(no subject)

[novapsyche]

Quit complaining — it may make you feel worse: Venting to friends about problems is unhelpful and unhealthy, experts say -- Nevermind. I should never have promoted an article that is so entrenched in gender hypernorms.

Church suspect charged with 3 murder counts: Police: Man targeted congregation leaders in shooting

Blows Against the Empire: The return of Philip K. Dick (thanks, supergee)

New Study Examines How Minorities are "Movin' on Up" When They Move to New Neighborhoods: Minorities make equal or better economic gains than whites when moving to new neighborhoods, but white children still populate the most advantaged neighborhoods in the nation (thanks, dsgood)

A 'private bandwidth' for communication in bats: Evidence from insular horseshoe bats (thanks again, dsgood, if for no other reason than to have broadened my vocabulary with the word 'sympatry')

Goldman and Investors to Put $3 Billion Into Fund -- "Goldman's CFO, David Viniar, said today that the investment should not be seen as an attempt by the bank and the investors to bail out the fund, but an effort to take advantage of the unusual conditions in the market. 'This is not a rescue,' Mr. Viniar said in response to a question from an analyst." Uh-huh.

None So Blind as the 'Color Blind' (by way of guttaperk)

IBARW: The interaction of race and class (by way of willshetterly)

Comments

[blackwinterbyrd.livejournal.com]

"be more like a boy" indeed.

And IMHO, being 'colorblind' is another example of white privelege.

[simianpower.livejournal.com]

And IMHO, being 'colorblind' is another example of white privelege.

I'm sorry, but that's one of the stupidest things I've heard all month. A "colorblind" world is the GOAL of the equal rights movement. Saying it's part of white privilege is like saying "equal treatment is something only those with power want", which is probably as close to opposite of the truth as makes no difference.

[novapsyche.livejournal.com]

Did you read the article? The author advocates being "color neutral" instead of "colorblind". It seems you have a beef with him, rather than blackwinterbyrd.

[simianpower.livejournal.com]

The author advocates a change to "society" rather than the individual, but that's specious BS since any society is made up of individuals. Just as you can't mandate or legislate morality, you can't at a societal level force a change in thinking. The ONLY thing you can do is try to get enough INDIVIDUALS to be color-blind (like the baseball guy in the article) to the point that the society doesn't have the distinctions any more and anyone who does act bigoted is the oddball.

[novapsyche.livejournal.com]

Just as you can't mandate or legislate morality, you can't at a societal level force a change in thinking.

You are obviously not a progressive. Progressives believe that one can change institutions at the institutional level in order to effect change at the individual level. For example, progressives in the 19th century pushed for the implementation of public schools in order for education to be available to those who could not afford it. Thus the level of literacy increased in the general populace, which raised living standards in an indirect but very palpable way.

It was this type of thinking that made Brown v. Board of Education possible, as well as Title IX.

[sarahmichigan.livejournal.com]

The author advocates a change to "society" rather than the individual,

Quote, please? Because all I'm seeing him advocate is being honest that there are society-wide racial dynamics when we're talking about race.

I disagree that the only thing we can do is try to influence individuals and that you can't make societal-level changes in thinking via legislation or other top-level moves. I'm pretty glad that women were allowed to vote for instance, even though there wasn't anything like a consensus on gender issues when that amendment was made. I think allowing women to vote (legislative/top level move) probably DID help to change some individual minds.

[blackwinterbyrd.livejournal.com]

The white guy in the article was not colorblind. He was just not prejudiced. He was from New York, knew that black men can't get a taxi, said "I know what you mean" and helped the guy get a taxi. He was not skeered of going to a ball game with the guy because he was black, but that is not the same thing as being colorblind. He was just cool enough to acknowlege the prevailing racism (and their racial difference) without being awkward about it. (oh! the black-taxi thing! I've heard about that!)

I argue that "colorblind" is not the same thing as equal treatment. It is not like saying "only people in power want equal treatment." Also that only white people can afford to ignore race, and that it is not a sensitive thing to do. Color neutral acknowleges race and racism, but makes no value judgements about a person based on race. Both of these men were behaving color-neutral and giving one another the benefit of the doubt.

[sarahmichigan.livejournal.com]

What if it was phrased this way?

"Only white people are in a position to NOT think about their race most days. Because of the way they are treated, people from minority racial groups are constantly made aware of their race and racial issues on a daily basis."

Because I think that's what she's getting at, and I think that's true.

[blackwinterbyrd.livejournal.com]

yeah, thats what I meant :)

[blackwinterbyrd.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry but did you read the links?

"LALALA I'll pretend racism doesn't exist by being Colorblind because I'm white but not prejudiced, so I'm not racist, I'm totally blind to the realities of race and racism and white skin privelege. Don't tell me about being of color, I'm blind to that!"

Being able to discard color/race and all that it implies in this country can only be done by people who aren't on the short end of the stick, as it were.

Its a far far future goal, if it is even possible. To try it now is to deny all inequalities without actually changing them.

[sarahmichigan.livejournal.com]

It might be a crappy article, but I agree with the gist of the first one. The guys who write the "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff" and "Slowing Down to the Speed of Life" books also posit that ruminating on wrongs done to you and your complaints just makes your mood worse.

[jennkitty.livejournal.com]

I enjoy bitching about things, but I do find at some point I start talking my way through them and finding an upside.

As the one who is usually vented *to*, I find that being the recipient of everyone's drama tends to burn me out. What the article said about changing out who you vent to.... it's not just to prevent your reputation as a complainer, but to keep your support network from needing as much downtime.

It isn't very well written, though, I agree.
"Be more like a boy". Way to propagate gender stereotypes. Yes, the genders communicate differently.... in general. Still...

yeesh.