Beautifully written and well argued, but surely the original was not Rachel Dolezal, it was "is it because I is black" himself. Who ever rejected Ali G's claim to be black!?
About 30 years ago, someone here in Alabama did a survey that found almost 30 percent of white residents claimed to have Native American heritage. I have personally encountered dozens of claims like this. The alleged ancestor is ALWAYS a "Cherokee princess" (which was not a thing that existed) and the grandparent is at least great, if not great-great or great x3. So it's not just Elizabeth Warren. In fact I would bet that most Americans taking ancestry DNA tests these days are *desperately* trying to establish some sort of unique, less-WASPy identity for themselves.
When I lived in Europe, I recall intellectuals swooning over J.T. LeRoy, insisting that I read "Her", which purported to be LeRoy's memoirs of working as trans truck stop prostitute.
I actually grew up among trailer park rednecks, so I made it about three pages into "Her" before I called bullshit. If you looked at it as a crude form of magical realism, "Her" was sort of tolerable, but it was obviously 169% pure fiction for start to finish. Not only that, it was clearly written by someone who didn't know the first thing about what they were writing about.
My friends accused me of victim-blaming, and (the non-existent) LeRoy's alleged need for therapy was brought up. Of course, I was right, or at least I was right this time. But "Her"
gave people what they wanted to read, with all the right good guys and bad guys hitting all the right notes.
Or that German journalist writing for Bild (IIRC) about the town of Fergus Falls, Minnesota, depicting it as a city of racist and obscurantist Bible-thumpers, complete with a big sign at the outskirts of town telling Mexicans that they were not welcome in town.
For some years now, I have lived about an hour from Fergus. I have been there many times, and I never saw such a sign. I read the original article and though to myself "WTF?"
But Bild published the article anyway, even though it could have been disproven with ease by anyone with internet. Still, it was hot news for a while, because it confirmed the prejudices of its audience and therefore no fact-checking was necessary. We all know that "they" are just like that. No evidence necessary. Because them.
Of everyone listed I actually found Dolezal to be the least cynical. She had receipts about her admiration and desire to be a different race from an early age. I didn’t hear that she profited from it aside from her specialization or ever participated in the stereotype “black” behavior or policed blackness. She seemed to genuinely simply want to live as a black person and be left alone.
Our matriarchy operates on the principles of intersectionality. Intersectionality is the inversion of the social hierarchy of patriarchy, which means those who would be at the bottom of the hierarchy in a patriarchy would get to lord it over married men in the matriarchy. The West is now a matriarchy. Intersectionality is the measurement and acquisition of victimhood to acquire status.
"... one episode contrasts the lifeless family meal of the white FBI agent John O’Neill ..." The author of that scene clearly has no idea what it's like to be an American of Irish heritage. Watch the following video for an example.
The Metis didn't exist before the Europeans got to Canada. And by "agricultural worker" in Russia you are referring to serfs, most likely. One not very high step up from slaves.
Also that business about the boring white family being contrasted with the vibrant ethnics in some TV show - that is *really* old in American elite culture. Like, you can trace it back to before 1900. Eric Kaufmann does so in his book "Whiteshift."
The linkage exists to the other side of course “More than a third of white students lie about their race on college applications, survey finds” from “The Hill” and others. So children claiming to be RaceX are taught about fictional RaceY by professors claiming to be RaceZ in some sort of Magical Mental Escher Drawing version of transmission of information to examine’s one life with.
Eventually of course one hopes that the entire world will a-actually a-“woke” to understanding Race is a confabulation.
But why is this happening here, happening now?
For example, people routinely claiming they aren’t what they are also includes (but is not limited to) People claiming to be “non-binary” (with some sort of sexual orientation implication) for the most part (at least in my limited sexual range of a few dozen thousand men) never actually have sex with the same… sex. Yep, non-binary is a new code word for heterosexual. Never had sex with an adult gay man claiming not to be homosexual or a man. Talk about categorical imperative.
Black is the new white, straight is the new sissy or stone butch, getting older younger and younger, but above all in America: complete and totally absence of knowledge is the new expertise.
(Apparently boys and girls (do those creatures exist anymore) are maturing 2.5 months earlier each decade now - soon “they/them” will be born pregnant like Tribbles. I’m envisioning a new movement called “trans-age” for people who claim to be an age that they aren’t (naturally to the point of needing to change birth certificates and fielding micro aggressions for side-eye), but when called out they suffer suicidal ideation unless they’re accepted as either 60 or 16 depending on mood.
But then, claiming an age one is not is the oldest confabulation in the book. So to speak.
It’s all down to the Seinfeld episode where a character claims to be handicapped but isn’t or the trope of playing blind for the tasteless laughter of horror-sympathy.
"Maybe there is no term yet for reverse-passing only because it is such a taboo subject and societies find it hard to articulate concepts that go against the grain of ruling class prejudice."
Another example of this is the idea of "false consciousness". We have a term for disadvantaged groups being unable to see their own exploitation when the more prevalent phenomenon is probably elites being unable to see their own inability to relate to what these groups really care about.
Beautifully written and well argued, but surely the original was not Rachel Dolezal, it was "is it because I is black" himself. Who ever rejected Ali G's claim to be black!?
About 30 years ago, someone here in Alabama did a survey that found almost 30 percent of white residents claimed to have Native American heritage. I have personally encountered dozens of claims like this. The alleged ancestor is ALWAYS a "Cherokee princess" (which was not a thing that existed) and the grandparent is at least great, if not great-great or great x3. So it's not just Elizabeth Warren. In fact I would bet that most Americans taking ancestry DNA tests these days are *desperately* trying to establish some sort of unique, less-WASPy identity for themselves.
"while the Metis struggled with the arrival of the Europeans"
Doesn't quite work; the Metis are a mixed race people who were the result of the arrival of the Europeans. Great piece otherwise!
It ain't just race.
When I lived in Europe, I recall intellectuals swooning over J.T. LeRoy, insisting that I read "Her", which purported to be LeRoy's memoirs of working as trans truck stop prostitute.
I actually grew up among trailer park rednecks, so I made it about three pages into "Her" before I called bullshit. If you looked at it as a crude form of magical realism, "Her" was sort of tolerable, but it was obviously 169% pure fiction for start to finish. Not only that, it was clearly written by someone who didn't know the first thing about what they were writing about.
My friends accused me of victim-blaming, and (the non-existent) LeRoy's alleged need for therapy was brought up. Of course, I was right, or at least I was right this time. But "Her"
gave people what they wanted to read, with all the right good guys and bad guys hitting all the right notes.
Or that German journalist writing for Bild (IIRC) about the town of Fergus Falls, Minnesota, depicting it as a city of racist and obscurantist Bible-thumpers, complete with a big sign at the outskirts of town telling Mexicans that they were not welcome in town.
https://newsbeezer.com/germanyeng/bild-in-fergus-falls-on-the-way-to-the-mirror-false-relotius-politics/
For some years now, I have lived about an hour from Fergus. I have been there many times, and I never saw such a sign. I read the original article and though to myself "WTF?"
But Bild published the article anyway, even though it could have been disproven with ease by anyone with internet. Still, it was hot news for a while, because it confirmed the prejudices of its audience and therefore no fact-checking was necessary. We all know that "they" are just like that. No evidence necessary. Because them.
Of everyone listed I actually found Dolezal to be the least cynical. She had receipts about her admiration and desire to be a different race from an early age. I didn’t hear that she profited from it aside from her specialization or ever participated in the stereotype “black” behavior or policed blackness. She seemed to genuinely simply want to live as a black person and be left alone.
I'd rather have a good steak with a nice fluffy baked potato with sour cream and chives than falafel and flatbread any day.
Our matriarchy operates on the principles of intersectionality. Intersectionality is the inversion of the social hierarchy of patriarchy, which means those who would be at the bottom of the hierarchy in a patriarchy would get to lord it over married men in the matriarchy. The West is now a matriarchy. Intersectionality is the measurement and acquisition of victimhood to acquire status.
". . . there weren’t that many people masquerading as Jews in Russia under the tsars, or Helots in Sparta."
Outstanding.
She did nothing wrong if she voted for Biden:
"I'll tell you, if you have a problem figuring out whether you're for me or for Trump, then you ain't black."
Joe Biden, May 2020
Robin DiAngelo needs to get out more.
"... one episode contrasts the lifeless family meal of the white FBI agent John O’Neill ..." The author of that scene clearly has no idea what it's like to be an American of Irish heritage. Watch the following video for an example.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTx-sdR6Yzk
The Metis didn't exist before the Europeans got to Canada. And by "agricultural worker" in Russia you are referring to serfs, most likely. One not very high step up from slaves.
Also that business about the boring white family being contrasted with the vibrant ethnics in some TV show - that is *really* old in American elite culture. Like, you can trace it back to before 1900. Eric Kaufmann does so in his book "Whiteshift."
The linkage exists to the other side of course “More than a third of white students lie about their race on college applications, survey finds” from “The Hill” and others. So children claiming to be RaceX are taught about fictional RaceY by professors claiming to be RaceZ in some sort of Magical Mental Escher Drawing version of transmission of information to examine’s one life with.
Eventually of course one hopes that the entire world will a-actually a-“woke” to understanding Race is a confabulation.
But why is this happening here, happening now?
For example, people routinely claiming they aren’t what they are also includes (but is not limited to) People claiming to be “non-binary” (with some sort of sexual orientation implication) for the most part (at least in my limited sexual range of a few dozen thousand men) never actually have sex with the same… sex. Yep, non-binary is a new code word for heterosexual. Never had sex with an adult gay man claiming not to be homosexual or a man. Talk about categorical imperative.
Black is the new white, straight is the new sissy or stone butch, getting older younger and younger, but above all in America: complete and totally absence of knowledge is the new expertise.
(Apparently boys and girls (do those creatures exist anymore) are maturing 2.5 months earlier each decade now - soon “they/them” will be born pregnant like Tribbles. I’m envisioning a new movement called “trans-age” for people who claim to be an age that they aren’t (naturally to the point of needing to change birth certificates and fielding micro aggressions for side-eye), but when called out they suffer suicidal ideation unless they’re accepted as either 60 or 16 depending on mood.
But then, claiming an age one is not is the oldest confabulation in the book. So to speak.
It’s all down to the Seinfeld episode where a character claims to be handicapped but isn’t or the trope of playing blind for the tasteless laughter of horror-sympathy.
Will it never end?
"Maybe there is no term yet for reverse-passing only because it is such a taboo subject and societies find it hard to articulate concepts that go against the grain of ruling class prejudice."
Another example of this is the idea of "false consciousness". We have a term for disadvantaged groups being unable to see their own exploitation when the more prevalent phenomenon is probably elites being unable to see their own inability to relate to what these groups really care about.