Race
Sep 16, 2020 at 5:12 pm
Comments
Please wait...
Comments are closed.
Commenting on this item is available only to members of the site. You can sign in here or create an account here.
Editors' Picks
is a proud member of the
media network
media network
All contents © Index Newspapers LLC
800 Maynard Ave S, Suite 200, Seattle, WA 98134
800 Maynard Ave S, Suite 200, Seattle, WA 98134
Charles wrote:
"The latter (more brutality) would have kept the existing slave system growing by escalating the exploitation of the black population like never before: longer work, harder work, more nothing for all of this unpaid work. As expected, the masters choose the latter. The black population in the South between 1800 and 1860 was flat (30% of the total population). But productivity increased so much that, according to Thomas Piketty, a French economist, by "1860, the market value of slaves exceeded 250 percent of the annual income of the southern states and came close to 100 percent of the annual income of all the states.""
I don't disagree with this; however it doesn't note another huge reason for the increase in productivity. Eli Whitney's cotton gin patent in 1790 made slavery profitable again. By the late 1700's, slavery was on shaky ground, even in the south... it simply wasn't profitable enough compared to immigrant labor. The invention of the cotton gin let one slave do the work of 100, making southern cotton production skyrocket.
Does anyone actually enjoy reading Charles' crap? Blah blah blah. Obscure reference here. "I'm so erudite" reference there. Ugh.
The phenomena of white people drifting into tribalism is abetted by a number of factors.
I would just highlight what I think are two of the most important- one is the successful Republican war on organized labor.
The other is the diminished role of what could loosely be called the humanities in our educational system. White people are becoming increasingly functionally illiterate and ignorant of history.
Are there some White woman who are such outright racists that theyâll vote for Trump on that issue alone? Of course. Thereâs 10% of the population who are crazy people who will vote for other crazy people.
However, when White people say theyâre voting for Trump because of BLM, protests, looting & storefronts - thatâs just cover - an âacceptableâ reason even among many centrist Democrats. We see commenters here every day normalizing that reasoning - the âI would support BLM if they werenât all about BLMâ crowd or the âthey always hurt their own cause because a few stupid people who claim to support the cause do stupid thingsâ crowd. The thing is, if it wasnât BLM, it would be something else. The email server, Benghazi, a tan suit, etc. What weâre seeing here is White people who, while possibly outright racist, arenât voting for Trump because theyâre racist. Theyâre voting for Trump because theyâre stupid, or afraid, or greedy - usually some combination of all three. Theyâve been brainwashed by their family and religion, pressured by their coworkers and friends into tribalism, and learning and living their life in the conservative media bubble. And more than anything, itâs about defeating the libs.
@Charles, you touch on a number of interesting points, and history certainly sheds light on how we got here. But while a significant portion of Trump voters are overtly racist, do you think theyâd be any more likely to vote for Biden if BLM or Obama had never happened?
@5 kallipugos, those are both great points. Especially humanities, liberal arts, etc in education doesn't get nearly the focus it deserves.
I recall decades ago as school budgets were slashed or didn't keep up with the needs of the communities they served, the first thing to go were the humanities, arts, and so on (of course led by Republicans). Too much focus on standardized testing which just reinforces black & white thinking.
A day in the life of a Stranger post:
-Charles eloquently explains systemic racism, citing sources for people who canât be bothered to do the reading
-âEducated Liberal Seattliteâ intentionally misses the point, bites Charlesâ head off in order to Whitesplain racism to him
-Virulent white supremacist chimes in with âpopulist witticismâ
-I let out a violent audible scream, wonder why I donât just comment already, comment.
-Repeat until the uncaring merciless void swallows us all
âTrump is exciting a raw existential fear that extends back to the period between the Haitian Revolution and the Civil War. â
AKA the heyday of the aptly named Know-Nothing party. Weaponized against cheap Irish Catholic labor as much as against unpaid Black labor. Ironic since their 21st C. descendants include pig-stupid Irish-Americans like Bill OâReilly, Sean Hannity and Bill Donahue.
I like how this fellow writes a racist rant about.....white people being racist. Ha ha ha ha, stuff you just can't make up. Thanks, Chuckles !
@7: Yes, when school budgets can't afford a humanities professor but still keep the math, history, and science professors, that's a good thing.
The sexual confusion of white americans has been in development since the 1630s, when indentured Irish women servants started having biracial babies (30-35% according to David Brion Davis) and the white men lost their minds.
Hey Chuck, you know what flips the switch? The gaslighting associated with accusations of racism with zero evidence. You, sir, are no Thomas Sowell, age and experience have not made you any wiser.
@8:
Now, now, don't be too hard on David In Dumbfuckistan. When he says "highest approval ratings since his election" he just means a few polls since November 2016 (possibly the ones conducted before the conventions) showed a very slight uptick of maybe a couple of percentage points overall; not significant to anyone who actually has some knowledge and understanding of statistical analysis, but technically correct nevertheless.
Of course, he probably deliberately keeps those numbers in his head instead of more recent polling which shows that "surge" receding, but time has no meaning for those who troll.
Racist white women voted for Trump in 2016 because they believe their whiteness and all that it entails matters more the deep seated misogyny they face as women. There are plenty of white women who are not racist and who did not vote for Trump.
At this point, anyone voting for Trump, whoever they are and whatever they look like is choosing death - death of this country as it ever was (or ever pretended to be) and literal death. Trump and all of the people who enable and support him support one thing and one thing only - death. The obscenely wealthy believe they will be able to, what?, escape with all of their wealth and go somewhere else? And the poor and working class and even middle class members of this death cult will just be sacrificed and left to die, after they do their duty of voting for him. It will be slow and it will be painful and it will be horrific, but total destruction and death of all (other than the 1%, who I guess believe they will be able to continue to reap wealth even when everyone and everything else is dead and gone?) is what awaits this country. Trump's already done a good job of getting it started. All that's left is to see if he manages to remain as the resident in the WH and finish the job.
@23 What the fuck are you on?
Blacks have contributed far more to racism, homophobia, misogyny, and anti-Semitism in the last 50 years than whites have. WHAT????
You need a history lesson, an aggressive, intensive, FACT BASED history lesson.
You are out of your fucking mind.
White supremacist terrorism (and all that it entails) always has been and is now the most hate filled, violent, dangerous threat to this country. Get a fucking grip on reality.
Just because you say or write or type something does not make it true. You may believe that and Trump may believe that, but IT HAS NO BASIS IN REALITY JUST LIKE YOUR INSANE COMMENT. JFC people like you need to be destroyed. Period.
I had no idea Steve Howe was a Trumper.
Charles, it's going to be an Asian planet, not a black planet.
Yep, and slavery is alive and well in Asia as I type this. Eat any tuna or shrimp lately?
I haved worked with many immigrants in my career. You'd be surprised how conservative many of them are. Those that gain citizenship, many of them POC, often flock to the Republican party and vote that way.
Charles, I'm a white female over 50 and I consistently vote Democrat. I've known better than to ever vote RepubliIKKKan long before and since I became eligible to vote (1982). Walter Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro were my first Presidential & Vice Presidential picks in the 1984 General Election. Joe Biden / Kamala Harris 2020!!
@22 & @25 xina, Warrior Princess for the WIN again! Keep on rocking the house and telling it like it IS.
@8 Doofy, and @23 & @24 LSD: Quit snorting hydroxychloroquine, the both of you. It won't cure your delusional illness one bit.
Everyone that Professor_Hiztory doesn't like is a Nazi.
Interesting article. I did a search on "black men white women" and from what I can tell these two demographics seem to get along ok.
@5 kallipugos: Sadly and unsettlingly this is true. Funding and support for the Arts and Humanities really must be restored, especially in public schools K-12, colleges, and universities. Way too much school funding is cut from Music departments and programs. Academic participation in music has been proven to greatly improve skills in Math and Science.
We really must develop a vaccine for TRUMPVID-19, and soon. The world can't wait.
The proud selfie-taking MAGA bimbo in the picture looks like her IQ matches her shoe size. How typical. We really need a vaccine for TRUMPVID-19 NOW. Flush the Turd November 3rd!
Everyone eligible--don't forget to vote, and vote EARLY.