Is the need to feel safe white privilege?

[cmey]

Now I understand why politicians in the big cities are ok with the major upsurge in crime. It’s because “Black people have created a community and humane ethos built on the proposition that no one is safe” and apparently that’s something that whites should be forced to embrace.

[Randomex]

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/modest_proposal

It's hard to see this article as satirical, though.

[Yard sale]

Wow, if you had the left wing wackos proclaim that the earth is flat and boycott anyone questioning it that would probably fly these days.

[CountValentine]

Wow, if you had the left wing wackos proclaim that the earth is flat and boycott anyone questioning it that would probably fly these days.

Yup as they have the monopoly on uneducated voters, they will believe anything. Oops sorry about that, it is Trump that has that voting block. 

[Yard sale]

Yup as they have the monopoly on uneducated voters, they will believe anything. Oops sorry about that, it is Trump that has that voting block. 

Show me a trump supporter who spouts similar garbage, for example advocating that blacks be intentionally subjected to violence, and I’ll be just as revolted. This guy has no business being a professor of African American studies or any other studies with his warped thinking. It’s a shame that PC has reached such absurd proportions.

[CountValentine]

Show me a trump supporter who spouts similar garbage, for example advocating that blacks be intentionally subjected to violence, and I’ll be just as revolted. This guy has no business being a professor of African American studies or any other studies with his warped thinking. It’s a shame that PC has reached such absurd proportions.

Hold your horses. Yes there are left wing wackos and I started a thread "has this gone to far". I stated in that thread this has gone to far.
There is many examples you could give but world being flat is not one of them.

[mmgfarb]

Now I understand why politicians in the big cities are ok with the major upsurge in crime. It’s because “Black people have created a community and humane ethos built on the proposition that no one is safe” and apparently that’s something that whites should be forced to embrace.

This is the most incoherent garbage I have ever read which was written by the chair of any department in any college. Forget about the ridiculous ideology that he is seeming to espouse; just what the hell is he saying? It's an incoherent, poorly structured blurb that wouldn't past muster in an honors high school writing course, let alone being something worthy of publication in a magazine geared towards college educators. The fact that the chair of a department at a relatively highly ranked college wrote this is a disgrace to academia and really goes to prove his own point in the first paragraph; undergraduate programs have become largely worthless, in large part due to people like him being the ones running institutions.

[cmey]

This is the most incoherent garbage I have ever read which was written by the chair of any department in any college. Forget about the ridiculous ideology that he is seeming to espouse; just what the hell is he saying? It's an incoherent, poorly structured blurb that wouldn't past muster in an honors high school writing course, let alone being something worthy of publication in a magazine geared towards college educators. The fact that the chair of a department at a relatively highly ranked college wrote this is a disgrace to academia and really goes to prove his own point in the first paragraph; undergraduate programs have become largely worthless, in large part due to people like him being the ones running institutions.

Welcome to the Chronicle of Higher Education. Seems like every piece in there these days is either professors obsessing about their tenure, a university seeking a head of a Diversity program or African American studies program, or incoherent garbage similar to the above. Sad.

[Lurker]

Unpopular opinion here... the guy is nuts, but not entirely wrong. We take the right to feel safe for granted in this country. If you grow up in certain neighborhoods, you don't know what that feels like, and you were never taught to expect it. Even if you grew up black in a decent neighborhood, stereotyping and racism meant that you were raised to be constantly looking over your shoulder.

I'm not debating the reasons for it, or whether they are right to feel that way, but in terms of the reality in which most black people live and are raised in this country, the need to be safe is something they grow up without.

[123-Rosh]

According to a report by NBC News, UCLA accounting lecturer Gordon Klein has been placed on leave in response to a student campaign that has called for his termination.

Klein, who has been teaching at UCLA for 39 years, earned the ire of some members of the UCLA community when he pushed back against a request to postpone the final examinations in his accounting courses for Black students.

Students and faculty at institutions including UC San Diego have argued that universities and colleges should offer “universal passing” grades to Black students in response to the death of George Floyd.

“Thanks for your suggestion in your email below that I give black students special treatment, given the tragedy in Minnesota,” Klein wrote in an email to students. “Do you know the names of the classmates that are black? How can I identify them since we’ve been having online classes only? Are there any students that may be of mixed parentage, such as half black-half Asian? What do you suggest I do with respect to them? A full concession or just half?

“Remember that MLK famously said that people should not be evaluated based on the ‘color of their skin,'” Klein added. “Do you think that your request would run afoul of MLK’s admonition?”

Students published a petition last week in which they called on UCLA to fire Klein over the email. The petition argues that Klein should be terminated because his email violated UCLA’s “holistic” and “inclusive” values.

“We ask for your support now in holding Professor Klein to the same ethical standards he claims to be essential to a holistic and inclusive educational experience, which is what he owes to his students as an educational leader,” the petition reads. “We, the students, refuse to support Gordon Klein any further and demand to see his employment terminated as soon as possible.”

According to the Free Beacon, Klein is under police protection following threats of violence.

[123-Rosh]

Its impossible to explain to a white person or to a non-ultra-Orthodox Jew, what it means to suffer persecution. Don't bother.

[cmey]

Unpopular opinion here... the guy is nuts, but not entirely wrong. We take the right to feel safe for granted in this country. If you grow up in certain neighborhoods, you don't know what that feels like, and you were never taught to expect it. Even if you grew up black in a decent neighborhood, stereotyping and racism meant that you were raised to be constantly looking over your shoulder.

I'm not debating the reasons for it, or whether they are right to feel that way, but in terms of the reality in which most black people live and are raised in this country, the need to be safe is something they grow up without.

That’s what is so warped; that the guy takes a kernel of truth, that whites feel safer than blacks and then proceeds to twist and distort it. That feeling safe is an obsession and a wrongful privilege so whites should be forcibly made to experience being unsafe.

The underpinnings of our country, that every individual is entitled to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness is predicated on a right to feel safe. There is nothing guilt inducing about it. It’s why millions flee from random violence and senseless crime in Mexico and other countries to try to come to the US. We ought to be directing all of our resources to ensure safety in minority communities. Part of that includes investment in the police and strong discipline and inculcating a sense of personal and community responsibility. But to blame white folks for wanting to feel safe is just twisted and distorted.

[Lurker]

Often when we are oppressed or suffering, we want others to feel our pain, to be down in the mud just like us. Why? Wouldn't we be better off being uplifted to where they are? I don't know why the human mind is conditioned this way, but for some reason, it takes a certain amount of discipline and awareness to think in terms of rising up instead of dragging down.

I believe certain elements of the black community, specifically those with loud voices, have keyed in on this feeling. I don't know whether they believe it to be the true path, but either way they've figured out that this visceral human reaction, wanting others to feel your oppression, speaks to the masses. They then use this rhetoric to gain followers who feel like someone understands them.

This is all important, not because the conclusions of the rabble rousers is right, that we need to feel their pain, but because their pain is real. Once you acknowledge that, then you need to give the masses an alternative to the hate and negativity being spewed by people like Mr. Early, Farhakkan, Sharpton, et al. You need to help them want to share your privileged life instead of wanting you to share their misery. Alas, too often we react defensively, denying the existence of our privilege and denying their pain, and every time we do that, we deepen the divide, giving a larger platform to those who want to see us experience the pain of the oppressed.

ETA: I know this reads like some hippy-dippy liberal BS, but that's only because I used some of their lingo. Privilege is not really the right word, but it's what the article the OP quoted used, so I went with that verbiage. Don't get triggered.

[gozalim]

Often when we are oppressed or suffering, we want others to feel our pain, to be down in the mud just like us. Why? Wouldn't we be better off being uplifted to where they are? I don't know why the human mind is conditioned this way, but for some reason, it takes a certain amount of discipline and awareness to think in terms of rising up instead of dragging down.

I believe certain elements of the black community, specifically those with loud voices, have keyed in on this feeling. I don't know whether they believe it to be the true path, but either way they've figured out that this visceral human reaction, wanting others to feel your oppression, speaks to the masses. They then use this rhetoric to gain followers who feel like someone understands them.

This is all important, not because the conclusions of the rabble rousers is right, that we need to feel their pain, but because their pain is real. Once you acknowledge that, then you need to give the masses an alternative to the hate and negativity being spewed by people like Mr. Early, Farhakkan, Sharpton, et al. You need to help them want to share your privileged life instead of wanting you to share their misery. Alas, too often we react defensively, denying the existence of our privilege and denying their pain, and every time we do that, we deepen the divide, giving a larger platform to those who want to see us experience the pain of the oppressed.

ETA: I know this reads like some hippy-dippy liberal BS, but that's only because I used some of their lingo. Privilege is not really the right word, but it's what the article the OP quoted used, so I went with that verbiage. Don't get triggered.

"feeling safe" isn't a white privilege. it's a civil right. as is not getting killed at a traffic stop

[Lurker]

"feeling safe" isn't a white privilege. it's a civil right. as is not getting killed at a traffic stop

Forget the lingo. Feeling safe is an experience white people get more than black people. Without getting into the why's or should be's, this is the reality.

[m65]

Now I understand why politicians in the big cities are ok with the major upsurge in crime. It’s because “Black people have created a community and humane ethos built on the proposition that no one is safe” and apparently that’s something that whites should be forced to embrace.

this is the "modern art" of opinions

[mmgfarb]

Its impossible to explain to a white person or to a non-ultra-Orthodox Jew, what it means to suffer persecution. Don't bother.

Oh and you have personally suffered persecution? You sound about as idiotic as the honorable professor who wrote the article in the OP. Every single person is capable of reading Uncle Tom's Cabin, The Gulag Archipelago, and watching videos of what was done to Jews in the concentration camps. Are you honestly saying that just because someone doesn't have an ancestor in the past few generations who experienced persecution, they can't understand what it means to suffer under the rule of someone else? This is the same ridiculous sentiment that you see pervasive in the media today, that because someone's great great grandfather was a slave, that somehow qualifies them, and only them, to comment on what it means to be oppressed. If everyone would stop being so G-d damn self riteous and stop trying to find ways in which they're more of a "victim" than everyone else, then maybe we could start to actually solve some of the problems that we still do have in our country.

[CountValentine]

Often when we are oppressed or suffering, we want others to feel our pain, to be down in the mud just like us. Why? Wouldn't we be better off being uplifted to where they are? I don't know why the human mind is conditioned this way, but for some reason, it takes a certain amount of discipline and awareness to think in terms of rising up instead of dragging down.

I believe certain elements of the black community, specifically those with loud voices, have keyed in on this feeling. I don't know whether they believe it to be the true path, but either way they've figured out that this visceral human reaction, wanting others to feel your oppression, speaks to the masses. They then use this rhetoric to gain followers who feel like someone understands them.

This is all important, not because the conclusions of the rabble rousers is right, that we need to feel their pain, but because their pain is real. Once you acknowledge that, then you need to give the masses an alternative to the hate and negativity being spewed by people like Mr. Early, Farhakkan, Sharpton, et al. You need to help them want to share your privileged life instead of wanting you to share their misery. Alas, too often we react defensively, denying the existence of our privilege and denying their pain, and every time we do that, we deepen the divide, giving a larger platform to those who want to see us experience the pain of the oppressed.

ETA: I know this reads like some hippy-dippy liberal BS, but that's only because I used some of their lingo. Privilege is not really the right word, but it's what the article the OP quoted used, so I went with that verbiage. Don't get triggered.

It is more along the lines if they only understood what I was going through. Unfortunately many feel the only way to really understand is to actually go through it. 

[SSLPhD]

Not all of us grew up feeling safe, and to be told that because of our skin color we should be forced to feel unsafe again, is really triggering.  People of Color hardly have a monopoly on feeling unsafe.

[CountValentine]

Not all of us grew up feeling safe, and to be told that because of our skin color we should be forced to feel unsafe again, is really triggering.  People of Color hardly have a monopoly on feeling unsafe.

Would you agree most white people grew up feeling safe?