Sunday, May 31, 2020

It's unsettling, this otherizing, and I don't think Governor Evers noticed he was doing this.

From "We cannot let the work of a few undermine the pain felt by our Black neighbors or distract from the source of this grief and anger—we must remember George Floyd..." by Ann Althouse. I keep referring to my irritation with the implicit sexism and racism of the left. Althouse is pointing out an example from her Governor (of Wisconsin)
A series of tweets by our Governor, Tony Evers.

He says "our Black neighbors," so he is assuming that the reader is not black. Black people are the other. Speaking only to white people, apparently, Evers portrays black people as emotional: "the pain felt... this grief and anger.... anger and grief... our neighbors who are hurting." He tells us, "we must respond with our empathy and compassion." In this conception, we the white people have empathy and compassion, not raw and dangerous emotion like anger, and we are the ones who are spoken to with the implied belief that we are capable of controlling ourselves and behaving in a forbearing, beneficent manner as we look upon The Other, our black neighbors. It's unsettling, this otherizing, and I don't think Governor Evers noticed he was doing this. Ironically, he wants the "us" group he's addressing to be vigilant about "systemic" racism.

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