Let’s hope the Boston Marathon bomber is a white American

[cali]

As we now move into the official Political Aftermath period of the Boston bombing — the period that will determine the long-term legislative fallout of the atrocity — the dynamics of privilege will undoubtedly influence the nation’s collective reaction to the attacks. That’s because privilege tends to determine: 1) which groups are — and are not — collectively denigrated or targeted for the unlawful actions of individuals; and 2) how big and politically game-changing the overall reaction ends up being.

This has been most obvious in the context of recent mass shootings. In those awful episodes, a religious or ethnic minority group lacking such privilege would likely be collectively slandered and/or targeted with surveillance or profiling (or worse) if some of its individuals comprised most of the mass shooters. However, white male privilege means white men are not collectively denigrated/targeted for those shootings — even though most come at the hands of white dudes.

Likewise, in the context of terrorist attacks, such privilege means white non-Islamic terrorists are typically portrayed not as representative of whole groups or ideologies, but as “lone wolf” threats to be dealt with as isolated law enforcement matters. Meanwhile, non-white or developing-world terrorism suspects are often reflexively portrayed as representative of larger conspiracies, ideologies and religions that must be dealt with as systemic threats — the kind potentially requiring everything from law enforcement action to military operations to civil liberties legislation to foreign policy shifts.

“White privilege is knowing that even if the bomber turns out to be white, no one will call for your group to be profiled as terrorists as a result, subjected to special screening or threatened with deportation,” writes author Tim Wise. “White privilege is knowing that if this bomber turns out to be white, the United States government will not bomb whatever corn field or mountain town or stale suburb from which said bomber came, just to ensure that others like him or her don’t get any ideas. And if he turns out to be a member of the Irish Republican Army we won’t bomb Dublin. And if he’s an Italian-American Catholic we won’t bomb the Vatican.”

Because of these undeniable and pervasive double standards, the specific identity of the Boston Marathon bomber (or bombers) is not some minor detail — it will almost certainly dictate what kind of governmental, political and societal response we see in the coming weeks. That means regardless of your particular party affiliation, if you care about everything from stopping war to reducing the defense budget to protecting civil liberties to passing immigration reform, you should hope the bomber was a white domestic terrorist. Why? Because only in that case will privilege work to prevent the Boston attack from potentially undermining progress on those other issues

<snip>

http://www.salon.com/2013/04/16/lets_hope_the_boston_marathon_bomber_is_a_white_american/

[RBInMaine]

1. Let's hope the criminal(s) is/are caught, and race doesn't matter a bit.

[cali]

2. I don't think your post is at all responsive to the article.

[raccoon]

3. I bet it's a white American. Probably a Timothy McVeigh type.

I like this quote:

"There is a double standard: White terrorists are dealt with as lone wolves, Islamists are existential threats "

[cali]

5. I don't

think it's this group or that or this kind of individual or that. It could be anyone. I do get what the author is saying and think he makes some valid points.

[JaneQPublic]

4. Either he is or he isn't; no amount of "hoping" will change that. (nt)

[cali]

6. yes, but that's simply not the point the author is making.

[CalFresh]

7. This

trash form salon is counterproductive to what we need. Very sad to see it.

[Agschmid]

8. Alerted, I figure we will all want to know.

At Wed Apr 17, 2013, 11:07 AM an alert was sent on the following post:

Let’s hope the Boston Marathon bomber is a white American
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022690733

REASON FOR ALERT:

This post is disruptive, hurtful, rude, insensitive, over-the-top, or otherwise inappropriate. (See <a href="http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=aboutus#communitystandards" target="_blank">Community Standards</a>.)

ALERTER'S COMMENTS:

This is an expression of bigotry whether the author realizes it or not.

You served on a randomly-selected Jury of DU members which reviewed this post. The review was completed at Wed Apr 17, 2013, 11:10 AM, and the Jury voted 2-4 to LEAVE IT.

Juror #1 voted to HIDE IT and said: It is bigotry. How about "Let's hope they're caught" regardless of race.
Juror #2 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE and said: No explanation given
Juror #3 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE and said: No explanation given
Juror #4 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE and said: Bigotry against whom? If your claim is that it is bigotry against white Americans, well that is just laughable. If you claim is some other kind of bigotry, I guess I don't realize it either and you should have been more specific in your alert. IMO, it is a good article and there is no reason it shouldn't be posted and discussed on DU.
Juror #5 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE and said: No explanation given
Juror #6 voted to HIDE IT and said: cali I like you, it's funny I read this thread before the alert and went "ugh", I think CalFresh said it best "this is counterproductive to what we need.". Even though most times I love your posts this one I don't agree with and am going to vote to hide.

Thank you very much for participating in our Jury system, and we hope you will be able to participate again in the future.

[cali]

9. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that it was alerted on

but I am. It's written by a well known journalist and published in a source that is used frequently here.

[Agschmid]

10. I think the subject line is "alarming"? n/t

[cali]

11. ah, could well be.

[Fawke Em]

23. But that was the title of the article.

Read it via Twitter this morning.

[kenny blankenship]

12. Never ceases to amaze me how twisted people will allow themselves to get

in hopes of furthering their political agendas, and in their axe grinding.

I hope for a swift and sane end to the madness called the War on Terror. No one hopes for it more than I do. However, hoping -actually dwelling on the desire long enough to write about it- that the killer(s) behind some attack or other fits your idea of "the enemy", is within a hair of hoping that your enemy launches a future attack so you can blame them for it and use it as an excuse for pushing war or forcing through a political agenda. This is just very twisted and dangerous psychic terrain that one should extricate oneself from ASAP, with the help of qualified professionals if necessary.

[MineralMan]

13. I just hope they find the bomber. What he or she looks like

is irrelevant to me. Find the bomber and prosecute.

[snooper2]

14. So I notice you didn't put "white male" in the title but it's in the body of the "work"

7 points for trying to be sly...


I guess if it's a white woman or even 4 white women your narrative goes to shit right?

[cali]

16. Bring it up with Sirota and his editors at slate, genius.

I had zip nada jackshit to do with that. duh.

[snooper2]

18. thank you for recognizing my genius...and yes I see that is the original title post post

Sirota is our version of Karl Rove so I guess it is to be expected-

[CalFresh]

15. IMO

we should try to raise the bar in everything we do, read and say. I see our media in a race to lower that bar at every turn. How low can you go? The right wing guys on the radio. The left wing people on the internet. TV and movie people with their twitter posts. Please don't tell me how to feel or who to blame.

I have no idea who did this. All I saw was red blood on the ground, and the tears also looked the same to me.

Peace.

[Pointy_n_sharp]

17. Well... That was racist...

[RZM]

19. Anybody crossing their fingers hoping that the perp(s) are this or that type of person is an ass

And demonstrating that what they care about is not what happened but instead how it might be used to validate their views and shit on the views of others. It's pre-emptive posturing.

I don't give a damn if it was Islamists, anti-government kooks, or Sandy Duncan.

At this point it's going to be amusing no matter who it is because enough people are so invested in the perp's identity that quite a few are going to sound like fools when they try to spin the fact that they were wrong.

[a kennedy]

20. I really don't care who it IS, I just want it caught.......

[RZM]

21. +1. Let's catch them first

Kind of lame to worry about who they are when you don't even know who they are.

[Throd]

22. What an unmitigated load of shit.

I understand the premise and reject it.

[hughee99]

24. I thought this part was funny...

“White privilege is knowing that even if the bomber turns out to be white, no one will call for your group to be profiled as terrorists as a result, subjected to special screening or threatened with deportation,” writes author Tim Wise.

because here's the author David Sirota calling for the government to profile white men just last december.

http://www.salon.com/2012/12/17/would_the_u_s_government_profile_white_men/


As for me, I'll hope they catch the person/people regardless of race. I also hope Sirota gets a well deserved ration of shit for this ridiculous piece.