{"id":122956,"date":"2018-08-03T08:20:48","date_gmt":"2018-08-03T16:20:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=122956"},"modified":"2018-08-03T08:20:48","modified_gmt":"2018-08-03T16:20:48","slug":"when-racism-is-fit-to-print","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=122956","title":{"rendered":"When Racism Is Fit to Print"},"content":{"rendered":"

Andrew Sullivan writes<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Is the newest member of the New York Times editorial board, Sarah Jeong, a racist?<\/p>\n

From one perspective \u2014 that commonly held by people outside the confines of the political left \u2014 she obviously is. A series of tweets from 2013 to 2015 reveal a vicious hatred of an entire group of people based only on their skin color. If that sounds harsh, let\u2019s review a few, shall we? \u201cWhite men are bullshit,\u201d is one. A succinct vent, at least. But notice she\u2019s not in any way attacking specific white men for some particular failing, just all white men for, well, existing. Or this series of ruminations: \u201chave you ever tried to figure out all the things that white people are allowed to do that aren\u2019t cultural appropriation. there\u2019s literally nothing. like skiing, maybe, and also golf. white people aren\u2019t even allowed to have polo. did you know that. like don\u2019t you just feel bad? why can\u2019t we give white people a break. lacrosse isn\u2019t for white people either. it must be so boring to be white.\u201d Or this: \u201cbasically i\u2019m just imagining waking up white every morning with a terrible existential dread that i have no culture.\u201d I can\u2019t say I\u2019m offended by this \u2014 it\u2019s even mildly amusing, if a little bonkers. (Has she read, say, any Shakespeare or Emily Dickinson?) But it does reveal a worldview in which white people \u2014 all of them \u2014 are cultural parasites and contemptibly dull.<\/p>\n

A little more disturbing is what you might call \u201celiminationist\u201d rhetoric \u2014 language that wishes an entire race could be wiped off the face of the earth: \u201c#cancelwhitepeople.\u201d Or: \u201cWhite people have stopped breeding. you\u2019ll all go extinct soon. that was my plan all along.\u201d One simple rule I have about describing groups of human beings is that I try not to use a term that equates them with animals. Jeong apparently has no problem doing so. Speaking of animals, here\u2019s another gem: \u201cDumbass fucking white people marking up the internet with their opinions like dogs pissing on fire hydrants.\u201d Or you could describe an entire race as subhuman: \u201cAre white people genetically disposed to burn faster in the sun, thus logically being only fit to live underground like groveling goblins.\u201d And then there\u2019s this simple expression of the pleasure that comes with hatred: \u201coh man it\u2019s kind of sick how much joy I get out of being cruel to old white men.\u201d I love that completely meretricious \u201cold\u201d to demean them still further. And that actual feeling: joy at cruelty!<\/p>\n

Another indicator that these statements might be racist comes from replacing the word \u201cwhite\u201d with any other racial group. #cancelblackpeople probably wouldn\u2019t fly at the New York Times, would it? Or imagine someone tweeting that Jews were only \u201cfit to live underground like groveling goblins\u201d or that she enjoyed \u201cbeing cruel to old Latina women,\u201d and then being welcomed and celebrated by a liberal newsroom. Not exactly in the cards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Andrew Sullivan writes: Is the newest member of the New York Times editorial board, Sarah Jeong, a racist? From one perspective \u2014 that commonly held by people outside the confines of the political left \u2014 she obviously is. A series … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[169],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-122956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-new-york-times"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t