Oh, in the name of all that is holy, why, why do I continue to read these snotty “If you don’t like Girls, you don’t GET Girls” articles that inevitably annoy me and make me turn to the blog in a fit of irritation? Damn you, Girls and that insufferable sect of your fans. Stop distracting me! I want to write about my heartbreak over Dan Harmon being fired from Community and you’re making it harder by existing and being annoying! (Not that all or even most Girls fans are obnoxious; this review of the latest episode is very well-written and praises the show intelligently and analytically.)
Anyway, the latest snotty Girls review comes from Jezebel in the form of an article by Foster Kamer called “Boys Who Talk About Girls: And Now, a Black Guy Weighs In”. I thought the title was meant to be tongue-in-cheek, but apparently not – or rather, the title is meant to direct its tongue-in-cheekiness towards those whiners who talk about the racial problems of Girls, not towards the show itself. Here are a few questions that the writer asks his interviewee:
“And now we’re going to begin talking about the race issue, something we’ve strenuously avoided discussing in this column until now. What do you make of ‘Girls’ being lamented for a lack of diversity?
Does it bother you at all?Why not? Haven’t you read The Internet, sir? Why aren’t you pissed?
People made a very big deal about ‘Girls’ not looking like a model U.N. You don’t seem sufficiently scandalized. Explain yourself!
And here is the question I’ve been more excited to ask among all the others: It seems the majority of the racial diversity critique outrage is coming from White People Who Blog On The Internet. Why do you think that is?
White guilt seems to be an appropriate response to race in America, though, no?
But it’s really, grindingly irritating when it’s so outwardly projected in the same way any guilt is, in that it’s not going to do anything. It’s not going to bridge equality gaps. Like cheating on a spouse and confessing: The truth that will set you free is so often an indulgence. You’re getting it off your chest.”
My reaction to this? Well, I’m no lawyer, and the little I know of courtrooms comes from My Cousin Vinny and the handful of Law and Order episodes I’ve seen, but several of these so-called questions make me want to leap to my feet and say, “Objection! Leading the witness!” I don’t speak for “Anthony,” the interviewee who Kamer assigned a pseudonym, and I bet he probably means every word he says, but if he didn’t agree with Kamer, Kamer’s questioning style didn’t give him a lot of room to feel comfortable about voicing an opposing opinion. Kamer’s questions are dripping with so much smug that someone might feel like an idiot for disagreeing with him.
There are other garbage comments in this fine piece of journalism of the “critics of Girls are JUS’ JELLUS of Lena Dunham” variety, but I won’t talk about that now. Right now, I want to address the concept of white guilt.
White guilt is a term tossed around in many different spheres. If you’re a white person who tries to be actively anti-racist, you’re going to be accused of acting out of “white guilt.”
I’m a white person who has a tag on her blog called “white girl talkin’ about racism,” and I’m here to tell you that I don’t feel remotely guilty about being white. Maybe there are people who do, but I don’t. Why should I? I didn’t have any control over my Irish-Italian heritage. As Lady Gaga would say, I was born this way, baby.
On top of that, I don’t feel guilty for benefiting from white privilege. That’s because I find guilt to be a pretty useless emotion. Feeling guilty doesn’t actually solve anything, and acting out of guilt is a selfish thing to do.
Still, while I don’t feel “guilty” for being white or benefiting from white privilege, I do feel conscious of it. And I acknowledge that this kind of privilege isn’t fair. I’m an American, living in a country that is supposedly a melting pot, yet American people of color are often treated as foreign creatures, as Others, in their own damn country, and are still marginalized, still discriminated against in a way that I am not and never will be.
That’s why I occasionally blog about racism on a blog that’s mostly about feminism. I don’t care about assuaging my own guilt, because as I said, I don’t feel guilty. What I feel is a sense of social responsibility to add my voice to the people who are fighting for their own rights, who are fighting to be treated as equals in a society that pretends we’ve already achieved equality while lamenting over the statistics of “minority babies.”
Social responsibility, compassion, and the fact that I like to talk and write a lot: those are the three things that motivate me to write about racism, not guilt. I’m willing to bet that a lot of white people who talk about racism feel the same way.
But you know what? Forget about me. I’m not a victim of racism and this isn’t about my hurt feelings (especially because I don’t have any on this issue). You want to think that I’m motivated by guilt, and this whole post is a lie? Feel free to think that way.
But look at this article on Girls: written by a white guy, talking to one black guy who already agrees with him that Girls is totally not racially problematic at all, with the white guy theorizing that most of the complaints about racism are coming from white people.
Meanwhile, many of the posts in the comment section that are unhappy with the race issue on Girls are coming from…wait for it…people of color.
What a clever way to deflect criticisms of racism. Responding angrily to people of color who point out racism would be showing your true colors (choice of phrase intentional to make a point), but if a white person talks about racism, it’s so easy to turn it around, make accusations of white guilt, and make distractions so that the original point is lost.
And again, this isn’t me saying, “Boo-hoo, I try to be a good white person but people on the Internet are mean to me,” because guess what? Ranting about white guilt doesn’t really hurt white people. Ranting about white guilt often dismisses and erases similar comments coming from people of color.
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I thing that huge amounts of problems come from conflating and combining “awareness” and “guilt” (or “shame”). That’s why so many things where someone is trying to show “Hey, this is privilege, be aware” explode into “WHY DO YOU TRY TO MAKE ME FEEL GUILTY?!?!?!” (I don’t know if you followed this one at all: http://whatever.scalzi.com/2012/05/15/straight-white-male-the-lowest-difficulty-setting-there-is/ It went full-throated kaboom.)
I did read that post and figured there was going to be a KABLOOEY of anger in response to it.
I also think people read something like “Straight White Male is the Lowest Difficulty Setting” and hear, “Your life is easy and you’ve never had any problems ever because you’re SWM.” Not the same thing, but that’s how a lot of people read it.
This is so well thought out and expressed that I’m giving you a little, private standing ovation. It is very easy to, as Marshall, mentions, above, conflate the concept of guilt and awareness. One can speak and act in a way that one believes to be right and just without feeling guilt over one’s own privilege. In fact, I believe this particular social responsibility is one that all people of privilege share, whether we are privileged by our race, gender, wealth, power, or any other blessing, earned or given by the Universe. It is, in my opinion, our moral obligation to be aware of those around us and to do whatever is in our power to right wrongs and treat others with the dignity and respect we wish for and expect for ourselves. This does not make us bleeding hearts, it means we have hearts. It doesn’t make us guilty, it makes us compassionate. It is something to strive for: understanding and support of others – putting ourselves in others’ shoes. I believe it to be a social/moral/ethical responsibility, and those who don’t wish to assume that responsibility often dismiss it as “white guilt.” If it’s just guilt, then they are at no personal moral crossroads, having to decide what to do about it. They can continue to live in the privileged bubble. The thing I always remember is that, unless there were many men willing to stand up for what was right, I would not be able to vote today. Unless there were many whites willing to stand up for right, we would still have segregation – maybe even slavery. Without many straight people willing to speak out for what’s right, the marriage equality issue wouldn’t be nearly so far along as it is. Without German Christians willing to risk everything for what was right, even more would have died in the Holocaust. I do not believe those brave and compassionate people were all acting from guilt. I believe they were acting from a strong moral center. Stepping down from my soap box now, but I am very touched by your keen articulation of this issue. Thank you.
Thanks, Colette. I appreciate it. Thank you also for mentioning the important historical examples that go along with this point.
“That’s because I find guilt to be a pretty useless emotion” guilt has it’s uses in a larger, social scale (from a psychological standpoint – I wrote about this here http://reddyforthis.blogspot.com/2011/11/shame-and-guilt.html). I’ve not seen Girls but I agree with what you say about a sense of social responsibility. The questions of the writer are snarky as hell!
Thanks for the link. I certainly hadn’t thought about the issue of guilt from that perspective before.
I think you’re the most aware, compassionate, thoughtful white writer about race on the internet. Sure, others have some of those qualities: common combinations are compassionate but clueless; aware and emotionally overwrought; and aware and thoughtful, but in a detached, unfeeling sort of way. I’ve read most of your posts tagged “white girl talkin’ about racism,” and you consistently hit that trifecta. And on top of that, your writing is engaging. Glad I found your little corner of the web.
This reply is late, but I was moved to read this comment and it honestly helped me through a difficult week, so thank you.
Guilt is one of the most destructive human feelings that we are taught since birth. Guilt is nothing than a social control tool coming from religions. For white christians it comes from the bible.
Nothing good can ever come out of guilt, reason why prefer the word responsibility.
With White guilt you have on one side the “guilty” and on the other side the “victim”. So un-priviledged people are victimized by the white guilt blocking their future, removing any possibility for them to get a better life.
I prefer social responsibility to white guilt because it works both ways : the privileged people (not necessarily white btw…) have the social responsibility to help un-priviledged people (not necessarily white…) and the un-priviledge people have the responsibility to do what they can to improve their lives.
Very, very well said, as always. “Look at this article…written by a white guy, talking to one black guy…” That’s one thing that gets me about this trick that, shall we say, racially insensitive people sometimes use. “See! This one /black /Hispanic/ Asian/Native American person says that I/my organization/this thing I’m defending aren’t racist, therefore it must be true! Take that, detractors!” Some folks act like the blessing of one person of color is some kind of trump card against accusations of racism. (*cough cough* Fox News *cough cough*) . The assumption seems to be that the one person who wasn’t offended speaks for their entire ethnicity (assuming that said single person isn’t being paid/ intimidated by leading questions, and actually means it when they say that XYZ wasn’t offensive). Apparently, each non-white ethnic group in this country has an elected Council that decides what the group’s collective position on potentially offensive material will be. Thus, if one person isn’t troubled by XYZ, then no one else in the group is, either, which makes it totally OK.
Sorry–that veered off into snark. The assumption that all members of an “other” category are essentially the same person really irritates me…probably has something to do with my “white guilt”.
Apparently, each non-white ethnic group in this country has an elected Council that decides what the group’s collective position on potentially offensive material will be. Thus, if one person isn’t troubled by XYZ, then no one else in the group is, either, which makes it totally OK.
And if you spoke to these particular white people who subscribe to that Council theory, and implied in any way that you think all white people think the same on a particular issue, they’d be EXTREMELY offended.