Hate is definitely a part of this malnourisment breakfast… but the common thread connecting all these forms of racism and sexism that I can see, is one group of people taking advantage of another group of people. Men don’t have to hate women in order to leverage sexist institutions for sexual or financial advantage. Slaveholders don’t need to hate their property in order to benefit financially. Hatred is certainly a factor when the inevitable pushback kicks in… but it’s not at the core of these horrible practices. People pull this shit because it pays off for them in a material way.
Making it be about hatred of the other, I fear it gives racists and sexists an out. They focus on the anger and hatred they are reputed to feel, and not finding it, conclude that they must not be part of the problem.
Focusing on hatred I think puts the bar far too low. The standard-especially in the era of Covid- needs to be an active concern for the well being of others, not merely the absence of hating their guts.
Somebody needs to make a bumper sticker that says
“heritage, not hate? Your heritage IS hate.” or “Funny how you hate treason when you support historical treason against the USA” with a pic of that flag next to it
I like this. Reminds me of a recent conversation with my boss, who is an amazing person in so many ways. She said, “I’ve always thought, if I’m not part of the problem, I must be part of the solution. I just realized that’s not enough anymore.” She’s reading How to be an Antiracist and working to redistrict her schools to rectify imbalances caused by redlining.
And you state it well: the absence hate is not the presence of compassion.
I decided to have a look at the guy’s œvre, and it does seem that he only plays the redneck in his videos. The fact that it’s getting harder to see exactly what he is making fun of is a sign that we live in dark times.
I like this, very thoughtful. But…is everyone with a southern accent considered a redneck now, or is that part of his self identification like the man in the original post?
Also at least historically a lot of his videos (I’ve been looking through it today) are targeted at the type. Explaining distrust of cops by using an analogy with ATF/BLM (the land one), etc.
Another fair point. I’m used to “redneck” being used as a pejorative, but if assuming that mantle makes the people who need to hear his message more receptive to hearing it, more the better.
