Althouse: "And right then I knew that I was tired of good people, that I had had all the good people I could take."

March 10, 2013

"And right then I knew that I was tired of good people, that I had had all the good people I could take."

Writes Ta-Nehisi Coates, in a column called "The Good, Racist People."

My question is: How did some people get to be considered the "good" people in the first place? It's that question that fires my antagonism to liberals. They think they are good.

237 comments:

«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 237 of 237

Saint Croix said...: I don't have guilt. My ancestors weren't here before emancipation. I have empathy.

You have empathy for a New York Times columnist, on the grounds that he has black skin and thus is inferior to you.

Next you'll be having empathy for Obama. Poor, poor Obama. Never gets a break.

Meanwhile, a deli might go out of business because it has been demonized as racist by a columnist in the New York Times. Oh sure, the deli owner is innocent. But he's secretly racist. So it's a boycott.

You got no empathy for that guy. Because he's got white skin, and thus sits at the top of the racial hierarchy.; 3/11/13, 1:23 AM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: You have empathy for a New York Times columnist, on the grounds that he has black skin and thus is inferior to you.

Nope. I just think he has a point. And he writes for The Atlantic.

Next you'll be having empathy for Obama. Poor, poor Obama. Never gets a break.

He doesn't, but I instead focus on how irrational conservatives are for obsessing on how to, as their leadership put it, make him fail. Says more about them.

Meanwhile, a deli might go out of business because it has been demonized as racist by a columnist in the New York Times. Oh sure, the deli owner is innocent. But he's secretly racist. So it's a boycott.

Oh, the drama! Spare me the rhapsody.

You got no empathy for that guy. Because he's got white skin, and thus sits at the top of the racial hierarchy.

Does getting a straw man like this out of your skin feel cathartic, like a constipated man after he's relieved?

I shouldn't have engaged you, but I did. Good night. Read the back-and-forth with Chip if you want some sensible resolution to any legitimate differences on this whole thing.

Or cling to your, well, whatever it is you're clinging to.; 3/11/13, 1:30 AM
ChicagoRefugee said...: "I just think we've moved well beyond those days, and are at a point where --on balance--claims of "white privilege" foster a counterproductive defeatism more than they expose actual oppression."

Defeatism would be bad enough, but we've moved beyond that to Polar Bear Hunting, Knockout King and flash mobs. Atlanta just convicted a man who shot three women in the course of a little freelance antiracist work. He'd been to college, and wanted to practice the principles learned in his anthropology classes.

“I was trying to prove a point that Europeans had colonized the world, and as a result of that, we see a lot of evil today,” he said. “In terms of slavery, it was something that needed to be answered for. I was trying to spread the message of making white people mend.”

http://www.ajc.com/news/news/crime-law/thandiwe-admits-to-shooting-my-mind-was-blank/nWBB2/

Corrosive indeed.; 3/11/13, 1:36 AM
Mark said...: Ritmo, my point was that it really isn't about race anymore. For instance, I have no idea what shade of pale your skin is, but I'm sure you're an asshole by the arguments you make.

Know the neighborhood. Know the good people and know the people playing the games. Enjoy your games, little idiot.; 3/11/13, 1:38 AM
Saint Croix said...: I have empathy.

Liberals ought to put that on a T-shirt. The moral smugness, the cluelessness, the lack of humor, it's all there.; 3/11/13, 1:44 AM
Mark said...: He doesn't, but I instead focus on how irrational conservatives are for obsessing on how to, as their leadership put it, make him fail. Says more about them.

Always whitey's fault. Such an easy answer. He's failing because he's a fraud. But Good People just can't wrap their heads around that becaue

LOOK! A SQUIRELL!; 3/11/13, 1:46 AM
Mark said...: Good People need constant reassurance that they are Good. It's something that can be turned to easy profit. Hence, most Humanities departments still get students, never mind they graduate to "How would you like your coffee?"; 3/11/13, 1:51 AM
Brown Hornet said...: It's not that liberals think they're good, it's they think they're better than their neighbors. There's nothing inherently wrong with recognizing one's own virtues. The problem is when you start thinking you're not capabale of racism (or sexism, or whatever the sin in questions is).

As Ann pointed out, that type of moral vanity isn't unique to the left, but lefties do love to put their moral vanity on display when the topic is race.; 3/11/13, 1:53 AM
Gene said...: O Ritmo et al: The conservative conundrum is that they believe in a fiction, that says all advantages and privileges and disadvantages are, by definition, deserved.

The liberal delusion is that minorities, by definition, are never guilty of anything, such as for instance much higher rates of interracial assault (and if they are, whites made them do it).; 3/11/13, 1:55 AM
Brown Hornet said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/11/13, 1:59 AM
Seerak said...: When they actually were liberals - like the Abolitionists and other *genuine* anti-racists - they were the good people. They were the defenders of the individual against the primitive collectivisms of the prior era.

When the Left took over American liberalism from within, mutating its guts into its own opposite, step by step until nothing remained but the word - they became the people Coates could no longer take.

Racism is a species of collectivism. Leftism is collectivism. The two are logically contiguous.

So stop calling them liberals. They simply are not. It's appalling how obvious this is, and here's Althouse wondering, how did that happen?

Stop wondering, and learn how to follow the ideas.; 3/11/13, 3:48 AM
MayBee said...: Synova-exactly.

I often think the greatest gift white people have in America is the lack of something or someone to blame when things happen. You get pulled over because "your taillight is out" when you know it isn't, you can think the cop is a jerk without the burden of thinking he's a racist jerk.

Who is the person who waltzes through life certain some over zealous security guard or cop won't unfairly stop him? I don't think that person exists, regardless of race. It's actually part of the human experience, which could be unifying rather than divisive. But first you have to stop imagining that only you are special enough to have troubles; 3/11/13, 4:29 AM
MayBee said...: Reading that is frustrating, because I can't tell what Ta-nehesi wants.; 3/11/13, 4:32 AM
Charlotte C said...: MnMark said...Ta-Nahesi could go on back to the motherland any time he wants and never be hassled for being black again.

Alas, in many parts of the motherland he'd be called a Makwerekwere and could end up with a burning car tyre around his neck. Most "African Americans" realise pretty quickly upon arriving here in Africa that they're way more American than African.; 3/11/13, 5:44 AM
Anonymous said...: "I am trying to imagine a white president forced to show his papers at a national news conference, and coming up blank."
How many ways was Bush 43 required to prove his Honorable Discharge was valid?
He has many solid points, but misses with this insistence that it only cuts one way.; 3/11/13, 6:04 AM
Jeannebee said...: How ironic his op-ed should appear now. It was only a few days ago that northern liberals were all over the news declaring that sourthern states MUST remain subjects of Washington under the Voter Rights Act. I actually read one who said: "Yes, they've made a lot of progress. But there's always the danger they might revert to their past racism" if left on their own.

All of their declarations were made in the certainty thay THEY are pure and clean...it's those redneck Southerners who are the racists.

I've lived all over this country and have known for decades that racism is far from isolated in the South. LA is the most racist place I've ever lived. And they don't even know it.; 3/11/13, 8:22 AM
Caroline said...: My question is: How did some people get to be considered the "good" people in the first place? It's that question that fires my antagonism to liberals. They think they are good.

We all like to think we are good. Dictators think they are good. Other than a self-avowed misanthrope or a psychopath, is there anyone who thinks he/she is motivated by evil?

The narrative that states that progressive/lefty=good, conservative/Republican=bad exists because the majority voice in the media and academia, both which have the ability to influence impressionable minds, is a leftist one.

Gatherings of people who all tend to think alike, as in the journalism pool or the campus lounge, lends itself to "group-think" : We are all liberal , we are good people, therefore liberals are the "good-people". Dissent is silenced through intimidation at being out-numbered. A particularly noxious result of group-think is seen on campus where dissident voices are labeled as "hate-speech" and are censured or banned.

The narrative will stay as it is, as long as the majority of journalists and professors leans heavily to the left ideologically.; 3/11/13, 10:36 AM
Fernandinande said...: Balfegor said... "Racism won't have the shock of strangeness and moral horror anymore when they [white people] encounter it regularly themselves. It'll just be part of life."

"Affirmative Action" and "diversity" are anti-white racism. Nationwide. At all (pretty much) levels.; 3/11/13, 10:37 AM
Caroline said...: The narrative will stay as it is, as long as the majority of journalists and professors leans heavily to the left ideologically.

I should add, in case it is not obvious, that a balance is needed. The narrative would likely tilt the other way if the media and academia was largely made up of conservatives.; 3/11/13, 10:47 AM
mdgiles said...: MnMark said...
I wouldn't want to be black. I wouldn't want to be a minority in any country, either - though if I had to be a minority in any country on earth, it would be a white, Western country. They treat minorities better than anyone else.

Ta-Nahesi could go on back to the motherland any time he wants and never be hassled for being black again. But he'd prefer to stay and complain.

The thing is, while I acknowledge that it is hard to be an honest black man who people suspect of doing bad things because he's black, Ta-Nahesi, if he's honest, has to admit that black people do a lot of dishonest things. Just looking at the FBI's crime victimization survey, a higher proportion of blacks do dishonest, rotten, criminal things than any other race.

So there's a reason blacks get suspected, Ta-Nahesi. It's not just cuz somehow all white people decided there was a shade of skin tone they don't like. It's because even us white folks who grow up being taught never ever to think racist thoughts finally get enough experience in the real world.

This IS his "Motherland" you blithering idiot. Considering that the majority of black Americans ancestry goes back to before the Civil War, there's a good chance his ancestors were in America long before yours were.
And I am fascinated by white people who while protesting being considered racist simply because of their skin color, will turn right around and consider all blacks criminals simply because of their skin color. And they never seem to notice how asinine that attitude is!; 3/11/13, 10:56 AM
Caroline said...: Good question, BTW. Made me think: Why did academia and journalism get so dominated with leftist thought?

Some speculation: Perhaps because liberals tend to be more idealistic than conservatives. So they might be more drawn to academia and journalism in their quest to leave the world better than they found it.; 3/11/13, 11:13 AM
ron winkleheimer said...: Some people seem to think that the following is an accurate depiction of the current state of the U.S.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=37b_1257286049; 3/11/13, 11:21 AM
SGT Ted said...: Tarring all whites as closet racists is just as bigotted as anything the Klan ever did.; 3/11/13, 11:27 AM
SGT Ted said...: I mean, I don't judge black folk based on how Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton act. That wouldn't be fair.

But, it isn't "racist" to point out the actual racism of many inner city minority communities, where you are in danger simply because you are white and "don't belong".

It is just observing an ugly reality that is never aknowleged by the race pimps, because they need whites as bad guys as minorities as victims, otherwise, the money and power will dry up.; 3/11/13, 11:50 AM
SGT Ted said...: Even Jesse Jackson admits to being more suspect and fearful when he is around black men he doesn't know.

That isn't because of devil whitey, its because of a lot of black men committing violent acts on other black men.

Even Jesse Jackson knows why there is distrust of black males, "unfair" tho it may be.; 3/11/13, 11:53 AM
effinayright said...: "A racist divides people into races, and then posits that their biology causes them to behave a certain way."

I think you can substitute "diversity advocate" for "racist" and still make a true statement.; 3/11/13, 12:16 PM
Unknown said...: There are no "good" people.

That's Bible 101.

Thank you Christ for saving us from the bondage of our sins!; 3/11/13, 2:33 PM
Ornithophobe said...: I used to work with a very nice man, who happened to be one of the biggest men I've ever seen- well over six feet tall, broad shoulders- he looked like a giant. His sons were built the same way. One night, he and his sons were walking through a garage, and saw a lady leave her purse on top of her car. They tried to get her attention, to warn her about the purse- she rolled up the windows, locked the doors, and took off, purse still on the roof. My friend told me this story, bemoaning how this little old lady was scared of black men in a parking garage, and how he felt unjustly hated. I told him, honey, I'd have done the same thing- not because you're all black, but because you're a group of absolutely enormous men, and I'm one tiny woman by myself in a parking garage. She had no way of knowing whether their intentions were honorable or not, so she reacted to perceived danger. If she's wrong, she hurts some guy's feelings; if she's right, she avoids danger. It seems obvious to me, but I couldn't get through to him that in such a situation, it was neither sexist, nor racist, but simply pragmatic, to assume ill intent.; 3/11/13, 3:38 PM
HipsterVacuum said...: "It took nearly half a life of proving that I wasn't an ungrateful prick, first."

You're not doing a very good job.; 3/11/13, 3:43 PM
Goju said...: What a pathetic racist puke his sister is. A little boyHe's called her a name when she was a little girl and she's been parked on the pity pot ever since doing the victimization whine.

Too bad she can't go back and charge that little boy rent for living in her head all these years, she could make a mint. She's been letting him define her since she was six.; 3/11/13, 8:03 PM
NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...: I stopped reading Coates when it became clear that he doesn't care about facts.

No matter what the facts are, it doesn't change his opinion.; 3/11/13, 8:41 PM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: Liberals ought to put that on a T-shirt. The moral smugness, the cluelessness, the lack of humor, it's all there.

Sure. Just as soon as you advertise your own anti-social and irrational psychopathology on your own t-shirt.

Sorry that you lack what it takes to not feel inferior to rational people. And do tell me when you manage to find a successful, conservative comedian.; 3/11/13, 9:23 PM
Anonymous said...: So, y'all are okay not only with Whitaker being accused of shoplifting, but being frisked - patted down - by someone who took it upon himself to play cop?

Funny the "frisking" has, for the most part, been left out of retellings of the incident by commenters here.; 3/12/13, 12:26 AM
The Dark Lord said...: I lived in the center of Harlem for several years and let me assure you that I was certainly treated differently because of the color of my skin (whiteish) ...

Their was a clear assumption that I harbored Ill will towards blacks based simply on the color of my skin ...

the black community is told its ok for blacks to hate whites because, after all, whites hate them ...

told by people like Sharpton, Farrakan and frankly the Obama's ...; 3/12/13, 12:42 PM
The Dark Lord said...: I think I spotted the racist in the Coates article and it wasn't the deli owner ...

I lived in the south growing up so I've run into more than a few rasicts ... the thing is I've live in the North East since 1985 and I met many, many more minority racists that I ever did in the south ... maybe the southern racists are better at hiding it ...; 3/12/13, 12:47 PM
Unknown said...: When I read stories such as this, I think on my friends and co-workers (in two different industries) who were immigrants from actual Africa... who both wondered "What is all this talk about 'racism' and 'prejudice against blacks' about? I see none of it!"

They had lived in the REAL world, which is very different - harder, more brutal, and more definitive than the USA. Here, if you are so inclined, you might get your feelings hurt. Where they were from, you might get killed. Or worse.

That is the way of MOST OF THE WORLD. Americans of all stripes need to remember this.; 3/15/13, 12:31 AM
Unknown said...: When I read stories such as this, I think on my friends and co-workers (in two different industries) who were immigrants from actual Africa... who both wondered "What is all this talk about 'racism' and 'prejudice against blacks' about? I see none of it!"

They had lived in the REAL world, which is very different - harder, more brutal, and more definitive than the USA. Here, if you are so inclined, you might get your feelings hurt. Where they were from, you might get killed. Or worse.

That is the way of MOST OF THE WORLD. Americans of all stripes need to remember this.; 3/15/13, 12:38 AM