Affirmative Action is the Treatment of a Symptom

I am a loyal listener to Citizen Radio, which is a more or less political, mostly comedic, progressive podcast.  I do agree with most things they say, as a progressively-minded person, but I do also take issue with some stuff.  For example, they say everyone should stop smoking for political, financial, and health reasons, and I'm a smoker, yes, but they are right.  I think they're not focusing on the right issue in this aspect.  However, I think the issue is very complicated, obviously with the history of advertising and they way the tobacco companies function, but people should have the choice to be a cigarette smoker if they choose without the government or society looking down on them for that choice.  But that's just because I like being able to choose my actions in a country that prides itself on freedom. 

The main thing I take issue with, though, is that they are the kind of White progressives that are racist against White people.  I'm not saying that White people haven't really fucked with minorities in serious ways that have carried over to today's landscape.  I'm also not saying that I'm not privileged simply for being White, because I am.  But I do think that the blanket statements of saying all White people are essentially evil is very offensive.  I am very not racist, am very socially and politically aware, but the fact that I am White does not make me an asshole.  Though, their language implies that it does.

But this is a problem with a lot of progressives that I have dealt with.  I felt it for a while in high school, too.  It goes along with a blanket hatred for living in the United States and being a United States citizen and fantasizing about moving to a better place without even wanting to make this place better.  Those other places that you want to move depended on their citizens to make that place what it is.  The United States deserves that from us, as well.

It's almost as if these White people that hate White people are jealous that a lot of "minorities" have had a rough time of it, and they haven't, and they feel that that makes their experiences less valid.  I mean, one of the things the hosts basically bragged about for the majority of the time I've listened to the show is that they were homeless and lived in their car for a while, as if that made what they have to say more respected.  It wasn't until one of their listeners emailed in concerned that someone they loved was considering being homeless that it actually came out that they were not really homeless, they only slept in their car once or twice the whole time (a year or more), they mostly stayed at friends' houses, and that it isn't something that they would really recommend.  Progressives, a lot of the time, value hardships.  I guess that's a thing in US culture, though.  We always root for the underdog, and being the underdog and coming out of it is something to respect.

Last night I was listening to Friday's episode of Citizen Radio, "A minor meltdown, followed my Domes.org's Heather McGhee", where they had a guest talking about affirmation action.  Heather McGhee, the guest, basically said that one of the reasons affirmative action is important, or the most important, is because it provides a diverse college experience for people going to college.  Jamie, one of the hosts, excitedly said, "You don't want to be around the table with, like, the bosses, and like, some giant corporation and that's when you learn that's not appropriate for a White person to quote the Chris Rock difference between White people and n-word bit."  But, would anyone do that?  Diversity is obviously something that is very important, but it shouldn't be the reason a person gains experience or prestige.  In fact, I would find that pretty insulting (which is addressed in the 30 Rock episode "Lee Marvin vs. Derek Jeter").  The issue isn't race, and people who don't want affirmative action don't want all races or ethnicities to be literally seen the same.  No.  Diversity is super important, but we're looking at the issue from the wrong side.  The issue is CLASS.  Economic class. Period.

The thing is, minorities do tend to come from poorer neighborhoods, and those neighborhoods don't have as good schools as richer neighborhoods.  Look at No Child Left Behind.  Public schools that do well on their tests get more money and schools that don't get less.  Before NCLB, the rich schools probably were better funded because of the rich neighborhoods they existed in, and vise verse.  It would make sense if the schools that were not doing as well got more money because they would be able to afford better facilities, more and better teachers and IAs, more up to date textbooks, more and better college prep courses, and better extracurricular activities that would benefit the students.  These students are the ones that need this because it's more likely that their parents won't have the time or educational background to enforce educational achievements or the money to pay for private tutoring, whereas in rich neighborhoods their parents are more likely to have the time and educational background and money to devote to their child's education.  They are less likely to have to have three jobs in order to house and feed their kids, you know.

But this is what we should be focusing on.  I agree, diversity is important.  Yes, that was one of the best parts of my going to New Mexico State University.  Yes, if you're from a poor neighborhood, you should be provided with more scholarship opportunities, but even then, if university is so important, it should be free.  I'm sure a lot of people would agree with that at this point; that college has become so important that it should become a public and private situation in the same way as public and private schools function, at least initially.  Everyone should have the opportunity to go to college, anyway.  However, my experience trying to find an undergraduate medical internship should not have been so hard simply because I'm White.  I can't help my background just as much as anyone else.  If we want the playing field to be even, we need to start with public elementary, middle, and high schools, not college.  The mindset of affirmative action is inherently racist, whether it benefits minorities or puts them down, because it depends solely on the person's race/ethnicity.

The opportunity to go to a good school should start at public schools, evening out the competitive edge rich people have, whether they are Which or Asian or Black or Hispanic or Whatever.

Update:  The Citizen Radio hosts addressed this issue by basically saying that the institutional racism by people of minorities has been a problem for so long that Affirmative Action still needs to happen.  Ok, that makes sense, except for the fact that it is illegal to not hire someone for being a certain race/ethnicity.  It is totally legal, though, to hire someone because they're of a minority.  It's also legal to not hire someone of a certain culture, because those people represent your company, and if they don't have the correct appearance or style of language they can not be hired.  Those kinds of things are like tattoos and piercings and a style of language, all of which are more common amongst people who feel disinfrancised for whatever reason... usually because they are of a lower class.

Allison, the other host, says, "I'm confused as to why it's an either or thing.  Why can't we give a leg up, if you will, to both poor people and Black people who happen to be overwhelmingly, uh, [systematically oppressed (Jamie)] poor as well, though.  I just don't see why we have to have the Suffering Olympics and help one group without... you know, I think..."  And then she gets cut off by Jamie and they start talking about Pell Grants.  (Where, might I point out, they started talking about how the benefit of Pell Grants was that it was focused on poor people, regardless of race, and that it needs to be better funded now.  This seems a little hypocritical to me, if race is such an important issue.)

The thing is, Allison, it is not an either or thing.  If Affirmative Action was aimed and giving poor communities in general a leg up, race and ethnicity would never be an issue.  Yeah, there would still be racists, but having a different kind of racism does nothing to help the actual issue.

Then Jamie says, "One of the reasons I tend to put race a little above class is because at the same time poor people of all colors were being fucked, I mean, you gotta remember that Black people weren't allowed in the same college, I mean, pretty recently.  You know, Black people, like, there was segregated schools, there was segregated everything."  Notice how it's all in the past tense?  Sounds like our host here has a bit of White guilt himself.  Seriously, I think that's what defending Affirmative Action is about, the reason it was put into place in the first place, especially when his co-host says this:

"And this is a great way to keep the 99% fighting.  Because we are fighting over crumbs were as if we tax the 1% at a slightly higher rate there would be enough funds for everyone to go to college!  But!  If the poor White are too busy fighting the poor people of color then there's never a collision, there's never organization, there's never direct action."  I agree completely, Allison!  Affirmative Action is a way to keep people of lower classes fighting against each other over something as stupid as race and ethnicity!  Poor people of all races and elasticities should be standing together as a way to tell those in power that what is happening to them and their communities is not ok.

I was talking to my father, who is a scientist for the government, about this, and he was complaining that because of Affirmative Action so many people get raises because they are "Hispanic" (remember, I live in New Mexico where the majority of the minorities is "Hispanic").  That's probably true, but the thing is, those people are scinetists for the government, where everyone has at least a B.S.  Their getting a raise based solely on their ethnicity is unfair because at that point, isn't everyone on equal footing?  They don't really need a leg up on White people, do they?  And wouldn't it be more satisfying to get a raise based on how hard you work or the quality of that work apposed to a government requirement for more minorities in managerial positions?

As sort of an aside, I read an ethnography called In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio, by Phillippe Bourgois.  Basically, Bourgois pointed out that the best choice for the people in this neighborhood is to sell crack because not only do they have respect in their community as a crack dealer, but they also stop using when they sell.  There was a section of the book talking about when people tried to go straight, that is, getting a job that is legitimate legally; when the did, they had little to no respect in their jobs, were talked down to by their employers on a regular basis, and had no opportunity to move up in the company because they did not have the correct representation of what the company wanted.  These people were minorities, obviously, but they also were not Black, they were Mexican or Puerto Rican (I don't remember), and were put down for how they were and how they spoke and how they acted.  These are the issues that need to be addressed - socioeconomic issues.  If these people weren't raised in a culture or selling crack and understood that there is a way to gain respect without it, and actually had the opportunity, means, and motivation from those around them to follow through with this alternative, they wouldn't have had the go-to of selling crack.  And their public education was step one.  It's not a race thing.  We should send money to these schools because there are Latinos there.  We should send money to these schools because they don't have any.  (Also, fixing the whole War on Drugs thing would be nice, but that's a separate issue.)


I also think I should point out that, after high school, I do not have "White guilt."  Yes, a lot of White people were assholes in the past, but I had nothing to do with that.  So, no, I don't feel guilty for something I didn't do.  Sorry to disappoint.

Daniel Tosh is Disgusting

 Daniel Tosh likes to joke about rape.  Someone in his audience did not think it was funny, as was written about here.  So, I posted about it on facebook, and this is the awesome conversation that ensued:

And this is why I have awesome friends.  Not one person decided to try to defend Daniel Tosh for being a total douche-bag.  Speaking of which!  You should definitely read the article that was posted called "Douchebag Decree: Daniel Tosh and the "Comedy" of Rape Culture".  It's really, very good.  And ok, maybe she shouldn't have called out during his set.  I realize that constitutes "heckling," and is therefore looked down on.  And yes, comics deal with hecklers in their own way.  But calling on your audience (a lot of whom really look up to you) to act violently or in an invasive way is not the way to deal with it, because they probably will, since they have in the past.  Would Daniel Tosh have really laughed if five of his audience members raped that woman right there, right then?  Probably not.  I would hope not.  But it would be in his name, anyway.

Unfortunately, though, my friends do have a bit of the rape culture blinders on.  When the Lara Croft rape thing was a big deal a month ago, some of my gamer friends, who are pretty aware of gender politics, became complete dick-wads and basically said "You're a tight-ass, frigid, hysterical woman who will get offended by anything," and no matter what I or those who agreed with me said, no matter how solid and academically backed our argument was, it would always come back to that.  That or that I'm not as big of a gamer than them, so therefore I don't know anything about media and rape culture.

But that's the thing with people who will defend media or people who make light of rape culture: they are so invested in it that either 1) they don't think it's a problem but have heard about it or 2) think that it doesn't exist/don't know what it is.  Either way, they will see any criticism as a criticism of the media and, by extension, a criticism of themselves.  Calling for something to be better by no way suggests that everyone that enjoys it is a rapist or a rape apologist.  

Personally, I watch movies and TV and like stand-up comedy and enjoy games and listen to music and sometimes watch music videos.  That in no way means that I don't think it should be better, more self-aware, or not perpetuate the most disgusting parts of our society.  Take hip-hop or rap, for example.  I enjoy that kind of music quite a lot, and that kind of music is pretty misogynistic and rape-y and demeaning to women a lot of the time.  When it's too much, I avoid it, yes, because at that point it's hard to overlook the lyrics for the sake of the music, but it's impossible to avoid ever an instance of misogyny in rap and hip hop.  Or any media, for that matter, if you enjoy the media.  That in no way means it can't get better.  In fact, if you love the media and/or identify with it, you should call for it to become better.

Probably the main reason I love dead prez.

It's the same mentality as neo-conservatives who say, "You're with us or you're against us!" to imply that no one can be a patriot who disagrees with what the government does.  And I disagree.  I believe that one of our responsibilities as citizens is to call on our country to become a better and more moral place.

Or comedians like Patton Oswald who bitched on twitter that someone was offended by a rape joke.  Or when comedians were pissed that Tracy Morgan had to apologize for saying he would stab his son to death if he came out as gay.  That wasn't funny either.

The thing is that it isn't just a joke or just a game or just a whatever.  What we are exposed to in media will affect the way we think and the way we feel about the subjects presented to us.  Media teaches us what is funny, what is acceptable, and what is not funny and acceptable.  Being aware is the first step, and the second step is calling out that joke or game or whatever as offensive, because a lot of what is called out as offensive is offensive because it trivializes rape and violence against gay people and violence against abortion doctors and violence in general, which in turn will cause that violence to occur and then the greater society will not care.

We do live in a rape culture.  We should not.  And people who perpetuate that culture should not be put on some sort of forgiving pedestal because they exist within a certain cultural context.

New Mexico

I am proud to be a New Mexican.

Part of the United States.  

I don't speak Spanish fluently, 

but I have friends who do and I wish I did.

Forget about how cool it is that we're the only place in the world that grows green chile (which is best tasting, forget about hotness, also, but it can be) and that our state question is about food and that we have a better variant of Mexican food than Mexico or Texas (especially).

Red or green, ladies?  Fellas?  Hmmm?

Forget about how we have the best weather of anywhere I've heard about or experienced.  And forget about how fucking beautiful and diverse this place is.

 Even if pictures can't really show it... 

and these are pretty good, if I do say so myself.

And I don't care about the Balloon Fiesta or whatever else we're known for.

Trinity Site... first atomic bomb testing.  

Yeah, I've been there.

Haven't been here, though.

We have more soul than anywhere I've been.  We have a culture and a spirituality and a substance that I feel is very real and I strongly relate to.  I feel there is so much to say, and it's hard to know where to begin.  A tribute is all I wanted.  And I guess everyone loves their home, and I suppose it's hard to explain, but I am so proud of this place and no matter where I go I hope I end up here eventually.

This is even where the aliens hovered and crashed one time.