I was listening to a podcast that had a similar tailing approach: "Your racist Trumpist uncle isn't beyond redemption! Be cool with white reactionaries and maybe point out how the GOP is screwing them! They could be our allies!"
It was poor strategy and disappointing. No, a racist first worlder whose every desire is met by cheap resources pillaged from the poor isn't going to wake up and become a communist because his obnoxious family member cleverly pointed out "But the GOP is bad toooo~!" Those people are highly aware of their position of privilege, and their ideology is most likely just a post-hoc rationalization for why they should remain on top and everyone else should be silenced.
their ideology is most likely just a post-hoc rationalization for why they should remain on top and everyone else should be silenced
I fully believe this is true for the vast majority of white Americans, whether lib or con. Like, I've got a lib family member who is endlessly confounded by the fact that a lot of the people he knew, who in their youths were either apolitical or anti-establishment vaguely libertarian types, are now full blown fashy Trump supporters. And the problem is they always had fascistic tendencies, Trump is just the first really visible public figure who nurtured their inherent racism. And this lib family member, in the same breath that he derides Trumpies (his word not mine), will say shit like "I'd rather see Russia/Putin as America's rival than China."
Most white Americans, by supporting the establishment and the status quo, are living lives of unexamined white supremacy and fascism. Of course when some fucker comes along who's dumb enough to say the quiet part out loud these people ate it up.
It frustrates me. Liberals absolutely believe in and support white supremacy; they just want a Hamiltonian illusion of meritocracy so they can sleep easier about living well in the imperial core. All of their solutions are nonsensical and doomed to failure -- but a specific kind of failure that feels morally righteous and generates a lot of clicks, dunks, and media impressions.
I was listening to a podcast that had a similar tailing approach: "Your racist Trumpist uncle isn't beyond redemption! Be cool with white reactionaries and maybe point out how the GOP is screwing them! They could be our allies!"
It was poor strategy and disappointing. No, a racist first worlder whose every desire is met by cheap resources pillaged from the poor isn't going to wake up and become a communist because his obnoxious family member cleverly pointed out "But the GOP is bad toooo~!" Those people are highly aware of their position of privilege, and their ideology is most likely just a post-hoc rationalization for why they should remain on top and everyone else should be silenced.
I fully believe this is true for the vast majority of white Americans, whether lib or con. Like, I've got a lib family member who is endlessly confounded by the fact that a lot of the people he knew, who in their youths were either apolitical or anti-establishment vaguely libertarian types, are now full blown fashy Trump supporters. And the problem is they always had fascistic tendencies, Trump is just the first really visible public figure who nurtured their inherent racism. And this lib family member, in the same breath that he derides Trumpies (his word not mine), will say shit like "I'd rather see Russia/Putin as America's rival than China."
Most white Americans, by supporting the establishment and the status quo, are living lives of unexamined white supremacy and fascism. Of course when some fucker comes along who's dumb enough to say the quiet part out loud these people ate it up.
It frustrates me. Liberals absolutely believe in and support white supremacy; they just want a Hamiltonian illusion of meritocracy so they can sleep easier about living well in the imperial core. All of their solutions are nonsensical and doomed to failure -- but a specific kind of failure that feels morally righteous and generates a lot of clicks, dunks, and media impressions.