Faculty Policing Each Other

[Sun_Worshiper]

Mahagonny said, "But you are a white guy aren't you? We don't get to complain, in case you haven't heard."

Where I live

White guys complain all the time

White guys are 99% of elected officials

White guys are 95% of law enforcement

White guys own and edit the local newspaper

White guys own the majority of businesses

White guys put their hands on my shoulder, whether they know me or not

White guys call me sweetie or honey, even if I ask them not to

White guys form and join all white militias

White guys abjure masks

WHERE I LIVE, WHITE GUYS ARE HEARD, LOUDLY AND OFTEN.

Of course. Every time I look at the Internet I see white people crying and whining about how oppressed they are, even as they tell minorities to stop complaining.

[pepsi_alum]

I'm a white dude who grew up in an area that was 95% white. I used to less open-minded racial diversity than I am now and I will admit that I'm learning. But I now live in a racially diverse state and my most recent SO was a person of color. I realized a few years ago that I was on a path to becoming a dinosaur who couldn't connect with neighbors, colleagues, or students. I chose to  adapt to the changing culture around me and to learn new stuff about people. It really wasn't hard. 

Also, I commiserate with colleagues from various racial/ethnic backgrounds about everyday frustrations related to working in higher education, and no one's ever said to me, "Dr. Pepsi, you're white, so therefore you're not allowed to complain." Again, it it really isn't that hard to have the mindset of "some people have life experiences different than my own and maybe I should listen to them."

[mahagonny]

I'm a white dude who grew up in an area that was 95% white. I used to less open-minded racial diversity than I am now and I will admit that I'm learning.

Are you aware that having been born in a community that is 95% one race is not a moral transgression?

But I now live in a racially diverse state and my most recent SO was a person of color.

Know what I think? I think you were fine all along, but are fighting the shame of being white. which would be something you have been taught.

[pepsi_alum]

That's, uh, interesting, but no. I'm quite proud of my Italian-American ancestry.

As William James said in his lectures on pragmatism, " "Grant an idea or belief to be true . . . what concrete difference will its being true make in anyone's actual life? How will the truth be realized? What experiences will be different from those which would obtain if the belief were false? What, in short, is the truth's cash-value in experiential terms?"

I really don't think you're engaging with the consequences of the ideas you endorse, Mahagonny. Everything you've said in this thread assumes that the consequences of multiculturalism somehow represent an existential threat to white people. I don't think I can persuade you to change your mind. But you still have not answered a basic question: what do you have to lose by listening to other perspectives?

[mahagonny]

That's not quite it, Pepsi. The problem with multiculturalism is it says nothing that happens to any particular group of people is the consequence of the behavior of that group. It's always the fault of society at large. And this idea, being false, hurts everyone, especially the people to whom it wants to give better lives.

Re: listening. I can listen to the woke culture all I want and all I conclude is they're not so much woke as they got up on the wrong side of the bed.

That's, uh, interesting, but no. I'm quite proud of my Italian-American ancestry.

Hmm...that would let you off the hook somewhat, as you aren't so associated with that heinous 1619 group. You do give me the impression that your thought is, coming from an almost exclusively white neighborhood gives you something to live down. I came from a community even whiter than yours, but I never felt that way. I have always relished the company of black people. The people who worry me the most today are affluent white liberals. As Shelby Steele explains, they have no more idea what multiculturalism could achieve, or how, than anyone. what they are getting out of their activism is a false perception of innocence. Innocence from America's racist past. They're not gonna get it. It's not to be had. Dr. Steele further explains, if white people today only had some moral confidence they would be saying 'dear black people: please try harder to keep your families together. Works much better. And when you do get your kid in college or start your small business, know that white people want you to succeed. We are not racist. We are you friend.'

It is true what some have written, about present day tribal America, that we don't so much disagree as we live in different worlds.

[Parasaurolophus]

I don't think you understand the concept of multiculturalism.

[mahagonny]

I don't think you understand the concept of multiculturalism.

I believe you.

[pepsi_alum]

I think I've contributed all I can to this conversation. I'll gracefully bow out now and agree that we're on different wavelengths.