UNPACKING THE HOUSE OF CARDS: EPISODE 2 - CLANS OF THE CLONES
RACE RELATIONS, âTHE STRUGGLEâ & OTHER SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS
Okay, REALLY done with the âCultural Appropriationâ for the time being.
For the next contestants ... Let's talk about actual RACISM and the modern political landscape. Let's include those who equate their own -isms to the plight of the non-caucasian in America today. I'm going to avoid such nonsensical jargon as "tone policing", "lateral oppression" and "micro aggression" as I believe they give most of us mere mortals indigestion. (I am going to be taking aim at certain segments of several different groups which i consider myself an ally of. TRY and not be offended by this, and hear what I am saying before the flames begin, folks).
1. THERE ARE DEGREES OF SKIN-COLOR PREJUDICE (that require a measured and circumspect view). As many as there are different skin colors. YES there is such a thing as White discrimination. We don't talk about it so much because the OVERWHELMING majority of the time (95%) the shoe is on the OTHER foot and without stating something pretentious about "power dynamics" we can simply say the deck is stacked favorably in one direction. That does not make the other right or fair or 'justice' in any way when you are the victims of it, white folks. However, understand that THAT experience that so frustrated you? It's just a day in the life for the rest of us. Similarly, while I have NO RIGHT to claim I have "the black experience" of the African American community, I too and many other indians are treated as second-class citizens or worse. Without dropping my oppression-trading cards, this included assault, regular (like clockwork) physical altercations, religious discrimination and more. However, I CAN say I've experienced SOME of it, especially post 9/11, and that I understand it. The point is, these are complex issues and the "F@#% you whitey" and sneering sideways with "You don't understand my experience" within ranks of those that suffer from racism IS bullshit. It is that kind of juvenile banter that truly F#%@s with the signal to noise ratio, like we've all just become Jan from The Brady Bunch or any other hormonal teen, stomping around declaring "You don't understand me! Marsha Marsha MARSHA!" For those of you snickering at the Millennial SJWs doing this, there's plenty of you who're older and should k now better who're at it as well. It's aggravating when the generation who are barely legal to be let in the bar do it. When you're the mid-thirty-something who's wearing that SAME skimpy outfit at the club with only young 20-somethings? It's just SAD.
2. WHITE FEMINISTS. On equating our experiences / narratives. Please, just stop. This is just EMBARRASSING at this point. While Gender equality issues DEFINITELY affect me (coming as I do from a family of strong independent women, several of whom were breadwinners for their household) I will NOT claim that I know the fears and pressures you live with daily. To say that I would or do would make me a CARTOON character on par with Donald Trump. Please recognize that when you try and equate -your- version of assault (in no way diminutive) with -our- version of assault, that's an apples-to-oranges comparison. Both are definitely still fruit. But I have literally had to wonder "Is this the hill I want to Die on today?" when confronting corrupt, racist police officers in my hometown. I have friends who are DEAD with pending investigations due to ... we'll politely say 'Enforcement Negligence'. So while there are struggles on both sides of the fence that divides us, A does NOT equal B. Super Mario and Sonic The Hedgehog are both Video Game Franchises and Platform Mascots for their respective companies (Nintendo & Sega). But a Plumber is NOT a f$%&ing Hedgehog. Please stop attempting to use the logic and processes from YOUR struggle (which may be sound and totally justifiable) to OUR struggle. Rather than breeding understanding and fostering cooperative progress, it merely underscores PROFOUND ignorance. Like someone claiming to have beaten a video game they know nothing about. I swear it's like I'm in a time warp to 1997, watching Romy & Michelle's High School Reunion. Your ignorance is NAILS on CHALKBOARD levels of stupefying.
3. LGBT / TRANS FOLKS RAGING ABOUT THE CAITLYN JENNER COSTUME. ... Yes. I KNOW. It's tacky as all get out. One of the things you're probably going to have to recognize in life is that there are going to be upsettingly tacky things (or not, who'm I to say anything on this ... not my circus, not my monkeys). Case in point - Hinduism has the Hare Krishna movement. It's NOT hinduism. It was largely a ponzi scheme popularized by white converts of a particularly arrogant pandit with delusions of divinity and immortalization, in 1966. Now, IS that Religious Appropriation? I'm not one to say. It IS however EXCEEDINGLY TACKY and offensive. However, as I am not going to be able to reset the clock when it comes to 1966 and so on and smack that self-righteous swami and his idiotic brood in the face. Similarly, YOU are not going to stop the Halloween Costume Industry on capitalizing on LITERALLY everything. Comics, Video Games, Politicians, and yes, Celebrities. To use and old saying, it may be time to climb down off of that Cross, use the wood to build a bridge, and GET OVER IT. And believe me, this is from a voice who's observed CENTURIES of White Folks ripping off my culture's swag. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. ISKCON/Hare Krishna. Yoga, the American Pass-time. BUT, as with Cards Against Humanity, y'all can opt to be the "Special Snowflake" on what is a comedic 360 degree chain gun ... which ONLY DAMAGES you being taken seriously in the modern political narrative. Or you can step forward and go "Yeah, that was some tacky shit. Now let's talk about marriage equality in the rest of the United States". Or right to Adopt. Or you know, any of the other INFINITELY more relevant and important dialogues facing your cause. How intelligent and mature a discussion we get to have about this, and just precisely WHAT signal-to-noise ratio we have, is on you. The Ball is in your court, currently. But don't appropriate the term "APPROPRIATION". My critiques on the very term "Cultural Appropriation" aside, this just becomes an EXPONENTIAL level of stupidity. The word is Tacky. Use it. It's a good description for something so low-brow and base. Don't be a "basic bitch" in your activism. *head bob here*
4. FELLOW MINORITIES (Especially those of you who've gotten crabby/bitchy about education). - Yes. I know. It can be EXHAUSTING when the uninitiated (often but not always, White People) expect you to be "The" Cultural Ambassador for your place of origin/people/diaspora/way-of-life. However ... Counter Raging at them is NOT the answer. IF you decide you DON'T want to be saddled with educating ... then make like Alonso from the movie Training Day. Flip the page of your paper, give em the stink-eye, and if they continue to intrude on whatever the hell you were doing, ask them to tell you a story, since they won't let you read yours over a cup of coffee (i.e. go about your business and gently but firmly point out that you're not there to be their Library's Reference Section). NOW. IF you DID sign up to be an educator, do so with grace. That's not to say you have to PERPETUALLY have a grin plastered over your face ("Smile-hooks IN, class!") but that does mean, if you're going to step forward and represent as an icon: YOUR BEHAVIOR HAS RAMIFICATIONS. Own it. If you find yourself getting testy, just calmly ask the entitled (well-meaning or not) inquisitive minds if they've bothered to google this topic at all, because frankly you're not their smartphone.
5. MULTICULTURAL/MULTIETHNIC FRIENDS - Lastly ... Let's talk about my people of mixed-race and multi-cultural background. For starters, much like ladies of any discriminated ethnicity or LGBT within these subgroups, my friends, lemme just say, I know. It sucks. You got double-jeopardy going on, and there's stuff I can relate to and there's stuff I just won't be able to on the visceral level because that's not my experience. And I KNOW, Gods I know, just how upsetting and rage-filled an existence this must make. Lord knows the ignorance of others is perpetually baffling and infuriating to me. PLEASE try and be patient with some of the more DERP within these camps (example: White-passing Minorities who claim to know what it's like for those of us who can't, folks that suffered 'old-world' prejudices in Europe that attempt to equate it to the experience of the black, the brown, the Asian, etc). And for those of you who CAN pass and then have to deal with some extremely derpy activists who would deny you your own heritage because they're high on their own supply (of rhetoric) ... I feel you.
The solution, by the way, is the same as #4 there: y'all are going to have to SPEAK UP to be heard. Crisply, cogently, and with Calm ... (Look! The 3-C Shells from Demolition Man) if we're to work together to wipe up this mess. The Young'uns and idiots have been screaming and pooping EVERYWHERE. This is a war not of bullets and bombs, but of minds. Against ignorance, assumptions and lazy thinking. As such, we're going to need more from the rest of you (especially groups # 3, 4 and 5) in the form of Art. Papers. Ideas. We're going to need to communicate better. So grab a quill, grab a paintbrush, grab a tablet, and do some damage. I'll hopefully see some of you out there on the front lines.
Because if you don't like the current level of dialogue with shrieking ninnies and juvenile tactics, then rather than changing the channel and resuming sticking your head in the sand, you MIGHT have to provide a viable alternative. I'll be doing my part. *micdrop*
