Category: Three Witnesses

TW18

Really interested in this story of this “vagrant.” Compelling story of his life and time.

There’s a sentence that starts with “But in a song…” My English teacher told me never to start a sentence with “But,” but I don’t know if that’s still true?

TW28

Just finished the short story. Visually very descriptive and I can see everything pretty well with my minds eye. Kirk seems to be a prototypical MAGA type in all its faults (which fair enough), but I wonder if it would land better if he had more layers to him in addition to the typical MAGA faults

TW30

“This situation is an example of parallax.” Something about that sentence took me out, is there another way to word it to make it flow better? Otherwise I liked the example with the nieces and daughters, very relatable

TW36

Good section, easy to digest about a complex topic. You do a good job critiquing people who broadly dismissed BLM as having nothing to say or those who dismissed it for racist reasons (some tried to hide their racist undertones and some were overtly racist).

That said, I think there are good faith disagreements to be acknowledged about BLM. From my outsider view, people who align with BLM have a wide variety of views many moderate and some extreme. Two examples come to mind:

  • Police reform vs defund vs abolishment – The people on the police reform side have my attention and sympathy, but the police abolishment generally do not. Who would arrest perpetrators of child abuse? Usually the answer from people who say “abolish the police” is just “the police” but with a different name.
  • Dismantling of capitalism / socialism / Marxism – Not everyone in BLM does this, but there are those that combine BLM and expanding government control (progressive / socialism / Marxism, whatever you want to call it). It’s a legitimate concern to me because I earnestly believe that it would not inherently fix the oppression of minorities. An easy example is the Chinese Communist Party’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims in China. Communism did not solve the brutal treatment of that minority population and there are many other examples in communist countries (the Soviet Union and others did this plenty).

Clearly a good thought provoking section because this is my longest comment!

TW40

There are a lot of fair critiques in this section. Some points that resonated with me:

  • People using the label of “socialism” to dismiss valid concerns of a group (especially BLM). While you know I have my own personal concerns with socialism, there are definitely people who try to discredit any good faith criticism of American racial history by calling it “socialist” or “Marxist” instead of trying to work through these difficult racial issues that honestly can overlap with being suspicious of the government
  • The point about whiteness being a “blankness” in America is true, I agree with that

Some points to consider:

  • I think American “whiteness” is unique because it tries to have that absence of identity / memory (sense America is theoretically a nation of immigrants). Europeans (those actually from Europe like my family) view it differently because there is often a culture and ethnic memory for those groups. Eastern Europeans definitely do not view themselves as “blank” and we definitely have a heritage / memory. It informs a lot of my beliefs. The terrible treatment at the hands of the USSR telling my family that what the military police were doing (like jailing my father without trial) is good for the country and good for the working people, that informs many of our views. My suspicion of government isn’t paranoia, its the group memory that the USSR killed more Eastern Europeans than the Nazis. This may be addressed later but I do think that American whiteness is it’s own unique bird. I remember reading about slavery and the Jim Crow South as a young child and earnestly thinking to myself “these white people were crazy” like it was an entirely different racial / ethnic group.

TW46

I want to push back on the line that progressives always want progress (especially when it comes to race). I think that is sometimes true, but not always. While many on the left now want progress, abundance, and thriving lives for all, that wasn’t always the case. Expansive government power (with the government’s monopoly of violence enforcing it) was something that Southern Democrats loved in order to enforce Jim Crow and enforce racial hierarchies. That Southern Democratic coalition wanted to use the force of the state to keep minorities “in line.” In modern times, I agree that the racists fled Democrats and prefer conservatives, but I think that just shows that racists don’t actually care about the size of government, they just care about whatever group will give them the political power to enforce racial hierarchies. The fact the Trump is improving Republican votes with Black and Hispanic voters further muddies this whole picture.

TW50

Agree about the point of “possessions not being allowed to have possessions” and how that impacts things still.

There is a line “But the black experience in America has always been more crypto.” That usage of the word “crypto” I haven’t seen before, so I don’t know if it’s used incorrectly or if I’m just not aware.

I’ll add a point to the whole land acknowledgement. I think it’s more sinister. I think it’s a way for Americans do absolve themselves of guilt without having to “do” anything to make amends. Notice that no one who does a land acknowledgement every gives the land back.

TW52

“But two commentators suggest that there are basic biological explanations for this anger as well. Michael Bradley and Frances Cress-Welsing contend that white people are unconsciously motivated to annihilate others because they fear that their genes will be overwhelmed by the dominant traits of people of color, that white supremacy is actually a defensive posture.”

I’m skeptical about this. I’ve read about studies that the brain of a baby more easily recognizes faces of it’s own corresponding race as a possible explanation for racial tribalism, but that was for all races (European, African, East Asian, etc). I’ve never seen a study that comes close to suggesting a biological basis of racial animosity especially unique to Europeans. In the real world I’ve seen racial tribalism coming from all corners of the world, so I think tribalism is hardwired into our brains (and is an urge we must resist!). But specific to white people? I would need more proof.