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Free speech, black lives and white fragility
The Duke Chronicle ^ | 1-19-2016 | Bennett Carpenter

Posted on 01/19/2016 8:47:39 AM PST by Citizen Zed

White fragility refers to a range of defensive behaviors through which white people deflect conversations about race and racism in order to protect themselves from race-based stress. Because white people tend to live in environments where whiteness is both dominant and invisible, they grow accustomed to racial comfort, as a result of which even a small amount of racial stress becomes intolerable. This helps explain why talking about white supremacy can feel more painful to white people than white supremacy itself, why the ostensible "stifling" of debate can feel more pressing than the literal strangulation of Eric Garner and how "free speech" seems more important than black lives.

Needless to say, it requires an astounding degree of narcissism, ignorance and - yes - fragility to scan headlines detailing the daily, state-sanctioned slaughter of people of color and somehow conclude that speech is the real problem. White fragility weighs the minimal discomfort of being confronted with painful realities about race and racism against the literal death of black and brown bodies and decides that the latter matter less than white discomfort. Which is how we end up here, talking about speech on campus and reading a dozen iterations of the same editorial in which students describe - with utterly unintentional irony - how being called out by anti-racist activists makes them feel upset and hurts their feelings.

This leaves those of us committed to abolishing white supremacy in a double bind. To engage with this debate is to fall for a diversionary tactic in which we again center the conversation on white feelings. To refuse to engage grants the latter a monopoly on the airways, drowning out more vital issues in an ocean of white noise.

(Excerpt) Read more at dukechronicle.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat
KEYWORDS: blackkk; blackliesmatter; blacklivesmatter; nea; thugculture; whitefragility; whiteprivilege
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To: Twotone

LOL- statistics and math are racist!


21 posted on 01/19/2016 9:47:57 AM PST by mikeus_maximus
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To: Citizen Zed
Because white people tend to live in environments where whiteness is both dominant and invisible, they grow accustomed to racial comfort, as a result of which even a small amount of racial stress becomes intolerable.

Because black people tend to live in environments where blackness is both dominant and highly visible, they grow accustomed to special treatment, as a result of which, even a small amount of responsibility, accountability, or integrity becomes intolerable.

22 posted on 01/19/2016 10:01:54 AM PST by IronJack
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To: Citizen Zed
Needless to say, it requires an astounding degree of narcissism, ignorance and - yes - fragility to scan headlines detailing the daily, state-sanctioned slaughter of people of color and somehow conclude that speech is the real problem.

The thugs on the left don't want an honest conversation about race. If we tell the truth (we don't care what someone's skin color is when we meet them, unless they think it matters, and most of us are equally disgusted with Aryan Nation white identity and with #BlackThugsMatter black identity), we get yelled at for being "racist" or now "fragile".

Normal people don't care enough about trivia like skin color to bother with that conversation. Thugs on the left don't listen if we try to explain that the vast majority of problems can be solved by simply working hard (like the people they complain about do), obeying the law (like most people do), and graduating high school, then college, then getting married, and only then having children. They just yell or get the vapors if we fail to show the demanded level of enthusiasm for their insane claims.

Why bother talking with them as if a leftist might respond rationally. That has never happened in the history of Social Justice Warriors. This moron should put his effort into preparing for his upcoming Masters Degree in Literature and the resulting career in the food service industry. I look forward to him saying "would you like fries with that" so much that he no longer has the time or energy for this racist nonsense.

23 posted on 01/19/2016 10:09:14 AM PST by Pollster1 ("Shall not be infringed" is unambiguous.)
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To: mikeus_maximus
LOL- statistics and math are racist!

You are so correct!

As Louis Farrakhan would be quick to point out, there was NO NUMBER 19 in those statistics!

24 posted on 01/19/2016 10:34:51 AM PST by BwanaNdege
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To: Citizen Zed

These people are just making sh1t up now....

Ya hate to laugh at the lame the halt and the absolutely stupid, but sometimes you just can’t help it.

These comments fit in the stupid category.


25 posted on 01/19/2016 11:06:43 AM PST by Adder (No, Mr. Franklin, we could NOT keep it.)
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