"Those who aren't so disposed have multiple layers of obfuscating ideology, mainly forms of victim-blaming, through which to deny that a given disparity stems from racism or for that matter is even unjust. The Simi Valley jury's reaction to the Rodney King tape, which saw King as perp and the cops as victims, is a classic illustration. So is "underclass" discourse. Victimization by subprime mortgage scams can be, and frequently is, dismissed as the fault of irresponsible poor folks aspiring beyond their means. And there is no shortage of black people in the public eyeBill Cosby and Oprah Winfrey are two prime examples, as is Barack Obamawho embrace and recycle those narratives of poor black Americans' wayward behavior and self-destructive habits. "
This is not an analysis that Michaels would even countenance. For him, all such talk is silliness. Whining about Bill Cosby berating people for buying sneakers instead of educational software will accomplish nothing in WBM's view. For WBM, these kinds of cultural attacks by people like Oprah Winfrey and Cosby (and presumably the people who criticize the Winfreys and Cosbys) are wholly irrelevant to any left struggle worthy of the name. Indeed, looking at anything through the lens of cultural analysis gets us nowhere because culture is epiphenomenal to the economy. Looking at culture makes us think culture is important. This is silliness, on Michaels view, since because culture is epiphenomal, it's just a mirage. Grasping at it will get us nothing.
And yet, for Reed, they're not irrelevant. They are one vector through which racism and injustice operate.
But one thing I'm curious about, from the WBM defenders on the list, what say you about the other issues Michaels analyzes: gender, disability, Native Americans, the attempts to preserve languages and cultures worldwide, sexuality, and so forth.
What's curious, to me, is that the issue of race gets a lot of attention, but Michaels claims that he thinks all of these issues are irrelevant and are not properly part of a left politics. Why isn't there the outrage over things like feminism sapping left social struggles or disability rights movement sapping these struggles.
instead, about the only energy I ever see is in opposition to racism and, sometimes, in opposition to environmentalism.
What gives? It's be awesome if Reed could speak to those issues too.