Another Week: More Colorblind White American Racism

Does VICE do This Week In Racism on their television show? There ought to be a program for this "colorblind" phenomena - began by Ted Nugent and Paul Ryan - of a weekly roll-out of some new flavor of (supposedly-deceased-and/or-previously-non-existent) racists, determined to have their say on the very subject they're equally determined not to understand. 

Here would be this week's guest, from Salon:

"We don’t need your apology, Princeton kid 

Tal Fortgang wrote an essay saying he's not sorry for being male and white -- but who asked him to be?"

This sociopathic demand whites not feel guilt (or anything else, really) is a never-ending trope of the colorblind racist. Here I am, for the umpteenth time, also refuting it - over two weeks ago - on Althouse:

"Nobody wants, needs, or is asking for your guilt - we want you to discover 'justice'."

That white racists are stuck on this straw man doesn't say much for their intellectual prowess, but, as Chauncey DeVega noticed at We Are Respectable Negroes, it says quite a bit about how language can be used in an attempt to distract from more salient topics:

  "Historically, white supremacy's most socially deleterious power, and what so many white folks are desperately clinging to in the United States, is white racism's ability to elevate mediocre, failing, low-skilled, degenerate, unmotivated, and otherwise sub par white folks to the level of 'respectability' and 'middle class' over people of color who are in almost every way superior to them."

That's it:

Every week I'd host a comedy/game show, featuring a different colorblind racist saying whatever he or she wants, in an effort to fool others (and even themselves) into believing they've sincerely pondered and heard America's most-important issues.

We could call it: 

 SQUIRREL!!!

 

If I Got A Donation Every Time I Was Right I'd Be Rich

Well, I guess it's true - if you live long enough, you see everything. Including all your NewAge predictions coming true! For instance, TMR's old friends in the Reiki cult are finally getting their due from Slate, in a Brian Palmer article that suggests:

   Let’s Get Quackery Out of Cancer Care

Reiki and reflexology have no place in hospitals.

Great idea!

Of course, TMR was saying it seven years ago, when that position was considered "crazy". (What does that make my critics now?) And, that whole time - just like with Republicans, now, on race - I had to withstand the slings and arrows of those with no feeling for reality. It's rough.

So why'd it take so long for "mainstream" Slate to catch on? They've got an article on another of my pet peeves - Yoga - that explains it:

  Why haven’t you already heard about all of these anti-yoga studies? They have no constituency, and therefore don’t interest the media much. When a journal article showing that yoga improves quality of life in breast cancer patients came out earlier this month, hundreds of stories trumpeted the results in the mainstream media. Yet it’s difficult to find any mention of the review articles discussed above that question the efficacy of yogic practice as a health care tool. Few people wanted to read a skeptical take on therapeutic prayer in the 1990s, and there aren’t many people today who will click on stories about how yoga won’t solve their health problems (except for you, of course). The negative studies never make it beyond medical journals.

So there's my beef - just like with politics - so far ahead of the curve, no one can see me. (I covered therapeutic touch as well, back-in-the-day, so there.) There's "no constituency" for far-seeing truth. The media want to print hype, and then, whatever happens,...happens.

Salon has a new column on measles returning because of anti-vaxxers, that features a photo of Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carey. TMR gave you several posts ON Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carey.

It never ends (Don't forget I told you supplements were crap, too.) I usually say I'm about 5 years ahead of most people on the NewAge subjects I'm interested in but, looking at these dates, I'm at least seven or eight years ahead. Not too shabby. Now I want to test it. Anybody heard anything out of Arianna Huffington lately?

According to my calculations, she's about due for her close-up,... 

 

Showing Your Readers Everything You've Got (Or Not)

Here's a "wild" announcement from Salon.com:

"The truth about female desire: It’s base, animalistic and ravenous"

Now here's a "wild" announcement from TMR - the truth about Salon.com:

They think we're all inexperienced,...