The Myth of White Fragility and How Social Justice Warriors Fail To Understand Their Critics
Sometimes in life people you respect will make an argument so infuriating you can’t hold back. Cathy Reisenwitz is a one of the people I hesitate to attack because years ago I asked for her advice and she kindly emailed me back. She is a sex positive feminist, and social justice warrior who happens to believe in free markets; so she isn’t all that bad, but I really can’t bite my tongue or step back and shake my head when even social justice warriors I respect perpetuate the idea that white people cry and hide in corners when a discussion of race takes place.
Social justice warriors have this warped idea that white Americans are woefully uncomfortable when race is discussed. It’s a myth that will not die. For years many Americans, including whites have talked about the drug war and how it negatively affects African Americans; they have talked about mass incarceration; and how it disproportionately affects minorities. A white male journalist helped free a black man from death row after his work showed police used information from a racist to break into the home of Cory Maye without knocking. Maye believed his home was being robbed, and in an attempt to protect his daughter he fired his gun and killed a man he didn’t know was a cop.
While protests shut down Ferguson, two white journalists streamed the events live, showing police attack non-violent people with tear gas, while CNN stuck onto a shot of a burning building. White journalists have covered the issues that plague the black community with sympathy and a condemnation of the system. Reisenwitz has ignored and delegitimized all of white protesters and journalists who fight for unity. The idea that white people refuse to talk about race and how it is used to oppress minorities is completely without merit.
On her personal webpage, Reisenwitz lamented former libertarians blaming her for their rejection of the ideology. Reisenwitz wrote, “-it pains me that libertarianism is so full of little flowers so delicate that the mere mention of the realities that other people have to live every single day of their lives causes them to be so triggered that they have to flee-.” That sentence completely ignores the reason why so many in that movement have a strong aversion to the implication of social justice. She then perpetuated a social justice favorite when discussing the push back by claiming, “White fragility is very real.”
The term “white fragility,” was coined by Dr. Robin DiAngelo, a multicutural education professor at Westfield State University, who described the term as, “-a state in which even a minimum amount of racial stress becomes intolerable, triggering a range of defensive moves.” In her paper White Fragilty, DiAngelo dismisses any and all aversion to the far leftist discussion of race as examples of white people reacting angrily and defensive. Because white people don’t need to think about their race, any and all comment regarding racial issues is privileged, arrogant, and entitled. White people have been brainwashed and are too stupid to realize their judgement of individuals instead of demographics is “a kind of blindness.”
To DiAngelo, individualism is not a just concept. In her view, “Individualism also allows whites to distance themselves from the actions of their racial group and demand to be granted the benefit of the doubt, as individuals, in all cases,” and further puts her foot in her mouth when claiming “Individualism erases history.” DiAngelo simply doesn’t understand how idiotic her assertion is. Judging individuals instead of demographics is a factor in “white fragility;” and the notion of individuality is an example of “narcissism,” that is, “a result of the white racial insulation ubiquitous in dominant culture.”
Individualism is an idea that insulates entire demographics from castigation and judgment. When three Muslims bombed the airport is Brussels, liberals went after conservatives who pointed the terror attack into the faces of all Muslims. They tell us one false rape case doesn’t mean all rape accusations are false; they insist those who torched businesses in Ferguson and Baltimore should be judged as individuals and not be used to cast criticism on all African Americans, yet DiAngelo is attempting to eviscerate a righteous idea.
The anti-SJW crowd that preaches individuality is doing so to learn from history, and not repeat it. They do so because judging entire demographics has lead to the most horrific atrocities in the world. Jews were not deemed as individuals when they were killed by the Nazis, African Americans were not deemed individuals when they were lynched. That was explained succinctly by J.G Vibes who wrote in Activist Post, “To be an individualist — is simply a way of looking at the world where you see billions of individuals, instead of various groups of people separated by race, nationality, gender, religion or social status- If all of the people on the earth were seen as individuals then racism, sexism, classism and other forms of discrimination would cease to exist and everyone would be responsible for their own actions.”
Racism is a collectivist practice, and to claim individualism is the bigoted idea is fundamentally inaccurate; and the aversion to individualism makes sense, because the regressive left has an allergy towards it. They are fighting racism with racism; casting judgement on every white person while condemning those who judge other races. To see that and disparage the narrative is not white fragility. It’s an attack on the blatant hypocrisy and contradiction that festers deep inside social justice.
Anti racists have gone from believing race is a social construct to using racial identity as a bullet to shame people for their whiteness. Instead of embracing our similarities and ignoring our differences, the regressive left has taken any rejection of their narrative to attack the supposed racism with racism of their own. They have redefined the term to excuse their bigotry, and invent terms like white fragility to mock their dissenters. That reality explains the push back. The dissenters aren’t about maintaining the current power structure; they are calling out the hypocrisy.
In its original form, Black Lives Matter was a respectable movement that confronted police brutality. Since then the movement has become divisive as many within the various factions of the group have preached racist rhetoric. The racism was presented when DeRay McKesson labelled a shooter white, before he was identified as a racist black man who embraced the social justice narrative. Racism within the movement was shown when the head of Toronto’s BLM group tweeted out a prayer to Allah to prevent her from killing white people. And it is shown when BLM supporters try to frame white people for racial hate crimes they didn’t commit. They have co-opted an issue that affects people of different ages, and many within the movement have distracted the public from a noble cause to put a microscope on an entire race.
Leftist media outlets like Buzzfeed, Salon, Mic, Alternet, Vice, and the Huffington Post continue to publish anti-white articles that creates the aversion. Articles like “21 Things White People Ruined in 2015,” “White People, If You’re Not Part of the Solution, You’re Part of the Problem,” and “White America is complicit: Charleston, Dylann Roof and the country’s real race war,” is the kind of crap that has turned non-racists into racists. No legitimate publication would dare write an article that lists the things black people ruined; and the people responsible for writing an article blaming every Latino for the crime of an individual would be fired from their positions so quickly a smoke trail would appear. By looking at any comment section tied to these ridiculous stories, you will see people mentioning the blatant hypocrisy. By searching “White People,” on Vice’s website you will see tags titled, “Fuck White People,” “White People Are Dumb,” and “Why Are White People Terrible,” which perfectly illustrates the problem. Journalism in America that was used as a propaganda tool to scare white people into believing cannabis was an evil drug used by violent Mexicans and blacks, who used images of young black men to scare people into supporting the war on drugs, have turned the cameras around to demonize white people, because racism in their minds isn’t all that bad. All you have to do is redefine it, and place it at the feet of white people. The historically bigoted mainstream media has performed new tricks in a desperate attempt to remain relevant. The insufferable and perpetually angry SJW has been given a voice, and the media is happy to cash a check funded by hatred.
While blacks were being lynched and beaten to death in the American south, Dr. King didn’t speak of white privilege, or use his sermons as a reason to encourage the hatred of whites, he used language to bring white Americans along with him in the fight for civil rights. After the LAPD were acquitted in his assault, and riots ensued, Rodney King didn’t encourage black Americans to kill whitey, he told everyone to get along. They used inclusive dialogue to bring peace, during times of explosive racism, and now, while racial issues continue to persist, inclusive dialogue has been buried.
In response to the push back, SJW’s have plugged their ears; turning their backs like stubborn mules refusing to actually converse with their critics and honestly discuss racial issues. In Vice, Toure did exactly that when he wrote an article after talking to white people about privilege. He dismissed whites feeling affected by racism instead of acknowledging the examples above, and using the poor examples of racism by individuals to classify all white people as being ignorant, foolish, and uneducated.
For social justice warriors any discussion whites want to have is dismissed, and ridiculed. In a world where shaming promiscuous women, and rape victims is deplored; white shaming is fine and dandy because white people never think about their race. They have never experienced racism, so SJW’s need to throw all the racism they have at white people, because they believe the best way to end racism is with racism. The examples of social justice racism are plenty, and Quartz does a fine job showcasing that; like the condescending asses they are, Katherine Kirkinis, and Sarah Birdsong told white people not to be so sensitive, and to listen without speaking, because according to the bigots, “When a white person responds to a conversation about race by taking a breath and listening instead of being defensive and trying to prove how “not racist” they are, they are seen as an ally.” Put that attitude to any other situation and tell someone to shut up and listen because you haven’t experience it, would be met with a massive push back that makes you look like an intolerable idiot.
In her post Reisenwitz claimed to be exhausted over the libertarian usage of white identity politics; and that assertion is absolutely laughable since the left is all about identity politics. They look for a victim, see what characteristics the supposed victim has, and immediately argues bigotry, when someone dares to question the argument. All you have to do is look at the controversy regarding the Gap Kids ad that dared to show a white kid using the head of a black kid as an armrest. Just one year previous, The Gap released an ad showing a black kid using the head of a white kid as an armrest and no controversy was existent. The sad social justice warriors who spend hours of precious time to find something to be offended over, were so quick to be outraged they didn’t realize the two kids are actually sisters, and part of Le Petit Cirque, a humanitarian dance group. The black girl, as explained by the group was too shy to be as lively as the other girls in the advertisement.
The leftist use of identity politics has more than one example, in Mic, one columnist used tweets by insufferable crybabies that America’s love for William Hung wasn’t based on his lack of musical talent, and his lovable personality; it was all due to racist attitudes towards Asians. The same type of people claimed the Oscars were racist because of the lack of African American nominees; completely ignoring population numbers, and not having a single quote, from a single voter that said he or she refuses to vote for black filmmakers. They even complained about a white guy beating a black woman in a karaoke contest; claiming racism was to blame for the votes, because there is no conceivable way to believe any white man could ever have a better singing voice than any African American. It is regressives who make an art out of the usage of identity politics to strike a chord with people like them, because facts, logic, and statistics aren’t important. They are bullies to the truest form, throwing out platitudes in an attempt to silence their ideological enemies.
As noted enemy to the regressive left, Cathy Young noted, “At the core of social justice dogma is fixation on identity and “privilege.” The language used by the regressives, “-speaks not to black betterment but to white guilt,” and “offers an absurdly simplistic view of complex social dynamics.” These people simply do not care how the look, or who they sound like. They don’t need to look deeply within issues, they see a subject, note their physical and identifiable characteristics and base their assumptions on that. They don’t strive to educate or end bigotry; they claim they do, but their message is not one of unifying peace. They ‘re so blinded by hatred and brainwashed by demagogues they have no idea how damaging their narratives are to the bigotries and crimes they claim to want to eradicate.
Of course every word written in this piece that is not enclosed by quotation marks will be used to somehow prove my “privilege,” and “white fragility,” because when you are a professional victim who looks for any reason to feel oppressed, you show absolutely no interest in actually improving the world. The social justice warrior is the true narcissist who has overtaken social justice through their spoiled and selfish upbringing that turned them into petulant brats who can’t accept disagreements. They resort to actions similar to a toddler dropping themselves on the floor of the cereal aisle after mommy says they can’t have Corn Pops. There is no interest to actually end inequality, the strategy is one of payback to avenge the crimes of the past, and to make whites feel like the oppressed, and they do that through mockery, made up terminology and hypocrisy.
Go ahead and call the aversion of all bigotry white fragility. Continue to preach hatred and claim you’re doing just work to end all forms of bigotry. I’ll just sit back bathing in my white tears and surround myself with all of my privilege and see everything you claim to be about, destroyed thanks to your failure to actually use your brains.
