In the last few years, we have seen the rise of the concept of privilege. We never thought it was an inherently terrible idea as a way of talking about the advantages some people enjoy in life. The problem is it devolves into stereotypes and fantasies about how other people live. There are some strange people who think, for instance, that just being born white means everything will be handed to you and if you aren’t, everything is going to be extremely hard. A perfect (and very racist) encapsulation of this attitude can be summed up by this infamous clip of Joe Biden telling us that poor kids are just as smart as white kids.
In Joe Biden’s mind, all white kids are rich. No white kid is poor. And, conversely, no non-white kid is rich. We could go into a lot more detail into what it says about Joe Biden’s racist mindset, but this is typical of the ‘privilege’ ideology. Honestly, when we hear these privilege theory ideologues imagine how being white is just a ticket to easy street, we are reminded of this old skit from back when Saturday Night Live was actually interesting and funny:
If you don’t feel like watching it, Eddie Murphy decides to go undercover as a white guy, using makeup to kinda, sorta look like he’s white and then … people just give stuff to him whenever black people aren’t around. Like even loans—and he doesn’t even have to pay it back! It’s absurd in the best way possible. And it’s a lot like what people who talk about privilege think life really is like for the supposedly privileged, only it isn't a joke for them.
Can life be easier if you are born in a richer household, or if you happen to be white? Sure. But a sensible acknowledgment of that reality quickly gets swamped in a weird combination of fantasy and jealously where people suddenly thinks all of life’s problems are swept away if you just have the right ‘privileges’ and fosters deep and ugly hatred for those who are perceived as privileged.
It in that context, we get what probably is one of the most ridiculous headlines from The Root, ever.
What up all my straight black brothers
— Jake Shields (@jakeshieldsajj) February 2, 2024
Welcome to being White and let me tell you it's amazing pic.twitter.com/U4zolLStcK
Wow, so that is certainly … something. Now, to be fair, this is not a new piece from The Root. We dug up the original article and it was written in 2017. But wow, that is an all-timer, and it is hard to imagine a perfect encapsulation of just how divisive this focus on privilege can be.
Naturally, there were reactions:
Well, if they didn’t vote for Biden they aren’t black anyway.
— Canons of Conduct (@Canonsofconduct) February 2, 2024
How is this not satire?!
— Dr. Gay Russian Bot (@overitall69) February 2, 2024
Does calling it unintentional satire count?
Top tier headline 🤣
— Rita Panahi (@RitaPanahi) February 2, 2024
I legit lol’ed
— RCTroutman (@RCTroutman8) February 2, 2024
— digitalmonke🦧 (@aplasticcap) February 2, 2024
This is infighting by progressivists, just fyi. Let them fight with each other, and focus on making an effort to win those voters.
— Zack Attack 🎸🎶🎮 (@ZackAttackP1) February 2, 2024
Well, certainly conservatives can use this to reach out to the ‘white people of black people.’
That's the only possible end to this game. A constant race to be the most apparently victimized.
— Graham O'Keefe (@keefe_graham) February 3, 2024
Pretty much.
Intersectionality starting to consume it's oldest victims.
— Just a guy 🇺🇸 🇮🇱 (@AlphaOmegaEpsi1) February 2, 2024
Wake me up when black women are on the docket.
Are we sure this isn’t an offshoot of @TheBabylonBee?
— TheChocolateRussian (@MrsLaVondra) February 3, 2024
They're giving Babylon Bee a run for it's money.
— Eric Lopez (@EricJamesLopez) February 3, 2024
A huge chunk of modern satire is just telling the truth but in a humorous way.
Well, then I'm extremely privileged. https://t.co/dXP2Y10xkr
— Adam B. Coleman, President of Aintblackistan (@wrong_speak) February 2, 2024
Okay, that’s really funny.
I remember when we were "the white supremacists of black people," and if we didn't vote for Biden, "you ain't black."
— The Blue Collar Intellectual Podcast (Julian) (@acciard2022) February 2, 2024
Don't forget that black men were viewed as so unworthy of actual reasons why any of us should support the career racist and chief that their outreach was "get… https://t.co/NKm80Uu9ni
The full text reads:
I remember when we were ‘the white supremacists of black people,’ and if we didn't vote for Biden, ‘you ain't black.’
Don't forget that black men were viewed as so unworthy of actual reasons why any of us should support the career racist and chief that their outreach was ‘get yo booty to da polls’ and ‘no vote, no vucking’ sung by an ugly LGBTQ man.
Don't forget Uncle Joe saying he doesn't want his kids growing up in a ‘racial jungle.’
Yeah, okay, let’s talk a little more about Joe Biden.
For many years that there had been claim that the parties mysteriously switched. The story goes like this. Up until the Civil Rights Act of 1964, all the racists voted Democrat. But then virtually every Republican voted for that law, and a few Democrats voted for it. And the Democratic racists were so mad about this that they decided to quit the party that mostly voted against civil rights and joined the party that voted nearly unanimously for civil rights, because that’s a logical thing people do.
And, of course, there are so many flaws in this theory. We regularly point out that the claim that they are no longer the same party is more than slightly undercut by the fact that they still claim FDR as one of them, and borrow from his ideas. The Green New Deal is obviously a riff on FDR’s New Deal and their plans to overthrow the Supreme Court borrows from FDR’s proposal to stack the Supreme Court. And racism was a huge part of the FDR administration, including trying to lock up an entire ethnicity in internment camps.
But that’s not to say the prevailing attitude in the parties haven’t changed and we think Joe Biden encapsulates the change that did happen better than most. When Joe Biden started out, he was what we would call a ‘snarling’ racist. He was the kind of person who hated people of other colors and could barely contain his desire to tell everyone about it. Joe Biden’s comment that the desegregation of schools would cause his children to ‘grow up in a racial jungle’ is just one example of his blatantly racist appeal.
Over the years, however, Joe Biden evolved. He went from being a snarling racist to being a paternalistic racist. He went from believing people who weren’t white were inferior, so screw them, to believing that nonwhites were inferior, therefore they deserved special help. That quote from him where he indicated that all white kids were rich and all nonwhites were poor encapsulates that. That is the real change in the Democratic party. The racists didn’t suddenly magically decide to join the party that had literally fought against racism from its founding. The racists just transformed from being snarling racists to being paternalistic racists. We suppose is an improvement, but its not exactly taking us to the promised land of colorblindness we should be striving toward.
And on a similar note, this post is saying something important:
When we were growing up, we knew a lot of black students who tried very hard to achieve something in school, and we watched them get picked on by other black students, being constantly accused of trying to act white. It always broke our hearts to see it happen.
@jeffcharlesjr so people of Blackness male type are actually people.of whiteness
— Mrs.Pinky 🇺🇸 Iconic Marriage Coach (@MRSpinkston85) February 2, 2024
🥹🥹😭😭🥹🤣🤣🤣 https://t.co/eL0IDT0XA8
You first co-opt the BLM movement by redirecting its focus to the LGBTQ community and pushing for new laws, and now you are trying to integrate degenerate white culture into Black History Month. Have you completely f*cking lost your mind?
— Thai (@TheThaiFury) February 2, 2024
Don't answer that... https://t.co/0vDFv9zT42
This article is old but I found it hilarious how wokeness is always pyramid upon pyramid of oppression.
— BlackWestchesterite (@newroctheo) February 2, 2024
And I’m not even sure this is true considering there were articles that were saying gay black men make more than straight black men and more than gay white men.
1/2 https://t.co/4mxpDkys8W
Thus the continued onslaught against and attempted immasculation of Black men. Been going on since the days of slavery...by the same ideologues.
— Dumisani Washington (@DumisaniTemsgen) February 2, 2024
We scare the hell out of them.... https://t.co/TDjUR5FaHp
Hey, @TheRoot & @VerySmartBros, there’s a has-been ex-World Champion MMA Fighter that has a knack for being a racist scumbag who’s using one of your articles for his own personal clout.
— #FocusFightsAudio (@FocusFights_AUD) February 2, 2024
Any chance y’all can put this clown on blast? https://t.co/C7CVPqKSZX
We don’t know about the claim against Shields. We googled around but couldn’t find anyone who actually explained in concrete terms why they believed he was racist. Like we couldn’t find anyone quoting a thing he said or citing a thing he did that made him racist.
But it's all an ad hominem attack anyway. The Root’s headline is ridiculous. Any flaws in Shields’ character doesn’t change that reality.
Well joe Biden already took my black card so….. https://t.co/WXrgCd2V1X
— Chew Chew ™️ (@ChewChewBeats) February 2, 2024
welcome my black friends 🤝 would like to recruit straight hispanic males next
— KUMA (@Kuma4King) February 2, 2024
Mexican polygamists are the South Koreans of Latinos.
— Jaelando❌ (@JaelandoTweets) February 2, 2024
*Laughs out loud*
Who are the black people of white people? Liberals?
— M Will (@mwill2023) February 2, 2024
We’re pretty sure that would be people like Shawn King.
Finally:
On that note, that's more than enough internet for the day.
— Just Me (@DynaheirRules) February 2, 2024
That’s fair.
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