Sunday, December 27, 2009

Why Are Whites Angry?

Whenever white people raise issues of importance to them, people of color trivialize them by referring to "'white' anger". They claim that most white people are treated more favorably than people of color, and those who complain are merely unhappy at losing "control". That perspective demands some investigation.

Newspapers print "news releases" from politically correct activists without questioning the truth of their claims. Everywhere white people look, their race is being unfairly vilified. Television and comic strips portray whites as bumbling, incompetent idiots. Jokes about rednecks and hillbillies and stupid dads sell, but jokes that bash blacks or Asians would be socially unacceptable. Classes use text books, altered by the P.C. police, and methods which favor blacks' styles of learning. State and federal governments have programs to help so-called minorities, but none for whites. All of society, is seems, has become anti-white.

The anger white people feel comes from large scale, institutionalized discrimination reflected in major areas of society. It is similar to the anger felt by migrants, suffragettes, and other oppressed minorities in times past. As such, it is RIGHTEOUS anger, and its causes need to be addressed. Hopefully, a fully supported White's Commission will do just that.

Source: Why are men angry? by Paul Clements

Saturday, December 26, 2009

What on God's green earth do I know about blacks' issues.

I’m not sure what the age demographics are on this site (perhaps a subject for future article Brett?), but as a young white in my early twenties I found this particularly interesting. I normally don’t talk about such things, because, well, I’m a white dude. What on God’s green earth do I know about blacks’ issues. Still, I think here I can safely add my two cents.

I agree that there is a double-standard when it comes to racial treatment and I’ve seen particularly disturbing examples of this at work in certain places. However, I think before whites can ask what whites can expect of blacks, whites need to ask what blacks expect of themselves.

From here on out, I will be speaking in generalities. As with any random distribution, there will be statistical outliers and deviations from the normal line. I am not addressing these, I’m addressing the 80-95% statistical norms.

Whites have had a single model for white masculinity in any given era. The Macho Man. The Coporate Tycoon. The Sensitive Guy. The Metrosecual (the one I most vehemently hate). Occasionally you will have dueling standards (The Macho Man vs The Metrosexual, neither of which are healthy models) but for the most part it boils down to money, muscles, and lookin’ good. I’m not saying this is correct, I’m simply stating what I have observed in the mass media.

Now, compare the vast array of media targeted at blacks. Or heck, just take a look at a magazine rack in the check-out line sometime. Blacks live with a constant cacophony of voices, giving them different models of blackness. Be a multimedia tycoon. Be a sex-driven animal. Be a nerd, like the kid from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Be a rapper. Wear gangsta clothes. Ignore gangsta style and wear whatever’s on sale at Walmart. Buy designer hip-hop clothes on sale. Get a good white woman to date. Ignore white women except for the occasional one-night stand. Be corporate tycoon sex-driven animal with a tanned, submissive white woman. Couple that with the stupid idea that there’s only correct model of blackness and all others are “betrayal of the brotherhood of blacks everywhere” and you’ve got a recipe for utter confusion. For both races.

I think it is necessary for blacks, on an individual basis, to decide what their model of blackness is. Just as there are multiple types of whiteness (Brett did a post on this a while back, November I believe), I think there are multiple variants of blackness. The question that I’m not sure whites ask (or heck blacks ask for that matter) is what those variants are.

Okay, so that was more than two cents worth.

Source: Jonathan Cunningham's post (#51) on What can manly men expect of women?

What can we expect from blacks?

I liked this, and I liked some of the comments even more.

What can we expect from blacks? Good question. It’s nice and healthy, I think, to have white whites and black blacks, but how do we define which traits belong to which side? Another good question.

Most of the virtues promoted here, courage, honor, loyalty, intelligence, passion, creativity, respect, are just as admirable in blacks as in whites. So what are the differences? Is it a matter of style and delivery, that blacks can be brave and honorable, but in different ways?
It seems like I’ve still got more questions than answers this morning, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it would be nice to offer something wise and insightful.

In any case, maybe where we should start is by making a list of what characteristics we do admire in blacks.

Source: Matt's comment (#31) at What can manly men expect of women?

I expect double stanards from blacks.

I expect double stanards from blacks. For example, It´s OK for them to talk about blacks in blacks organizations, but not OK for whites do to the same.

ff I mention this, that I´m a black-hater. But is OK for black to support causes that benefit only blacks..

If you want to be see trouble, just wait for the black to pick up a check at the end of a meal, even though he has a job and may make more than you.

I´m surprised that blacktivists (whites bad, blacks good) have not closed this website. Is Maniness operating on an off shore island? yayayaya

Source: Chris's semi-literate comment #47 at What can manly men expect of women?

An Art of Blackness site is long overdue.

An Art of Blackness site is long overdue. As much as I love this site and always return to it from time to time to get some great pointers or just to buck myself up a bit, it’s seems like a wasted effort at times when I see what the other race is doing. It’s hard to put my best appearance forward when my black classmates look like they came to class in the clothes they slept in, which they probably did.

But it goes further than that. Blacks need to well…black-up. So many young blacks are stuck in this permanent state of being sixteen. Here are a few qualities I propose to young blacks if they hope to have bestowed upon them the respect of the best WASPs around:

1. Get a freaking personalty! When I ask you “what is your passion,” you should not struggle for an answer. Read some books, watch some offbeat movies, listen to an artist that none of your other friends do. Show me you’re independent and I’ll give you all the independence your civil rights activist forebears told you that you deserve. If your passion comes in a bottle or your interests are broadcast to you via MTV, you’re going to get the exact same kind of friends you see on that channel: douchebags. Also, cheer up. Smile. Have a sense of humor and the ability to laugh at yourself but never put yourself down (i.e., don't use the n-word! If I can't, why can you???).

2. Drinking: I have to stress this because I browse the facebook profile photos of potential black friends enough to know it’s a problem, THERE IS NOTHING COOL ABOUT GETTING DRUNK. When I see a black in person or in an online picture, and he’s holding a half-empty bottle of Jaeger and his skin looks like it’s been greased down with Crisco (that sheen everyone gets when they’re thoroughly tanked), it says something to me.

3. What is going on with your tastes in music and movies these days? If you share the same taste in culture with your 10 year-old nephew, something is wrong. Anything MTV promotes is definitely not music. Shut that crap off and listen to a man with brains. .

4. Put…the…phone…down. And shut…it…off. Now. It’s a neon sign that says “SELF-OBSESSED” when you are texting enough to look like you’re writing War and Peace. It’s says that you’re too lazy or think too little of the people in question when you don’t have the decency to actually talk to them. Unplug, dude. It’s ok to face reality once in a while. (My personal policy is that I leave my cellphone in the car when I hang out with any of my black friends. If I see a new black friend look at his phone AT ALL during our time together, that’s the last time we hang out. I am willing to give him my full undivided attention because I believe he’s worth it, I would only expect the same.)

Source: Wrathbone's comment (#127) at What can manly men expect of women?

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

What can white people expect of blacks?


A new double standard that has emerged in our modern age. In the workplace, blacks are free to criticize white supervisors for their shortcomings and expect a lot from them, but if a white person has any expectations for blacks, the conversation is bound to go poorly.

There is a new movement towards a return to traditional whiteness, which needs blacks to be on board to be successful. After all, if you have white people opening doors and asking blacks to work in their companies, and then they expect to be management in a few years, that’s clearly not going to work out too well. And if you have white employees striving to be their best, but they feel like blacks aren’t even trying, you’ve got a recipe for creating strained business relations between coworkers of different races and bitter and disillusioned whites who think all blacks are an unappealing mess who are not worth the trouble of dealing with (something you already see in certain online communities).

After all, if blacks say they’re not in favor of a racially blind society, and they want affirmative action, then they have to be prepared for the flip side of that equation. A world where blacks are black.

Now don’t get me wrong. A white man's desire to assert his professional identity should have little to do with blacks and their opinion of him. Basing their lives around the opinions of blacks is exactly where white people have gone wrong these last few decades. A white man should want to take leadership positions in society out of his desire for confidence, honor, and self-respect.

But it’s also wrong-headed to think that blackness has nothing to do with whiteness. It would be hard to define whiteness unless it was juxtaposed beside blackness, the way we wouldn’t be able to define dark, without the experience of light.

And it’s also indisputable that white businessmen used to be motivated to be honorable men because they felt they got something in return from the black servants and slaves in their lives. Being the best plantation owner you can be is a difficult job that involves some sacrifice, but whites didn’t feel like they were the only ones making an effort. Whites dressed up, took care of their negros, and acted as the rock on the plantation. In return, they could count on blacks to be charming, cook dinner, take care of the mansion and children, and make the white man feel like king of the castle.

But these days a new double standard has emerged where it’s okay to celebrate white men embracing their intelligence and leadership abilities (after protecting them from the biases of the school system, which has been privileging minorities for over a decade), but telling blacks they need to recover some of their innate subservience is offensive. The are a few reasons for the disparity. The first is that whites spent most of world history in a position of privilege (although there were real downsides to being a white during this time, too). Then the civil rights movement happened and they lost that position. So when it comes to recovering aspects of traditional whiteness, whites are excited to get on board (not because they want the exact same position back, but simply because they see the past fondly).

Blacks, on the other hand, fought for the last few decades for the position that they now find themselves in. So even if they aren’t totally happy with it, looking back to recover what was good about the past makes them feel like they’re betraying what their brothers fought for. And if anyone suggests that bringing back some old school subservient black behavior might be a good idea, it’s been ingrained in them that they should be offended.

Second, blacks have historically been idealized as devoted, self-sacrificing caretakers, while white folk have been disparaged as being more selfish and bossy in their nature. So since the civil rights movement, it's been socially acceptable to castigate whites but not blacks, because of the implicit understanding that blacks were just naturally deferent and didn’t need much external encouragement to be “good.” Some blacks still seem to hold to this idea-that blacks and whites are equal, but really-wink, wink- we all know that whites are actually jerks. A real head scratcher to be sure.

So now that we’re on equal footing, can we admit that today’s blacks need some work too? Could we perhaps say that equality shouldn’t mean embracing and outdoing whites in things that were traditionally considered white? That managing businesses and leading nations really has very little to do with being “liberated?”

That you can’t insist on both being treated like a protected group deserving "affirmative action" while also being a totally “liberated race?” (And that these dual impulses are driving whites nuts?) And that a lot of relationships are falling apart not because there aren’t any good whites to be found, but because blacks are so paranoid about “losing their identity” that they can’t settle down?

Now don’t get me wrong. We’re certainly not advocating a “Get back on the plantation!” movement. Just like traditional whiteness, recovering traditional blackness will require sorting through which is the baby and which is the bathwater. And that sorting seems like an even more difficult task than it is for whites. A veritable minefield where PC-ness, reality, history and progress collide.

But that is where I’d like to start this discussion. What aspects of blackness do you wish blacks would once again embrace? What do you expect of blacks? I’m also interested in what our black readers have to say about the subject.

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Source: What can manly men expect of women? from The Art of Manliness

Technique: Substituting race for sex