Change in America’s thinking?

“For the record, I think it’s the essence of patriotism myself”

i agree, the demise of newspapers is a bad sign for society, they’ll come back when the people demand it…..
we’re missing youthful righteous indignation, but maybe the minds of america have become comfortably numb…
let the flamethrowing commence!
just one opinion/i didn’t edit out the bad words cuz i know this site censors them for me.

This is Your Nation on White Privilege
By Tim Wise
September 13, 2008

For those who still can’t grasp the concept of white privilege, or who
are constantly looking for an easy-to-understand example of it,
perhaps this list will help.

White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol
Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your
family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you,
or your parents, because “every family has challenges,” even as black
and Latino families with similar “challenges” are regularly typified
as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay.

White privilege is when you can call yourself a “fuckin’ redneck,”
like Bristol Palin’s boyfriend does, who likes to “kick ass” if people
mess with you, and who likes to “shoot shit,” for fun, and still be
viewed as a responsible, all-American boy (and a great son-in-law to
be) rather than a thug.

White privilege is when you can attend four different colleges in six
years like Sarah Palin did (one of which you basically failed out of,
then returned to after making up some coursework at a community
college), and no one questions your intelligence or commitment to
achievement, whereas a person of color who did this would be viewed as
unfit for college, and probably someone who only got in in the first
place because of affirmative action.

White privilege is when you can claim that being mayor of a town
smaller than most medium-sized colleges, and then Governor of a state
with about the same number of people as the lower fifth of the island
of Manhattan makes you ready to potentially be president, and people
don’t all piss on themselves with laughter, while being a black U.S.
Senator, two-term state Senator, and constitutional law scholar, means
you’re “untested.”

White privilege is being able to say that you support the words “under
God” in the pledge of allegiance because “if it was good enough or the
founding fathers, it’s good enough for me,” and not be immediately
disqualified from holding office–since, after all, the pledge was
written in the late 1800s and the “under God” part wasn’t added until
the 1950s–while believing that reading accused criminals and
terrorists their rights (because, ya know, the constitution, which you
used to teach at a prestigious law school) requires it, is a dangerous
and silly idea only supported by mushy liberals.

White privilege is being able to be a gun enthusiast and not make
people immediately scared of you.

White privilege is being able to have a husband who was a member of an
extremist political party that wanted your state to secede from the
union, and whose motto was “Alaska first,” and no one questions your
patriotism or that of your family, while if you’re black and your
spouse merely fails to come to a 9/11 memorial so she can be home with
her kids on the first day of school, people immediately think she’s
being disrespectful.

White privilege is being able to make fun of community organizers and
the work they do–like, among other things, fight for the right of
women to vote, or for civil rights, or the 8-hour workday, or an end
to child labor–and people think you’re being pithy and tough, but if
you merely question the experience of a small town mayor and 18-month
governor with no foreign policy expertise beyond a class she took in
college–you’re somehow being mean, or even sexist.

White privilege is being able to convince white women who don’t even
agree with you on any substantive issue to vote for you and your
running mate anyway, because all of a sudden your presence on the
ticket has inspired confidence in these same white women, and made
them give your party a “second look.”

White privilege is being able to fire people who didn’t support your
political campaigns and not be accused of abusing your power or being
a typical politician who engages in favoritism, while being black and
merely knowing some folks from the old-line political machines in
Chicago means you must be corrupt.

White privilege is being able to attend churches over the years whose
pastors say that people who voted for John Kerry or merely criticize
George W. Bush are going to hell, and that the U.S. is an explicitly
Christian nation and the job of Christians is to bring Christian
theological principles into government, and who bring in speakers who
say the conflict in the Middle East is God’s punishment on Jews for
rejecting Jesus, and everyone can still think you’re just a good
church-going Christian, but if you’re black and friends with a black
pastor who has noted (as have Colin Powell and the U.S. Department of
Defense) that terrorist attacks are often the result of U.S. foreign
policy and who talks about the history of racism and its effect on
black people, you’re an extremist who probably hates America.

White privilege is not knowing what the Bush Doctrine is when asked by
a reporter, and then people get angry at the reporter for asking you
such a “trick question,” while being black and merely refusing to give
one-word answers to the queries of Bill O’Reilly means you’re dodging
the question, or trying to seem overly intellectual and nuanced.

White privilege is being able to claim your experience as a POW has
anything at all to do with your fitness for president, while being
black and experiencing racism is, as Sarah Palin has referred to it a
“light” burden.

And finally, white privilege is the only thing that could possible
allow someone to become president when he has voted with George W.
Bush 90 percent of the time, even as unemployment is skyrocketing,
people are losing their homes, inflation is rising, and the U.S. is
increasingly isolated from world opinion, just because white voters
aren’t sure about that whole “change” thing. Ya know, it’s just too
vague and ill-defined, unlike, say, four more years of the same, which
is very concrete and certain…

White privilege is…the problem.

I think the reason that the Dixie Chicks got such a large backlash for their comments was largely that many of their fans were flag-waving conservatives. Plenty of musicians with a more stereotypically liberal following have been critical of Bush and the administration and faced little or no backlash, because frankly, they’re preaching to the choir.

As for Lucinda’s own preaching to the choir, I find it a little annoying at times, but she’s of course free to speak her mind. The protest EP is more high-profile than random comments between songs at shows, but I don’t think it’ll create too much controversy. Sad to say, most people don’t have a clue who she is. Heck, Merle Haggard did an album a couple years ago that wasn’t a protest album but did include two very pointed, very anti-war and anti-Bush administration songs, and I didn’t hear a peep about it one way or another in the media.

As for the EP, I’m lukewarm on it. After all, we’ll all get to hear Bone of Contention on the new album, and I don’t care for Marching the Hate Machines Into the Sun anyway…I think it’s a pretty lame song. Masters of War should be nice, but I’d rather it be a studio recording than a live one.

BTW, I don’t identify myself as either Democrat or Republican (both parties do their share to piss me off), though I’m definitely voting for Obama because he is by far the better of the choices. Frankly, I attribute the state of this country to the stupidity of a great many people. How else can you explain the fact that the McCain/Palin campaign has been getting away with and actually galvanizing support by spreading lies (and lies dealing with facts that are very easily looked up and even talked about by the media). Two big ones come to mind: telling people that Obama will raise their taxes (invalid unless she’s addressing a crowd of high-powered execs; anyone making less than $250k a year comes out better under Obama’s plan than under McCain’s), and telling people that Palin opposed the “bridge to nowhere” all along when she most certainly did not. I mean, I think of myself as a fairly reasonable person who can see both sides of almost any political argument, even if I feel strongly that one side is right. The people who want McCain because they think the Iraq war is a good thing, or love Palin because they want to ban all abortions…I strongly disagree with them, but I understand why they like the Republican ticket. What I don’t understand is how people can allow themselves to be misled by one candidate even in the face of clear and verifiable evidence.
Frankly, after reading an article the other day I wanted to just give up. A former Hillary Clinton supporter who disliked McCain because she felt that he would be no different than Bush was saying that now she’s voting McCain because he picked Palin and she likes Palin. Seriously? How could any liberal with even half a working brain cell consider a vote for McCain/Palin? Again, I’m not saying I don’t understand why people support them – I get that a large number of people in this country, for better or worse, support the neocon ideology. Fine. But liking Hillary and choosing to vote for McCain on the basis of Palin makes about as much sense as wanting a Chihuahua and buying a St. Bernard.

Me too. There is nothing redeeming about the McCain/Palin ticket.

@Disco Stu wrote:

But liking Hillary and choosing to vote for McCain on the basis of Palin makes about as much sense as wanting a Chihuahua and buying a St. Bernard.

Pitbull surely? 😕

Pitbull surely?

Argh, I missed the obvious joke! Oh well.

The really scary thing, at least about the woman I read about, is that apparently it’s not a wanting-to-vote-for-a-woman thing. If I recall, she said Palin is a refreshing outsider and she really loves that she’s just a “regular gal.” Why anyone would want the country to be led by a “regular guy/regular gal” is beyond me. Have they walked around lately and seen what “regular” people are like? 😕 I mean, when I vote, I do NOT want a president and vice president who are just like me. I want a president and vice president who are smarter, hold more nuanced opinions, and have a lot more leadership experience than me.

Ah, well…on a happier and Lucinda-related note, I just found out today she’ll be playing a show in Madison on 10/25, which works out fantastic for me. I’m sure I’ll get to hear some of her political views that night, as well as (I hope) a fantastic show. 8)

Just to get this back on track because i don’t think the topic Rachel raised was gender issues or race (and it looks like Stellabluee only shared a Facebook post from a ‘Tim Wise’….) I think the topic is this: How do we all feel about Lu singing a bunch of protest songs? (About war, and our “leaders”)

Good topic, Rachel. I agree with you about the essence of patriotism, and I’m looking forward to this release almost as much as Little Honey. I’m impressed that Lucinda is doing this.

I’ve always been moved by protest songs. They can stir the same kind of passionate intensity that Lucinda’s best songs do about private feelings and reflection. And they elevate the music because there is a higher cause; its about more than just self.

Last year, at her NJ show on a college campus just before the NYC stand, she ended the performance with both “marching the hate machines” and “For What it’s worth”. it was a powerful, beautiful encore.

Although I don’t think she’s sticking her neck out very far with most of this audience, i still admire her for taking a stand. (….as she has done since high school, getting expelled for refusing to say the pledge of allegiance to protest another misguided war.)

I was also impressed when, at several shows last year, she read a poem by the beat poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti about how this country has gone astray and lost its best values. (It’s recorded on the live CD from the NYC World Without Tears night.) Here’s the poem:

Pity the Nation
(after Khalil Gibran’s “Garden of the Prophet”)

Pity the nation whose people are sheep,
and whose shepherds mislead them.
Pity the nation whose leaders are liars, whose sages are silenced,
and whose bigots haunt the airwaves.
Pity the nation that raises not its voice,
except to praise conquerors and acclaim the bully as hero
and aims to rule the world with force and by torture.
Pity the nation that knows no other language but its own
and no other culture but its own.
Pity the nation whose breath is money
and sleeps the sleep of the too well fed.
Pity the nation — oh, pity the people who allow their rights to erode
and their freedoms to be washed away.
My country, tears of thee, sweet land of liberty.

Lawrence Ferlinghetti, 2007

We can drive ourselves to distraction with this…

http://www.270towin.com/simulation/