Thursday, May 8, 2014

Open Thread: Some Questions and a Request For Introductions and Sharing From Our Readers and Commenters


I posted two long essays this week. I would like to thank those of you who waded through them, commented, and shared them online and elsewhere.

Our eyes can glaze over as we become exhausted from reading long(ish) form writing. This is true even if those essays are relatively short. You likely have noticed that reading online has changed your ability to process and retain information. Apparently, there is an emerging body of empirical research which supports that intuition.

Do not abandon your hardbound, softbound, real world, tangible books. They are where the knowledge resides. Feel them. Smell them. Write in them.

I have some semi-related questions and observations; do please comment as you feel is appropriate.

1. I am always reflecting on what we are offering here on WARN. Would you like more long-form essays or short essays? Should we be doing more quick posts where we just share links in a one paragraph or so post? Alternatively, do I post too frequently or not frequently enough? Giving too much or too little time between sharing?

2. More than a few folks have asked me about an email list or newsletter/compendium that would bundle up some posts from the site and also include news items suggested by readers. I was uncertain about whether to proceed. Thoughts?

3. I finally installed Google Analytics on the site. Apparently, and this is contrary to what I expected, there are more readers here on WARN than I expected from Statcounter, etc. Good stuff. Thus, the following question: how can we encourage those lurkers to chime in and comment more often?

4. Do you think having a link on the sidebar that includes a way to buy or otherwise access the many books we talk about here on the site is a good idea? I am also thinking of keeping a running compendium of articles, books, and other resources via a link on the sidebar which readers can access and explore. A WeAreRespectableNegroespedia? Would you contribute?

5. Following up on the above. We have a nice bunch of readers who comment on a regular basis. I am so appreciative of all of them--and of course the folks who donate their hard earned monies to encourage me forward here on WARN (speaking of which, I need to write a thank you note). 

Thus, I would like to do something random. 

How about you introduce yourselves to each other and to me? Why do you come to the site? What are you up to in "the real world"? Any hobbies or random factoids to share? What are you feeling or thinking about? Recipes to contribute? Fun pet stories? Me thinks you get my drift...

I am making that request because I regularly talk to a few of you online via email and I am so impressed by your candor, sincerity, and intelligence. I tell myself that it would be great if those voices could interact more often. 

If you are a lurker who tends to be quiet and watch--there is nothing wrong with that--please chime in too. It has been more than a year since we changed the comment policy here on WARN. I am so glad that I made that difficult choice. This is a salon. Do let yourself be heard.

66 comments:

Myshkin the Idiot said...

An organized archive would be nice. I would like to browse older posts, but it is difficult to sort through writings through the "tag" archive provided.


A resource list would also be nice, articles and books to share, but you don't want the sidebars to get too busy.


Like someone said yesterday it is difficult to add to your pieces, they're so precise, but when you ask questions, that usually helps get me thinking about something I can share.


I've been listening to the new U God album, Keynote Speaker. The song Golden Arms is really good, so are Fame, Skyscrapers, and Heavyweight. I really dig his flow and the way he expresses his experiences. I've also been anticipating a new album by GZA, not sure when it's set to release.


Fun pet story:

One night we were hanging out late with some friends and the radio was on a classical music station, orchestra playing softly in the background. Our dog, yellow lab, was sound asleep and we were all talking and playing a card game.

Suddenly there is an extended note in the music and our dog, mid-sleep, lifts her head and howls to the pitch of the music. It was beautiful and hilarious. She just laid her head back down afterward and drifted off again.

DanF said...

Not a bad idea to have a list of Chauncey's Top Ten must read books and maybe a "What I'm reading now" list with links.


For years I've joked with my friends along the lines of "Woe is me! To be born a white man in America!" I definitely understand white privilege - but this site is a way for me to confront it and recognize it in myself and better recognize it in our culture. Confronting in your face racism is much easier now - even members of the GOP feel the need to condemn clownish statements - but the fight against the equally pernicious concept and outcomes of white privilege is a fight that requires intellect, nuance, and data, and I can get there here. So I like the long form, once a day format. But in that regard, it's your place - do what you find satisfying. Shorter posts with links would likely mean broader readership - and possibly more commenting (I know that I can't always comment given the time constraints of my day), but if that doesn't float your boat, stick with what does.


I run an IT department for an athletics program at a university - a mostly fun job with periods of high stress. My wife teaches African Art History at a different university. We have two intelligent, beautiful daughters that fill our lives with awesome sauce. I occasionally paint. I used to write. My dog has eaten the fence in my backyard.

craig said...

I'm a long time, daily, reader of WARN and occasional poster although I've often wanted to post something, started writing, got muddled in my thoughts and deleted the post. I'm used to write things out by hand, spending hours to clarify a thought but when I type on the internet I do it off the top of my head and it's always embarassing when I look back on it - especially now that it's public. So, often I just lurk - sorry about that!
I come to this blog for insights and I love the voice that comes through in your writing style - you've spent a lot of time researching and thinking and crafting your essays - stuff I feel I ought to do in order to better contribute. I spend most of my time with family, job and trying to give form to my subconscious through visual mediums.
I'm still thinking about your last essay about Tal Fortgang and how that really struck a cord with me and made me think about a lot of things. As an Asian American I am concerned "Asians" are being pulled irresistably into the white framework - I can see an asian guy (maybe its myself!) saying the exact thing Tal said without further reflection - I am grateful for WARN here holding up a mirror.

Louis Dixon said...

Jesus, Chauncey, I'm such a lurker, I had to force myself to answer you:

"Would you like more long-form essays or short essays?"

Just write, Man - often.

"Should we be doing more quick posts where we just share links in a one paragraph or so post?"

Whatever - it's the engagement I'm after. Hit me, and then kick me when I'm down.

"Alternatively, do I post too frequently or not frequently enough?"

Not enough.

"Giving too much or too little time between sharing?"

Too much.

"An email list or newsletter/compendium?"

Sure, why not? Put some pie on your family. (Bush joke.)

"How can we encourage those lurkers to chime in and comment more often?"

Ask. I'll speak. Loudly. Otherwise, I'm trying to stay sane and alive - not always in that order.

"Do you think having a link on the sidebar that includes a way to buy or otherwise access the many books we talk about here on the site is a good idea? Would you contribute?"

Yep.

"How about you introduce yourselves to each other and to me?"

The Crack Emcee - recording artist - I own a mansion and a yacht.

No - seriously - I was a popular black San Francisco artist who married a (white) French woman, only to have her cheat on me with a quack doctor in France, before the two of them went on a killing spree that resulted in the deaths of three people. The quack's "practice" was suspended for two and a half years for that. I've been kind of discombobulated ever since. Which, to me, is a normal reaction under the circumstances.

"Why do you come to the site?"

I need a breath of fresh air.

"What are you up to in 'the real world'?"

Being misunderstood, mostly. I watch a lot. Sociopathy, psychopathy - they interest me - other than race and music, they've just about swallowed my world.

"Any hobbies or random factoids to share?"

Sidekicking a weekly radio show, occasionally hitting the blog, licking my wounds - they're the usual.

"What are you feeling or thinking about?"

My Godmother just died a few days ago. A month after my mother did. I met my mother when I turned 40. As a foster child (yeah, there's that, too) I've lost 7 "parents" but, legally, I've been entitled to nothing. Having that fact made clear by the families, at the time of my beloved guardian's death, is never easy. But it always happens - ruthlessly.

I was talking to a foster sister yesterday. She's "high yella" and her first grandchild has blonde hair and blue eyes. Since she's never met her parents, she thinks she needs a DNA test because the child's father is freaking out, thinking his wife (my foster niece) might be unfaithful.

Hey - you asked.

"Recipes to contribute?"

A can + an opener = food.

"Fun pet stories?"

A can + an opener = dog food.

"I regularly talk to a few of you online via email and I am so impressed by your candor, sincerity, and intelligence. I tell myself that it would be great if those voices could interact more often."

I bet:

Dear Voices - send money. It's shocking how productive I am with it.

Sincerely,

One of the Unwashed Masses.

"Do let yourself be heard."

I need a shower!

lioness said...

Hi Chauncey!

We haven't been properly introduced yet, have we? I'm Crabby Lioness and I am a hard-core social sciences geek.I'm here because you write very well about social issues in America. You dive deeply into the issues, and I appreciate that. I don't care how many words you use as long as you use them well.

With regards to your chosen topic, race, I'm trying to work on the stumbling blocks that keep me from becoming better friends with the black people I would like to become good friends with.

Speaking as a blogger who occasionally tackles social issues about which the general public might not be as well informed as they think they are, I sometimes find myself breaking the subject down and making one or more "introductory" posts to get everyone up to speed before tackling the heart of the matter to avoid making long, serpentine posts. But you do what works for you. That's what counts.

Length and frequency of posts are not as important as having something to say. I'm not especially fond of the Facebook model where people simply repost links without adding anything to the conversation. That's fine for Facebook, but IMO blogs are for writing.

If I knew what to do about the silent viewer problem I'd be using it on my own blog. It seems to be something that has grown over time. A decade ago people were more willing to chime in than they are now, and I don't know how to reverse it.

I'm a regular reader of other blogs that use email bundling, but I don't see the point. At the end of the day it simply turns into spam. YMMV

Sidebar links and recommended reading lists are welcome.

About me, I am, in no particular order, a science fiction fangirl, a social sciences geek, a lifelong liberal Southerner, and a homeschooling mother of three geniuses living in an area where the schools do nothing positive for gifted children. I am also a person who has struggled my whole life with undiagnosed or poorly diagnosed chronic depression, PTSD, and social anxiety. Growing up I was told that these problems had to be the result of something wrong inside me, they couldn't possibly be the result of anything in my environment. While I rejected that notion, I could not disprove it because I was adopted and had neither medical information nor genetic mirrors to back up my assertion. A few months ago I found out that these problems are endemic among people who have been adopted. Apparently simply the stress of being cut off from your kin and having your past sealed away where you can't find out about it causes people to grow up emotionally handicapped. Who knew? /sarcasm I'm currently having to reexamine many things in light of this new information.

joe manning said...

I've had a lifelong interest in social justice. Keep up the good work. I often click on your links. Your essays are well footnoted. You're breaking new ground. I've learned much from your work. I consider your expose of race and white supremacy to be required reading.

James Estrada-Scaminaci III said...

A resource list--books to read and books I'm reading would be helpful, as would a sometime of compendium. Last week I looked through the tag "black conservatives" to find articles. I find your writing very insightful on the issue of white privilege and white supremacy. I'm white and certainly privileged. But "whiteness" is an expansionary and elastic concept. I lived for 18 years in Europe, including three years in Italy. I find it humorous that David Duke, for example, wants to include Italian-Americans (I'm one) in his "white" group. His colleagues in northern Italy think Africa begins in Naples and runs south to my ancestral home of Sicily. So, in Italy southern Italians are considered black by the fascist white supremacist colleagues of David Duke. Through your website I've discovered the writings of W.E.B. Du Bois and Frederick Douglass, and others. I think you recommended The History of White People which is a fascinating book and I recommend every white person read. I am writing concurrently writing three books on what is essentially one massive social movement with three major segments: the Christian Right, the Patriot movement, and the Tea Party movement. Race and racial resentment is one common thread, as is the idea of "taking back the country," and creating what is essentially a white, conservative Christian male, libertarian society. One of my ideas on racism and the conservative movement--that I need more resources for--is that while conservatives and libertarian white supremacists opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 on the grounds that the federal government was infringing on private property rights--is that it was the state and local governments which by law prevented white business owners from serving black customers. They don't ever speak of state and municipal laws which denied private property rights. I financially donate to the site on a monthly basis and visit it everyday. Keep up the excellent fight.

Myshkin the Idiot said...

Alarmist producer of "2016: Obama's America" and alleged Congressional campaign finance fraud, Dinesh D'Souza, is at it again with new movie "America."

What do you all think? Set to come out this summer around July 4, just like his last film in 2012.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7r3Emj-uSsE

chauncey devega said...

I am waiting for D'Souza to make a XXX movie about Obama. There is actually an adult male porn star that looks just like him. Bonus points if someone finds said actor.

chauncey devega said...

I appreciate all of your support. Tell us more about your books and what brought you to it? How has the research process been?

chauncey devega said...

Thanks for the kind words. I reworked that piece and it was supposed to run somewhere else so I am going to post it here with the hopes that it gets the traffic I felt it deserved.


Share some more about your social justice work and activities if you would?

chauncey devega said...

Good sharing. I am not going to seriously alter what I do here unless I get a lightbulb idea about organization, presentation etc. I have just become very interested in user engagement, the role played by blogs and other social media in public discourse, etc. There are some great sites w. very active comments section--on the surface. But then you drill down and see that most of it is trolling and other mess. There are some other sites that have a small or mid-sized community of folks and the conversations are much better.


I think the public discourse is better served by the 2nd model.


Share more about your online writing? I never thought about making friends w. people of different races as difficult. Do share some on that if so inclined.

chauncey devega said...

Your site is lots of fun and mighty witty. Have you thought of how to expand it or draw more traffic/comments?


How is the radio show going?

chauncey devega said...

Lots going on with East Asians--Chinese and Japanese--and whiteness. Nevermind how "Eas Asian" women have the highest out-marriage rate to white men. But the model minority myth is such a lie--what about poor and working class East (and South) Asians?


You have probably read Frank Wu's great book "Yellow". If not do check it out.


What resonated w. you in the piece on Fortgang. According to some of the liberal racists at the Daily Kos, I am a wicked purveyor of Antisemitism.

chauncey devega said...

Dogs love fences. They are mighty tasty. I am trying to figure out what the crow that lives across the street from me in his tree is always haranguing me about. He is very nosy.


I keep saying to myself just share the random quick things on the topic and hand and then move along for the day--doing longer posts on high traffic days like Wednesday. But then there is just so much to say...as imprecise as that sounds.


What do you like to paint and in what style?

chauncey devega said...

Animal friends. Got to love them. I miss my two doggie friends everyday. How do you tolerate those late to the party Wu-Tang auxiliary members? U God is fine. Golden Arms is okay. Fame, etc. I just can't. Wu is in trouble right.


I used to have a favorite and best of link but took it down. Maybe we can bring that back. Doing the book carousel is a given, I just have to get the time together. When Season 3 of the podcast resumes it will be up as it is a natural complement to the program.

Louis Dixon said...

The show's fine. Thanks for asking.


TMR used to have a lot of visitors (and donations) when I was giving conservatives the benefit of the doubt - just over 16,000 a day - but, since Romney/Trayvon/etc., it's such a shell of itself I don't even check the stats. I'd work on it more, but I'm too consumed with staying alive, offline. I'm still (technically) homeless, and unemployed - maybe even unemployable now - so keeping my wits about me has to be the priority:


The Right's doing a pretty good job of burying itself,...

chauncey devega said...

Wow. that is real traffic. If we one day happen to meet in person I will share an idea I had over some beers that you would have really appreciated. Who knows, I may still run w. it.


Were they just falling all over you w. the hope that you would be the next great black conservative hope?

Louis Dixon said...

Some. Others were impressed I "got" conservatism at all.

My focus on NewAge beliefs gave many an "in," since they're Christians who see Satan's work everywhere, and they were grateful someone recognized their alarm as genuine. But the race stuff was always an impediment:

They'd claim to be colorblind while making an outright appeal to hispanics as a way to avoid dealing with blacks.

They'd claim to be colorblind but demand their freedom of speech to brutally judge blacks - including racial stereotypes and slurs - and would rather let me walk away than stop.

They'd claim to be concerned about Republicans and civil rights and then walk away, themselves, before anything constructive could be accomplished.

You know the drill.

Telling them they're full of shit was a blog killer - but the best thing I could do for them. Even after Zimmerman, Dunn, Bundy, Sterling, and Fortgang, they're - still - so far in denial it's amazing they're aware of anything at all.

Except for how much they can hate anyone who won't lie to them.


That much has been made abundantly clear,...

Myshkin the Idiot said...

been waitin on that podcast. you're writing and perception is golden, I learn something new with every subject tackled, and if not something new at least a fresh perspective and insight.

Wu Tang auxiliary members? They're in a position to support people that look up to them and have been working that rap game really well. Giving people an opportunity hopefully without exploiting them in a negative way.

I think if the Wu doesn't make it (currently, you never know about the future) the individual members have developed something solid each their own.

Gza has been on StarTalk with Neil Degrasse Tyson. He said he's an artist and artists learn and change and develop their craft, artists don't stagnate and push the same thing.

He also had a talk at the University of Toronto where he concluded:
"No matter where you start out in life or what career you choose, do not stop learning about yourself and the universe and your surroundings, whether physically or metaphysically.

"Challenging myself to explore outside my comfort zone has enabled me to make amazing, brilliant new friends and colleagues and given me a tremendous opportunity to speak to you here today."

I don't know, Keynote Speaker has got me. I like the hooks and the beats. I used to refuse music that didn't have a positive message, but I started just listening for the experience.
"Never had the hype, always had the heart Keep it simple and sharp, then I land on the charts for the [fame]"

"Got bread in the streets, from the rawest addiction Made an 180 turn, with the lords conviction
It's the ride and friction, keep the iron on my side To avoid the friction, in this modern day slavery I survived the lynching, with no rap pitching
The price of living is too high, two jobs working This nigga is too tired, no more babies She needs them tubes tied," Golden Arms

lioness said...

I get annoyed at sites that are nothing but troll-sinks. Another thing probably responsible for declining viewers is that the Google and Yahoo search engines no longer allow you to search specifically for people blogging about a certain topic. I used those buttons heavily, but now they're gone. :( Quite often the issues I want to find out about aren't in the Top 40, and I'd rather read about how individual people are dealing with it than what a commercial website has to say about it.

Uggh, the paragraph breaks isn't working. Be right back.

Myshkin the Idiot said...

have you heard the new wu single family reunion?

good stuff and sampling from an O'Jays classic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdvsUdOssiw

Elly said...

I'm mostly a lurker. I comment only sporadically, and when I do, it's when I feel I have something unique to contribute AND have the time to write it. Perhaps I'm being overly cautious, but the internet is forever, and I don't like to publish anything - even under a pseudonym - that contains awkward sentences, obvious typos; or displays my ignorance about the topic under discussion.

You can take the girl out of the lab (I'm an ex-researcher), but you can't take the lab out of the girl, I guess. In science, you dot every "i", cross every "t" and listen respectfully to those who know more about a particular subject than you do.

FWIW, I love the site as is. If you're considering doing link-sharing short posts, however, I think this would be a nice addition. I often hit sites like "Mike the Mad Biologist," "The Slactivist" and "Shakesville" for links to other posts/articles that might be worth reading.

lioness said...

Sorry, got distracted by the blog-blocking & didn't finish. You asked about making friends; I'm not sure if the fault lies in the stars or in me. Due to aspects of my upbringing I have difficulty making personal connections; I'm currently trying to blog those out so I can deal with them better. But I sometimes hit extra roadblocks with people of different races that I hadn't thought out before my nose hit the pavement. Forex, an African-American mother of gifted children who lives near me was having trouble with the local school system. She pulled her children out for a year, then put them back in even though the school hadn't improved. Her reason was that while a white child not in school could be a homeschooler, an African-American child not in school was always viewed as a dropout.

hcaparoso said...

Aloha, Mr. De Vega. I read your blog religiously everyday and enjoy it very much, especially the long posts. I love your take downs of racists, like that whiny little bastard Tal Fortang, or whatever his name is. I like the idea of the reading list, but I've read a lot of the books you've discussed. And I'm one of those outliers, only commenting once and that was because of a blog post you wrote about all these politicians trying food stamps for a week! I usually don't think I have much to say, I don't think I sound as educated as most of your commenters, but what the hell! And I love the way you keep banging away at white privilege.
BTW, I'm a 60 year old, white grandma with four half Filipino kids and a bunch of mixed grand kids.
And please keep it, we definitely need more voices like yours!

chauncey devega said...

Damn lab rats! So precise :)


I am not a preacher nor am I an expert. I just try to learn and listen and walk the earth like a brother in a Kung Fu movie on a vision quest.


I bet you have lots and lots to offer. Do chime in when you get a chance or the mood strikes you. Dotting I's and T's not required.

chauncey devega said...

since you are from Hawaii you must know President Obama and where his secret fraudulent birth certificate was made :)


I bet you have lots to say--and if you have read lots of the books we have talked about you are ahead of most folks. Humility is often a sign of great intelligence and experience. Do chime in when you get the mood. Nice to know that you are out there and the kind words are appreciated.

lioness said...

They're so deep in tribalism they're even willing to give up the legitimate accomplishments men who happen to be white have made if they think it belittles their current definition of the "tribe". As Cosmos is demonstrating, it

doesn't matter if generations of really smart people who happen to be mostly white and male spent their lives trying to increase our scientific understanding of the world, if that understanding is uncomfortable to them they'll throw the whole thing out -- while still trying to claim their own superiority because they are the same color as the very white men whose work they just threw over the fence. **shakes head**

James Estrada-Scaminaci III said...

The basic premises of all three books is that (1) the radical revolutionary movement challenging America's conception as a secular, pluralistic, multicultural society is the Christian Right; (2) the Christian Right's ideological focus in opposing multiculturalism is to establish a society in which rich, white, conservative/libertarian Christian males dominate all institutions of society; (3) conservatives and Christians have spent at least 4 to 5 Billion dollars creating the infrastructure for this movement; (4) white racial resentment is a common ideology throughout the broad right-wing from the Republican Party to the outright explicit racist white supremacists; (5) scholarship and progressive analyses of the 1990s Patriot militias which give the impetus to their formation to the white supremacist Christian Identity movement have ignored the theological, ideological, strategic, and organizational resources that the Christian Right started putting into the formation of the Patriot militia in the early 1980s; thus, the Patriot militia have been and still are the armed wing of the Christian Right; and (6) the Tea Party movement is the latest iteration of the Christian Right, with the major difference being that social issues in the Tea Party are not given top billing, but are still part of the movement. All of this is tied together by a Christian Right strategy no progressive analysts are aware of--Fourth Generation Warfare (4GW) which comes from the same think tank (the Free Congress Foundation) that was instrumental in creating the Christian Right in the first place. The central objectives of 4GW are to contest the legitimacy of the federal government (and the prevailing social order) and to contest the federal government's monopoly on the use of force. Thus, all the propaganda campaigns of the right-wing--against evolution, climate change, Establishment Clause, Obama, reproductive rights, LGBT rights, civil rights, voting rights, etc etc--are all orientated towards delegitimizing some aspect of our democracy, science, religion, social group, etc. 4GW proponents in the Christian Right all believe that they must prepare for the inevitable economic collapse of the Federal Reserve System which will allow them to contest local territory (secession) with the federal government. The two over-arching ideological narratives that hold the broad right-wing movement together (from the GOP to the fringes of the netherworld) are the New World Order (secret elites plotting to enslave white Christian Americans) and opposition to Agenda 21 (the means to enslave Americans). That's the shortest nutshell I can think of.

James Estrada-Scaminaci III said...

Believe it or not, it all started with a quote from Alan Keyes in which he suggested that President Obama was not the legitimate president (a foreigner) and that some in the military did not want to obey the Commander in Chief. That started my research that has never stopped. Up to that point I had been an intelligence analyst always looking at politics and developments outside the United States. The more I researched on the Internet (to begin with), the more I realized that there were connectivities--organizational, personnel, and strategic--that tied the broad right-wing together. Yes, there are different movement segments, but warfare has moved beyond segments. One aspect of research on warfare and movements is that ideas can provide structure where no structure actually exists; that much of warfare is not physical combat, but moral and epistemological combat; and, once you realize that, then how the Christian Right actually operates makes sense.

KissedByTheSun said...

Hey there CDV. Last year I lost my job because they claimed they didn't have the money to keep me. With a wife, two kids and mounting bills, I think for lack of a better term I snapped. I don't mean I became unstable mentally, I mean my acceptance of the status quo as the way things are began to violently unravel. Being a black man in a white mans world was taking its toll on me. During this time Trayvon Martin was heavily in the news. I found a blog post you had written on the matter and I felt like I was having an awakening. Reading your work has educated me on racial issues and helped me to make sense of my experiences. As I've stated before I'm a Seventh Day Adventist Christian. What I haven't stated before is that I'm a preacher who speaks at various SDA churches from time to time. I've shared much of what I've learned here to the delight and chagrin of many congregations. In fact my home church sits right across the street from pastor Mannings church. Real talk, I didn't know he existed until I found this blog. Been right across the street for years from Atlah. Harlem don't pay that dude no mind, that's why he has to go so extra. Anyway to conclude this wall of text I will say that I am an angrier, but well informed black man because of WARN.

mls oregonhills said...

This blog has been a daily favorite of mine since early '08, when Zora and Gordon were part of the team. If I haven't read every post, then close to it. Generally, I skip the WWE nonsense. lol

A solid reading list of works mentioned over the years would be handy, especially for newcomers. I've compiled plenty of lists and suggestions in response to an essay, but simply deleted those comments, mostly out of laziness. I'm glad you have a fairly steady stream of people who are eager to engage here. There have been some interesting trolls over the years as well. Always fun.

chauncey devega said...

I beg you, hands open, please go to Manning's church and report back. That would something I would most definitely feature here.


And remember anger leads to hate and hate leads to suffering. Knowledge is power and the ability to be like a samurai walking through the rain storm...

chauncey devega said...

You are from the origins, the way not so way back. So nice you have stuck around. I am still nagging Gordon to sit in for a set or two.


WWE? Nonsense! We will win you over :)

hcaparoso said...

Haha! All of us here have birth certificates that look just like his. What a joke. And it kills me when one of your blog posts appears somewheres else, like Alternet, and all the "liberal racists" come out of the woodwork. They remind me of roaches coming out when you turn out the light.
God bless and please keep it up.
Heather

KissedByTheSun said...

You're right about the anger, but so help me God I can't shake it. I don't want to shake it. It's like seeing a child brutalized. For the life of me I cannot help but feel righteous rage at someone who would do such a thing. I'm not concerned with becoming what I despise. To hate evil is to love good and it is good to love the evildoer. Serving good for evil is like throwing a football into a tennis match, no tennis ball no tennis game.
As far as walking into Atlah that is a negative, a firm negative. I've committed crimes, then gave my life to Jesus and preached righteous on that same street. 123rd and Lenox knows me. I walk into Atlah and I walk out of the good graces of the community. I say this with a chuckle "you be buggin homie!"

craig said...

Just the title alone drew me in - you could easily replace 'Jewish' with 'Asian'.
This article is a perfect example about how Asians are being drawn into forming an alliance with white supremacy: http://colorlines.com/archives/2014/04/wanted_disgruntled_asain_americans_to_attack_affirmative_action.html

Myshkin the Idiot said...

I know the white conservative, they are my fam. They play like they care about black people, but it's all use you to their own ends. Not that white liberals are necessarily any better.

Myshkin the Idiot said...

"The man who is angry at the right things and with the right people... is praised." Aristotle


Anger can be useful and good for the body, soul, and community.


My eyes popped and jaw dropped at Pastor Manning. It's probably best if you steered clear of him, he seems desperate.

Myshkin the Idiot said...

chewed through the fence!

We have a young Beagle and Golden Retriever Mix. He is an energetic escape artist. We've been playing an extended game of fence chess for years now. He always finds a way to keep the game going.

Myshkin the Idiot said...

I have a friend who was adopted, I shared that bit about PTSD with them, I hope you don't mind.

lioness said...

Not a bit. You might want to pass on this video as well. It's a much more concise description of what many adoptees go through than you usually find in public: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3pX4C-mtiI

SabrinaBee said...

I'm just a regular ole black gal, who became curious to understand just what is going on in the world and within the black community. I grew tired of seeing blacks portrayed in such a negative light when, I knew that the people I grew up with were not some sort of alien life form that must be treated as an other entity. I think it was politics, or rather, certain politicians, that set off this feeling that we are not viewed as normal people. At some point we have to stand up and take notice.

I ran across your blog some years ago, now. And I hop back and forth between you and others sources, while trying to understand more of the world, as well. I think there is more interconnectedness than many of us are aware of. Often times I am too tired trying to catch up with everything that I don't read you as regularly as I'd like. But, I come back here because you speak to what I am trying to understand. And though I am not particularly scholarly,I appreciate the knowledge that you impart in your posts, long or not.



If you are asking for suggestions though, why not a book club? Specifically, some of the books you have listed? Not, that I am entirely certain where I will find the time but, I think it will be useful because, Oprah isn't reading these types of books.

lioness said...

"he suggested that President Obama was not the legitimate president (a
foreigner) and that some in the military did not want to obey the
Commander in Chief." I first heard that remark made early in Clinton's first term. Someone was talking to a Rpublican Senator or Congressmen about "our President" and he snapped back, "He's YOUR President, not MINE!" And the storyteller (and I) sat up and went, "This is different." Even during the height of the Watergate scandal, Nixon was still OUR President. He was nearly impeached, but never disowned. The level of disconnection Republicans developed with Clinton and refined with Obama was a whole new ball game.

chauncey devega said...

Can't argue w. that. I am glad you are living righteously. But, on the off chance, you happen to see Clarence Thomas walking out of ATLAH please do take some pictures.

chauncey devega said...

Sabrinabee you are always on point. Share more about what you are trying to understand? You got some money in the bank there with a book club. I was thinking of that or a version where I post a video or documentary each week or so and we talk about it.


Do you think that would work?

Myshkin the Idiot said...

thank you. You talk about this stuff in your blog? Do you have a link?

lioness said...

Here's my issues blog: http://whosefacestares.blogspot.com/ And if you friend would like to here other voices & join the conversation, here's a forum for adult adoptees. I can't claim to speak for everyone: http://adultadoptees.org/index.html/

DanF said...

At this point, I'm painting things for the kids. Think Harry Potter, Cheshire Cats, Tinkerbell, our dogs, etc. So the style is either Pixar or my own. I expect to do more painting once I'm retired. I never had the patience for the starving artist route.


I love crows. We get several murders of them in the downtown every winter - 30,000 easily. It appears as though they are just there to socialize through the cold winter winter months. You could probably feed your neighbor and make a friend. That's probably why he's yelling at you in the first place ("Hey! Can you eat that bag Doritos all by yourself?!?")

joe manning said...

You might be interested in Ben Jealous's "Tea Party Nationalism," its on the net.

joe manning said...

I came to this subject through sociology in 1973. I had an influential prof who turned me on to Julius Wilson, John Dollard, Calvin Hernton, C.W. Mills, Herbert Marcuse, Eric Fromm, Richard Hofstadter, Karl Mannheim, and Marx. I think that white supremacy is the proper focus because it constitutes the social contract between poor whites and the super rich, two groups that should rightfully be enemies; this exposes the right's Achilles heal. Rightist propaganda can't pass inspection and your essays are helping to make this fact well known.

James Estrada-Scaminaci III said...

When I was working in intelligence, right after Clinton was elected one of my co-workers suggested Clinton should be shot. I verbally chastised him--the President is the President. I had seen too many our leaders shot down. We can disagree with his or her policies, but we cannot call for his assassination--unless we want to emulate a banana republic. I disagreed with Bush the Younger on everything, but I did my job. What we face in this country is warfare--political, economic, moral, and epistemological warfare. The GOP under the sway of the Christian Right hold almost all of us--as illegitimate whether on the grounds of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, free thinking, or not a fundamental Christian. Everything the GOP/Christian Right is to deny all of us our legitimate rights.

James Estrada-Scaminaci III said...

Yes, I have that report authored by Leonard Zeskind and Devin Burghart and the NAACP. My analysis is that the Tea Party is not separate from the Christian Right; Ron Paul is as much a Christian nationalist as is a white nationalist; race has everything to do with the GOP, the Christian Right, the Patriot militia, and the Tea Party, but the animus is much larger than a black-white dichotomy: they are as opposed to Voting Rights as they are to Civil Rights; they are as opposed to gay rights as they are reproductive rights; they are as opposed to Science as they are to Liberalism. They all have a vision of America in which most of us do not appear to be fit to be first class citizens.

chauncey devega said...

The RZA and GZA are smart folks. And I am all for collective economics. But some of the new members, i..e Ghostface's son, just aren't ready for prime time.

Ah, Bartleby! said...

Wow, I guess I have been lurking for awhile if this has been around since 2008. That's when I found you right after my 2nd daughter was born. I don't know that anything short of the open invitation like this would have gotten me to post. I guess I keep coming back for the same reasons I come back to any source of information/opinion. I'm intrigued, challenged, and (most importantly for my ego) constantly nod or shake my head going "I know, man, I know." It's the constant reminding that there are nearly zero contemporary or historical issues that aren't touched by the construct of Whiteness and how maddeningly difficult it is to make that point without being told "how far we've come" and such issues are in the past. Especially now that asinine terms like "reverse racism" are getting tossed around by family and co-workers with increasing frequency. I just saw your link to Race Traitor the other day. Thanks for that. They just got a new subscriber.

I wouldn't complain about more Ghetto Nerd posts. I'm a late comer to comics related nerdness, but until I was eight I lived in a pretty ghetto neighborhood, and this black kid across the street was freaking obsessed with Star Wars. Dude would get PISSED if I ever tried to be Lando. "It ain't right, man! It ain't right!"

Anyway, keep it up please. I've got this ever expanding mental list of things I can't wait to have my girls read when they're old enough and your writing is up there. Speaking of kids, do you (or anyone) have any suggested works for the younger set (5-7) regarding white privilege? Do such works exist? The books I see at the library, even the ones geared for older ages, seem a little cotton candy in their depictions of racial injustice. Even when they don't spare some of the brutality, they always seem to end on that last infuriating chapter of "Isn't America so much better now that we don't turn the dogs and hoses on children? Whew, glad that's over, move along now..."

chauncey devega said...

Great use of timeless wisdom there.

joe manning said...

Even the the ones that claim to be mainstream conservatives are fascists. There's a fine line between Ron Paul and the Grand Dragon if there's any line at all.

Myshkin the Idiot said...

How about Commander-in-Sheets

Myshkin the Idiot said...

A Black Man in the Oval Orifice

Myshkin the Idiot said...

Big Daddy O: Too Big to Fail


The White House: Change is Cumming

Myshkin the Idiot said...

Is it Guy DiSilva?

SabrinaBee said...

Hey CD, I am sure whichever way that will make it no extra strain on what you do already, would work just fine. As far as understanding, I suppose it is trying to understand how we get through this next phase intact. I think it lies in understanding how we got through the past, both slavery and civil rights. We'd have to recognize how what is going on now is tied into what has happened in the past or we're lost, again. I think one of the first articles I read from you was how prominent newspapers (i.e. NYT) was complicit, during Jim Crow, in criminalizing blacks, men in particular.That shaped how society views black men now, and contributes to how black crime is still reported.

Anyway, the more that is out there to know, the more there is a chance of someone happening upon it.

chauncey devega said...

Race Traitor is a great resources. 2008? Long haul. Appreciated. Question. From your perspective how have we changed here, positive, negative, and everything in between, from how we began to how things are now?

chauncey devega said...

His name wasn't that interesting. He truly is a copy of Obama. A clone.

IrishUp said...

I have been lurking since ~2009, maybe 2010?

I find that much of your content on WARN is stuffs I have to marinate in and/or are conversations where I doubt my contributions are improvements over my silence. But as I love your prose specifically, Chauncey, and overall quality of the conversation and commentariate, I stop by to marinate some more, at least a couple of times a week.

IRL I am a clinical researcher & a parent advocate for eating disorders (agin' ED, but *for* better understanding, funding and treatment), and frequent the s/j and eating disorder blogosphere. I am growing to hate that "real world" distinction; one of the truly amazing things (to me, anyway) about the interwebs is how they give far-flung and marginalized peoples, the communities that are denied them by their "real world" peers.


Isolate and conquer is the way to go if your goal is to exploit and manipulate big-brained social animals such as ourselves. The internet and other virtual media subvert this, in ways tree-ware never has.

"You likely have noticed that reading online has changed your ability to process and retain information. Apparently, there is an emerging body of empirical research which supports that intuition."

I have to say that I am deeply suspicious of much of this "emerging body of empirical research". Being critical of the literature is a requirement of my profession, it's true. But as I've opined before, academia - and academic research - is a tool of The State as well. It seems a little too pat and neat, that this body of science, is emerging *now* as marginalized communities and interests are using virtual communication effectively, for social and political causes. At the SAME time that USian interests have started to fight hard to undo net neutrality. File under things that make me go hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Is it a fun pet story that my feline housemate recently honored me with a decapitated rat at the foot of the stairs? Kitteh is not to be fooled with when he smells a rat ;->

chauncey devega said...

Great and thorough comment. "Empirical research" has supported sexism, racism, and other types of injustice too. Share more about your feline friend...