Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Bizarro Jerry


Holy cow, readers, what kind of bizarro world are we living in these days, anyways?

Darth Cheney is supporting gay marriage.

President Obama is refusing to release detainee photos

Michael Moore is a millionaire. GM is bankrupt.

Eminem has a sense of humor. (Seriously, I mean, wow, who’s next? Sean Penn?)

And white men are the victims of racist Latina women.

You know, I remember when the CTA finally put wheelchair lifts on the city buses in Chicago. At the same time, they also tore out several rows of seats in order to make a sort of wheelchair cubby – they’re everywhere now so you know what I’m talking about. But I remember, many years ago now, the first time I saw the new arrangement put to use. Many other riders that day were transfixed by the sight of the man being lifted in his chair by what I must admit was a very slow mechanism. Everyone was kind of staring. And this middle-aged businesswoman standing beside me made a point of looking at me and rolling her eyes. “I don’t understand why they can’t have their own buses like before,” she said. “They slow everyone else down, and if they hadn’t torn out all those seats for them, then we could be sitting down right now.” She paused, and then narrowed her eyes at me. “Don’t you think so?” she said, rather aggressively.

“I think,” I said “we should get down on our knees and thank our lucky fucking stars that we can walk onto this bus on our perfectly functioning legs.”

Okay, maybe I didn’t really say that. Maybe I’ve only spent the last twenty years formulating the ultimate trepverte response. Maybe at the time I only glared back in a sullen twenty-something way. But even back in my sneering, snotty, black-clad, self-absorbed salad days, readers, I knew she was an asshole. Even I knew that.

And I feel similarly about the LEGIONS of white dudes who are complaining about the “racism” of SCOTUS nominee Sonya Sotomayor. It’s just so unseemly. It’s just…so fucking obscene that a white man, or a white woman for that matter, would hear the following quote:

“I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.”

and would have the gall, the unmitigated fucking gall, to call it “racism,” instead of – hey, I’ll say it – instead of…truth.

Because isn’t it true? Isn’t it?

If you’re having trouble with her statement, perhaps it might help if you consider that she might very well have had someone like our current chief justice, John Roberts, in mind when she spoke about that nameless white male. Jeffrey Toobin recently wrote in The New Yorker:

“In every major case since he became the nation’s seventeenth Chief Justice, Roberts has sided with the prosecution over the defendant, the state over the condemned, the executive branch over the legislative, and the corporate defendant over the individual plaintiff.”

Yes, it’s quite a record. No doubt influenced by his background and his heritage as a proud white male Bush campaign supporter and general legal toady for the right. That kind of influence is apparently okay, however, the influence of an upbringing that takes you from the Bronx projects to the Ivy League to the federal bench – fuckin’ Latina fuckin’ racist, y’all.

And if you buy that, then I got a La-Raza-is-the-Hispanic-KKK to sell you, cheap.

Also, I would just like to state once and for all, for the record, that no matter how many times the yammering idiots on TV say otherwise, you cannot substitute “white” for “Latina” or “black” and prove racism. It just don’t work that way. There are, as I noted previously, LEGIONS of bitter white dudes out there who desperately, desperately want it to work that way. But it don’t. It ain’t so black & white, white dudes. “It’s a white thing, you wouldn’t understand” is not okay. “White power” is not okay. The National Association for the Advancement of White People is not okay. And if there were one, and you called it “The Race” (La Raza), it would be SO not okay that I’m pretty sure the Feds would be knocking down your fortress walls and blasting your compound with Jay-Z (with special guest Ciara) in order to make you and your similarly brainwashed comrades come out with your hands behind your heads, you fucking redneck racist AK-7 totin' motherfuckers.

Deal with it. And while you’re at it, get down on your knees and thank your lucky fucking stars that you were born white and male in a time and place where it remains, by far, the easiest thing to be.

12 comments:

Life As I Know It Now said...

Damn lady, that was very well said! I'm so glad someone is out here in blogland inspired enough to righteously rant. I am sick of their crying too!

RandyLuvsPaiste said...

Thanks for letting me vent here-
If you're a White guy in America and not cutting it (i.e. Joe The Plumber), you're a big loser with nobody to blame but yourself. Not women, not minorities, and not government programs such as Affirmative Action (we've had Affirmative Action for dumb White guys for a years, ala GWB getting accepted and graduating from Yale).

"...you cannot substitute “white” for “Latina” or “black” and prove racism."
Exactly! At my college in conservative Lancaster County (PA), I remember the snide remarks made about the Black Student Association. "Maybe there should be a White Student Association?". I actually had to spell it out for some folks, that the BSA was formed only as a reaction to Blacks being excluded from other campus organizations. Even then, people still griped that they should "stop acting like we owe them something". Don't ya just love code phrases?

Red said...

I was diagnosed with MS almost four years ago. I can't run (or tap dance, sadly; once I was pretty good) anymore, but you better believe I thank God for every step I take. Every time I see someone in a wheelchair or with a walker or cane, I say a prayer for them and one of thanks to God that I don't need one, at least not yet. I walk pretty slowly these days, but I _walk_ and I know how huge that is.

The best response I've heard regarding Judge Sotomayor's infamous "wise latina woman" remark was taken from that same speech.
'Gibbs would have done well to mention Sotomayor's line in that same speech in which she said that "we should not be so myopic as to believe that others of different experiences or backgrounds are incapable of understanding the values and needs of people from a different group." But Gibbs evidently wasn't prepared, for all he said when pressed to explain the 32 words was "I think -- I -- I have confidence in Americans reading not just part of, but the whole statement." ' That was Dana Milbank; I read it in the Washington Post but he may be syndicated. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/27/AR2009052703323_2.html?sid=ST2009052703896

Marshall Park Slope said...

EXACTLY! OMG this reminds me of the most disgusting email I received from the right wing after Obama won the election saying "white guilt is dead"! UNREAL! have to send it you.
Another BRILLIANT POST VIKKI!
MW

Dr. Monkey Von Monkerstein said...

I wake up everyday with one thought on my mind, "Who can I oppress today?" It's super keen being a white male!

vikkitikkitavi said...

Lib: I was also reminded of Jessica Beale's recent complaint that she was "too pretty" to get the roles she wanted, but I decided against working it in there.

Randy: Yes, W was the biggest recipient of affirmative action ever.

DGuz: One Latina seal of approval.

Red: People who have nearly lost things come to know their true value. Too bad this is almost always the only way it happens.

MPS: I don't think there's a hammer big enough to smash open that dude's skull.

Dr.MVM: I would expect no less from you, Doctor.

Anonymous said...

I am a big loser in spite of my white manliness.

Excellent post, as usual.

Anonymous said...

Of course Roberts toadies for Bush/Cheney Republicans. He owes them big time for picking out his wife and kids.

vikkitikkitavi said...

Stash: Grant, you can't fool me. I know it's you. No one is named Stash Bednarik, not even online.

Kirby: He's the youngest member, and he's on for life. FOR LIFE.

Doc said...

I do so love it when you take someone to task for their stupidity. Always a pleasure.

Doc

SFNative said...

As a Puerto Rican who happens to speak no Spanish and appears to be very much a white boy, I find the semi-regular wailing and gnashing of teeth performed by actual white boys to be rather comical.

Keep up the good work, guys! I'll keep stealing your hubcaps.

dguzman said...

Really really really needing some new Vikkitikkitavi to read. Where are ya?