Megan Mulls It Over

+JMJ

“A time is coming when men will go mad, and when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him, saying, ‘You are mad; you are not like us.’”
-St. Anthony the Great (251 – 356)

This past weekend I read this article about Bette Midler’s reaction to the Brett Kavanaugh saga and her subsequent apology. And then I read two articles about rapper Killer Mike’s response to her (one from TMZ and the other from Motion XI). 

And now I am on identity politics overload.

Any version of the “mine is bigger than yours” game is destined to be obscene and fruitless. The “My Victim Status Is Bigger than Yours” game is no exception. I have a suspicion that Midler’s apology was somewhat of a cop-out, and if that’s true, I wish she had taken more ownership of her real feelings. I, of course, have no way of knowing her real feelings, but I think that in the offending tweet she was wanting to make a point about women of all races needing to “stick together” based on their sex. (BTW, I have no problem with advocating for victims, but I am not a fan of America’s ever-expanding definition of “victim,” nor do I share the all-too common mentality of “Every woman is a victim of every man.”)

As far as Midler not specifically mentioning black women in the offending tweet: 1) I think that she intended for the struggles of black women, as well as those of black men, to be implied in the “n-word” part of the tweet; and 2) She was reacting to a specific situation that did not directly involve black women. Dr. Ford is white.

If I were Midler, my apology would have looked more like the following.

“Many were offended that my tweet did not include a more explicit acknowledgement of the plight of black women, who face obstacles and abuse based on both their color and their sex. My intention was to express my desire for women of all races to unite against male oppression. If women of color think I was insensitive to their concerns, I am happy to have that conversation with them. But I will not retract any statements or change my opinions simply because some are offended by them. I am sorry if you have suffered abuse, discrimination, or oppression. But I am not sorry if I have an opinion that is different from yours.”

And now let’s talk about Killer Mike’s response. The Motion XI article describes his reaction as “willing to accept her apology as long as she is willing to ‘shut up and listen.’” Hmmm…doesn’t that sound a little like “mansplaining”? Oh no *ALARM*ALARM*ALARM! A white woman like Midler or me probably isn’t allowed to accuse a non-white leftist man of “mansplaining,” amirite? (For the record, “mansplaining” is NOT a word that I use lightly. The same goes for “white privilege,” “male privilege,” and all other professional victim buzzwords. I strive to reserve my use of such terms for bona fide something burgers.)

Killer Mike goes on to say toward Midler, “Your ass needs to be next to Angela Davis and advocating what she’s advocating for.” Translation: “I’m a man, so I’m going to tell you, a woman, what you need to think and do. And since I’m a black man, you can’t question me, because if you do it’s racist. And don’t even think about questioning Angela Davis either. If you do that, you will be guilty of both racism and violating the Code of Universal Sisterhood. And yes, the Code of Universal Sisterhood is a thing. Even though universal sisterhood itself is not a thing, because every black woman alive today is more oppressed than every other person in the history of the world.”

And then in an ironic twist, the TMZ article mentions that Killer Mike “learned to be an advocate for the cause from Jane Elliott, a white woman.” Hmmm…so Killer Mike thinks Bette Midler was showing her “white privilege,” but Jane Elliott can school him on activism for black women without being accused of having a “white savior complex.” I don’t get it.

The only way this debacle could get even more popcorn-worthy is if a non-white man who identifies as a woman would step into it with a “Bette! I can’t believe you left out trans women of color!” Then Midler would probably be moved to issue yet another apology, this time to the transgender community.

Fun fact: Midler has been down that road before. When Caitlyn Jenner’s I Am Cait was cancelled, Midler asked on Twitter, “…will she go back to being Bruce? Will Kris take him back?” (All that and a wrong pronoun! *Gasp*)

In Midler’s apology that time around, she tagged Human Rights Watch, saying that she has “always supported them.” If this sounds familiar to you, it is because in her apology to black women, she said, “I am an ally and stand with you; always have.”

But hold on, Bette. Some in the transgender community, such as Chelsea Manning, believe that Human Rights Watch is way too establishment. Manning has knocked them for such things as congratulating Andrew Cuomo on his primary victory. (Because anyone who congratulates a male candidate who defeated a lesbian MUST be sexist and homophobic.) Oops, I forgot. Manning’s opinions on anything are probably irrelevant “because white privilege.” And to gender-critical feminists, “because white male privilege.” Oooooh…the plot thickens.

In addition to the shade thrown on him by gender-critical feminists, Chelsea Manning has also been, wait for it, “capitalist shamed.” Some who comment on his social media posts call him “bougie” and accuse him of not being socialist enough. (Are they calling him “bougie” from $500 iPhones while sipping $10 lattes?) **SPOILER ALERT** “There Are People in This World Who Think That Chelsea Manning Is Not Socialist Enough” is going to be the story that I tell around the Halloween campfire this year, so nobody steal it.

And it would not surprise me if I found out that there are some on the Left who think that Manning was rocking “white privilege” and “male privilege” even as he spent 3 years in pre-trial confinement. (And if one of the #CollateralMurder pilots were non-white, would that mean that Manning’s leaking of the video was racist? For the record, I have no idea what race the pilots were, nor do I care. But I would like to know their names, and as far as I know, those have never been officially released. #ThanksObama)

And with those last two paragraphs I have outed myself as a villain in the eyes of the Preferred Pronoun Patrol. Even though I abhor #CollateralMurder and many aspects of Manning’s detention, I also have this hateful notion that every man, no matter how short, gay, nerdy, or gender dysphoric he may be, is still 100% “man enough.”

I’m also not in great standing with the “Oh well – shit happens when you’re at war!” crowd, because I think America needs to have a much longer conversation about how killing civilians and laughing about it is as BS as identity politics (even if all ROE were followed).

I also wish that Americans of all political persuasions (especially asleep-at-the-switch libertarians) were more willing to admit that chemically castrating a dissident looks kinda like a “dictator move,” even if “she was asking for it.” I don’t believe that Obama was a dictator, just that the optics on the Chelsea Manning saga are a little Orwellian, in more ways than have been acknowledged thus far. Would the Left have begged Trump to emasculate a gay man who ran afoul of his administration? Probably – as long as “she was asking for it.” So all Trump has to do is convince America that the next dissident was “asking for it,” and then he can issue his very own, non-sarcastic #ThanksObama. (Side rant over.)

Bottom line: there are no winners in the identity politics game because there is what seems like an infinite number of levels of victimization. Instead of getting to know each other as individuals (while also acknowledging the injustices that individuals have suffered based on membership in groups), too many Americans are seeing individuals merely as members of groups and then putting those groups into boxes. And then from there those boxes can always be further divided into smaller boxes. (For example, if a group is advocating for gay people, someone will accuse them of not caring about transgender people. And then if they start advocating for transgender people, someone else will pop in with “What about non-binary people?” So.Many.Letters.)

And in this whole process, we are demonizing and alienating people who don’t fall in line, wherever the line happens to be on that particular day. Because, let’s be honest, an opinion that’s progressive one day can be considered oppressive the next. For example, it seems like the Left used to be all about helping sex workers find a way out of sex work. Some on the Left still are. But now a growing number of them are all about “Sex work is real work!” Translation: “We used to be interested in helping you find a line of work that is not degrading to you and everyone else involved. Now we have nothing to offer you beyond some condoms and a Tinder-like app that will let you screen your clients to make sure that they are 10s in the looks, manners, and sanity departments.” Cue weeping for humanity.

There may be some reading this who think that my problem with Killer Mike is that I “just can’t handle a woke black man.” I happen to be a fan of Malcolm X. I love the way that he integrated concerns about racial justice with concerns about personal morality, and I also love his #StandingGroundWhileBlack approach to self-defense. Is Malcolm X not woke enough for you?

Oh no. I think I just played the “I Can’t Be Racist – Look How Much I Love Malcolm X!” card. Are white people even allowed to admire him? Are we even allowed to speak his name? Come on, Killer Mike and Angela Davis, give me some guidance here. I need to know what to think.

Oh stupid me, how could I forget? Malcolm X had some very triggering, patriarchal, and heteronormative views on women and sexuality. THIS must be why Angela Davis is the only safe choice for a civil rights idol. And MARXISM like hers is the only safe choice for a political system. Now am I woke?

#TakeTheRedPillAmerica   #NotTheCommunistOne

Verso l’alto,
Megan