Pushing "White Privilege" Ensures Its Survival

Well, once again an innocent black man has been shot down by whites. The Ahmaud Arbery killing video seems like something from a screenplay based on a John Grisham novel, or from a movie version of true events of the 1960's. How can this be 2020 and we still have whites driving around in pickup trucks looking for black men to lynch? The truth may be the unintended consequences of attitudes of well meaning people. Many people do not realize that the modern concept of "white privilege" has a lot to do with a narrative that was pushed in the post-Reconstruction South after the War Between the States. That is not to say that racism and white supremacy were not preexistent, but our discussion is of the concept of "white privilege", not the former prejudices that probably go back centuries. After the Civil War, the South's agronomic system was forever changed. Slavery gave way to a new model for the landholders. The euphemism for it was "tenant farming", but all of us who had ancestors who lived in the South during the period know it by its better name--sharecropping. The tenant farming system was, as many scholars have described it, "slavery by another name". Sharecropping, however, had one very salient component which would be quite significant in our history--tenant farming was a type of existence from which the white man's skin color did not protect him. The Southern way of life at the time, at least to the landholders, depended on a continuation of the ways of the Old South as much as possible, but with slavery abolished and the great exodus of blacks from the South, whites would have to supply a great percentage of the tenant farming labor. How would white tenant farmers ever put up with the abysmal conditions of sharecropping without rising up against the system? Now that you had whites falling into the system and experiencing its burdens the same as black sharecroppers, how could the landholders prevent the population of tenant farmers black and white from using the power of the vote to legislate better working conditions? The history shows a two fold approach. One strategy was the myth of the "Lost Cause". The Confederacy and "old South" way of life were glorified, and the Union was lampooned. No opportunity was missed in pointing out the failures and corruption of Reconstruction governments. The Union victory in the Civil War was blamed for all of the South's postwar problems, and a narrative that "if the South would have won, we'd have had it made" began to be formed. As Reconstruction lost ground and waned, culminating in the Compromise of 1877, white landowners were then poised to take control of the State legislatures once again. A one party region emerged. The mighty Democratic Party instituted a whole host of measures meant to keep tenant farmers from voting, including poll taxes and literacy tests. We think of these today sometimes as one and the same with the Jim Crow laws meant to oppress blacks, but the truth is that nearly all of those measures were also used liberally against poor whites to keep them from voting as well, since white sharecroppers were out in the fields all day with black sharecroppers, being ripped off by landowners and retailers step for step. Remember the movie Places in the Heart? Yes, the KKK attack on Danny Glover's character was difficult to watch, but the movie also portrays Sally Field's character as being pushed around by the bank on several fronts and nearly ripped off by the cotton gin operator, and her character was actually a white landowner, though her acreage was small and financially in distress. White privilege was the notion pushed, that no matter how bad your life was, at least you were white, and that was better than being black. Thus even though whites were effectively being victimized the same as blacks, the white sharecroppers were fed a steady diet of constructs from the white gentry. In the movie Mudbound, you see that there's not a whole lot of difference in the way the black sharecropper family was treated from the white sharecropping family, but just enough that white tenant farmers may have found their plight more palatable. Fast forward to modern times. Agriculture is highly mechanized, and for better or worse there are very few farms of any kind left in the South today that are worked by lots of native born laborers. The use of migrant workers from Mexico replaced the tenant farming system, and their treatment in many cases still amounts to "slavery by another name". In fact the administration recently was quoted as needing to find a way to LOWER migrant wages so that farmers can survive the pandemic. What do the landowners want, to bring back slavery so they can make more money off their crops? Notice how things change in the South, yet still stay the same. During the 1960's, black activists took offense at the way that black lynchings were not looked upon in the same light as when white civil rights workers were killed. Instead of recognizing that that was simply a byproduct of decades of the "white privilege" narrative being pushed in the country, they began to distance themselves from whites. For many, all whites became the enemy, and their help was not wanted. Remember the much criticized scene in Malcolm X where a white student was told in no uncertain terms that her help was not wanted? Whether or not that actually played out as it was in the film in real life, it is a true attitude that many had at the time. Fast forward to today. Anytime a white person tries to sympathize with the plight of blacks, they are immediately eviscerated by left wing activists who lampoon them. It is now preached with a loud and unmitigated voice that whites can NEVER understand or sympathize with the black experience, and they shouldn't even try--that there is a privilege of being white that will always be there, and whites will always be treated better than blacks, no matter how poor or downtrodden they are. Well, isn't that what the aristocrats and those modern "haves" want the "have nots" to think? The right wing and left wing lobby groups, the Democrats and Republicans, all are perfectly fine with that way of thinking, because it preserves the status quo. Nothing changes because of it. No good can come from it. Thus we still have blacks being shot down by whites who act with impunity, and half the whites read stories like Arbery's and subconsciously what runs through their mind is "Man, I'm glad I'm white." Wouldn't it be far more effective at engendering change if we flipped this "white privilege" narrative on its head, and all of us were shocked and horrified no matter what our color is, because we realize that actually what happened to Mr. Arbery can happen to a white man--nay, likely has happened to whites countless times but we never heard about it because the media also helps to push the modern "white privilege" narrative? They only show up when there are racial tensions to be exacerbated. This is not to say that "white privilege" doesn't exist, but rather that it continues to persist because the very people who lament it are unwittingly aiding and abetting its survival. How many whites tried to comment sympathetically this week about the death of Mr. Arbery, and were told by some well meaning but misguided poster (or worse, an Internet activist troll),"What do you know? You're white. You don't understand. You voted for Trump."? In fact, Trump himself called the video "disturbing" and "heartbreaking". How did the far left respond to Trump's comments, which were rather sane for him? Until we stop looking at these crimes through racial lenses and start looking at them together from a united front, I don't think much will be done. Police brutality and overreach will continue. Corporations will continue to rip off small businesses. The haves will continue to perpetrate terrible injustices upon the less fortunate, because they've used "white privilege" for so long to keep the races divided that they've actually perfected a system in which the "have nots" keep themselves in bondage by believing the narratives that were force fed to them for decades. The "haves" just sit back and watch while the "have nots" chain themselves with division and lack of unity. Imagine if. Imagine if George Wallace had not been a segregationist when he ran for President, shocking both parties by winning five States? What if he'd gone on, with black support around the country, to show that a person does not need the Republicans or Democrats to win? What if the Bernie bros complaining about their student loan debt and lack of jobs united with the blue collar, gun totin' Southerners complaining about the lack of jobs and opportunities in rural areas? Well, those that benefit from the status quo ensured that those "ifs" never became a reality, didn't they?

That FastPass thing....

Okay, I'm going to break from politics and give out some tips for Disney trekkers and dispel some myths about their FastPass system. Before going we had heard all sorts of things, from "they don't have Fastpass anymore" to "you can Fastpass everything", and the truth is pretty much somewhere in between. 1. Can I Fastpass everything? No. Some rides do not offer a Fastpass option because they are broken, because they are so popular that the Fastpasses were booked before you tried, or just because that's the way Disney rolls. You will be given a list of rides from which to pick from, and sometimes they are further divided by the park, so that you pick 2 rides from one category and one from another. Some rides you don't want to Fastpass anyway because they are low in popularity or because the Fastpass you are offered doesn't fit with your schedule. Many Fastpass times for rides high in popularity we were given were near closing time, so we opted to just wait in line in stand by rather than have to wait all day to ride the ride. If you are wanting to ride the Seven Dwarves' mine cart on Fastpass, good luck with that. It is the most popular attraction in the park system right now and the Fastpasses fill up, so don't bank on it and rather you should plan to wait for an hour in standby for that one. 2. After I use my first 3 fastpasses, can I load 3 more? No. You get 3 initial fastpasses, and after you've burned them, you can only add them one at a time. You probably wouldn't want it that way anyway, since they all have to be synchronized in time, and you'd be running around like a headless chicken dealing with so many fastpass times. It is best to use the fastpass for those rides that you really want to do as a family, and we found that they worked best on medium popularity rides like Splash Mountain, because the standby lines really got crowded because those are rides that people want to ride, but don't want to burn a fastpass for. 3. If I miss my fastpass time, I can just go to the attraction at any time after my slot, right? No. People were saying that in the park, but it is not true. They give you a window of opportunity, and if you go before or after the slot you will be denied entrance. Nancy missed her slot for Tower of Terror by only a few minutes and only got in because she had a birthday button and the fastpass attendant was being nice. Of course you can always do standby entrance, and we did that for several fastpasses that we missed. 4. Do I need to use the kiosks or can I just use the app on the phone? Probably the kiosks. Nancy has an iPhone 4 and I have a Casio g'Zone running an old Android system, and neither would work the app, so unless you have the latest cell phone technology, you will have to use the kiosks to modify your fastpasses. That's sometimes a good thing, because Disney has special fastpass attendants who know how to manipulate the system better than you do, so it's best to use a kiosk, tell them what you are trying to do, and let them help you rather than spending time trying to make the system do something that it might not do. 5. Does the Fastpass system actually work? Yes. The last time we went to Disney under their old system, we were waiting forever to ride rides and only got to ride a few, and that was in October. Though there are naysayers, our experience is that the fastpass system makes the lines move quicker for everybody, even if you are doing standby. Even in standby for the mine cart ride, people were only waiting about an hour and a half. So everyone benefits from this system, where in the past only a select few did. So all in all, Disney's Fastpass system is a great way to get more rides in, you just have to realize that it does not give you the ability to do whatever you want, whenever you want.

The Elephant, the Donkey, and the Tired Horse

Once a horse was trying to pull a cart through a muddy road. The cart was very heavy, as too much had been heaped upon the cart for the horse to pull. Perhaps those that loaded the cart assumed the horse could pull it. You see, they had been gradually putting more and more weight on the horse, and he had always been able to somehow find the strength. On this occasion, however, the horse found they had finally loaded it past his ability, and he could not pull the cart, and was thus stuck in the road. Along came an elephant down the road. Maybe he would help the horse pull the cart. Absolutely not. The elephant scolded the horse for not being strong enough to pull the cart himself. Of course, it was easy for the elephant to say that since, being an elephant, he had never been in the horse's position. So the elephant continued down the road. Then a donkey came down the road. Perhaps he would help the horse pull the cart. After all, donkeys look a lot like horses and have a lot in common with them, so they ought to know how hard it is to pull an overloaded cart. Indeed the donkey did want to help, but weirdly he did not want the horse to help pull his own weight. He insisted that the horse be unhitched from the cart while he, the donkey, pulled it for him. But the load was too heavy for the donkey. He pulled and pulled but could not budge the cart an inch. The donkey was genuinely puzzled, but still refused to let the horse do some of the pulling and said, "I know. We will find some way to MAKE the elephant pull it for us!" So the donkey went off to fight with the elephant, leaving the horse still stuck in the road, wondering why neither the elephant nor the donkey would give him a little help. The elephant wished to give no help to the horse, and the donkey was determined that someone other than the horse should do the job entirely.

Crematorium Controversy Burns Up City's Credibility

In yet another interesting turn of events for Spring Hill, the Board of Zoning Appeals has done a 180 and given a green light to a crematorium that no one in the town except for the prospective proprietor wants. We live in a "me" society where every individual seems to think the world revolves around him, and if I want to open a crematorium, dog gone it I'm going to do it, and if some kids get sick from inhaling ash, so be it. Not my fault. If the property values of the homes near my crematorium go to pot, so be it. Not my fault. The good of the one outweighs the good of the many. That's democracy right?

States Should Stand Ground on "Stand Your Ground"

The left, through Bill Clinton and other voices, is using the Trayvon Martin tragedy to attack the "Stand Your Ground" rule of States like Florida. What many have failed to point out, though, is the fact that neither account of what happened has anything to do with "Stand Your Ground". According to the family of Mr. Martin, Mr. Zimmerman shot him down in cold blood when there was no imminent threat to Zimmerman's life, and experts who have reviewed the tapes indicate that Mr. Martin may have been on the ground screaming before he was shot. If this is what happened, Mr. Zimmerman is culpable for homicide, and "Stand Your Ground" is no defense. On the other hand, Mr. Zimmerman's story is that he did NOT "stand his ground" but in fact was retreating back to his car when Mr. Martin attacked him, forcing him to use force. This terrible situation should not be used by the left as an opportunity to attack gun rights, and the fact that this young man died changes nothing about the dangers to law abiding citizens posed by criminals in this country daily or citizens' natural rights of self defense. If Mr. Zimmerman did something wrong, he should be punished. If Mr. Martin did something wrong, then unfortunately he paid the ultimate price for it. While we wait for the judicial branch of Florida to work, we don't need anti-gunners like Clinton blaming gun owners other than Zimmerman. And while I believe Mr. Zimmerman is culpable based on the evidence, who knows what the evidence will show or what a grand jury would do? I do know this. If I were Mr. Zimmerman, I would call Jose Baez, because he has already got one Florida client off for murder when the evidence showed she was guilty as sin.

Romney-the Face of the GOP or Independent Party Raiders?

Mitt Romney will soon ride into South Carolina as the Republican frontrunner, having already won two states. A Massachusetts moderate from a non-evangelical Christian background leading at the polls should cause us all a ponderous pause. Liberals love to bash the GOP as a hard right conservative Bible thumping party, but if that is really the case, why is Mitt doing so well? I am still waiting for the liberal media to answer that question. Of course, a great answer might lie in Obama's failure to deliver on the "hope and change" he promised Democrats, independent voters and Republicans disillusioned after 8 years of George W. Bush. The Obama administration has been, with the exception of bagging Osama, an abject economic and foreign policy disaster. Thus, with Obama unopposed in the Democratic primaries, independents may have gone into the GOP looking for an alternative, and have ended up bolstering Romney against the conservative base. Either way, Obama has a problem. If the GOP with its Tea Party and Ron Paul contingents have succeeded in taking the party back to moderate Rockefeller Republicanism (a process I would say started the second Reagan left office), the Democrats' sad, tired old attacks will be as effective as the GOP's bloody shirt tactics were in the 1932 election. If Romney's rise is coming from independents and Democrats coming into the party for reasons other than "raiding" the primaries, then it shows that the Democrats have sunk back to the Carter years among independents, i.e. a party that can't get anything done and makes bad situations in economics and foreign policy even worse when they win the White House. Independents and disillusioned moderate Republicans were a key part of the Obama coalition. If he's lost them, getting an endorsement from the Band Perry won't be enough.

Perry in a Pickle Over Peculiar Petrograph

Did he paint over it before...he was before...was it before or after the press took a picture of it?