14 Comments
Aug 2, 2023Liked by Tana Ganeva

I'm a white guy in my fifties who enjoys inherited wealth. I'm not without positive attributes, but I know my life is easy and that my character, abilities, and accomplishments aren't why this is so.

One thing I find deeply frustrating about other rich white guys who've had everything handed to them is that they don't appreciate how much social spending to spread prosperity and opportunities to everyone actually makes us richer, because they care more about having power over others than actually living well themselves.

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I’m a white 57 year old male who spent 38 years as a Automotive Product Development Engineer. I was laid off 2 years ago and can’t find a job to literally save my life. So, there are two sides to your story.

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Booker's story is a good example of why only fools use social media.

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Where in your column do you get to the part where the problem is connected to white supremacy? You point to problems with the schools, problems with the immigration system, and criminal justice problems.

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author

Oh I thought it was obvious. There's no logical reason to oppose a guy who sold a little weed working, or immigrants from coming, unless you're committed to a status quo that results in different outcomes for immigrants and native born people of color.

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Those are bad policies, but you are wrong to say there is no logical reason for them other than white supremacy. In each example the policy can be applied equally to people of any color. When these policies are subjectively applied to people of color and not everyone, that demonstrates the government official is acting in a racist manner. That doesn't make the policy a "white supremacist" policy.

Are there logical reasons people would oppose someone convicted of certain crimes from working some jobs? Obviously yes.

Are there logical reasons why people support limited immigration? Obviously yes, and not just in the USA.

When you say there is no logical reason for something other than "white supremacy", you are calling anyone who sees other logical reasons a racist. It's lazy, and counterproductive to reforming bad policy.

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author

Um. Yes, I wouldn't hire a convicted pedophile sex offender to be a Kindergarten teacher. But a guy that had a little pot on him 4 years ago can probably be trusted to work at a restaurant. And the fact that other countries also restrict immigration—at the expense of people's lives—doesn't make it right.

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Separate countries exist to protect the delineation between different cultures, languages, and yes... even races. A polity should share thousands, if not millions of points of cultural reference in common. Were it not for this, a single world government wouldn't be a problem. Instead, we have nothing but conflict. You can lie to yourself all you want, but we are nothing more than mammals and none of us are above nature. To accept your own destruction in service to this bizarre moral imperative just doesn't make sense if you think about it. This wasn't even controversial until very recently.

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And it wouldn't matter what color the pedophile is. Many immigration restrictions are bad policy also. But you made the claim these are issues of white supremacy, not bad policy. You need to defend your position on racism, not your position on policy. I was a subscriber because I thought you would be providing insightful policy content, and I unsubscribed today now that I see you choose to be lazy and say "white supremacy" rather than provide constructive input and commentary on policy.

Perhaps in the future you'll write something interesting on policy rather than, America Racist drivel, until then, I can find other thoughtful policy content to consume.

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Aug 1, 2023Liked by Tana Ganeva

Actually, white supremacy fueled the racist war on drugs which has trapped Booker Dunbar and millions of other Black people since the 1970s, making them ineligible for employment, housing, voting, and in many cases even the right to parent their kids (because they can’t find work or housing).

Sure, on its face the war on drugs looks “colorblind,” but it was targeted at, and has always disproportionately affected, Black communities.

This is what systemic racism looks like -- and one of its most insidious qualities is how it does the work of white supremacy without having to do so with explicit intentionality.

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I would urge you to read Aedon Cassiel's article "Is the War on Drugs Racist?". I don't know why he chose to attribute his article to "Alan Smithee" (he used his usual alias at the time), but it still is a good read:

https://counter-currents.com/2017/02/is-the-war-on-drugs-racist/

Those of us who are blue-collar and white but live in poor urban black areas have a much different view of the world than what is typical of upper-middle class whites who live in urban Yuppie Green Zones. We get along just fine with people of all races but we also don't shy away from our preference for "White Supremacist" policy. And you might be surprised with how many of our black neighbors are "White Supremacists" as well. None of us want to live in a criminal-infested hellscape.

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Native-born "people of color" commit a LOT more violent crime than people without color. Especially when you're looking at densely packed urban centers, where most of the employment opportunities are (and, by extension, most of the POCs). If a pattern of disparate outcomes surfaces as a result, this shouldn't surprise anybody. We used to call this "Common Sense", but that ship has sailed.

I agree that the man you chose to use as an example is a sympathetic character, and that it probably doesn't serve anyone's interests to keep a boot on his neck. But you, and others like you, tend to cherry-pick these examples to make a point, and it's not entirely honest.

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Sorry about the dipshits popping up in your comments... oof. (Hey guys. Do some introspection on why more black people are in jail for marijuana-related sentences than white people per capita. Or uh, the whole crack vs. cocaine sentencing debacle which is well-documented AND STILL ONGOING, if I remember right.)

Just want to point out you have a sentence that starts "The CATO Institute (yes yes...)" that never finishes what you wanted to say about CATO on immigration.

Proudhon would roll over in his grave if he learned what current US "libertarians" believe, haha...

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Wow. None of this is surprising but it is still heartbreaking.

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