[lbo-talk] is race always or only identity politics? (was 9/11 nuttery)

jthorn65 at sbcglobal.net jthorn65 at sbcglobal.net
Sun Sep 10 13:56:46 PDT 2006



> jthorn65 at sbcglobal.net wrote:
> Is ChuckO a white person?
>
> If so he absolutely cannot make any argument or make any statement except as a white person.
>
> I cannot make any argument or statement as anything but a red person.
>
> Charles cannot make any argument or statement except as a Black person.
>

Oh brother, more identity politics. Let's distill all points of view

down to race and assume that all people of the same race hold the same

position.

That's just liberal identity politics bullshit.

I am making an argument as Chuck, an individual who is a member of this

list. I'm not interested in making these arguments personal, but I've

found that human nature dictates that people tend to make arguments

personal. Instead of playing the ball, they play the player.

I'm not interested in a discussion about this topic that devolves into

personal identity.

Oh yes, I'm like every other fucking white person. We all came from the

same mold and we've had exactly identical experiences throughout our lives.

Chuck0

Where did I write that you "are like every other fucking white person"? Where did express the belief that "people of the same race hold the same position(s)? I said you cannot write as anything other than a white person or think as a non-white person. This is quite different from saying you think exactly like every other white person. Is this distinction so subtle you are incapable of grasping it? From your reply I'm tempted to say yes.

Being red hasn't colored all the perceptions in my life leading to this moment? It isn't experienced? Being raised in a family of 7 is an experience, living in shit squalor outside a Rez in Ok is an experience, living with affluent relatives in NYC is an experience, attending University is an experience, But none of it is effected by my being red instead of white? That's ChuckO's great racial neutral theory?

ChuckO was born and raised in the great white mid-west but during early adulthood he moved east and somehow escaped his whiteness. Not his mid-western roots, only his whiteness. This enables Chuck to be one of the only humans alive who is truly race neutral and who can in his words make an argument "not as a white person". This assumes Chuck has either transcended race itself or that white is not a race at all but instead the default human. Which is it Chuck? Are you the racial messiah or the default human?

Would you care to actually reply to what I've written or would you prefer to instead reply to what you misread. Or did you not bother to read and instead just infer the content of my post based on the first sentence?

For what it is worth (which is admittedly little) I've never had to explain something so elemental to a person of color. Only to a white person who somehow thinks being black or brown is an experience but being white isn't.

John Thornton



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list