Sunday, April 20, 2008

fail to realize they've been divided and conquered

In his own inimitable style (which can take some getting used to), Tim Wise breaks down a misery-inducing result of the creation of white privilege--the failure of most whites to realize that the fictional concept of race has been used as a tool against their own economic interests.





A PDF version of the transcript for Wise's entire talk is available here.

9 comments:

  1. Dear Macon D,

    Thank you for posting this intriguing video. I enjoy reading your insightful posts.

    You may find this curious post of interest: "White Privilege as Rhetoric in Race Debate".

    Sincerely,
    Ortho

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  2. Thanks Ortho, Munzenberg's analysis certainly is useful.

    I think I've written before at your joint that the enjoyment of which you speak is mutual.

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  3. "divide and conquer" It's the #1 tactic of any invasive group and certainlythe #1 tactic of the power mongewrs in this country. If the people suddenly came to an agreement on anythingtogether that was contrary to their own selfish interests, they would be doomed and they know it.
    Sorry, didn't watch the video . . . loads too slow and I can't stand to sit through such jibberish. MY ADD get in the way of such disciplined behaviors.

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  4. Tim Wise, Tim Wise. What an ally.

    Great work on this blog, it's great to see all of this information aggregated here. Now I know where to point when friends are looking for a starting point for information.

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  5. Interesting how its acceptable to make blanket generalizations about an entire ethnicity of people as long as they are white. Blanket generalizations of Black, Latino, Asian or others would be racist. I find the whole "whites bashing whitey" really tired and cliched. Is this kind of monologue advancing racial justice, harmony? I think not.

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  6. Anonymous, I'm not making blanket generalizations. I'm talking on this blog about common white tendencies. That shouldn't have to mean saying, over and over again, "not ALL white people do these things." Other groups have common tendencies too, and it's certainly fair to talk about them, if one does so in a serious and informed way.

    By the way, whiteness isn't an ethnicity. My understanding is that that word was created in the first place precisely to differentiate not-yet-white European immigrants from the ones who had become accepted as "white."

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  7. Tim Wise's rhetorical style isn't really inimitable. It seems to be influenced by or derived from slam poetry style.

    I think whiteness can be an ethnicity, in that many non-whites see whiteness as an ethnicity. To white people, white people have no culture, because they are blind to their own whiteness.

    The typical white person sees "black", "Latino", and "Asian" as ethnicities, even if there is much diversity within each of these groups. But what happens often is that because diverse people within a white-defined group are treated all the same, they have same experiences (with whites) and that white-defined commonality becomes a rallying point.

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  8. Hi Mason D,

    I think this post was particularly interesting. I have a book given to me by a great punk-rock friend of mine called "You Are Being Lied To" (not sure if its still in print) that argues in one of its chapters that when Martin Luther King Jr started to point out the very same things that gentlemen spoke of and create organizations towards this issue's exposure; he was assassinated swiftly thereafter.

    So was Malcolm X when he just touched on this topic. Weird, huh?

    I'm still "pimping" your blog to my friends and your link is up at www.pddp.wordpress.com (a blog by two non-White girls who are pissed at everything, lol). I enjoy your insights very much and think your thoughts are worth reading. They get me thinking about a lot.

    Cheers,
    Davita Cuttita

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  9. Thanks Davita, I do appreciate the encouragement.

    I'm familiar with Russ Kick's book, and while much of it is indeed provocative, much else seems impossible to prove or disprove, let alone hard to believe.

    I prefer a much more reputable and convincing book along those lines, Lies My Teacher Told Me, by James Loewen.

    Lots of good righteous anger on your blog! And I agree, Saul Williams rox, big time.

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