T Nation

Is It OK To Be White? I'm Not Sure

Politics and World Issues
#1

I’m trying to make sense of an article CBC news. Here are some excerpts:
"A University of Manitoba student says hateful messages posted on campus and sent to at least one fax machine add an “element of fear” to being on school grounds.
“I think it’s sickening,” said Charlene Hallett. "But, on the other side too, I want to roll my eyes and say, “You know what? No, you don’t get to try to intimidate us this way.’”

Sheets of paper with the phrase “It’s okay to be white” were taped to walls around the U of M campus this week. Faxes with the same phrase were sent to offices around the campus, including the women’s and gender studies program."

“Whether I know it or not, somebody could be sitting in that class having these thoughts and having these racist ideas about what Indigenous people are or … just how superior white people are, and I don’t know if that’s happening or not,” said Hallett.

“The university unequivocally condemns this and any other racist actions,” David Barnard wrote in a statement sent to media on Friday."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/hate-messages-university-manitoba-campus-1.4889084

I’m just trying to make sense of this. I’m white, and I’m OK with it. I think it’s OK for other people to be white too. I don’t hate people because of their ethnic background. I’m also married to a black woman. Am I a Nazi without knowing it?

How is it hateful or racist to post a message like this? It really does seem to me like there is a double standard against white people when it comes to racism, it’s politically correct for minorities to hate white people (like when the NY Times hired Sarah Jeong after she made a bunch of anti-white tweets) but if a white person does the same thing they are finished. Am I missing something here?

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#2

No, you’re not missing anything. The only person who can’t speak up is a white man.

I’m white. I’m a cop. I’m the most evil person in the US by those standards.

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#3

No, this is how it works. You are in an empowered position so you need to openly suck all this up or be a hate monger - there is no inbetween.

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#4

Historically-speaking, racist policies don’t tend to pan out in liberal societies. I think this is because a lot of people don’t like them.

#5

You might ask yourself, are you proud of Mozart, Einstein, and Jane Austen or are you proud of a bunch of Confederate generals who defended slavery? There may lie the answer to the question in your topic heading, if not your post.

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#6

They worked in Nazi Germany.

#7

It’s not that it isn’t ok to be white but to whom the phrase, “it’s ok to be white,” is associated with.

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#8

Slow down a bit. 800K Americans died in the Civil War. Many of them confederates fighting for the south because of where they were born. A few points worth considering.

1% of southerners owned slaves, most of the poor bastards who died didn’t benefit at all from slavery. It likely depressed their wages in fact.

Refusing conscription and desertion were capital offenses back then. If you refused to fight you died. If you refused to advance up a hill you died.

Not saying you have to laud confederates. Just be more careful about Confederate soldier = slave master cliche.

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#9

I don’t understand, what does slavery have to do with this? I live in Canada, this article is about something that happened in a Canadian university. There was no large scale slavery here and no Confederate army. There is nothing here about any historical figures.

#10

I prefer the term “Aboriginal European” to “white.”

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#11

Who is it associated with?

#12

Are these posters in fact anti-Aboriginal European propaganda?

#13

I think the posters are “provocative.” Like a good internet troll, who ever posted them understood the climate and attitude around school, and chose some innocent words that could be interpreted in a few different ways, causing friction/excitement/ and minor conflict. Now they get to sit back and laugh at all the silly people losing their minds.

The way it was “coordinated” and “executed” makes it seems more like a planned attack. That makes its vageuly scary because there have been lots of deadly coordinated, planned attacks lately. School administration can’t just ignore it. Now they have to make some statement, which is sure to piss somebody off, and continue the fun for the poster of the messages.

It’s a perfect trap. All manner of Obtuse people will get all stirred up.

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#14

That’s exactly what I was thinking, now they are exposing a double standard. At the same time, nobody knows that the people who put these posters up are even white. Remember the Reichstag? Nowadays all it takes is a seemingly harmless statement and people lose their minds.

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#15

Serious question … why is this rustling your jimmies?

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#16

So a trolling strategy developed to elicit a specific response worked exactly as designed.

Interesting.

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#17

Racially…he’s pretty cool. But he also likes free speech?

It’s like a paradox. If you “support” either side you’re also “against” something you also kinda like.

Something similar happened at my local college campus. It’s tough to decide how to feel.

#18

What’s the joke? Oh yeah:

“I’m proud to be black,” said the black man.

“I’m proud to be Asian,” said the Asian man.

“I’m proud to white,” said the racist.

The “It’s OK to be white” thing is really a masterful troll. Probably the best I’ve ever seen.

The beauty in it is the overreaction of so many liberals. If they were smart, they would have just agreed and moved on. But they couldn’t help themselves.

(And I haven’t a clue if I am white. I think I am white. But I am a bit khaki-colored, like a typical Middle Eastern. And certainly the lower-IQ portion of trailerpark crowd doesn’t consider Jewish people “white”, no matter how fair.)

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#19

If it makes you feel any better, to this cracker ass cracker I don’t care if you’re white or khaki or w/e. That shit is so damn inconsequential (or at least it ought to be) - what matters is action and character, neither of which ought to be influenced by something outside of ones control as skin color …

This whole “debate” is fuckin’ garbage…

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#20

I can’t speak to what things are like in Canada, but I am constantly amazed at how many people in America think that it’s rough to be a white male here. It’s fucking awesome to be a white male. I’ve benefited tremendously from it throughout my life, and I continue to use it to my advantage today.

Here’s a fun story. I went through airport security about a year ago with some things I wasn’t supposed to have. I had multiple oversized, unmarked containers of liquid. I had to put them in a clear plastic bag, so I used the bag I normally keep my nose tork in. The bag was covered in white powdery residue. So this bag of liquids gets pulled out of my carry on while going through airport security. The TSA agent sees a fucking bag covered in an unknown white powder, and multiple unmarked, oversized bottles of liquid. Looks at me. Hands me the bag and says ‘just be more careful next time’ . Doesn’t even make me trash the stuff. I take it on the plane.

There is not a fucking chance in hell that I have the same experience at that airport if I’m brown, and god forbid I’m wearing a turban.

Another story.

I’ve been pulled over by cops maybe 20 times in my life. Happens a lot, I used to drive fast a lot, and ignore stop signs. I would say 4-5 of these times I had alcohol in my system. I have about 7 tickets in my life, and 13ish warnings accompanied by a smile and a ‘just be careful, have a nice day’. One time, I was pulled over and failed a field sobriety test. That was followed by a breathalyzer. I blew more than triple the limit. This encounter is one of the 13 that ended up with a warning at the end of it.

How many non-white, non-celebrities in America can say something like this? I’m just an average white dude.

So to answer the original question: yes, it’s ok to be white. It’s a pretty fucking great thing to be.

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