Saturday, July 19, 2008

insist on occupying center-stage

I don't normally watch The View, but sometimes it ends up in front of me (or I end up in front of it). Many of you have probably seen Elisabeth Hasselbeck's recent and apparently sincere breakdown of sorts, which took place during a discussion on the show of "the n-word" this past Thursday. The video is making the blog-rounds, sparking further debate on who can and can't use the word, and whether it should instead be run over with a truck and tossed onto the trash heap that is America's racial history.

I first saw it at All about Race, and I was struck less by any original insights offered by The View crew into the use of that contentious word than by the interactions between these black and white women as they discussed the issue. Despite the persistent efforts of Whoopi Goldberg to add some substance to the conversation, Elisabeth insists on being the center of attention. As she does so, she demonstrates very well a common white pathology that often emerges in such discussions, something I call "center-stage sickness."

I've reprinted below this video-clip the comment that I left on this phenomenon at All about Race. What do you all think of Elisabeth's performance here? Did it seem especially "white" to you? And aside from her dominance of the discussion, what do you think of the points she makes, or that Whoopi and the others make?




At All about Race, Carmen D writes, "My perpetually unanswered question to all of the white people who make this complaint ["Why can't we use it too?"] is why in the world would any racially sensitive white person want to use the ‘n-word’? Why does this particular double standard tick you off so much?"

I'm reposting my comment on this (which will make a lot more sense if you first watch the six-minute video) from Carmen's site to provoke discussion here about a common white mode of behavior. Maybe I'm being a bit harsh on an apparently sincere white woman who's at least trying to grapple with racial issues, but Elisabeth's paradoxical combination here, of white dominance and something like victimhood, really gnaws at me:

I think it’s pretty damn presumptuous of Elisabeth, or of any other non-black person, to say anything at all about whether blacks should use that word, or about how they use it. What the hell business is that of white people?

I also think Elisabeth’s performance here, though probably not staged, is a perfect instance of white center-stage sickness. When it comes to racial discussions, our tendency is to jump in and dominate the discussion, all while talking, paradoxically, about OTHER people in terms of race, instead of about ourselves in terms of race–about what being “white” actually means for us, about what being trained as white has done TO us.

That latter proposed move wouldn’t be so appropriate on Elisabeth’s part in this particular discussion, since the topic IS the n-word, but dominating the discussion in the way she does is such a common white form of behavior in these kinds of mixed race discussions. The basic message, again a terribly presumptuous one, is “I need to tell you how you should live your life. And if you try to complain or explain what race means in your life, I’m going to tell you how you’re wrong about that too, because somehow, I just know more about what it is to be you than you yourself do.”

How sad that the other women there (Whoopi excluded) let that discussion, on THAT WORD no less, be all about poor widdle white Elisabeth.




[The View crew also discussed the n-word, with far less drama, in February. I'd also like to add that the term and concept of "center-stage sickness" is not original on my part. I remember the term "center-stage phenomenon" from another writer's book on whiteness, but the title and author escape me. If anyone else knows of it, I'd be grateful for the information.]

20 comments:

  1. Barbara Walters did tell Elizabeth to take a breath and let someone else speak. The fact that Elizabeth didn't undergirds your point.

    White people do tend towards center-staginess. I don't know if it's because they think they know everything, or if they're just used to being the VIP in the room.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm an avid lurker (yay for Google Reader) but I wanted to say thanks for posting this. I refuse to watch the View after how Elisabeth treated Rosie O'Donnell. At least Elisabeth is an equal-share bigot....

    ReplyDelete
  3. Also, I thought you might be interested in
    this discussion.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks for posting this. I saw this on-air the other day and had to laugh when Elizabeth started crying because of how tough it is not being able to use the N word when, supposedly, Black people are "allowed to." Considering the double standards that were imposed on Black people for over 500 years, this little double standard is infinitesimally small for white people to deal with (if they actually believe in equality and equity, like so many profess to do).

    Elizabeth, like so many white women, not only swims in her white privilege, but, as we saw here, is completely unaware that she does not live in the same world that Whoopi and Sherry and other Black people do, and does not share the same collective history, despite the fact that she believes that she does.

    The center-staginess issue: spot-on. But on The View, thankfully, center-staginess doesn't last for long, especially with Whoopi there.

    ReplyDelete
  5. The only reason I watch the View is Whoopi.

    It seems Elizabeth nearly always feels she has mored to add to the discussion.

    ReplyDelete
  6. In her case, I think it's only partially that center-stage phenomenon. A lot of it has to do with "look at me, I'm a pretty blonde!"

    I'd bet a lot of white men pay attention to her just because of that, and she now thinks she's entitled to and deserving of all the attention.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I think Elisabeth is a bullshit artist. I don't believe for one second that those weren't crocodile tears streaming down her face.

    For God's sake, she references Faux News as if they're a legit news org. I can't take her seriously. She acts as though she's smart but she's terribly ignorant of the world that she lives in.

    ReplyDelete
  8. It's that "calm" and "rational" style characteristic of white people when discussing race.

    ~ Restructure

    ReplyDelete
  9. "Shut up and listen" is the advice I often give myself when a conversation about race starts to make me squirm. I think, speaking from my experience, it is very hard for a white person to zip lip and listen to the reality that we don't all "live in the same world". Coming to a conscious realization of our current condition is painful, and difficult, and many of us pull the blanket of white privilege up over our heads and shut reality out. Crocodile tears or not, I can relate to the emotions that come with the painful awakening to the fact that things are not right in this world, and that I am sitting on the side of privilege. But again, the focus of these hard discussions should not move to appeasing the white person's discomfort. Instead, I need to just keep listening, and learn all I can.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Ha. This is pretty similar to what I was talking about in my "men and feminism" post, about men who want to talk about women's issues and end up drowning out, y'know, actual women.

    Privilege of all types leads to this type of behavior.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Stuff White People Do:

    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121642866373567057.html?mod=djemRealEstate

    Try to start schools within schools to separate their children from "undesirables"!
    Unbelievable!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous,

    Your comment, that Elizabeth Hasselbeck probably thinks "Look at me, I'm a pretty blonde", got me thinking about white womens' thoughts on beauty.

    You said you bet a lot of white men pay attention to Elizabeth just because of her prettiness. I wondered why you said "white men" and not just "men".

    Probably a lot of black men, Asian men, etc., pay attention to her. I think men of any race pay attention to pretty women of any race.

    Is our sense of beauty in this country still to think of blondes and white women as a standard of prettiness more than other colorings, the '50's Marilyn Monroe mentality?

    Do we think blondes or white women themselves think they are the standard of prettiness, or do they simply feel pretty like any woman has the right to, but not "pretti-ER" than black women?

    I feel that has changed, or is that just a hope?

    I feel a lot about beauty has changed, that a more fit, athletic woman is now more the norm of beauty than the hourglass figure, and I feel the blonde stereotype is somewhat passe, and other looks including black, and Asian, and Indian, etc., are considered to be equal norms of beauty, or am I blind to white supremacy in beauty, still?

    Partly because of the growth of the black middle class, today more both black and white women have access to the money and time that beauty takes.

    Many black and white women wear clothes from the same stores, same price range, fashionability, whereas in the '50's, a lot of difference in perceived attractiveness was due to disparity in economics, money to put into clothes, hair, etc.

    Back then, people saw most black women as poor in relation to whites and that was one factor in seeing disparity in attractiveness between black and white women.

    And white supremacy trying to make black women feel that they had to look like they had 'white' hair, features, etc., instead of to see and show the beauty of their own hair, features, etc.

    Today I notice the changes in white womens' perceptions, from back then, today a white woman is much more likely to notice, and/or tell, a black woman, that she likes her hair, whereas in the past I think white women were tunnel-visioned into seeing only white hair and features as what they should notice.

    It's a superficial thing, but maybe it signifies a different awareness and mindset in white women, expressed through something superficial like awareness of hair.

    I wanted to share one recent experience that happened to me re the "n-word" because I still don't know how to process it... a little five year old girl from the housing 'project' I've posted about, the other day looked in my car mirror and said, "I'm a (n-word)"

    "What does that mean?" I asked her, wondering how she was meaning that in her own mind, how she was seeing that word and herself.

    She just looked at me and didn't answer.

    I said, "Am I an (n-word)?"

    She said, "White people can't be a "n-word"."

    It made me think about white peoples' use of the n-word to efface and decimate black people, and Dick Gregory's and black peoples' use of the n-word, to change and empower and take over self-definition and the meaning of the word.

    But this little girl I think was using it in its horrible meaning.

    What to say to her... if I could have sensitivity and pain comparable to hers, to say anything?

    ReplyDelete
  13. Stuff white people do: insist that though white people should never say nigger, POC are doing something other than degrading themselves when they say it. Sometimes I use the word in the presence of my white co-workers just to watch them get nervous. If one of them said it, they'd denounce it. But when I say it, they gulp and hold their breath, too afraid to call me down. This is because they're afraid of me. And since they're afraid of me, they'll never have an honest conversation with me. Just this patronizing bullshit about how when I say nigger I'm "taking control of my racial history," blah blah blah. They don't mean it. They would never measure their own behavior or their own language against such half-cocked notions. But since they take me and my language less seriously than hey do their white selves and their white language, they all nod their heads and grin when I use that vile fucking word.

    ReplyDelete
  14. 911sajoke,

    I remember in the last year or so what was, for me, a very tense and awkward situation. Two of my white co-workers who typically but friendly insulted each other were going at it and it turned ugly. One co-worker who often the butt of trailer trash jokes (both his own and others who join in because he talks affectionately about the subject) hit the other co-worker who happened to be a women below the belt and called her "white trash."

    All the playful barbs stopped there.

    That wasn't the only time I witness White people turning their own racial/ethnic slurs and insult inward. My co-workers have done it -- talking about Scott-Irish heritage, etc. And, really, I've heard the stuff all my life even when I was a kid and had no idea who/what a Pollock was, etc., etc.

    So let's not pretend here. Whiteness is not invisible.

    Beyond that (and re: Hasselback), it was mighty White of her, as the saying goes, to try to dictate who can and can't use the word with the idea that "if I can't use it, you can't use it" and Barbara Walters asking the question should have expected the answer she got.

    So I don't know why she acted like she was taken aback.

    Stuff white people do: insist that though white people should never say nigger, POC are doing something other than degrading themselves when they say it. Sometimes I use the word in the presence of my white co-workers just to watch them get nervous. If one of them said it, they'd denounce it. But when I say it, they gulp and hold their breath, too afraid to call me down. This is because they're afraid of me. And since they're afraid of me, they'll never have an honest conversation with me. Just this patronizing bullshit about how when I say nigger I'm "taking control of my racial history," blah blah blah. They don't mean it. They would never measure their own behavior or their own language against such half-cocked notions. But since they take me and my language less seriously than hey do their white selves and their white language, they all nod their heads and grin when I use that vile fucking word.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Is our sense of beauty in this country still to think of blondes and white women as a standard of prettiness more than other colorings, the '50's Marilyn Monroe mentality?

    Your white obliviousness is showing. White women have been placed at the top of the beauty totem pole. That hasn't changed. Even when a woman of color is considered beautiful she usually has caucasian features.

    Probably a lot of black men, Asian men, etc., pay attention to her.

    Of course they do. They've been told that a white woman with blonde hair and blue eyes is the most gorgeous woman to have.

    ReplyDelete
  16. "... the most gorgeous woman to have." Ha. Telling language.

    You know, Boom, I hate people like you who think women are territory to conquer. And I'm supposed to sympathize with you politically? Go work out your inadequacy on someone else's body, white or otherwise.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Hahaha I've never felt inadeqate to anyone. Please point out where I said women are territory to conquer.
    That would be odd considering I am a woman.
    Where did I ask for your sympathy?

    ReplyDelete
  18. I wrote about this one over at Too Sense: http://halfricanrevolution.blogspot.com/2008/07/whoopi-goldberg-on-who-gets-to-use-n.html

    I also wrote about the double-standard issue here: http://halfricanrevolution.blogspot.com/2008/03/about-n-word-double-standard.html

    ReplyDelete
  19. In defense of black men, not as many of them think white women are the standard of beauty. Many of them would tune Elizabeth out based on another stereotype within the black community (that white folks seem not to be aware of [There's a bone for ya, Macon. Stuff white people do - go around without a clue about trends in minority communities.]) that white women are air-headed by comparison to black women. Elizabeth's tears only makes the impulse to tune her out worse.

    Also, it's not white people telling black people it's okay to use "nigger" because its reclaiming our history. That notion comes as much from black folks as anyone else, and I've mostly just heard it from other black people.

    And, I hope it's not gratuituous of me to add i think the whole discussion is nonsense because most black people don't go around calling each other "nigger." I know of no one personally who does. So, it doesn't come across that white folks are annoyed by the "double standard" or are concerned about black folks "degrading" ourselves. They just wanna be able to say the word. That's all.(Another bone for ya, Macon. SWPD - Act like they're concerned about equality when really, they just wanna use the n-word with impunity.)

    ReplyDelete
  20. I'm Canadian and white and its months after you've posted this so I it might be odd that I'm adding this now, but I just want to grab centre-stage for a moment and just add that I too am continually wierded out when people like Ms. Hasselback are upset by this "double-standard" and the fact they are not "allowed" to say the n-word. I don't understand in what context she would like to and I have to say that I don't think that most white are upset they can't use it any more then non-Jews as a whole are upset by not being allowed to say "kike" or non-Chinese "chink," etc. If anything I think that it simply gains a lot of media attention merely because shows like this are constantly looking for things to discuss which are in some way vaguely taboo and thus exciting and you can't really get more taboo than that. Also, regarding the discussion of attractiveness, while I think it is true that the media putd forward an ideal of beauty which upholds for lack of a better example someone like Ms. Hasselback, including upholding those women of colour (black, Asian, etc.) who tend to fit that mold, as a male in general I must add that while I am generally attracted to such images in the media (most likely because they are essentially the only images of women seen) in real life the range of attraction differs far from that and includes those who have any number of differences from this so-called "ideal," not simply colour or features generally attached to one race or another but also size, etc. What I mean to say is that I have been attracted to women distinctly African, Asian, Native Canadian, etc. as well as those larger (probably most) than Ms. Hasselback. Also, to complete this rant I must say that at least from my isolated Northern perspective the lack of seemingly more inter-racial attraction probably has more to do with greater societal segregation -- I for one am far more likely to approach someone I meet through my local school, friends, family, etc.

    ReplyDelete

Please see the "commenting guidelines" before submitting a comment.

hit counter code