Loading ...Pat Buchanan Does it Again: Defending White Male Privilege
ByIn this video from MSNBC (on the long side, 16:08, but worth it), Pat Buchanan ardently defends white male privilege (h/t @kellieparker). And, Rachel Maddow offers a substantial challenge to him:
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I’ve written about Pat Buchanan here before, both here (online) and in my first book, White Lies (Routledge: 1997). In that book, part of what I did was lay out the ways that extremist white supremacist discourse in movement publications was similar to mainstream political discourse about race, and I mentioned then-presidential-candidate Pat Buchanan as one of those examples. I also investigated the ways that gender and race intersected in both extremist and mainstream discourse. In the video clip above, Buchanan goes on about the “white men who built this nation” and I have to say that what came immediately to mind for me was an image from a white supremacist publication (such as Tom Metzger’s “White Aryan Resistance,” or “WAR”) that I included in that book (on pages 34-35). Here’s a bit of the passage:
“The image is of a white man, with airplances and bridges in the background, and the accompanying text reads, ‘White Men Built This Nation, White Men Are This Nation!” (emphasis in the original). the images conveys several messages. It signals a link between race, ‘whiteness’ and masculinity, specifically ‘white men,’ such that white men are the central, indeed the only actors visible. …[The illustration] presumably refers to those materially involved in ‘building’ an infrastructure, those who literally ‘built’ the bridges, airplanes, and skyscrapers featured in the background. Meanwhile the image simultaneously obliterates the labor of racial and ethnic minorities, both men and women, whose labor did, in fact, build this country.”
Once again, there is little if any distinction between the argument that Pat Buchanan is making on MSNBC and the one that extremist white supremacist publications are making. Both are interested in defending white male privilege while ignoring the talents, hard work, and accomplishments of people of color whose labor has made this country wealth, yet who are, much too often, excluded from reaping the benefits of that labor.
@Nquest – Yeah, I get that. I just don’t like that people who’re telling the truth are compared equally to someone who’s inaccurate.
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@Nquest –
It was the first time they used it. Ginsburg mentioned the history of discrimination in the dissent, but it didn’t get much play.
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Joe, I am not finished with my research regarding your books, but I do see where you would get the “white frame thinking” from…I agree with you that it is ingrained into our heads, not from our parents, but from the time we enter school…It’s the “frame of mind of the American Patriot”…Right?? I am still in the beginning stages, but I like history, and have been researching a lot about “slavery” in general around the world..I am sure you know that there have been slaves from all cultures, since the beginning of time..I would like to discuss this with you at a later date…..However, I think that your site is very informational, regarding the African American slavery and culture, and I truly enjoyed the article, regarding American Indians..”Ingenious People”"”Thanks, MOM
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Mom-Joe, glad that has been helpful so far. Slavery is an important question. Yes, it has existed in many places. Yet, White-on-black enslavement, many scholars agree, was distinctively oppressive beyond many other slavery systems. For example, in many slavery systems, as in the ancient world. those enslaved could become educated or were otherwise treated better, or much better, than in the US system. Tis a long story. Whites invented and controlled the Atlantic slave trade for centuries, and 30 – 50 million Africans (and some indigenous people who were enslaved) died or were enslaved in that bloody system..
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To MOM:
Are you the Native American woman who was on the blog regarding the Valley Club swimming pool discrimation charges? The blog that was closed down?
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Cause I’ve got a long list of books for you to read linking/comparing Black Experience in America with Native American.
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Yes, Indian blood..My great grandmother was the Pocahontas of one of Lenape tribes in the northern states many years ago….Why do you ask?
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Mom: The people mentioned here are virtually all over the net. Just take your pick. You can find many of the books they wrote by simply going to Ebay, typing in Books and then their names. Hope you like reading them. I own The Invasion of America by Francis Jennings myself. Great read. Enjoy.
Deborah Batiste and Pamela Harris urge in a multicultural manual for teachers, “Avoid dwelling on the negatives which may be associated with a cultural or ethnic group. Every culture has positive characteristics which should be accentuated.” Historian Ronald Takaki argues that blacks, Hispanics, and American Indians were no less responsible than whites for shaping the ideas and institutions of the United States: “What we need is a new conceptualization of American history where there’s no center, and there’s no margin, but we have all these groups engaging in discourse . . . unlearning much of what we have been told . . . in the creation of a new society.”
In order to see the multicultural paradigm at work, we would do well to consider the passionate debate that has raged in the academy over the legacy of Christopher Columbus. Provoked by the five hundredth anniversary of the Columbus landing, virtually every leading advocate of multiculturalism-Edward Said, Stephen Greenblatt, Kirkpatrick Sale, Gary Nash, Ronald Takaki, Patricia Limerick, Garry Wills-lashed out against Columbus or his successors. Yet it is not Columbus the man who is being indicted but what he represents: the first tentative step toward the European settlement of the Americas. Consequently, the debate over Columbus is a debate over whether Western civilization was a good idea and whether it should continue to shape the United States. Many critics argue the negative:
“Columbus makes Hitler look like a juvenile delinquent,” asserts American Indian activist Russell Means.
Winona LaDuke deplores “the biological, technological, and ecological invasion that began with Columbus’ ill-fated voyage five hundred years ago.”
The National Council of Churches declares the anniversary of Columbus “not a time for celebration” but for “reflection and repentance” in which whites must acknowledge a continuing history of “oppression, degradation, and genocide.”
Historian Glenn Morris accuses Columbus of being “a murderer, a rapist, the architect of a policy of genocide that continues today.”
“Could it be that the human calamity caused by the arrival of Columbus,” African-American writer Ishmael Reed asks, “was a sort of dress rehearsal of what is to come as the ozone becomes more depleted, the earth warms, and the rain forests are destroyed?”
“All of us have been socialized to be racists and benefit from racism constantly,” Christine Slater laments in the journal Multicultural Education. “The very locations on which our homes rest should rightfully belong to Indian nations.”
Literary scholar Stephen Greenblatt alleges that Columbus “inaugurated the greatest experiment in political, economic, and cultural cannibalism in the history of the Western world.”
Let us examine the consistent portrait that emerges in multicultural literature about the legacy of Columbus. The advocates of multiculturalism are unanimous that Columbus did not discover America. As Francis Jennings writes in The Invasion of America, “The Europeans did not settle a virgin land. They invaded and displaced a native population.” American Indian activist Mike Anderson says, “There was a culture here and there were people and there were governments here prior to the arrival of Columbus.” Kirkpatrick Sale contends, “We can say with assurance that no such event as a ‘discovery’ took place.” Novelist Homer Aridjis contends that Europeans and native Indians “mutually discovered each other.” Garry Wills, Gary Nash, Ronald Takaki, and other scholars typically speak not of a “discovery” but of an “encounter.”
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” Historian Ronald Takaki argues that blacks, Hispanics, and American Indians were no less responsible than whites for shaping the ideas and institutions of the United States: “OMG!!!
Thank you for the information…Now I would like to give you some UTUBE sites to go to and please “keep an open mind” the sites are as follows on YouTube.com
Illuminati Bloodline
Illuminati Freemason III 6/7
Illuminate Symbolism (open your mind)
Famous Freemasons Exposed
Barack Obama related to 6 presidents
These are a few of them, however, you will be able to open up other sites that involve the Bush genealogy….In fact, that was broadcasting on one of our news channels….
I agree, every race has positives character traits or gifts that should be celebrated…However, if you look what’s going on in “modern day” we won’t have a that luxury….
Joe I want to get back to you at a later date to continue with our discussion..
..
Thanks, Mom
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Very happy to oblige you Mom! You seem like a very sweet lady with a genuine interest in learning as much as possible about racism. I WILL check out those sites you mentioned! Best Regards, smoke.a.newport!
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@Joe
>click over on the left on the “white racial frame” categories. I have explained it there. Also click Systemic Racism. For a fuller documentation with hundreds of research studies cited, see my new book on various book websites: The White Racial Frame: Centuries of Racial Framing and Counter-Framing, just out.
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a question to you, why do you call it ‘white racial frame’ and not Eurocentrism?
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Jwbe, I prefer to accent just how racialized this broad frame is…..It certainly has Eurocentric elements. The concept of frame is also useful for my conceptual and empirical analyses of actual racial oppression and its rationalization/legitimation in North America, which is my focus in this book.
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>Jwbe, I prefer to accent just how racialized this broad frame is…..It certainly has Eurocentric elements.
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ok. Do you think one can combat white supremacy without combatting Eurocentrism?
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Good questions. It is a bit of a long discussion, since you first have to define the terms here, like Eurocentrism.
I do spell out in detail what I mean by the white racial frame here
http://www.racismreview.com/blog/2008/03/12/white-racial-frame/
and in the book The White Racial Frame. Also Systemic Racism. What do you have in mind with the term Eurocentrism? It is used in many different ways in the stuff I read.
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@Joe
I will read it later.
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>What do you have in mind with the term Eurocentrism?
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Do you know the book Yurugu?
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Yes, I have used Yurugu numerous times in my sociological theory seminars, and regularly cite the book. She makes very important points about the character of the Western philosophical approach to the world.
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@Joe
ok, I will write my thoughts about Eurocentrism later.
Just now as a side-note, yes I got it that you studied, wrote books, hold seminars etc.
Be aware, I have ’studied’ European culture my own way almost my entire life and I am very sensitive to quite alot typical ‘white frames’.
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Rachel Maddow attempts to set the record straight:
http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200907200054
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[...] in the comment section on RR you wrote to me: Jwbe, I prefer to accent just how racialized this broad frame is…..It certainly has Eurocentric el… [...]
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@Joe,
you can find my answer here:
http://stuffwhitepeoplesay.wordpress.com/2009/07/21/white-racial-frame/
there we can continue the discussion
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Mom-Joe, I’ve done a little more research regarding discrimination….I also took the liberty in looking up the word “Euro-centrism”, which by the way, I am grateful, to “jwbe” for bringing that up over and over…..I also discovered a new word called “Afrocentrism”, which would indicate that African Americans would also have their own belief systems..I don’t understand the logic…. However, I do know, that is sounds like an insult to “white people” if they didn’t stay around and further investigate this site. When using that term it would immediately shut down the minds of most “white people” in thinking that your are a racist against white people, in general. And, I don’t feel that’s what you are talking about…Anyway, as mentioned before, I am still in the beginning stages of this research. I do have a question for you..Why are you targeting the Northern states with your book?…Thanks Mom—-
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Mom-Joe, as mentioned before, I have been doing research, regarding ,discrimination, but I have to tell you something it’s an enormous amount of information..However, when I am done, you will probably, be sorry that you invited me…(I mean that jokingly)….I am a researcher, this is my field of expertise….I am not a scientist, however, I am more like a librarian…LOLOL ,but ture!!!!!:)
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