Is it "OK to be white"?
In the span of a few days, Dilbert — a cartoon lampooning workplace culture by Scott Adams — was dropped by hundreds of newspapers. The backlash was in response to a racist rant that Adams posted on YouTube in which he described Black Americans as "a hate group" and advised white people "to get the hell away from Black people."
Adams was reacting to a poll by Rasmussen Reports, Donald Trump's favorite pollster. The survey of 1000 Americans asked respondents if they agreed or disagreed with the statement: “It’s OK to be white.” Overall, 72% of Americans said they agreed with the phrase and 12% said they disagreed. Among Black Americans, 53% agreed and 26% disagreed.
Adams concluded this was evidence that "nearly half of all Blacks are not OK with White people." But it probably reflects a greater familiarity among Black Americans about the origins and use of the phrase used in the poll. "It's OK to be white," or IOTBW, was created by racist trolls and later adopted by neo-Nazis and white supremacists.
"It's OK to be white" was popularized in 2017 on the 4chan message board, a popular hangout for online racists and other trolls. The phrase had floated around 4chan for several years, and was used synonymously with another racist rallying cry, "white pride." In October 2017, "an anonymous author suggested printing the saying on flyers and placing them on high school and college campuses." The point of the flyers was to provoke a backlash that can be used to "prove" that the media is "anti-white." This would convince "normies" — a derisive term for non-racist white people — that the media hates white people and ultimately persuade some of them to align themselves with the alt-right or white nationalism.
Brian Friedberg and Joan Donovan, researchers at Harvard's Shorenstein Center, documented how the campaign to inject IOTBW into the national consciousness through fliers was highly organized. The leaders of the campaign "spread instructional images on 4chan" which "acted like a style guide, specifying that the memetic flyers be simple, with black letters on a white background, and must not contain any additional advertisements for white supremacist groups, websites, or communities, should not attribute authorship or include links to 4chan."
That campaign was quite successful. In short order, Milo Yiannopoulos, a right-wing provocateur who collaborates with white supremacists, began selling IOTBW t-shirts on his Facebook page. The Daily Stormer, a white nationalist website, and former KKK grand wizard David Duke began promoting the campaign.
It eventually generated coverage in mainstream media sources like The Washington Post and The Boston Globe, which noted the slogan's racist origins. Inevitably, Fox News' Tucker Carlson joined in, blasting the media coverage and defending the slogan. "The sentiment 'it’s okay to be white' is now a hate crime. Ok, so what’s the correct position?" Carlson asked. "That it’s not okay to be white?"
The 4chan trolls celebrated.
The Rasmussen poll accepts the premise of the racist trolls on 4chan, framing any opposition to the phrase as "anti-white." But the Anti-Defamation League considers IOTBW to be a hate slogan.
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https://popular.info/p/is-it-ok-to-be-white
"Mickey Mouse and I grew up together." - Ruthie Tompson, Disney animation checker and scene planner and one of the first women to become a member of the International Photographers Union in 1952.
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Ive always a thought of Adams as a self-hating office schlump, as in his unfunny cartoon. Nothing he’s done lately has changed my mind.
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I was not aware of IOTBW. Learned something new. If people responding to the poll knew it was a racist meme, then they probably would say no to the question because they understood the underlying premise.
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I was not aware of it either.
"Mickey Mouse and I grew up together." - Ruthie Tompson, Disney animation checker and scene planner and one of the first women to become a member of the International Photographers Union in 1952.
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Adams has been asking people to watch his -MULTIPLE HOUR- livestreams in order to understand the context of his rant and why it isn't racist. Asked to boil it down, he still miserably fails.
https://twitter.com/ScottAdamsSays/stat ... 03520?s=20
https://twitter.com/ScottAdamsSays/stat ... 03520?s=20
Scott Adams @ScottAdamsSays wrote: I've been asked to summarize my current situation so you don't need to watch hours of live stream to understand the nuance.
Summary:
Me: Avoid people who have been primed by the media to be racist against you.
Media: Raaaaacist!
Public: Baaaah! Baaaaah! Cancel him!
The end
“Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.” —John Adams
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In other words, he still thinks he said something important and honest, and it's everyone else who is reacting based on stupidity and hatred.
He thinks it's really important to convince and persuade you that he hasn't learned anything from the incident, and he would sincerely appreciate it if you could find it in your heart to think he's a victim.
Clueless in a nutshell.
He thinks it's really important to convince and persuade you that he hasn't learned anything from the incident, and he would sincerely appreciate it if you could find it in your heart to think he's a victim.
Clueless in a nutshell.
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Yeah, but he’s conceding the public, who are all sheep unlike his manly lone wolf, thinks he’s a jerk.Foggy wrote: ↑Fri Mar 03, 2023 11:48 am In other words, he still thinks he said something important and honest, and it's everyone else who is reacting based on stupidity and hatred.
He thinks it's really important to convince and persuade you that he hasn't learned anything from the incident, and he would sincerely appreciate it if you could find it in your heart to think he's a victim.
Clueless in a nutshell.
Public: Baaaah! Baaaaah! Cancel him!
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I used to enjoy Dilbert cartoons, back in the - remember it? - last century. I don't recall anything indicating Scott Adams might have nasty views then. But I remember his arrogant shitty blog describing how he knew Trump was going to win and then crowing about how he had called it right. That stank, because he clearly took joy in Trump winning, which makes him an incontrovertible asshole.
Perhaps he has always been an asshole. But I wonder if he, like Elon Musk, like some successful entertainers, assumed that his (lucky?) success in one narrow field after having one good idea proved that he was better than us poor folk in all fields? And, by extension, that his opinion was more important than ours.
Perhaps he has always been an asshole. But I wonder if he, like Elon Musk, like some successful entertainers, assumed that his (lucky?) success in one narrow field after having one good idea proved that he was better than us poor folk in all fields? And, by extension, that his opinion was more important than ours.
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Cartoons are a medium, and cartoonists are members of the media.
He wants to blame the media, but his real complaint is that he's not a member of the media any more.
When he was a popular cartoonist, I don't remember him using his platform to tell me to avoid people who have been primed by the media to be racist against me. His cartoons weren't social commentary. Or maybe I didn't read enough into them.
I don't know what "primed by the media" even means. I never watch the Tee Vee and I don't listen to radio, and the media has a hard time reaching me, but I read some newspapers online and I haven't noticed them priming anybody to be racist against me. And in all honesty, I can detect the influence of my white privilege a lot more clearly than I can detect any black racism against me because I'm white. There's no contest which is the more powerful influence on the course of my life. Being a white man still opens a lot of doors.
And the same thing is true for Scott Adams. He lives a life of basking in white privilege, if he opened his eyes to see it.
And when were any black people mean to him? Do the black store owners follow him around when he's shopping in their stores, because they think white people are known to be shoplifters? Is that the kind of discrimination he's suffering from those mean black people? Or is it that he can't use the municipal swimming pool or the water fountain in the black cities? I mean, he should be a little more specific about the racism he has suffered because of his pale skin, 'cuz I'm not buyin' it.
He wants to blame the media, but his real complaint is that he's not a member of the media any more.
When he was a popular cartoonist, I don't remember him using his platform to tell me to avoid people who have been primed by the media to be racist against me. His cartoons weren't social commentary. Or maybe I didn't read enough into them.
I don't know what "primed by the media" even means. I never watch the Tee Vee and I don't listen to radio, and the media has a hard time reaching me, but I read some newspapers online and I haven't noticed them priming anybody to be racist against me. And in all honesty, I can detect the influence of my white privilege a lot more clearly than I can detect any black racism against me because I'm white. There's no contest which is the more powerful influence on the course of my life. Being a white man still opens a lot of doors.
And the same thing is true for Scott Adams. He lives a life of basking in white privilege, if he opened his eyes to see it.
And when were any black people mean to him? Do the black store owners follow him around when he's shopping in their stores, because they think white people are known to be shoplifters? Is that the kind of discrimination he's suffering from those mean black people? Or is it that he can't use the municipal swimming pool or the water fountain in the black cities? I mean, he should be a little more specific about the racism he has suffered because of his pale skin, 'cuz I'm not buyin' it.
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Sorta like his comic strip, amirite?Foggy wrote: ↑Fri Mar 03, 2023 11:48 am In other words, he still thinks he said something important and honest, and it's everyone else who is reacting based on stupidity and hatred.
He thinks it's really important to convince and persuade you that he hasn't learned anything from the incident, and he would sincerely appreciate it if you could find it in your heart to think he's a victim.
Clueless in a nutshell.
"Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go." O. Wilde
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No escaping accountability!
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-15/ ... /102098696
A Romanian court has denied social media personality Andrew Tate's request to be released on bail from police custody pending a criminal investigation into alleged sex trafficking.
Key points:
Tate has been in police detention in Romania since December 29
His request for restricted release from custody was deemed "inadmissible in principle" by a Bucharest court
Prosecutors suspect him of human trafficking, rape and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women
Tate, his brother Tristan and two Romanian female suspects have been under police detention since December 29 as prosecutors investigate them for suspected human trafficking, rape and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women — accusations they have denied.
While in detention, Tate has made multi-pronged attempts to defend himself, including trying to recruit politicians to his cause and attempting to intimidate some of his alleged victims, according to wire taps of his phone calls submitted to the court by prosecutors.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-15/ ... /102098696
A Romanian court has denied social media personality Andrew Tate's request to be released on bail from police custody pending a criminal investigation into alleged sex trafficking.
Key points:
Tate has been in police detention in Romania since December 29
His request for restricted release from custody was deemed "inadmissible in principle" by a Bucharest court
Prosecutors suspect him of human trafficking, rape and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women
Tate, his brother Tristan and two Romanian female suspects have been under police detention since December 29 as prosecutors investigate them for suspected human trafficking, rape and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women — accusations they have denied.
While in detention, Tate has made multi-pronged attempts to defend himself, including trying to recruit politicians to his cause and attempting to intimidate some of his alleged victims, according to wire taps of his phone calls submitted to the court by prosecutors.
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He seems a bit dim. Was he unaware that his communications from jail would be monitored? Did he think speaking English would confuse and mystify the Romanian police? Some studies claim that Romania has one of the highest percentages of people who speak English as a second language in the world. Oops...Dave from down under wrote: ↑Wed Mar 15, 2023 1:41 am While in detention, Tate has made multi-pronged attempts to defend himself, including trying to recruit politicians to his cause and attempting to intimidate some of his alleged victims, according to wire taps of his phone calls submitted to the court by prosecutors.
Tate is not unlike deceased SovCit loser Terry Trussell, who complained in court about his health: frail, unable to walk, dehydrated, unable to eat or have a bowel movement, etc. In response, the jailers showed video of Trussell only days earlier walking repeatedly up and down stairs at the jail quite easily, and swigging down water from conveniently located water fountains multiple times a day. He clearly thought that both the judge and the corrections officers were much stupider than he was. But he was easily caught by professionals who had seen his stunts many times before.
People like Tate are amusing because they think the amount of money they have means they're smarter than people with less money. But Tate has apparently taken too many head shots in his MMA fighting career and underestimates those who want to bring him down.
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I hope he goes down… hard.. consecutive sentence and no parole.
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GOP Lawmaker: I've Never Met Any Poors, So Kids Don't Need Free Lunch
"I have yet to meet a person in Minnesota that is hungry," he said.
"I have yet to meet a person in Minnesota that is hungry," he said.
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The only ones starving are just fekkin peasants, and do they even count?bill_g wrote: ↑Wed Mar 15, 2023 6:13 pm GOP Lawmaker: I've Never Met Any Poors, So Kids Don't Need Free Lunch
"I have yet to meet a person in Minnesota that is hungry," he said.
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Guess he doesn't know any public school teachers. They could tell him about hungry kids.bill_g wrote: ↑Wed Mar 15, 2023 6:13 pm GOP Lawmaker: I've Never Met Any Poors, So Kids Don't Need Free Lunch
"I have yet to meet a person in Minnesota that is hungry," he said.
Having been the spouse and father of public school teachers for many years and now being the father of a child advocate who works with the courts I have heard heartbreaking stories.
For example, the 6 young siblings near here in foster care that were placed with 4 different foster families. They get together for a couple of hours once a month for a meal at a Dairy Queen or some such so they don't forget each other. They have not yet been assigned a permanent advocate so our daughter, an advocate supervisor, has been attending these meetings.
Mrs. V has had students suddenly impoverished when their father (and/or mother) ends up in jail. And good luck getting those parents to sign a report card or a permission slip.
Mrs. V was an elementary level music teacher. Her 5th grade students studied recorders. They had to buy their own thru the school for, as best I recall, $2. I helped Mrs. V with the money. The more well off parents would send their kids in with checks. The not so well off would send in two $1 bills. Quite a few would send in coins that appeared to have been scrounged from the backs of furniture or the floors of cars. So many pennies and nickels I counted.
“If everyone fought for their own convictions there would be no war.” ― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace
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Let them eat cake!
Good point. It happens at the other end of a lifetime as well. I found food insecurity in our neighborhood while helping seniors with simple home repair tasks. That became the basis for the weekly Sunday Dinners at our house.
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In my Florida county, we offer the students free breakfast too. There is no means test.
Although that may all end under DeSantis.
Although that may all end under DeSantis.
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I'd bet that a lot of Republican politicians ignore poverty in their area because they blame people for being poor. If children can't afford their school lunches, it's because their welfare queen mothers are squandering the thousands they receive from the government on TVs, clothes, and eating out. The obvious solution, for the Republicans, then, is to cut programs for the poor.
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Yeah. After all, everyone knows that giving money to poor people only encourages poverty.MN-Skeptic wrote: ↑Thu Mar 16, 2023 12:27 pm I'd bet that a lot of Republican politicians ignore poverty in their area because they blame people for being poor. If children can't afford their school lunches, it's because their welfare queen mothers are squandering the thousands they receive from the government on TVs, clothes, and eating out. The obvious solution, for the Republicans, then, is to cut programs for the poor.
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Sure does, have you ever noticed how many poor people are on Welfare?noblepa wrote: ↑Thu Mar 16, 2023 12:45 pmYeah. After all, everyone knows that giving money to poor people only encourages poverty.MN-Skeptic wrote: ↑Thu Mar 16, 2023 12:27 pm I'd bet that a lot of Republican politicians ignore poverty in their area because they blame people for being poor. If children can't afford their school lunches, it's because their welfare queen mothers are squandering the thousands they receive from the government on TVs, clothes, and eating out. The obvious solution, for the Republicans, then, is to cut programs for the poor.
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Spicer has a new children’s book out, they are all the rage these days. It teaches children “the dangers of fake news.”
“Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.” —John Adams
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But that’s not grooming, no sir.