at the NMAAHAC to rather stupidly criticize the ideas, cultures and personal qualities that have paid their salaries and given them the liberty to make asses of themselves.  As Mark Twain said:

Nothing so needs reforming as the habits of others,

and apparently the habits of “white racialized” people most of all.  Non-white folks are apparently just peachy as they are, except for White people keeping them from whatever it is they should be.

“Protestant Work Ethic” really exposes their thinking.  What, pray tell, other than hard work, is a key to success?  Laziness?  Drug use?  Beating one’s wife and children?  Long terms in prison?  Oh, of course: government handouts, taking the money of people that do work hard and giving it to people that don’t.  To understand these people, one need only see what they criticize, and what they wish to “normalize.”  Hard work is bad and white.  Working before playing is bad and white.  If you fail, it’s whitey’s fault.  Non-white people are not responsible for their failure or success, it’s the Man—racialized, normalized white culture–keeping them down.  They can’t possibly be responsible for their failure, and they’re not capable of success without the helping hand of government.

“Religion” really lets the racist cat out of the bag.  America is indeed a nation where most faiths are based on the Judeo-Christian tradition.  And this is bad because?  Other faiths are not “foreign.”  Primarily in America, all faiths are accepted, protected and may practice as they choose, unless of course one lives in California, Minnesota, or various other Democrat-ruled people’s republics.  The idea that white people do not tolerate other conceptions of deity is either purposeful deception or general obtuseness.  As Thomas Jefferson, the Founder most responsible for American religious liberty said:

The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts as are only injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.

Americans have ever embraced Jefferson’s sentiment.  Black people aren’t Christian?  They’re polytheistic?  In what alternate universe?  Actually, this may simply be a part of forced acceptance of every premise.  People like the NMAAHAC folks are closed minded and intolerant, so they project that intolerance on white people, who are all racist, unlike them.  They are soooo different than white people, because:

We hope that this portal will be an ever-evolving place that will continue to grow, develop, and ensure that we listen to one another in a spirit of civility and common cause.

No white person would ever want to do that.

The NMAAHAC crowd exposes their socialistic leanings even more in “Status, Power & Authority.”  While many people surely believe wealth may be indicative of accomplishment and hard work—bad, bad!—they do not automatically think wealthy people—of any race–superior beings.  Of course our jobs define us.  They have in every human culture throughout history. Work helps gives life meaning.  The alternative is…no jobs?  Blind respect for authority is something of a fading concept these days.  The NMAAHAC folks apparently mistake respect for deference.  We defer to those in a position of authority because we all gain from that deference, but we respect those worthy of respect, because of—as Martin Luther King said—the content of their character, not the color of their skin, or the size of their bank account.

Of course, owing things, including “space and property” is bad, bad bad!  Government must decide how much of the fruits of our labor we are allowed to keep and how much space we have and where we are allowed to live.  It is apparently uniquely white to desire such things, and any person of color who would want them is “acting white,” and is therefore not really a person of color.  Anyone not sure of their racial status should consult Joe Biden or the NMAAHAC.  If you’re not voting for him, you’re certainly not Black.

More bad news is revealed in “Future Orientation.”  Making intelligent plans, delaying gratification, making progress—actual personal progress, not D/S/C lunacy–and being optimistic are obviously horrible things.  Of course, they, as with much else in the chart, merely describe millennia old qualities and habits that decent, kind and successful people have always had, but they were all certainly racists and oppressors.  In the meantime, pass that joint; life is shit and tomorrow is going to be worse, and it’s all white people’s fault.  Benjamin Franklin said:

Don’t squander time, for that is what life is made of.

Wisely using the short time we have on this Earth is yet another mark of the rational, productive adult.  Those that do not pay attention to time management, that can’t keep a schedule, are unreliable, childish, a drag on us all and doomed to failure.  Being functional with time is also very much a part of intuitively understanding physics and the universe that surrounds us.  Coincidentally, non-white people capable of paying attention to time are often bullied for “acting white.”  Better to be unemployable, unreliable and authentically non-white.

“Aesthetics” is another example of truth over facts.  Of course we’re based on western culture, though no one demands everyone think and act the same, only that they obey the law, that they honor the social contract.  “Bland is best?”  Have these people been to restaurants lately?  Supermarkets?  But of course, proteins and starches are helpful for those that actually work… For people who supposedly are all about science, “history, education, psychology, and human development,” these NMAAHAC people are awfully truthy.  Male and female attractiveness are hard wired to ensure the propagation of the species.  People of all races tend not to be attracted to physically unattractive—and therefore potentially unhealthy—unintelligent, lazy losers who can’t keep a job, are unreliable and pessimistic.  Or is that just racialized white people?

“Holidays”: Uh, Martin Luther King day?  Memorial Day?  “Labor Day?”

Oh yeah: that one takes work…

“Justice”: is also revealing.  Apparently the NMAAHAC people think a system of justice based on the rights of the individual—“entitlements”–property rights, and due process is a bad thing, somehow oppressive and evil?  An arbitrary system based on skin color and they whims of tyrants would be preferable?

Few things are worse than “competition.”  We must all be winners–or not.  Just being participants is enough.  Of course, this all goes back to the horrors of hard work and individual accomplishment and self- reliance, which must be stamped out.  Do you notice, gentle readers, the NMAAHAC is essentially describing men?  And as we all know, men BAD!  Particularly racialized white men.

One note about their last comment in this section: under our representative republic, the majority does rule, but the individual rights of the minority are protected.  This too, is apparently bad.  This is not a race-based state of being, but the foundation of our republic.

“Communication,” as a teacher of “The King’s English” is near and dear to my heart.  Any culture without a common language falls apart.  We certainly do not speak “The King’s English,” as any Englishman will affirm.  What the NMAAHAC apparently means is standard English, the basic, competent, language of daily discourse.  Those unable to speak it are reasonably seen as less intelligent and competent.  American English is unique, and is the world standard for business, science and other endeavors.

It is only in America fluency in a common language is thought a bad thing by some native speakers.  Try spending time in many foreign nations to find out the reality of language expectations.

Indeed, we have a written tradition, and thank the one God.  No culture can be advanced without it.  As to avoiding conflict and intimacy, are they trying to negatively stereotype men again, or do they truly know so little about human nature?  The same with showing emotion and discussing one’s personal life.  Or is this merely an attempt to stereotype the cold, formal, still, unemotional white person, as compared to the warm, informal, active, emotional person of color, the latter obviously being the superior being?

“Be polite.”  Are they really arguing against politeness?  Rudeness, aggression and provocation are to be desired?

Very well then.  The NMAAHAC has stereotyped, insulted, denigrated, and belittled white people, particularly white men.  They have, by implication, indicted all of the personal qualities that have always made human being responsible, decent, productive adults, people who create rather than take, build rather than destroy and become truly tolerant.  They have suggested the very opposite of those qualities is desirable, and are the noble qualities of people of color.

Worst of all, they have implied people of color are incapable of being on time, of using standard English in speech and writing, are incapable of planning their own futures or making decisions about their lives.  They imply they want tyrannical government and expect others to take care of them in every particular.

Regular readers know all race cards are canceled at this Internet ATM.  I seek to leave others alone, and ask only the same courtesy.  I give deference what it is due, and respect when it is earned.  When I make commitments, through work or otherwise, I am reliable and trustworthy, which means being on time and doing what I say I will do when I say I will do it.  And I try, always, to be polite.  I had a mother.  Didn’t these people have mothers, or any responsible adult influence in their lives?

My students “of color” that tried to live these universally rational human characteristics and habits were successful.  They learned, did not commit crimes, and had time to develop themselves and to make their families and themselves proud.  Those who listened to useless idiots claiming they were “acting white,” failed.  They were constantly in trouble, learned little or nothing, and were constantly miserable.  The same was true for white kids, which should hardly be surprising, because we’re all human beings.  Some things work for human beings and others don’t.  Knowing the difference isn’t hard.  The Golden Rule is ever golden.  Doing positive, productive things is hard, however, when one is forced into a narrow racial concept of acceptable behavior, rather than the much broader and productive human culture.

It’s rather easy to see why the NMAAHAC would want to make that chart disappear, isn’t it?

So yes, let’s have a NMAAHAC-inspired conversation beginning with this question: what the hell is wrong with you people, and why am I still paying your salaries?