Every time someone challenges society by pointing out white privilege, gender privilege, cultural privilege or any other accepted hierarchy within privilege classes this tends to provoke anger from the privileged class. There is a reactionary attack against the messenger and anger to these cultural disparities being brought up. Some claim it is an attack on whites, others claim to point it out is an attack on their culture, religion or the patriarchy of some sort..
This should be of no surprise. The group who has the privilege will not wish to see that there may be oppression that has granted this privilege. To gain this superiority one must marginalize another thus this marginalization and oppression will flare up. Questioning the hierarchy within this will result in what brought it about. The privileged will justify their privilege often through the re-victimization of the oppressed. They will place the blame on the oppressed for being oppressed. It is true that many libertarians fall in with this category..
Normality is relative. Culture tends to create a egocentric perspective of the world that distorts perception of other cultures and people. To claim there is a norm is often to cling to the culture one has been raised in and conditioned to accept as the norm. The good clean christian white suburbia is often a place we see this..
If you drive to the suburbs of just about any U.S. city you can begin to see it. If you are living in a suburb you may have to leave the suburb to see how others live. In the suburban world we see many areas of privilege. The state subsidized sprawl in catering to the upper class and an upper middle class. With the social subsidies many of these people never challenge despite their rhetoric against the social subsidies for other cultural groups. They tend to attack things like taxation only when it benefits someone outside of their norm..
Just when I thought that the ignorance afflicting certain dumbass racists was tempered, here comes the biggest douchebag of 2010, Paul Shirley, a pathetic excuse for an athlete, and supposed basketball player. The guy's basically a jack of all trades, and master of none. He couldn't even be bothered to do the research on Haiti before writing this racist, boorish screed against Haitians and Haiti.
Shirley asks whether what he is about to write makes him a monster. Well, damn! If you need to ask you stupid sumbitch, you probably are a freaking monster! As soon as I read that part, I knew that I was going to have to tune my brain to deal with undistilled fuckery. He did not disappoint, the little oaf.
If you want to read some straight up vitriol, then I suggest you read his ode to his white privilege (Mmmm!!! Privilege! You SUCK if you don't have it, People of Color! Shame on you!) and his inability to be a feeling, compassionate human. It's clear that the guy is a troglodyte when it comes to humanity, and I can't tolerate too much of it. Let me just highlight some of his most ignorant sentiments from his blog post:
I haven’t donated a cent to the Haitian relief effort. And I probably will not.
I haven’t donated to the Haitian relief effort for the same reason that I don’t give money to homeless men on the street. Based on past experiences, I don’t think the guy with the sign that reads “Need You’re Help” is going to do anything constructive with the dollar I might give him. If I use history as my guide, I don’t think the people of Haiti will do much with my money either.
However, it is not outside the realm of imagination to think that the citizens of a country might be able to: A) avoid putting themselves into a situation that might result in such catastrophic loss of life. And B) provide for their own aid, in the event of such a catastrophe.
And the piece de resistance comes in his sickening mock letter to the Haitian people:
Dear Haitians –
First of all, kudos on developing the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Your commitment to human rights, infrastructure, and birth control should be applauded.
As we prepare to assist you in this difficult time, a polite request: If it’s possible, could you not re-build your island home in the image of its predecessor? Could you not resort to the creation of flimsy shanty- and shack-towns?And could some of you maybe use a condom once in a while?
Sincerely,
The Rest of the World
Like Pat Robertson, Shirley insists on speaking for everyone in an effort to validate his racism and classism. And like Pat Robertson, he's dumb as hell and speaking on a topic he has NO business writing about because of sheer ignorance. If he had an IOTA of a clue, he would be congratulating France and the United States for their instrumental assistance in developing the "poorest nation in the world" as well.
Today on the Intersection of Madness & Reality we have one of the most revered thinkers in the struggle for justice and equality (pictured above), Brother X-Squared; president of the North American Chapter of the Renewed Black Panther Party. I had the pleasure of coming to know X-Squared from the good folks at WARNN (We Are Respectable Negroes News Network) at the blog We Are Respectable Negroes. If you haven't had the opportunity to at least checkout or frequent their blog, you're truly missing out. Seriously, do yourself a favor and add their blog to your daily reading because they're stamped and RiPPa approved. Recently I had the privilege of chopping it up with the brother and the following is an exclusive transcript of our conversation
RiPPa: Welcome Brother X-Squared.
Brother X-Squared: It is a pleasure to finally have the opportunity to speak with you Brother Rippa. Your name is an inspiration. It signals strength, power, dignity, and honor. I know from your works--'cause I monitor the white man's Internets in an effort to sabotage the white man's efforts to use tricknology to manipulate the mental mindstates of the captive Black African, especially the bastion of evil Youtube where you can see all manner of black foolishness--that you too are a warrior in the struggle against white supremacy. Your name also has many levels of meaning Brother Rippa. Do you understand that your name also is a dualism? A polyhedron of knowledge that resonates throughout the multiverse?
RiPPa: Not sure if my name is Swahili for anything, or even what a polyhedron is all about, but I'd appreciate if you could expand on that for me my brother.
Brother X-Squared: Rippa is a name that makes sense. It embodies energy. It speaks truth. Obviously, you shed your slave name in order to rename yourself as a strong, righteous, black man. You see, Brother Rippa you are not one of these baby boy, little girl sissy men who was named by a an illegitimate, ghetto underclass, confused, cum dumpster implement of the white man's evil like that sad negress in that damned to hell movie Precious. Rippa exudes dignity and intelligence unlike those Shaquan's, Latrelle's, Tyrone's, and those other names common to the NBA—Nigger Ball Association--that signal from birth that you are destined for the white man's prison. Human fodder for his prison industrial complex.
RiPPa: Well that puts a lot of pressure on me now that I know this. Which is actually scary when I think of it Brother X. Next thing you know I'll be on the FBI watch-list like those brothers in Dearborn Michigan. Of course you heard what happened to them the other day didn't you?
Brother X-Squared: I heard of those pigs killing my fellow revolutionary. Do you know how many men died in the battle of the Somme in 1915?
RiPPa: Not exactly but I'm sure there were many.
Brother X-Squared: Almost 1 million of those white devils died. And that number is nothing compared to how many of our brothers have been killed by the white man's slave catchers and enforcers of his white supremacist racial state. That martyr won't be the last...no way, there will be many many more. You asked me about fear? About being afraid?
RiPPa: Yes I did; isn't it natural for a man like you, a Black man in America to ever be fearful? Surely you must be, right?
Brother X-Squared: You clearly don't know who I am Brother Rippa I am disappointed. I have never shown fear. The only being I fear is the almighty Black God, the creator of the universe. Death is a comfort to me Brother Rippa. You see, I am a modern day samurai. I am their heir in action. The samurai were the greatest warriors the world has ever seen because they welcomed death, they went into battle as dead men looking to earn back their lives. Just like those strong Nubian warriors the Jem'hadar in those white space movies Star Trek, victory is life for all true revolutionaries. I welcome battle with the white man and his death squads. But, I know they won't come for me because I am too strong, too black, and too powerful. They understand that Brother X-Squared is too educated to fall for their nonsense and trickery. I use their own Constitution and Bill of Rights against them. I keep a copy of it in my pocket as a reminder of their wickedness. Those sacred documents have also given the Black man a tool to use against those white tricksters and forked tongue devils. I slay him--just like you do Brother Rippa--with his own laws and principles.
But they only prosecute them if they threaten the lives of White people?
Ok, hold up, wait, lemme check my back pocket to see if I can find a new race card. I’ve been pulling them out left and right for a while and I hate to approach another blog post without one. Ain’t nuthin more embarrasing than reaching for a race card when you don’t have one; ain’t that right former Memphis mayor Willie Herenton? Ok cool. Whew! I’m glad I found one; I thought I was out. So anyway, have you heard about this guy Hal Turner? Never heard of him? Oh ok. Well he’s this White Supremacist blogger, activist, ex-radio show from his basement having, one time FBI informant. Yeah, he’s done a lot to advance the cause of White Nationalists, all while being on the gov’t payroll as he supposedly helped them take down White Supremacist organizations. Isn’t that funny? A White Supremacist working for the gov’t to help take down White Supremacist groups by promoting White Supremacy? Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you that Hal is currently in some jail cell awaiting trial after being arrested for sending death threats to a few politicians, judges, federal prosecutors who just so happen to be white. You know, important people who also work for the government like him.
“Prosecutors have acknowledged that Turner was an informant who spied on radical right-wing organizations, but the defense has said Turner was not working for the FBI when he allegedly made threats against Connecticut legislators and wrote that three federal judges in Illinois deserved to die.
“‘But if you compare anything that he did say when he was operating, there was no difference. No difference whatsoever,’ [his lawyer] said.”
Sounds like the ultimate dream job doesn’t it? Talk about getting paid to do what you love; how can a brotha be down Uncle Sam? So where’s the race card RiPPa, and why did you have to even waste it on an asshole like Hal Turner? It’s not like we don’t know he’s not fond of Blacks, Jews, Hispanics, or green men from outta space.Yeah, I understand and you’re right, different people have acknowledged this very fact. But see, this isn’t about Turner; this is about the government. They paid Turner to say and do what he did. Yes, Hal Turner’s lawyer said recently, and prosecutors agreed, that Turner was “trained by the FBI on how to be deliberately provocative” and “worked for the FBI from 2002 to 2007 as an ‘agent provocateur’ and was taught by the agency ‘what he could say that wouldn’t be crossing the line.” Isn’t it ironic that while employed by the FBI, the number of White Supremacist groups have increased drastically?
So what the gov’t used him and flipped on him; big deal.
Well, how come they didn’t flip on him back in 2006 when he said that then Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney (who is Black by the way) should be lynched on her way to the polls for being “a violent, Black, racist bitch.” An act which he also said would send a message to other “uppity” Blacks that “white people are tired of your bullshit, behave or die.” Oh, and lemme not forget to mention that he put McKinney's address out there on the internet on his site just like he did the federal judges. Let’s see, maybe Cynthia McKinney wasn’t important enough? Or could it be since his job was to say and do things to incite people to act as he was trained to do, could it be that “somebody” wanted Cynthia McKinney dead? Maybe I’m trippin’, but if threatening the lives of white politicians and federal judges is a crime. How come doing the same to a Black female sitting in Congress, isn't?
Damn, watch your back Barack…
A white man who was working for the U.S. Census bureau was found hanging from a tree in Clay County Kentucky with the words “Fed” scribbled on his chest. Who's to say that this was not an act sanctioned and paid for by tax payer dollars and motivated through the actions of somebody like Hal Turner? I tell you one thing for sure: whoever killed that poor guy wasn't Black. In Clay County Kentucky, or more specifically The Daniel Boone National Forest, the only Black person or people there, are the ghosts of those who were lynched and still hanging from trees. But yet Turner is now mounting the defense that he was just doing what he was paid to do?
“He who warned uh, the British that they weren't gonna be takin' away our arms, uh by ringing those bells, and um, makin' sure as he's riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that we were going to be sure and we were going to be free, and we were going to be armed.” -- Sarah Palin on Paul Revere
