Digby has thoughts on divisiveness. He concedes that racism is bad, but the most dangerous example he seems able to come up with is the concept of white privilege. “We know what that led to,” he ominously intones, though it is not clear what, in fact, that led to.
The most highly educated generation this country has ever produced have been “taught they are helpless victims” and discouraged from excelling, apparently. Also, there’s the usual safe space straw man thrown in for good measure. (I’m looking forward to Digby’s take on the most recent development in fellow wordsmith Bret Stephens’ holy war against safe spaces.)
And then there’s “the Blacks.” They need to “forget” and “let go of the injustices heaped upon them from slavery through Jim Crow.” Seemingly content that he’s made his point, or at least his word count, Digby encourages us all (but especially “the blacks”) to simply “look forward.” Just move on; get over it. Definitely do not talk about his white privilege.
Thanks, Digby!
Tidewater News and Opinion Forum 
I’m not a huge fan of Digby’s, but I like what he says here about identity politics.
On another note: Pilot content sure is hard to read with all of the disruptive ads.
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ads? What do you use for a browser? Go into the “options” settings and turn on the “ad blocker” and/or “pop up blocker”. If that doesn’t work or you can’t find that in your browser, look for a “plug in” that will do it.
Or, download Firefox and use a “private window”. What else works is “text mode”. Brings the page in as text which makes the article infinitely easier to read.
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You want to get rid of identity politics? ( I wouldn’t mind myself) Get those on the right to stop with their intolerant ways of the other, be it race, sexual orientation, religion, or any of the other “identities” they treat differently. If everyone gets treated the same, there won’t be a reason to have to work for votes based on identity. -IMHO
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Sometimes I think they offer up the Digby Drivel just to garner more LTE, which is ironic since the now-ditched comment section would have exploded.
As for Digby’s dismissal of “white privilege” as a code word rather than an existing condition and his thumb-in-the-eye of the governor’s black face gaff, he should try John Griffin’s approach and walk a mile (or 1000) in both sets of shoes at the same time.
I cannot imagine a more perfect example of a white privileged society than one where the leader laments the lack of “Normanian” immigrants.
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Digby continues to strike me as a shallow thinker attempting to appear otherwise. His take(s) here is rife with hyperbole and outright falsehoods.
“Entire generation” ?
“universities are becoming bastions of illiberal thought”
When you gather, as he seems to, your “facts” from media talking heads I guess this is what you get..
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The Pundit’s Fallacy on display in the most literal sense.
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The “white privilege” thing has largely been played-up as a result of the push back from white people who have benefited from it and refuse to recognize its obvious advantageous existence.
If the reaction to the reality to the obvious had simply been, “yeah, it has been an unfair advantage, let’s do better”, it would have been an accepted circumstance that could be more effectively dealt with.
For those typically old white people continuing to reject the reality there is no hope, but they will die soon, and maybe even the privilege they grew up with will as well…
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“The “white privilege” thing has largely been played-up as a result of the push back from white people who have benefited from it and refuse to recognize its obvious advantageous existence.”
I think it’s less a refusal than an incapability. The idea that you may have been bequeathed material benefits that are at least partially responsible for your station in life contradicts one of the most sacred American creation myths–the rugged individualist frontiersman, born with nothing but his God-given “Liberty,” out to conquer an empty land and make his way in the world.
Pair this with equal parts America’s unique brand of Protestantism, in which righteousness is directly correlated with wealth and success, and you can see the cognitive dissonance required to understand white privilege.
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I’m dissatisfied with Digby Solomon, too, but for a different reason.
His piece is strictly formulaic. The basic argument is infinitely flexible, given the endless supply of new particulars to rag on about:
We need a human (or humane) solution.
Let’s compromise/confess our sins/learn to do better for the common good.
Significantly, Solomon never quite explains what the common good might be. Here, he merely catalogs how we should all be ashamed of ourselves for one reason or another.
The formula is of a piece with bad book reviews that end with the command, “Read this book.” In this case, “Read this book” comes out as “But it’s a start, one we can put into practice every day.”
I bristle at writing, especially Pilot commentaries, that pretend to tell me what to do.
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I have to say “well bristled” (partly just to get the opportunity to write “bristled” before I die…
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