Aug 07 2012

Hey, he’s speaking to my tribe!

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Oh, wait. I made the mistake of reading the youtube comments (ALWAYS a terrible error), and I see the MRAs are trickling in now. Here is the Lesson.

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37 comments

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1

adamcolley

7 August 2012 at 8:27 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

You are Randall and I claim my five pounds.

(Additionally, you shouldn’t read YouTube comments at all, bad for your blood pressure)
2

theyazata

7 August 2012 at 8:32 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

You would think we’d learn not to read those bloody comments. No good ever comes from reading the comments. Gluttons for punishment, I guess.
3

rogiriverstone

7 August 2012 at 8:33 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

More guys like this! WOOT
4

birgerjohansson

7 August 2012 at 8:35 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

BTW I know stereotype threat is behind the “bell curve” thingie. Could the article below account for a component?

“Children’s healthy diets lead to healthier IQ: study” http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-children-healthy-diets-healthier-iq.html

If your ancestors were not allowed to bring their cuisine to America, you might be even more likely to eat cheap garbage (aka fast food).
— — — — — — —
That dude is not speaking to my tribe. No helmet, axe or torch*

*for burning villages on the English coast.
5

MFHeadcase

7 August 2012 at 8:39 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Yup, read the comments… On the brights side, when i did so, the MRA assholes were outnumbered and being called on their bullshit.

Alas, in the less than an hour since, i can easily imagine that ratio having flipped.
6

pentatomid

7 August 2012 at 8:51 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Never EVER read youtube comments!!!
7

peterhearn

7 August 2012 at 8:57 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Here is I think one of the comments in question:

” American men regardless of race are higher in school dropouts, higher in unemployment, have higher infant mortality, have a higher suicide rate, make up the overwhelming majority of the prison population, have more learning disabilities, suicide at 4X the rate of women, and have a host of other unaddressed issues. The whole “man up” thing is sexist, and lumping race and sex together just adds confusion and inflames racial animosity.”

Does anyone want to take a stab at explaining why its wrong?
8

ashleybell

7 August 2012 at 9:27 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Gee Peterhearn, is it because whites are the majority and that the ‘statistics’ cited don’t account for that. This shows how bright commentors like that are. Copy and paste….sad….
9

Illuminata, Genie in the Beer Bottle

7 August 2012 at 9:34 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Does anyone want to take a stab at explaining why its wrong?

how many pages of white dude wahhhhhhhmbulacing did you have to read through to find that comment, I wonder.

“Man Up” IS sexist – towards both sexes.

I do wonder though if these statistics accurately depict the world as it is, or did researchers only focus on white dudes? Are there problems with determining these rates in other races? Rather like how rape is ignored when the victim is a Native American female, for example, much more often than if the victim where a white woman, despite the exponentially larger chance the NA woman will be raped?
10

barfy

7 August 2012 at 9:51 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

“life begins at ejaculation”

Damn, that was funny!
11

Zeno

7 August 2012 at 9:51 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

But, but, but … the president is black! And three out of the last four U.S. secretaries of state were wimminz! And … !

Heck. I give up. No one can do as good as job mocking the straight white male bigots as they do themselves. I’d call them sissies, but that would be repurposing an anti-gay slur, so I’ll settle for wimps instead.
12

sambarge

7 August 2012 at 10:00 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

peterhearn @7

American men regardless of race…

Well, if you’re disregarding race, then you are disregarding a serious oppressive factor in American life. Race is one of the “trifectas” of privilege that the video speaks to. Disregarding race in the question of straight, white male privilege sort of disregards the question.

The whole “man up” thing is sexist…

This is true. The idea that men are more courageous, stalwart, stoic, able to deal with pain and hardship, etc. than women is offensive to both men and women. Ofcourse, Bill doesn’t say “man up” but why let facts get in the way of making a point, right?

…lumping race and sex together just adds confusion and inflames racial animosity.

Actually, understanding the intersectionality oppression of race, gender and sexual orientation is integral to understanding by straight, white guys have, in Bill’s words, hit the “trifecta of privilege” in the United States (and indeed, the western world). It may be confusing but most important concepts are complex. They are still worth learning though.
13

robertbaden

7 August 2012 at 10:08 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Actually racism has nothing to do with being male. While white men have all the advantages, white women do get all the ones based on race.
14

sumdum

7 August 2012 at 10:17 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Reading youtube comments might not be healthy for your mood, but I usually do it anyway to thumbs up some good stuff and thumbs down some bigoted stuff.
15

sambarge

7 August 2012 at 10:17 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

robertbaden @ 13

Actually racism has nothing to do with being male. While white men have all the advantages, white women do get all the ones based on race.

Yes. Congratulations, you have taken the first step down the road of understanding the intersectionality of oppression. The video speaks to straight, white male privilege. Because the privilege comes from all 3 identifiers, each identifier is, in itself, a privilege-giving characteristic. White women possess racial privilege (the white thing) while still not possessing gender privilege (the not male thing). Likewise, a white homosexual man enjoys privileges that a black, hetersexual woman would not enjoy and vice versa.

Let that radical concept sink in for a bit.
16

robertbaden

7 August 2012 at 10:27 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

@Sambarge

My mom was Mexican American. I knew all about intersection of privilege from a young age. I watched how white women treated her.
17

Crys T

7 August 2012 at 10:32 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

@adamcolley: was that a Poirot reference???
18

mithrilbiscuit

7 August 2012 at 10:37 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

The only way to view Youtube comments…

http://www.tannr.com/herp-derp-youtube-comments/
19

sambarge

7 August 2012 at 10:45 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

My mom was Mexican American. I knew all about intersection of privilege from a young age. I watched how white women treated her.

So what was your point then? That white women enjoy racial privilege? Who has denied that? Like, ever? Certainly not the poster of this video, whose objective was to speak specifically of the privileges enjoyed by straight, white men without any reference to the privilege that other groups might possess.

Yes, women can enjoy some privileges; if we’re talking about the “trifecta” of the video, women can still enjoy racial and sexual orientation privileges. And? Does that change the privilege enjoyed by straight, white men or speak to the point of this video at all?
20

Amateur Hour

7 August 2012 at 11:07 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

He pulled in a particular audience, spoke to their perceived interests, and undermined those interests with a few, focused comparisons. Excellent reality check, I’d say.

The sarcasm is light during the transition from his rhetorical deception to unveiled reality; still, I know that the diehard self-pitying types are going to totally miss the blatant message: Your problems are real, but nothing like what other people — people you engage with daily — have to deal with, so get a perspective.
21

joed

7 August 2012 at 11:22 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

The U S U K are white(male) privileged societies.
White women enjoy some privilege too.
Seems nearly impossible for white people to recognize or acknowledge their privilege.
Tim Wise and Robert Jensen are 2 white guys that try to bring the WP out to the open.
Only white folk claim to have a “color blind” society. Folk “of color” easily know better.
http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~rjensen/freelance/whiteprivilege.htm
22

PatrickG

7 August 2012 at 11:31 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

@adamcolley: was that a Poirot reference???

Yes, yes it was! I did a doubletake on that one myself.
23

Loqi

7 August 2012 at 11:58 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Every time I look at YouTube comments, I have fantasies of wading into that sea of stupid with a banhammer. It plays like a Tarantino martial arts movie: thousands upon thousands of anonymous morons attacking and shouting inanities (in all caps, of course) while I untiringly fend them off, unfazed by their overwhelming numbers.
24

leighshryock

7 August 2012 at 12:03 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

@davemabus:

[deleted]

Ya know, Dennis, violating the terms of your probation isn’t very highly regarded by the legal system.

[Please do not reply to or quote Mabus. I insta-delete his noise as soon as I see it. --pzm]
25

Dalillama, Schmott Guy

7 August 2012 at 12:31 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

@ Birgerjohansen #4:
I think that the intersection of childhood dietary effects on IQ and ethnic disadvantage has more to do with straight up economic factors. A fair amount of West African cuisine did actually come over with the slaves, it’s just no longer consciously identified as such in the U.S. anymore.
26

Azkyroth, Former Growing Toaster Oven

7 August 2012 at 1:34 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I’d call them sissies, but that would be repurposing an anti-gay slur, so I’ll settle for wimps instead.

Which is historically a slur for non-gender-conforming men.
27

Woo_Monster, Sniffer of Starfarts

7 August 2012 at 2:15 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I haven’t thought about “wimp” much before (it rarely gets used because generally people trot out the much more obviously sexist “pussy”, “sissy”, or just straight up “woman”), but it does seem to be an insult which derives its derogatory connotation by implying the target is not “masculine” enough (whatever the fuck that means).
28

michaelpowers

7 August 2012 at 8:47 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

As a middle-aged white guy, I have to agree. I spent my early years in an environment that included poverty, ignorance, and violence. As bad as things sometimes were, there was a long list of crap that I didn’t (and still don’t) have to deal with. Simply because of my gender and/or the color of my skin and/or my sexual orientation.

There are those who say, “Well, life isn’t fair.” No, life is indifferent. We decide what’s fair, and what isn’t. Bad things happen to good people, and sometimes the bad guys win, and there is no karma. No magical solution to balance the scales at the end of the day. That is left to us.

Unfairness isn’t an excuse to cease seeking equability.
29

joed

7 August 2012 at 8:58 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

“wimp”
wimp (n.)
1920 (but not attested again until 1960), perhaps a clipped form of whimper (cf whimp, 1540s), perhaps influenced by J. Wellington Wimpy, comparatively unaggressive character in “Popeye” comics.
30

Pyra

7 August 2012 at 9:49 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

It’s good to check my privilege each day, so that the mistakes I make are fewer and fewer as I progress in life. It’s always nice to see someone help others with even better privilege check their own, as well. The hierarchy is shitty in all ways. I am white. I sometimes have relations with men – the opposite gender to my own. I know these afford very large privilege to my life. Most of my under-privilege are things easy to hide, except that I look all of my cis gender, female. Knowing my place in this world is helpful for navigating without too many blunders. This is the sort of tribe I want to live in. One that chooses not to whine about how hard things are as someone with bipolar/ASD/PTSD, bisexuality, atheistic worldview, a service industry job, and a chest and hips that are very hard to hide, even if I wanted to, as I converse with people of dark skin, who are unemployed, and assumed-Muslim people are still struggling even worse. There is a time and a place for all struggles to be fought. Not only the most extreme, and not only the ones I am facing. I will save my fight on my issues for the right time and place.
31

DLC

7 August 2012 at 11:31 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

As I’ve tried to say in these comments and elsewhere, It’s not men’s rights, or white men’s rights or white straight men’s rights that are being limited or lessened , but the men’s privilege that is being limited or reduced. If it were rights that were being eliminated or restricted, I would be out there making noise and beating the drums. Oh, and . . . screw youtube comments.
32

Pyra

7 August 2012 at 11:54 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I have added an extension to my chrome browser that turns the youtube comments into “herp-derp” nonsense. Every time I accidentally scroll down on certain videos that I think may have links to other good videos, I have to giggle, because the comments look far better like that than they normally look.
33

Rip Steakface

8 August 2012 at 2:24 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Another extension for Chrome that does a bunch of other useful things (automatic video resizing/HD mode, cleaning up the interface) allows you to toggle all of the elements of YouTube. This includes the comments section – so you can just have a description and related/suggested videos and don’t even have to deal with “herp derp herp derp” in the comments – they’re not even there.

Easy way to save a lot of annoyance there.
34

Rip Steakface

8 August 2012 at 2:30 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

…Ugh. I didn’t even say the name of it. I’m tired – band camp. It’s called YouTube Options for Chrome.
35

Pyra

8 August 2012 at 7:45 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Well, Rip Steakface, I thank you. I did give YouTube Options a try, but it wouldn’t show the video, only played the sound, or told me shockwave wouldn’t load. I could just use the extension that hides all comments, but the herp-derp does make me giggle, so I’ll use it for now.
36

robertbaden

8 August 2012 at 8:15 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Ok, I’ve though about my reaction, and decided it was misdirected. Maybe my anger makes me miss people talking elsewwhere about the other side of the coin, which is how women of color catch it from all sides, which is what I saw growing up, And just concentrating on white men won’t solve that.
37

fastlane

8 August 2012 at 10:37 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I’d call them sissies, but that would be repurposing an anti-gay slur, so I’ll settle for wimps instead.

Weakly interacting massive particles? That’s strangely appropriate for a lot of MRAs…..