Drewbahr's recent activity
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Comment on A brief history of men's underwear in ~life.style
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Comment on A brief history of men's underwear in ~life.style
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Comment on Police threatened to use LRAD devices ("sound cannons") in Minneapolis. There is misinformation online on how to protect yourself. in ~society
Drewbahr Link ParentConsidering the vast number of "thin blue line" flags flown in response to the murder of George Floyd, there is a lot of people that support the cops, particularly after they murder Black and...Considering the vast number of "thin blue line" flags flown in response to the murder of George Floyd, there is a lot of people that support the cops, particularly after they murder Black and brown people.
So, to a certain sub-set of the population - one which is particularly white - the cops are doing the things they want.
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Comment on Resist and Unsubscribe in ~society
Drewbahr LinkInterestingly I'm already disconnected from basically everything they mention, except for Comcast/Xfinity - which is the de facto sole internet service provider in my area.Interestingly I'm already disconnected from basically everything they mention, except for Comcast/Xfinity - which is the de facto sole internet service provider in my area.
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Comment on Police threatened to use LRAD devices ("sound cannons") in Minneapolis. There is misinformation online on how to protect yourself. in ~society
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Comment on MLB San Francisco Giants star Jung Hoo Lee released from US Customs and Border Protection detainment after forgetting documents in ~society
Drewbahr Link ParentBeing rich while visibly "not-white" has seldom been enough to save you in this country, unfortunately. Us hosting the World Cup (and later the Olympics) should be boycotted, not just...Being rich while visibly "not-white" has seldom been enough to save you in this country, unfortunately.
Us hosting the World Cup (and later the Olympics) should be boycotted, not just internationally but internally as well. We - the United States - are a danger to anyone who visits us, and that danger knows no economic boundaries. All the danger cares about is your melanin content, and whether or not your country is considered "woke" by the fascists in charge.
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Comment on Inside the conservative campus revolution in ~society
Drewbahr Link ParentHe's moving the military to respond to things in Minnesota. Nothing is off the table.He's moving the military to respond to things in Minnesota.
Nothing is off the table.
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Comment on Inside the conservative campus revolution in ~society
Drewbahr Link ParentNot all children are like those you're describing. There's always going to be right-wing agitators, fascists, racists, neo-Nazis, etc. among the younger set. There's also always going to be forces...Not all children are like those you're describing. There's always going to be right-wing agitators, fascists, racists, neo-Nazis, etc. among the younger set. There's also always going to be forces pushing back against them, from within that generation and from without.
The problem, imo, isn't that the "steering wheel is in the hands of idiot children". The problem is that the steering wheel is in the hands of white supremacists. And The United States' white population does not seem to be equipped, at all, to deal with it. In fact, a significant portion of the white population agrees with the white supremacists in power, or at the very least has no problem with the arrangement.
How do we fix that? We could say the same thing that we always have - increased education, sensitivity training, and the like. But that doesn't necessarily get at the rot of white American culture. I wish I knew what would; but the bigger issue is, are white Americans willing to adopt changes to "their culture" to accommodate people with less pale complexion?
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Comment on US to stop processing visa applications from seventy-five nations in ~society
Drewbahr Link ParentIt doesn't have to be all inclusive to still be racist.It doesn't have to be all inclusive to still be racist.
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Comment on US to stop processing visa applications from seventy-five nations in ~society
Drewbahr Link ParentIt doesn't have to be all inclusive to still be racist.It doesn't have to be all inclusive to still be racist.
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Comment on US to stop processing visa applications from seventy-five nations in ~society
Drewbahr Link ParentIt makes "perfect sense" if you view it through the lens of people trying to make the United States a purely white ethnostate, as @smores mentioned below. It's racism, plain and simple.It makes "perfect sense" if you view it through the lens of people trying to make the United States a purely white ethnostate, as @smores mentioned below.
It's racism, plain and simple.
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Comment on What's a culture shock that you experienced? in ~talk
Drewbahr LinkI grew up in eastern Washington state, in a small town (by national standards; it was quite large compared to its neighbors and county). It was racially-diverse compared to its neighbors, but that...I grew up in eastern Washington state, in a small town (by national standards; it was quite large compared to its neighbors and county). It was racially-diverse compared to its neighbors, but that wasn't a very big hurdle.
My then-girlfriend, now-wife is Chinese American, 4th or 5th generation depending on which side of the family you trace. She grew up in the suburbs of southern California, considerably less rural and significantly more ethnically-diverse than my hometown. Like, her graduating class from high school was several times larger, in number of kids, than my entire high school.
At one point early in our relationship, she ended up taking a summer job in northern Idaho. Growing up in that general area, I knew the history of the region (Aryan Nation compounds, that sort of thing) and told her what to look out for, and taught her some basic self-defense. She told me stories of her time there, where she "stopped an Albertson's cold" by simply being the Asian person present in the store. She turned heads wherever she went by simply existing.
I had my own, quasi-similar moment when we later went to an Asian market in SoCal together. I was one of only a handful of white people there; I wasn't the only one, but there weren't many. I got some funny looks from folks throughout the store, particularly because I'm very pale - and being that pale in SoCal, I definitely stand out.
What occurred to me was that there was a key difference between my wife's experience in northern Idaho, and my experience in southern California. At no point did I feel threatened. I felt uncomfortable, sure, but I never felt in danger. She, on the other hand, felt uncomfortable and under threat when she stepped foot into that Albertson's.
This was one of the many steps I took towards being (or at least trying to be) anti-racist. No one deserves to feel threatened just for existing in a given space. You don't necessarily have the "right" to feel comfortable everywhere - not every space is made for you - but you don't deserve to feel like you'll be attacked for just being somewhere.
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Comment on What are some stories of progressivism gone wrong in implementation? in ~society
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Comment on US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shoots and kills a woman during the Minneapolis immigration crackdown in ~society
Drewbahr Link ParentYou can volunteer with local aid groups. You can donate to aid groups doing the work where you can't volunteer your time. You can call your politicians and say your piece. I feel, and have felt,...You can volunteer with local aid groups.
You can donate to aid groups doing the work where you can't volunteer your time.
You can call your politicians and say your piece.
I feel, and have felt, the same way you do. The best cure for that hopelessness that I've found is to get active, even a little bit. Because you're right, getting out is hard, for a lot of reasons (I've looked into it too).
I wish there was something that you/I/we could do, all at once, that would set the course. But we're not in those positions, we can't take on that responsibility or else it will crush us (I've been there too). We can only do what little things we can do, and that is enough.
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Comment on What are some stories of progressivism gone wrong in implementation? in ~society
Drewbahr Link ParentI don't have answers for you. What I will say is, in my opinion it hasn't been implemented or executed in The United States for long enough. We're talking about generational changes. You can't...I don't have answers for you. What I will say is, in my opinion it hasn't been implemented or executed in The United States for long enough. We're talking about generational changes. You can't expect 400+ years of oppression to be lifted or reversed in 40 years. And if there's one thing Americans are good at, it's not understanding how long things can take.
I should know, I'm an American.
The issue I have here is - how do you evaluate those goals? When is it enough? Or how do you avoid a situation in which affirmative action doesn't work that well to achieve its goals or works really well in one aspect but causes issues in other aspects, and its proponents say "well we just need to wait longer until it works" while advantages plateau but problems deepen? These issues don't seem to be defined or debated openly on either side.
I think the problem is in thinking that all it will take is a single, perfect policy. That doesn't exist. Anytime policy changes are made, there will be "winners" and "losers" due to how folks choose to implement them, or in some cases choose not to implement them. There were plenty of schools that were de facto segregated well into the 2000s, despite segregation formally ending decades prior.
What should happen is, a policy gets made, and data is acquired to verify its efficacy. If it's effective in one area but is generating negative consequences elsewhere, you amend the policy to correct those issues. It's an iterative process, one that will make mistakes but will also improve outcomes over the long term.
Instead, what we have are politicians that seek to implement these changes, facing off against politicians that will adamantly refuse to consider them at all - then undo them and reverse them when they have the political power to do so. We don't have a continuing, iterative process towards equity; we have people losing their rights right now because there's a political will to undo any progressive work done since 1776.
And you can't really blame it only on right wing populism, because they only exploited opinions that already existed - especially working class tends to be socially conservative pretty much across cultures regardless of current political leadership, and the groups that opposed progressive policies that seem clearly unfair from some point of view seemed to be wider than just working class in the US, that's a generator for backlash.
I hate to say it but you and I agree, for the most part. I absolutely blame right-wing populism, but you're right that they "only exploited opinions that already existed". There's A LOT of racism in The United States - as I've said, it is foundational to the country - so when groups started framing it as "Asians are losing college admissions to Black people" or "Immigrants are taking your jobs", they are specifically playing to the inherent racism in this country. And quite frankly, I only ever see the right-wingers doing this play.
But when we go back to the example of working class people in Appalachia, sizeable groups lived in company towns and were economically exploited before proper worker protections emerged, so they have similar issues in this area. I'm not discounting the other problems you mention, but similarly to poor Asians these people are going to rightfully feel it's unfair.
But again, it's not "unfair". Yes, working-class people in Appalachia have been given a shit hand. But Affirmative Action standards were not created just to put any ol' Black, Asian, or other racialized person into college or into a job without qualifications. They were created specifically to ensure equal hiring and admission practices, given appropriate qualifications.
In fact, that's one of the reasons why Affirmative Action and other DEI programs are being killed by the current administration. They (the white supremacists in power) have claimed that people were getting their jobs/admissions/etc without proper qualifications, over the "better skilled" white people. This simply isn't true, never has been true.
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Comment on "Ai ni, laoji": China's Gen Z is breaking tradition by learning self-love (English) in ~health.mental
Drewbahr Link ParentI think there's a few steps between "treat yourself to a milk tea" and the "fuck you, got mine" attitudes of the US in the 80s ... not to mention, cultural differences.I think there's a few steps between "treat yourself to a milk tea" and the "fuck you, got mine" attitudes of the US in the 80s ... not to mention, cultural differences.
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Comment on What are some stories of progressivism gone wrong in implementation? in ~society
Drewbahr (edited )Link ParentThe point of affirmative action and similar policies is to actually establish fairness, not to make the scales uneven. It exists/existed because there is a bias against non-white people in hiring...The point of affirmative action and similar policies is to actually establish fairness, not to make the scales uneven. It exists/existed because there is a bias against non-white people in hiring and academia, and it sought to make hiring practices more representative of the population.
I'm on mobile so I'll flesh this out later, on a proper computer.
EDIT: Now I'm on a proper computer.
We need to define what the word "privilege" means in this, any arguably any, context. When people talk about things like "white privilege", it doesn't (necessarily) mean that they're financially stable. It doesn't mean that they're given things because they're white. "White privilege" refers to the fact that "white" and whiteness is considered to be "the default" in American culture. It refers to the fact that most white people don't have to worry about their family being murdered when a cop shows up at their door. It refers to the fact that most white people don't have to worry about how "ethnic" their name sounds on a job application.
Affirmative Action is often viewed through an economic lens, much as has been done here. The notion that because there's poor white people living alongside rich Black or Asian people, that must mean that Affirmative Action is somehow providing benefit to people that don't always need it. There's the classic "they're an AA hire" comment that follows around anyone that isn't white that finds themselves in any upper-tier corporate position.
But Affirmative Action, in my opinion, needs to be looked at from a more societal lens. Non-white people throughout American history have been held back from being able to acquire generational wealth. Yes, there are rich Black families, rich Asian families, poor white families ... all of those are true! But go back in time just a couple of generations, and ask the same question - how many rich Black families were there in the early 20th Century? How many rich Asian families were there in the 1800s?
Affirmative Action sought to correct some of those imbalances - not by giving benefits to Black or Asian people only, at the expense of white people; but rather, by raising up non-white people so that they can be on the same footing. Culturally, it has the added benefit of putting people of color into positions that they, historically, have been kept out of - meaning, those "good ol' boys clubs" where you only see white people, now have a spattering of Black, Asian, and other ethnicities. Given a long enough timeline, it would mean that it's no longer unusual to see them there. It goes from "they're a DEI hire" to "they're a hire", because it's no longer unexpected to see people of color in those roles.
I'm reminded of a comedian talking about the Black Lives Matter movement, and how there was a very outspoken side of people against it. They would loudly shout "ALL LIVES MATTER", complaining about the focus on Black people where white people were killed more frequently in the USA, or complaining "WHAT ABOUT ASIAN PEOPLE" or the like. The comedian pointed out that the term "Black Lives Matter" said only that - that Black lives matter. Not that they matter more. Not that only they matter. Just that they matter. And people got stirred into a craze over it.
I know people will say that ethnicity doesn't exist - humanity is one group. Genetically, everyone everywhere is indistinguishable. "Race" is an invention and shouldn't matter or exist. And I agree with all of that! The trouble is, in the United States race does exist. Ethnicity does exist. It has for centuries and is foundational to everything this country is based on.
I think the end goal, for everyone, is probably for the world, if not just The United States, to become truly colorblind. Ideally, it shouldn't matter what color your skin is, what shape your eyes are, what texture your hair is. But we don't live in that world right now. We have to acknowledge that these differences exist (even if only politically!), and we have to fight against the injustices being wrought against people based on them.
The goal was never to create a place where only Black, or Asian, or anyone else gets benefits at the expense of everyone else. It was simply to create actual equity, to level the playing field.
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Comment on What are some stories of progressivism gone wrong in implementation? in ~society
Drewbahr Link ParentOnce you realize that the term "white" has little, in reality, to do with skin color, and more to do with political power, it starts to make more sense. Irish weren't white until they were. Same...Once you realize that the term "white" has little, in reality, to do with skin color, and more to do with political power, it starts to make more sense.
Irish weren't white until they were. Same with Italians, same with Greeks, same with Germans at various points.
Whiteness (and race generally) has always, always been a slippery categorization tool, intentionally flexible to create and adjust in and out groups.
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Comment on What are some stories of progressivism gone wrong in implementation? in ~society
Drewbahr Link ParentMaybe the fact that those voices are the ones getting banned is telling too.Maybe the fact that those voices are the ones getting banned is telling too.
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Comment on What are some stories of progressivism gone wrong in implementation? in ~society
Drewbahr Link ParentIf someone is going to wade into a heated and challenging topic, it's best to do it in a less haphazard way. And if one does it haphazardly, it's best to be willing to eat crow and acknowledge...If someone is going to wade into a heated and challenging topic, it's best to do it in a less haphazard way. And if one does it haphazardly, it's best to be willing to eat crow and acknowledge that they fucked it up.
I've done it before - waded into conversations and situations that I was underprepared for, on topics that go certain directions. I've been called out on where I use imprecise language, said something racist or some other -ist. And I take those circumstances as learning opportunities - to do better, to be better.
If these sorts of threads keep popping up, and Tildes continues to shed people from marginalized or underrepresented backgrounds and/or with other perspectives, then it does say something about the "homogeneity" here.
I wear regular boxers, because I like them. I don't like briefs and I don't like boxer briefs.