Tuesday, August 22, 2017
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Out of curiosity, I recently went on a white supremacist forum, and the experience was instructive. They don't call themselves "white supremacists", they call themselves "white nationalists". They don't seem to realize that there is no difference -- as long as the word "white" is in there, they are identifying themselves as white and thereby implying that they are better than non-whites.
Some of them claim that they don't hate other groups; they just want to preserve the white race (not all white people, just the European Christian whites). But the more they speak, the clearer it becomes that they are contemptuous of other races and religious groups. The "facts" that they use to support their prejudices are mostly false.
Most of them seem to admire Hitler, and they claim that Hitler was not a monster, and that the Holocaust (the slaughter of 12 million people in death camps) did not actually occur.
Surprisingly, they hate Jews as much as they hate blacks, even though most Jews are white. The fact that they hate whites who have the "wrong" religion is good evidence that white supremacists are just people who feed on hate.
They claim that Jews are not actually white because they are from the Middle East instead of Europe. To white supremacists, only Europeans are white. However, it is commonly known that human beings originated in Africa -- even Europeans did -- so why do they make such distinctions? All human beings have common ancestors.
The man who runs the white supremacist site says that if you are, genetically, 1% non-white but you disavow your non-white portion, then you are white. But if you embrace your non-white portion, then you are not white. Crazy, huh?
The white supremacists talk as if white people have more rights than non-whites. For example, one of them suggested that all American blacks be deported to the Carribean. Of course, blacks have the same rights in this country as non-whites, and there is no one who has the authority to deport them. It seems to me that if white people are unhappy with the racial mix in this country, they are the ones who should leave. Perhaps the black people in this country should deport all whites to Europe.
They seem to think that whites have more natural authority in America because whites got here first -- but of course, whites didn't get here first; American Indians did. By that logic, everyone should be deported except American Indians. Besides, blacks have been here almost as long as whites have been because whites started to import black slaves early on. White supremacists don't seem to grasp the logic that since whites brought blacks to America, whites have no choice but to accept the presence of blacks. White supremacists talk as if America's black residents immigrated voluntarily.
I am white and my family has been here for 250 years, which is probably longer than the families of most white supremacists. By the logic of white supremacists, I should be able to ask them to leave. (I did, in fact, invite them all to leave the country, but my post was censored by one of the moderators.)
The rise of white supremacists in this country has undoubtedly occurred because Donald Trump is encouraging it. Trump is, without a doubt, a racist, and he has managed to give a veneer of legitimacy to the movement. Nonetheless, the fact that these new white supremacists are proudly showing their faces is an astonishing development. Even after the Civil War, when the Ku Klux Klan formed, they kept their faces hidden with white sheets (at least, when they were on the march). In other words, even the Ku Klux Klan understoodd that bigotry is immoral. These new white supremacists don't have any of that awareness. They don't feel any shame, as they should, and that's a bad development.
Shortly after the demonstration in Charlottesville, Virginia, in which a young woman was killed by a white supremacist, a reporter from an organization called Vice News interviewed a prominent white supremacist named Chris Cantwell, and the things Cantwell said were mind-numbing. He said how "fucking disgusting" it was to see Jared Kusher in public with "that beautiful girl" Ivanka Trump. (Jared Kushner is Ivanka Trump's husband, so naturally he is seen in public with her.) Kushner is Jewish, which makes him inferior in Cantwell's mind. But how can Cantwell consider Kushner to be inferior to himself? Kushner is white, just like Cantwell. Kushner is more handsome than Cantwell is, and dresses better. Kushner is more refined and behaves better than Cantwell does. Kushner does not have a criminal past, which Cantwell does (as a drug dealer). Kushner is more successful than Cantwell is. Kushner is more powerful than Cantwell is. So what makes Cantwell so superior to Kushner that seeing Kushner with his wife Ivanka is "fucking disgusting"? The answer is: absolutely nothing. Cantwell is the one who is inferior, not Kushner.
The list of famous and accomplished Jews is so long that it is ridiculous that Cantwell considers himself superior to all of them just because he is Christian. Is he superior to Albert Einstein or Sigmund Freud, or even Barbra Streisand?
There are superior and inferior people in this world. The superior people are the ones who are wise, compassionate, loving and humble, and who do not divide human beings up by insignificant qualities such as race. The inferior people are the ones who do the opposite of that, like Chris Cantwell does.
If you believe that you are superior to other people, that's a good indication that you are probably not.
Is There More Crime Among Blacks?
One of the things that white supremacists keep pointing to (in an effort to prove that they are superior to blacks) is the higher crime rate in black communities. But is that true? I don't have the statistics in front of me -- but even if the statistics say that there is higher crime among blacks, there is good reason for that: Blacks are an oppressed minority in our society, and whites are not. Blacks are poorer than whites, which causes a breakdown of the family unit. Blacks suffer more unemployment than whites. Blacks have less social mobility than whites. And blacks are looked down upon by whites, which creates a psychological burden. Any minority which is discriminated against in such a way will have higher crime rates in its communities.
But it is possible that the statistics are wrong. One thing that has come to light in recent years is that the police (who are overwhelmingly white) enforce the laws against blacks more aggressively than against whites. The police stop black motorists more often than whites. The police frisk more black pedestrians than whites (a practice which is unconstitutional). Whites use narcotics just as much as blacks do, but blacks are prosecuted for using narcotics at a much higher rate. The uneven enforcement of the laws may be the reason that crime rates among blacks are statistically higher. Furthermore, blacks have fewer opportunities to commit white-color crimes, and white-color crimes are mostly overlooked by the police. In other words, if you take it as gospel that blacks are more criminal than whites, that is just your racism speaking.
The Psychology of White Supremacists
My short time on the white supremacist forum allowed me to understand the psychology of white supremacists. Instead of rewriting my insights in this article, I'll simply quote myself from the forum:
"I’ve concluded that I can’t talk you people out of your hate. However, in the short time that I’ve been here, I’ve figured out the psychology of white supremacists.
"People can generally be divided into two groups: some blame themselves for their problems, and some blame other people. White supremacists are the type that blame other people. This is the first element that makes white supremacy possible.
"Here’s the second element: I suspect that most white supremacists are lower-class types who don’t have anything good going on in their lives. Most of them probably have inferiority complexes, and the best way to combat an inferiority complex is to put down other people to elevate yourself. Since white supremacists tend to blame other people for their problems, this is a natural fit. Since white supremacists don’t have anything good going on in their lives, they focus on their race as the one thing that makes them special. Thus, a characteristic that is actually minor (one’s race) becomes magnified into something important.
"The third element that makes white supremacy possible is a willingness to deny facts and science. The amount of factual nonsense that is posted here is astonishing -- like claiming that Hitler didn’t slaughter 11 to 13 million people in his death camps. That is a well-established fact.
"When you put these things together -- a lousy life, a tendency to blame others for your problems, an inferiority complex, and a refusal to face facts -- you get a white supremacist.
"The huge irony here is that you people -- because you are filled with hate -- represent the dregs of the white race, yet you consider yourselves to be superior (what a joke). A person should be judged by the goodness of his heart and by his compassion, but you don’t have any compassion or goodness. With the exception of serial killers, you may be the worst people in the country. Bigotry is one of the very worst sins of the soul. Bigotry means hating for no good reason. It is bad enough to hate when you have a reason to hate, but to hate for no good reason is a hundred times worse.
"Some of you, as you get older, will come to your senses. You’ll have relationships with people from the groups you hate, and you’ll start to realize that your bigotry is dumb. But before you get there, you may do a lot of damage. Others of you will choose to be dumb all your lives. I feel sorry for you."
A week or two after writing the above psychological analysis, I saw a show on PBS which made me realize that my analysis wasn't original. It is apparently well understood by people familiar with white supremacists that they have a need to feel better than other people because they themselves feel inferior. However, I have since had another insight which might be useful.
There is, of course, a big component of selfishness in white supremacists, but there is also a willingness on their parts to accept easy answers. I can give an example from my own life. When I first became aware of the issue of illegal immigration, it seemed like a no-brainer to me: My reaction was: "You came here illegally. You don't belong here. You have to go." But then I started to realize that the issue is more complicated than that. People who immigrate to this country illegally are often desperate to get away from very bad circumstances in their home country. For example, Mexico is now being overrun with drug cartels which are killing people, controlling local economies, and pretty much making life miserable for all Mexicans. Furthermore, the customers of the drug cartels are American drug addicts, so America is partly to blame. We can't blame Mexicans for wanting to come to the U.S., which is a more peaceful, properous and orderly land. Since it is very difficult to immigrate to the U.S. legally, we need to feel some compassion for Latin Americans who do illegally.
In short, I came to realize that my original attitude towards illegal immigrants was harsh and insensitive. By the same token, white supremacists have found an easy solution to their low self-esteem, a solution which hurts the people that they hate. What surprises me is that they never stop to think, "How would I feel if people hated me for who I am?" They don't seem to be able to put themselves in other people's shoes.
White nationalism is based on such a flimsy philosophical foundation that it can't stand scrutiny, and eventually the moderators of the white supremacist forum started to block my posts. I tried repeatedly to post the comment in quotes below, but they wouldn't approve it, so I had no choice but to stop participating. As I say in the post, the U.S. has been an ethnic melting pot from the very beginning, and for that reason alone, white nationalism has no place here:
"I grew up believing that America was a 'melting pot', and I've started to realize that that's what it always was and should be. By the racial logic used by white nationalists, the only people who really have a right to be here are American Indians, and American Indians are not white. It's true that America was a British colony before it became independent, and that our founding fathers were mostly Englishmen -- but it is also true that the Spanish colonized the Southwest, and the French colonized New Orleans and Quebec. In addition, whites started to import blacks as slaves. So even at the time of the Revolution, there were all these groups in the U.S.:
"American Indians
Englishmen
Africans
Spaniards
Frenchmen
"As I said, by white nationalist logic, American Indians (descended from Mongols) should have the most rights in this country. Also, since blacks were brought here against their will, they can't be blamed for being here. By the 1800's, not just Europeans but Chinese and Jews and lots of other groups were immigrating here. By the end of that century, the Statue of Liberty had been erected with a poem at the base inviting all the world's people to come here.
"White nationalists seem to think that they have special rights to America and that everyone else should leave. But the truth is that if you are seeking racial purity, you folks should be the ones to leave. Go back to England and Germany and Scandinavia and all those other white places. This country isn't about racial purity, and never was. White nationalism is simply out of place in this melting pot of a nation."
Some of them claim that they don't hate other groups; they just want to preserve the white race (not all white people, just the European Christian whites). But the more they speak, the clearer it becomes that they are contemptuous of other races and religious groups. The "facts" that they use to support their prejudices are mostly false.
Most of them seem to admire Hitler, and they claim that Hitler was not a monster, and that the Holocaust (the slaughter of 12 million people in death camps) did not actually occur.
Surprisingly, they hate Jews as much as they hate blacks, even though most Jews are white. The fact that they hate whites who have the "wrong" religion is good evidence that white supremacists are just people who feed on hate.
They claim that Jews are not actually white because they are from the Middle East instead of Europe. To white supremacists, only Europeans are white. However, it is commonly known that human beings originated in Africa -- even Europeans did -- so why do they make such distinctions? All human beings have common ancestors.
The man who runs the white supremacist site says that if you are, genetically, 1% non-white but you disavow your non-white portion, then you are white. But if you embrace your non-white portion, then you are not white. Crazy, huh?
The white supremacists talk as if white people have more rights than non-whites. For example, one of them suggested that all American blacks be deported to the Carribean. Of course, blacks have the same rights in this country as non-whites, and there is no one who has the authority to deport them. It seems to me that if white people are unhappy with the racial mix in this country, they are the ones who should leave. Perhaps the black people in this country should deport all whites to Europe.
They seem to think that whites have more natural authority in America because whites got here first -- but of course, whites didn't get here first; American Indians did. By that logic, everyone should be deported except American Indians. Besides, blacks have been here almost as long as whites have been because whites started to import black slaves early on. White supremacists don't seem to grasp the logic that since whites brought blacks to America, whites have no choice but to accept the presence of blacks. White supremacists talk as if America's black residents immigrated voluntarily.
I am white and my family has been here for 250 years, which is probably longer than the families of most white supremacists. By the logic of white supremacists, I should be able to ask them to leave. (I did, in fact, invite them all to leave the country, but my post was censored by one of the moderators.)
The rise of white supremacists in this country has undoubtedly occurred because Donald Trump is encouraging it. Trump is, without a doubt, a racist, and he has managed to give a veneer of legitimacy to the movement. Nonetheless, the fact that these new white supremacists are proudly showing their faces is an astonishing development. Even after the Civil War, when the Ku Klux Klan formed, they kept their faces hidden with white sheets (at least, when they were on the march). In other words, even the Ku Klux Klan understoodd that bigotry is immoral. These new white supremacists don't have any of that awareness. They don't feel any shame, as they should, and that's a bad development.
Shortly after the demonstration in Charlottesville, Virginia, in which a young woman was killed by a white supremacist, a reporter from an organization called Vice News interviewed a prominent white supremacist named Chris Cantwell, and the things Cantwell said were mind-numbing. He said how "fucking disgusting" it was to see Jared Kusher in public with "that beautiful girl" Ivanka Trump. (Jared Kushner is Ivanka Trump's husband, so naturally he is seen in public with her.) Kushner is Jewish, which makes him inferior in Cantwell's mind. But how can Cantwell consider Kushner to be inferior to himself? Kushner is white, just like Cantwell. Kushner is more handsome than Cantwell is, and dresses better. Kushner is more refined and behaves better than Cantwell does. Kushner does not have a criminal past, which Cantwell does (as a drug dealer). Kushner is more successful than Cantwell is. Kushner is more powerful than Cantwell is. So what makes Cantwell so superior to Kushner that seeing Kushner with his wife Ivanka is "fucking disgusting"? The answer is: absolutely nothing. Cantwell is the one who is inferior, not Kushner.
The list of famous and accomplished Jews is so long that it is ridiculous that Cantwell considers himself superior to all of them just because he is Christian. Is he superior to Albert Einstein or Sigmund Freud, or even Barbra Streisand?
There are superior and inferior people in this world. The superior people are the ones who are wise, compassionate, loving and humble, and who do not divide human beings up by insignificant qualities such as race. The inferior people are the ones who do the opposite of that, like Chris Cantwell does.
If you believe that you are superior to other people, that's a good indication that you are probably not.
Is There More Crime Among Blacks?
One of the things that white supremacists keep pointing to (in an effort to prove that they are superior to blacks) is the higher crime rate in black communities. But is that true? I don't have the statistics in front of me -- but even if the statistics say that there is higher crime among blacks, there is good reason for that: Blacks are an oppressed minority in our society, and whites are not. Blacks are poorer than whites, which causes a breakdown of the family unit. Blacks suffer more unemployment than whites. Blacks have less social mobility than whites. And blacks are looked down upon by whites, which creates a psychological burden. Any minority which is discriminated against in such a way will have higher crime rates in its communities.
But it is possible that the statistics are wrong. One thing that has come to light in recent years is that the police (who are overwhelmingly white) enforce the laws against blacks more aggressively than against whites. The police stop black motorists more often than whites. The police frisk more black pedestrians than whites (a practice which is unconstitutional). Whites use narcotics just as much as blacks do, but blacks are prosecuted for using narcotics at a much higher rate. The uneven enforcement of the laws may be the reason that crime rates among blacks are statistically higher. Furthermore, blacks have fewer opportunities to commit white-color crimes, and white-color crimes are mostly overlooked by the police. In other words, if you take it as gospel that blacks are more criminal than whites, that is just your racism speaking.
The Psychology of White Supremacists
My short time on the white supremacist forum allowed me to understand the psychology of white supremacists. Instead of rewriting my insights in this article, I'll simply quote myself from the forum:
"I’ve concluded that I can’t talk you people out of your hate. However, in the short time that I’ve been here, I’ve figured out the psychology of white supremacists.
"People can generally be divided into two groups: some blame themselves for their problems, and some blame other people. White supremacists are the type that blame other people. This is the first element that makes white supremacy possible.
"Here’s the second element: I suspect that most white supremacists are lower-class types who don’t have anything good going on in their lives. Most of them probably have inferiority complexes, and the best way to combat an inferiority complex is to put down other people to elevate yourself. Since white supremacists tend to blame other people for their problems, this is a natural fit. Since white supremacists don’t have anything good going on in their lives, they focus on their race as the one thing that makes them special. Thus, a characteristic that is actually minor (one’s race) becomes magnified into something important.
"The third element that makes white supremacy possible is a willingness to deny facts and science. The amount of factual nonsense that is posted here is astonishing -- like claiming that Hitler didn’t slaughter 11 to 13 million people in his death camps. That is a well-established fact.
"When you put these things together -- a lousy life, a tendency to blame others for your problems, an inferiority complex, and a refusal to face facts -- you get a white supremacist.
"The huge irony here is that you people -- because you are filled with hate -- represent the dregs of the white race, yet you consider yourselves to be superior (what a joke). A person should be judged by the goodness of his heart and by his compassion, but you don’t have any compassion or goodness. With the exception of serial killers, you may be the worst people in the country. Bigotry is one of the very worst sins of the soul. Bigotry means hating for no good reason. It is bad enough to hate when you have a reason to hate, but to hate for no good reason is a hundred times worse.
"Some of you, as you get older, will come to your senses. You’ll have relationships with people from the groups you hate, and you’ll start to realize that your bigotry is dumb. But before you get there, you may do a lot of damage. Others of you will choose to be dumb all your lives. I feel sorry for you."
* * *
A week or two after writing the above psychological analysis, I saw a show on PBS which made me realize that my analysis wasn't original. It is apparently well understood by people familiar with white supremacists that they have a need to feel better than other people because they themselves feel inferior. However, I have since had another insight which might be useful.
There is, of course, a big component of selfishness in white supremacists, but there is also a willingness on their parts to accept easy answers. I can give an example from my own life. When I first became aware of the issue of illegal immigration, it seemed like a no-brainer to me: My reaction was: "You came here illegally. You don't belong here. You have to go." But then I started to realize that the issue is more complicated than that. People who immigrate to this country illegally are often desperate to get away from very bad circumstances in their home country. For example, Mexico is now being overrun with drug cartels which are killing people, controlling local economies, and pretty much making life miserable for all Mexicans. Furthermore, the customers of the drug cartels are American drug addicts, so America is partly to blame. We can't blame Mexicans for wanting to come to the U.S., which is a more peaceful, properous and orderly land. Since it is very difficult to immigrate to the U.S. legally, we need to feel some compassion for Latin Americans who do illegally.
In short, I came to realize that my original attitude towards illegal immigrants was harsh and insensitive. By the same token, white supremacists have found an easy solution to their low self-esteem, a solution which hurts the people that they hate. What surprises me is that they never stop to think, "How would I feel if people hated me for who I am?" They don't seem to be able to put themselves in other people's shoes.
* * *
White nationalism is based on such a flimsy philosophical foundation that it can't stand scrutiny, and eventually the moderators of the white supremacist forum started to block my posts. I tried repeatedly to post the comment in quotes below, but they wouldn't approve it, so I had no choice but to stop participating. As I say in the post, the U.S. has been an ethnic melting pot from the very beginning, and for that reason alone, white nationalism has no place here:
"I grew up believing that America was a 'melting pot', and I've started to realize that that's what it always was and should be. By the racial logic used by white nationalists, the only people who really have a right to be here are American Indians, and American Indians are not white. It's true that America was a British colony before it became independent, and that our founding fathers were mostly Englishmen -- but it is also true that the Spanish colonized the Southwest, and the French colonized New Orleans and Quebec. In addition, whites started to import blacks as slaves. So even at the time of the Revolution, there were all these groups in the U.S.:
"American Indians
Englishmen
Africans
Spaniards
Frenchmen
"As I said, by white nationalist logic, American Indians (descended from Mongols) should have the most rights in this country. Also, since blacks were brought here against their will, they can't be blamed for being here. By the 1800's, not just Europeans but Chinese and Jews and lots of other groups were immigrating here. By the end of that century, the Statue of Liberty had been erected with a poem at the base inviting all the world's people to come here.
"White nationalists seem to think that they have special rights to America and that everyone else should leave. But the truth is that if you are seeking racial purity, you folks should be the ones to leave. Go back to England and Germany and Scandinavia and all those other white places. This country isn't about racial purity, and never was. White nationalism is simply out of place in this melting pot of a nation."
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