Monday, March 17, 2014

Happy Whitest Holiday There Is

Like everyone, I spent Saturday enjoying the twitter meme, #whitemenmarchprotestsigns. Pretty funny stuff. Imagine my horror when I realized after a few hours that the White Men March was a real thing and not just a comedy premise thought up by a bored Twitter user.
Once again, I find myself on the wrong end of something I don't understand. I mean, somebody has probably spelled out an argument for why such a thing is necessary and I could find it fairly easily with just a few clicks. I don't really... well, care, for one thing. For another, I don't really need any Neo-Nazi web sites nestled into my online search history. Without the benefit of bothering to find an argument otherwise, I'm just going to go ahead and declare this a dumb and unnecessary idea. I mean, I'm a full-fledged member of the group supposedly under attack and don't associate "diversity" with "genocide". I don't even feel remotely genocide-ally eligible. Even people who hate me don't want to genocide me. Do I recognize that people who have been traditionally denied opportunities might want a shot, a bigger slice of pie than they've been allowed before? Sure I do! Why wouldn't they. We (white people) have had it pretty sweet, and by "it pretty sweet" I mean "every conceivable advantage". Not all of us as individuals, of course. But as a group? Of course we have. It doesn't mean I feel threatened in any way. If I look around and see some advantage that I don't have, I don't have to look farther than my mirror to see why. I do wonder who these marchers are talking to. I mean, we/they are still the people in charge
"You know, they/we have a point. We/they should make sure they/we are taken care of. Oh, we/they already are? Okay then."
It might have been fun to lead some chants though.
"1, 2, 3, 4,
What the hell are we marching for?
No seriously,
What are we doing here?" 
Oh well. Enjoy your St. Patrick's Day.

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