Kavanagh J Take note! Racism has not been defeated especially in red states! You destroy voting rights act you Destroy USA Democracy! That will be your only legacy!
Rabbi Sandra, well-developed and thought-provoking per usual.
The "performance of oppression," is an excellent characterization of one way in which white body supremacy is operationalized at this historical moment. The term "snowflakes" barely touches the deep hypocrisy and dark irony of a large swath of the population who suggest Black Americans should "get over" slavery already while complaining that people are saying "Happy Holidays." Comparative suffering is not the game, but your neighbors saying "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas," has little to no impact. AND I bet most of those people, if asked, would try to shift to a "Merry Christmas" when speaking to a Christian who requested that. Just as a Jewish neighbor might ask that person not to wish them a "Merry Christmas," but a "Happy Hannukkah" and we would want that request respected.
But, again, this is so not the plane on which power is operating in this scenario. I would add to what you've said that the outrage primarily melanin-deprived folks at the top of the power and wealth pyramid are performing is deliberately transformed through intentional misinformation, disinformation, and outright fabrication, into a narrative that scapegoats, others, and targets for physical violence whatever group it is at the time is most "threatening" to the power structure. This narrative distracts working-class, "middle-class," and other disenfranchised white-socialized Americans from who is actually f--king them - the folks at the top – The Heritage Foundation, Trump and his enablers, huge corporations like Starbucks that shut down shops that unionize or think about it. Those with money and wealth, who are, in fact, most positionally threatened by the fact that the world's human population is made up of many more melanin-rich bodies than melanin-envious ones.
As Woody Guthrie writes in his song, "She Came Along To Me":
"And all creeds and kinds and colors
Of us are blending
Till I suppose ten million years from now
We'll all be just alike
Same color, same size, working together
And maybe we'll have all the fascists
Out of the way by then
Maybe so."
This is, on some level, replacement theory, but it's not nefarious. It's human relationships and the power of human love. This is the "moral arc of the universe" in a few lyrical lines.
Of course, if melanin-content wasn't the thing the power elite codified and used for dividing and conquering in response to things like Bacon's Rebellion (1676), it would be something else. And, in fact, they gave poor white folks "whiteness" but not the vote, significantly. We see many of those things now - gay/straight, trans/cisgender, etc. Dividing and conquering and eliding/making invisible the commonalities that straight cisgender white Americans have with all marginalized groups is the primary tool used by wealthy interests to keep that money flowing to the top of this pyramid scheme called the American Dream.
"It's called the American Dream because you have to be asleep to believe it." - George Carlin
Thank you Rabbi, for nailing this issue so precisely. It’s also an uncomfortable truth for folks of different political persuasions. I will share with my colleagues.
I understand the core of what you're saying, but it strikes me this quickly turns into judging other people's pain and comparing one's suffering to another's. It's tempting for someone facing poverty, lack of legal status, and so forth to say that they are the one who deserves all the sympathy, and people whose troubles seem less consequential 'should learn that they don't have real problems.' But comparing one person's suffering to another's to decide who is the 'real victim' is a trap that only creates strife and doesn't solve problems.
This is a thoughtful pushback, but I think you’re missing my argument. I’m not comparing pain or suffering, I’m comparing power and oppression. I’m not talking about whose pain matters more; it’s about how those with power sometimes claim the moral authority of the oppressed while continuing to wield that power against others.
No one is saying they deserve all the sympathy, which in itself doesn’t have to be finite. We live in a world of plenty , where resources are hoarded, and with that abundance we man make and exacerbate scarcity. Sympathy and empathy is as scarce or robust as we make it.
Rabbi Lawson is providing folks the opportunity to look at the institutional oppression of targeted groups of people, and how those who don’t have -or are privileged not to live with that oppression, respond. The sheer scale and compounded reality of harm against certain groups targeted by those in power, aka, institutional oppression, is different from one on one pain and or abuse, but no less valid. It’s not a value statement of personal experience. The article gave examples of powerful leaders, or their followers, mistaking their loss of control over others, inconvenience or discomfort, for persecution. That, is what is not the same. That losing convenience comfort and control over others - undue privilege, is not victimization. Big state sanctioned abusers continue by doing what most abusers and bullies do, when called out, they Deny, attack, reverse victims and offenders. For example , to expound on one mentioned in the article
War on Christmas Crowd: “Saying happy holidays in public is an attack on Christmas/ Christianity.” (I was raised conservative Christian btw).
Non Christians : “we just want to do our own peaceful traditions as freely as you practice yours, it’s nice to be included,”
WOCC: they’re dismantling and silencing our culture, we need to demand everyone say Merry Christmas and shame anyone that says happy holidays.
That is not personal loss. That’s privileged grievance. Are we willing to see the difference and stand up for the ones actually being silenced and oppressed.
Well said. Thank you. It’s actually just that simple but, at times, it’s been difficult for me to get my mind and heart to understand. Thank you. 😊
Kavanagh J Take note! Racism has not been defeated especially in red states! You destroy voting rights act you Destroy USA Democracy! That will be your only legacy!
Rabbi Sandra, well-developed and thought-provoking per usual.
The "performance of oppression," is an excellent characterization of one way in which white body supremacy is operationalized at this historical moment. The term "snowflakes" barely touches the deep hypocrisy and dark irony of a large swath of the population who suggest Black Americans should "get over" slavery already while complaining that people are saying "Happy Holidays." Comparative suffering is not the game, but your neighbors saying "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas," has little to no impact. AND I bet most of those people, if asked, would try to shift to a "Merry Christmas" when speaking to a Christian who requested that. Just as a Jewish neighbor might ask that person not to wish them a "Merry Christmas," but a "Happy Hannukkah" and we would want that request respected.
But, again, this is so not the plane on which power is operating in this scenario. I would add to what you've said that the outrage primarily melanin-deprived folks at the top of the power and wealth pyramid are performing is deliberately transformed through intentional misinformation, disinformation, and outright fabrication, into a narrative that scapegoats, others, and targets for physical violence whatever group it is at the time is most "threatening" to the power structure. This narrative distracts working-class, "middle-class," and other disenfranchised white-socialized Americans from who is actually f--king them - the folks at the top – The Heritage Foundation, Trump and his enablers, huge corporations like Starbucks that shut down shops that unionize or think about it. Those with money and wealth, who are, in fact, most positionally threatened by the fact that the world's human population is made up of many more melanin-rich bodies than melanin-envious ones.
As Woody Guthrie writes in his song, "She Came Along To Me":
"And all creeds and kinds and colors
Of us are blending
Till I suppose ten million years from now
We'll all be just alike
Same color, same size, working together
And maybe we'll have all the fascists
Out of the way by then
Maybe so."
This is, on some level, replacement theory, but it's not nefarious. It's human relationships and the power of human love. This is the "moral arc of the universe" in a few lyrical lines.
Of course, if melanin-content wasn't the thing the power elite codified and used for dividing and conquering in response to things like Bacon's Rebellion (1676), it would be something else. And, in fact, they gave poor white folks "whiteness" but not the vote, significantly. We see many of those things now - gay/straight, trans/cisgender, etc. Dividing and conquering and eliding/making invisible the commonalities that straight cisgender white Americans have with all marginalized groups is the primary tool used by wealthy interests to keep that money flowing to the top of this pyramid scheme called the American Dream.
"It's called the American Dream because you have to be asleep to believe it." - George Carlin
Thank you again for your love and wisdom.🙏🏼💜
You left out #3. They LOVE to pity party.
Thank you Rabbi, for nailing this issue so precisely. It’s also an uncomfortable truth for folks of different political persuasions. I will share with my colleagues.
I understand the core of what you're saying, but it strikes me this quickly turns into judging other people's pain and comparing one's suffering to another's. It's tempting for someone facing poverty, lack of legal status, and so forth to say that they are the one who deserves all the sympathy, and people whose troubles seem less consequential 'should learn that they don't have real problems.' But comparing one person's suffering to another's to decide who is the 'real victim' is a trap that only creates strife and doesn't solve problems.
This is a thoughtful pushback, but I think you’re missing my argument. I’m not comparing pain or suffering, I’m comparing power and oppression. I’m not talking about whose pain matters more; it’s about how those with power sometimes claim the moral authority of the oppressed while continuing to wield that power against others.
(ETA in response to Shlomo)
No one is saying they deserve all the sympathy, which in itself doesn’t have to be finite. We live in a world of plenty , where resources are hoarded, and with that abundance we man make and exacerbate scarcity. Sympathy and empathy is as scarce or robust as we make it.
Rabbi Lawson is providing folks the opportunity to look at the institutional oppression of targeted groups of people, and how those who don’t have -or are privileged not to live with that oppression, respond. The sheer scale and compounded reality of harm against certain groups targeted by those in power, aka, institutional oppression, is different from one on one pain and or abuse, but no less valid. It’s not a value statement of personal experience. The article gave examples of powerful leaders, or their followers, mistaking their loss of control over others, inconvenience or discomfort, for persecution. That, is what is not the same. That losing convenience comfort and control over others - undue privilege, is not victimization. Big state sanctioned abusers continue by doing what most abusers and bullies do, when called out, they Deny, attack, reverse victims and offenders. For example , to expound on one mentioned in the article
War on Christmas Crowd: “Saying happy holidays in public is an attack on Christmas/ Christianity.” (I was raised conservative Christian btw).
Non Christians : “we just want to do our own peaceful traditions as freely as you practice yours, it’s nice to be included,”
WOCC: they’re dismantling and silencing our culture, we need to demand everyone say Merry Christmas and shame anyone that says happy holidays.
That is not personal loss. That’s privileged grievance. Are we willing to see the difference and stand up for the ones actually being silenced and oppressed.