Fisking That Infamous White Culture Infographic, VII

Continued from here. (Or you can start at the beginning.)

Competition:

• Be #1
• Win at all costs
• Winner/loser dichotomy

Not in my white America. In my white America, good sportsmanship and hard work (independent of winning) is highly prized. We don't love Rudy because the guy was the best football player Notre Dame ever had. He wasn't. He only played in one game, and only for a little while. But we're inspired by him anyway because he tried despite a whole host of debilities that would've discouraged other boys with less courage.

In my white America, stories abound of athletes falling back to assist beloved teammates who are struggling, of less able kids being included in games to honor their spirits, of teams being celebrated for stunning efforts despite tragic losses -- basically any kind, cooperative gesture you can name. Then there are the millions of white Americans who loyally follow teams that have never won a championship -- that, in fact, represent the bottom rungs of their respective leagues. (My brother, for example, loves the Seattle Mariners. When have they been #1?) 

We are not all about winning. We like to win, but we definitely don't think it's worth abandoning good morals or community pride. So which white people, exactly, have you been talking to?

• Action orientation
• Master and control nature

Yeah, see, this is coming from the noble savage myth. Many maleducated folks mistakenly believe that human societies lived in harmony with nature prior to the era of European dominance and industrialization. But that's not true. Every human group has attempted to mold nature to its purposes. The fact that these other civilizations didn't have paved roads, smoke stacks, and the like doesn't mean they were not clear-cutting forests, decimating wild animal herds, clothing and sheltering themselves against the elements, etc. 

• Must always "do something" about a situation

So you prefer we sit there passively and just let the chips fall where they may? What are you even talking about?

• Aggressiveness and Extroversion

Where's your evidence that these individual personality traits follow a racialized pattern? As a white introvert who has read many books on the upsides of introversion written by other white introverts, I reject your proposition that extroversion is somehow indelibly linked to my color. On the contrary, the most aggressive, extroverted people I've ever met have all been black.

(And by the way, this bullet completely contradicts another bullet we will discuss in the next post.)

• Decision-Making

Never make decisions, kids. Dithering uselessly is more properly anti-racist.

• Majority rules (when Whites have power)

Excuse me, but we're not the ones proposing that our Electoral College and our Senate be abolished so the urban majority can lord it over the rural minority. That's you.

No: the American system was specifically designed to slow down the passions of the majority so minority interests wouldn't be forgotten. Our Founders had a deep fear of pure democracy because in their studies of history, they'd seen how such a system repeatedly led to widespread abuses of the 49% by the 51%. 

Did the real-world results, historically, always reflect the aforementioned principal intent? No -- but we've been continuously evolving in that direction thanks to the blueprints those dead white men laid. The rights of many minorities are now far more respected, institutionally, than they have ever been.

Majority rules my butt.

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