From Salon:
Let’s hope the Boston Marathon bomber is a white American
There is a double standard: White terrorists are dealt with as lone wolves, Islamists are existential threats
BY DAVID SIROTA
TOPICS: RACISM, XENOPHOBIA, BOSTON EXPLOSIONS, U.S. FOREIGN POLICY, IMMIGRATION REFORM, MUSLIMS, EDITOR'S PICKS, WHITE PEOPLE, MALE, BOSTON BOMBER, NEWS, POLITICS NEWS
Updated: Sirota responds to critics of this piece over here.
As we now move into the official Political Aftermath period of the Boston bombing — the period that will determine the long-term legislative fallout of the atrocity — the dynamics of privilege will undoubtedly influence the nation’s collective reaction to the attacks. That’s because privilege tends to determine: 1) which groups are — and are not — collectively denigrated or targeted for the unlawful actions of individuals; and 2) how big and politically game-changing the overall reaction ends up being.
This has been most obvious in the context of recent mass shootings. In those awful episodes, a religious or ethnic minority group lacking such privilege would likely be collectively slandered and/or targeted with surveillance or profiling (or worse) if some of its individuals comprised most of the mass shooters. However, white male privilege means white men are not collectively denigrated/targeted for those shootings — even though most come at the hands of white dudes.
Likewise, in the context of terrorist attacks, such privilege means white non-Islamic terrorists are typically portrayed not as representative of whole groups or ideologies, but as “lone wolf” threats to be dealt with as isolated law enforcement matters. Meanwhile, non-white or developing-world terrorism suspects are often reflexively portrayed as representative of larger conspiracies, ideologies and religions that must be dealt with as systemic threats — the kind potentially requiring everything from law enforcement action to military operations to civil liberties legislation to foreign policy shifts.
“White privilege is knowing that even if the bomber turns out to be white, no one will call for your group to be profiled as terrorists as a result, subjected to special screening or threatened with deportation,” writes author Tim Wise.
Will Sirota get his wish?
Salon is severely mistaken about what went wrong in the last couple of decades resulting in our country attacking at least 6 Muslim countries (Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Somalia, Yemen, Pakistan). The American public had no part in any of those decisions. The elections were all TweedleDee vs TweedleDum.
ReplyDeleteNo one ever accuses white supremacist groups of being terrorists, or suggests keeping a special eye on them? Is Wise just that stupid, or does he think his readers are?
ReplyDeleteSafely "controversial" articles generate traffic, and, in America circa 2013, no type of writing is more safely "controversial" than that which denigrates whites.
ReplyDeleteThese articles are interesting, not for what they say, but for the kind of collective neurosis to which they give voice: whites clambering over other whites so as to revile whites.
Sirota is sort of like the leftish version of Mark Levin, eh. Tim Wise received his customary honorarium.
ReplyDeletein the sydney morning herald yesterday there was an infographic showing the potential suspects for the bombing. in one of the pictures was a swaztika captioned with "white supremacist terrorist group", and in another picture in the image was a picture of a lone wolf - no race specified in this on. but white people are only profiled as lone wolves and not terrorists, right?! it's white privilege!
ReplyDeletelet's hope the boston marathon bomber was a scotch-irish american. scotch-irish privilege is such that if your group lobbies for middle-eastern wars, is overrepresented in the highest echelons of wealth, media and political power, and is allowed to run its own ethnostate while furiously opposing the desires of any other group to want the same, and somebody calls you out on it, they're just vicious, genocidal anti-scotchirimites who deserve to be imprisoned.
Poke a stick in the toothless bear's eye, two things can happen. The bear can growl - great theatre, dance around and taunt the bear. Or two, bear does nothing, dance around and taunt bear. Win either way.
ReplyDeleteSalon is severely mistaken about what went wrong in the last couple of decades resulting in our country attacking at least 6 Muslim countries (Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Somalia, Yemen, Pakistan)
ReplyDeleteObama is now working on Syria.
Isn't the purpose of the SPLC to track and identify white supremacists? Is there a similar group IDing others?
ReplyDeleteI think he will get his wish. This is just so bizarre it is likely to be the work of some Jared Loughner type. It's crazy, but high IQ crazy. Perhaps an undersexed Asian H-1B drone but most likely a white man.
ReplyDeleteIt is only a matter of hours before the media's "Great White Hope" suffers a TKO at the hands of a dark skinned reality.
ReplyDeleteWhat if the bomber is a white American convert to Islam? Sirota should read about David Myatt.
ReplyDelete(From Wikipedia): Myatt is an "example of the axis between right-wing extremists and Islamists". Before his conversion to Islam in 1998, Myatt was the first leader of the British National Socialist Movement…
At a 2003 UNESCO conference in Paris, which concerned the growth of anti-Semitism, it was stated that "David Myatt, the leading hardline Nazi intellectual in Britain since the 1960s has converted to Islam, praises bin Laden and al Qaeda, calls the 9/11 attacks 'acts of heroism,' and urges the killing of Jews. Myatt, under the name Abdul Aziz Ibn Myatt supports suicide missions and urges young Muslims to take up Jihad.
Since Obama's stealth gun grab got deep sixed I guess the big reveal of the Boston bomber as a whitey will have to wait before he can start stuffing flyover country into FEMA camps. No wonder he sounded so prissy in that news conference.
ReplyDeleteI think it could be an East African bomber (like a Somali). Where else does the marathon have much political significance?
ReplyDeleteBTW, a bunch of bombs went off in Mogadishu on the same day.
If I read Sirota's article correctly, he seems to be disappointed that say, Timothy McVeigh's home city, county and state were not bombed into submission the way Arab states were post 9/11 etc. That, to him, would have been just and proof that "white privilege" didn't exist.
ReplyDeleteIf I was a liberal, and proud of the successful effort by sixties liberals to pretend JFK was shot by a right-winginger instead of 'some little Communist' to quote his widow, I might frame the NRA for the Boston bang.
ReplyDeleteEven if he wasn't, he will be when the movie comes out.
ReplyDelete-The Judean People's Front.
If the Marathon Bombing has proven anything, it's that the alphabet soup of agencies, from DHS and FBI down to MSP and BPD, create nothing but a clusterflop.
ReplyDeleteThe rumor mill is humming along nicely here: arrest or not, press conference or not, bomb in the Moakley Courthouse or not. The only good thing that happened today was the guy playing Amazing Grace on the bagpipes outside the courthouse during the evacuation!
This article upset a lot of the Neo Cons on I see on Twitter who are usually agnostic on matters of identity politics. Plenty of mainstream Drudge readers got the wake-up call as well.
ReplyDeleteCosmopolitanists like David Sirota are so deep into their echo chamber that they don't even realize how inflammatory their opinions are to the folks in flyover country. Articles like this wake more people up to the double-standards working against Whites than converting others to his side.
Can someone please explain to me how sottish-irish became code for Jewish?
ReplyDeleteSo after 45 years of anti-white laws and constant attacks by (passing for white) men, such as Mr. Sirota, 'white privilege' remains undiminished?
ReplyDeleteI'm so proud.
After all, it is a privilege being white.
What does he think will finally do the trick and end it forever? Can 'white privilege' only disappear with whites?
William: These articles are interesting, not for what they say, but for the kind of collective neurosis to which they give voice[...]
ReplyDeleteI think it's long since passed from neurosis into psychosis.
The media reports that the FBI has a possible image of the bomber. I guess high school drama club costume skills are nigh unattainable or someone that has outfoxed the government so far wouldn't take into account CCTV. Next up: bans on spirit gum & fake beards.
ReplyDeleteThe way the bomber has gotten into the decision making loop of the FBI and is waging psychological warfare (calling in a bomb threat before the vaunted press conference) makes it seem like either the Islamists have upped their game or someone new is playing hardball.
Will Sirota get his wish?
ReplyDeleteWe're supposed to offer up an opinion on whether the guy was white? Come on, Steve, sometimes the smart people claim ignorance, because that's all they've got.
Give ignorance its due respect. It has its place.
The 4chan photo analysis makes it seem like there is a good case for middle easterners. Yeah, I know, 4chan, but some of this stuff seems to match the descriptions in the press. With grain of salt, of course.
ReplyDeleteConfused,
ReplyDeleteI believe it started in reference to long time commenter Whiskey, who is widely suspected of being a Crypto-Jew in these parts.
His verbal style reminds me of some talkative real Scots-Irishmen that I've known IRL but we Ashkenazim also tend towards emotionally overwrought verbosity.
His reflexive defensiveness about critiques of the Jews and Israel might count as evidence of Hebrew affiliations but he could be a genuine philosemite.
Perhaps it also relates to the English Jews' historical tendency to adopt Scottish surnames. Either that or Kirk Douglas' (nee' Issur Danielovitch) very Scottish looking cleft chin. Hope that helps.
-The Judean People's Front
William: These articles are interesting, not for what they say, but for the kind of collective neurosis to which they give voice[...]
ReplyDeleteI think it's long since passed from neurosis into psychosis.
This country has gone full retard.
confused: Can someone please explain to me how sottish-irish became code for Jewish?
ReplyDelete"Whiskey", a frequent commented here who is 1) retard (more or less), 2) seems to be Jewish, once proudly announced that he is as Scots-Irish as they get. No one believed him but everyone likes to make fun of him.
Check the first sentence of the comment made at 6:37pm on 11/6/10.
ReplyDeletehttp://isteve.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/uncle-tim.html
(And Tim Wise's biography, if necessary.)
If the liberals get any more hands on the levers, the bombers will always be white men, regardless of whether the REAL bomber was a white man.
ReplyDeleteWhiskey, my first impression was that Sirota was an Italian name. I was wrong.
ReplyDelete"“White privilege is knowing that even if the bomber turns out to be white, no one will call for your group to be profiled as terrorists as a result, subjected to special screening or threatened with deportation,” writes author Tim Wise."
ReplyDeleteWhite privilege is knowing that you will hear horseshit like this, ridiculous changing the subject to a slander on white men who did nothing wrong, whenever a minority has behaved like a minority.
Its analogous to someone stealing your car, and a bystander fool pointing the finger at you for the fact that you pay your taxes each year.
"I'm getting tired of people paying attention to Tim Wise. He's not a progressive activist. He's a snake-oil salesman. He makes money off of stupid liberals."
ReplyDeleteProgressive activists aren't snake-oil salesmen?
Progressive activists don't make money off of stupid liberals?
Re: Treating Muslims vs. White people differently -
ReplyDeleteWhen part of an appendix is bad, you get rid of the whole organ.
When part of the heart is bad ...
CW
"“White privilege is knowing that even if the bomber turns out to be white, no one will call for your group to be profiled as terrorists as a result, subjected to special screening or threatened with deportation,” writes author Tim Wise."
ReplyDeleteRichard Jewell wasn't falsely profiled for the Atlanta Olympic bombing? Based on a racial profile about white men?
White men weren't falsely profiled in the Washington DC/Beltway sniper case? Which long delayed the arrest of the actual snipers who were black?
The Duke lacrosse team wasn't falsely profiled based on the leftist Narrative about "oppressive white men/white male privilege"?
Colleges and Universities aren't constantly being subjected to race crime hoaxes that falsely accuse whites of racism? Leftist rabbit people, SWPLs, and DWLs aren't constantly seeing neo-nazis and KKKlansmen where none exist?
The entire system of affirmative action, racial quotas, set-asides, racial "minority" favoritism in government contracting, racial quotas in university admissions, the media demonizing of whites, etc., isn't itself a vast interlocking system of racial profiling of whites intended to disadvantage whites as whites, based on their race alone?
Whites who object to this anti-white Narrative aren't profiled as "racists" and denied jobs and access to money, power and influence?
Of course they are. But it's against the Narrative to point this out.
“White privilege is knowing that even if the bomber turns out to be white, no one will call for your group to be profiled as terrorists as a result, subjected to special screening or threatened with deportation,” writes author Tim Wise.
ReplyDeleteNah, Tim, "white privilege" is a bit different. When a Muslim Middle Easterner of a pale complexion dutifully does his job, he's hailed as a laudable example of a successful minority. When he goes on a shooting rampage screaming "allah akhbar," he is called a white man by the Washington Post.
"I think it's long since passed from neurosis into psychosis."
ReplyDeleteFollowed eventually by necrosis.
"Conservative white men are the source of all evil" is exactly the sort of thinking we've seen from progressives for years now, albeit without such Schroedinger's-Cat-box-suspension-of-evidence naked obviousness. My msnbc-watching parents have flat out told me that they are certain that NASCAR/evangelical/Republican type whites engage in more violent crime than hip hop/ghetto type blacks. Some progressives, of course, literally went insane rather than let 9/11 shatter their Manichean world view, insisting that Bush and Cheney must have done it instead of saintly brown people.
ReplyDeleteconfused: Can someone please explain to me how sottish-irish became code for Jewish?
ReplyDeleteNothing to do with Whiskey, actually. Some sites seem to have a policy of deleting/banning any comments which mention (let alone criticize) the Jews. Someone pointed out that you can criticize the Scotch-Irish all day long and no one cares, so we should start using "Scotch-Irish" as code for "Jewish" to get such comments through the filters. It was sorta funny for a while.
Sirota is a shameless self promoter and operator who surfs the political zeitgeist. He once worked for AIPAC during the Clinton years then became a major Bush Iraq war critic.
ReplyDeleteWhen the Bush admin was pushing its mass amnesties and H1-B expansion, Sirota was an opponent as short term tactical measure that helped elect purple state Democratic candidates. Sirota for a while was even a regular guest on Lou Dobbs. Once the Democrats took Congress in 2006, Sirota eventually recast himself as an open borders apologist and a Lou Dobbs critic.
Sirota was once smart enough to write intelligently about how the Clintons through NAFTA and China PNTR betrayed working class America. Now that Obama has completely reshaped the Democratic party as a Cultural Marxist entity intent on replacing white America, especially its workers, Sirota is pledging that he is completely on board.
Sirota has moved all around the country and has spent the last 6 years working hard to turn Colorado into a Cultural Marxist state.
Contra Tim Wise:
ReplyDeleteI have a friend form Denmark. Really nice, quiet nerdy kind of guy, but a metal fan with long blonde hair.
Every time he goes through a German airport, he is stopped and frisked. Because he just looks a little too much like a neo-Nazi terrorist.