Nobody
here will likely be invited to (let alone accept) an Upper East
Side dinner party—where
the Liberal elite gather to spin events they are largely responsible
for into something the New York Times can print. That's the
feeling I got while reading David Sirota's Epistle to the
Leviathans on Salon.
Let’s
hope
the Boston Marathon bomber is a white American
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. [Full]
"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." -Sirota
Note that the first thing that comes to
Sirota's mind is who gets the blame? And how do
we spin it if
it's one of the usual suspects in the protected
class? Read it for text-book smarm, condescension and arrogance.
Contrary to his
assertion that "most
[gun crimes] come at the hands of white dudes ..."
—well, you
decide. I immediately summoned the top most recent mass killings
in this country. The "dudes" below are prominent
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