SteveSilver.net

Quote of the Day

Yglesias, also addressing the "what about Duke lacrosse?" fallacy, and really articulating something I've noticed a lot:

"There's this huge block of people out there, primarily reasonably prosperous middle-aged middle class white men, who in all genuineness seem to believe that what went down there is emblematic of broad-based social problem. They see the Imus controversy through the same lens -- the lens that makes them think the issue here is Al Sharpton or hip-hop. It's a mentality that believes -- deeply and sincerely -- that the middle-aged white dude just can't get a fair shake in this country. Not in this day and age. What with the Sharptons and the feminist bloggers and all. Next thing you know, there'll probably be dudes marrying dudes, and women and black folk running for president!

And, well, I just don't know what to say to a mentality like that. I certainly think that lots and lots of people in this country -- including, naturally, lots of middle-aged people and lots of white people and lots of male people -- do, in fact, have a hard time getting a fair shake in the contemporary United States. But the idea that middle-aged white men as a class are being persecuted, well, well, not so much."

UPDATE: One his commenters has another interesting point:

"There is that element at work, but there's another that I like to call INARB-- I'm Not A Racist, But... this is sort of a variation of a concern troll. It's someone who will loudly proclaim that they aren't a racist (a probably aren't), and that they are dedicated to eliminating racism in our society-- but in absolutely any public matter involving race, denies that racism is at play. If you think about it, the political media is littered with them. The move is always to spend five seconds gesturing to racial equality and racial justice, and the remainder of the segment explaining why, in fact, racism didn't occur; or why the real problem is the black leadership establishment; or why politically correct taboos are tearing our country apart; or why the real problem is affirmative action and the "culture of poverty"; or why Al Sharpton is an asshole. The actual act of racism (real or alleged) is always marginalized, while qualifications and excuses for the act are emphasized."

We've all seen a lot of that with Imus, for sure.

Posted by Stephen Silver at April 16, 2007 05:03 PM