Because I have written about the rampant reverse discrimination in America, I receive many emails of frustration and depression from white males who feel they have been discriminated against.But few have touched me as much as this man's because he's not the usual white collar guy who tends to write to me. He's one of "the people," the plain folk who Obama claims to care most about. Do you think Obama's "change" will help this man?
Here is this man's letter, unedited.
I am a white male that for many years has been stepped on. But it is not just our jobs that are being taken from us. For white males it iseverything . I am only 29 and I am blamed for every fear that another person has. Look at the law: How many laws protect a white males rights? Not as many as there is for a women or a different colored man.
The only thing a white male is allowed to do is to die . But only if someone else allows it . We are not allowed to say, do, think or even dream of freedom . That's not because of what we have done but for what they say they're afraid we might do .
People of different colors say that they want the same rights that we have . But they already get better than what we have. How is that fair ? Why is it that when a boat is sinking it is women and children first and let the men there to die if there is no room?
Women and different colored people ask us not to say that thay are different but claim that thay are different and are not treated the same . Well I hope that one day all people are treated the same even if all us white males are not here .
A young male is taught not to hit someone weaker or thay will be punished but if someone hits us we are to take it like a man . What ever comes out of our mouths is wrong .
So I say SORRY. Sorry I was born white. Sorry I was born male . Sorry you hate me . Sorry you don't have what you want . Sorry that for the last 29 years. I have
nothing else to give you and them but my life . U can have it . If it will let them be happy. All I have ever done is try to help people .
I'm sorry my skin is not darker . Maybe one day you will forgive me for being different .
Do you think Obama's policies will help this man? Remember that Obama's key labor advisor Robert Reich wants half of the 3-4 million jobs Obama intends to create to be specifically directed away from white males.
I see things like this and I can't help but wonder sometimes if I am in the minority, or if there are really more people who think like me than the media or public opinion would have us believe.
ReplyDeleteI have nothing against white males, and I never have. I went to school, live in neighborhoods, and work with many white males, and I've found them to be no different than any other group. I would hate to live in a world without them.
Sure, they've made tremendous contributions to society, which is reason enough why they should be in the world. But more importantly, they're decent, hard-working people that care about the same things that decent, hard-working people of any race or gender care about. The 29-year-old man who wrote to you, who should be more concerned about the life ahead of him than political correctness at his expense, is probably no different.
I'm not going to forgive him, as he says, "for being different" only because I don't believe he is so different. I also don't want him to apologize for who he is.
Women and minorities like myself just want to live with the same rights and responsibilities that come with being an American. Doesn't this young man deserve the same?
This is such a disturbing post.
ReplyDeleteI used to like your blog, and respect your opinion. But, increasingly, your post has become -- i don't know how to describe my reaction ...
Obama is only president for a little bit over a week. Can we just give him a chance before making those statements/predictions about what he will do to black, white, asian, etc.?
Let's give him a chance.
Plus, I don't know what can a post like this do to benefit your readers and our society.
We're already divisive enough -- a black, an Asian, a Latino, can easily make similar statement like your white reader did.
I don't want to call you a 'racist', which I don't think you're. But, I have to say that your post is very disturbing. I hope others feel the same way -- we need more tolerance, instead of complaining and negativity.
I would not have made this post if Obama has kept to his campaign promise of being post-racial. Instead, he uses Robert Reich as his key labor advisor who immediately proclaims that fully half of all the 3-to-4 million jobs would specifically be targeted away from white males. That is what is racist and sexist, not the letter writer's terror of what that means to him, who is already struggling so mightily.
ReplyDeleteAbout your Reich comment: his blog has disabled and removed all its comments, perhaps because of all the comments received recently that disagreed with the post about construction jobs and white males. Now his statement stands on its own. Dissent not welcome.
ReplyDeleteAnd it looks like Mr. Reich's suggestions are already becoming reality.
"Funds are distributed by formula, with a portion of the funds within each State being suballocated by population areas. Set asides are also provided for: Indian reservation roads; park roads and parkways; on-the-training programs focused on minorities, women, and the socially and economically disadvantaged; a bonding assistance program for minority and disadvantaged businesses; and environmentally friendly transportation enhancements."
That's from page 69 of the House Democrats 1/15/09 Committee Report, regarding the latest stimulus package. The whole thing can be found at http://readthestimulus.org/.
It sounds like the average white male is on his own.
Mr. Reich's comment was blatant bigotry. Men like the 29-year-old who wrote to Marty don't see themselves as undeservedly privileged. Apparently, Mr. Reich and a host of other liberals do. Instead the young writer correctly perceives that he belongs to the one class in America for which it is politically correct to target as "having too much already."
ReplyDeleteThe trouble is that there are innumerable white males, perhaps even the writer Marty quotes, who may not be at all privileged in any sense of the word. (Just as there are a host of, for example, black women who, by any objective measure, are undeservedly privileged. Oprah comes to mind.) For all we know, the young writer's own particular circumstances might classify him as downtrodden.
And this underscores the moral error of stereotyping people based on the class they were born into instead of their personal worth. In every other context, we have acheived a social consensus that it is wrong to prejudge and to stereotype in this manner.
And it should not be different here, even when the prejudice is directed against dreaded white males, and even when it is prompted by envy and resentment.
On January 22 and January 23, Michelle Malkin, Rush Limbaugh, and Sean Hannity falsely asserted or suggested that former Labor Secretary and Obama economic adviser Robert Reich, speaking at a congressional forum, proposed that jobs created by the economic stimulus package should exclude white males. In fact, while addressing concerns from women's advocacy groups and others about the composition of the proposed stimulus, Reich said then and has repeatedly stated that he favors a stimulus plan that "includ[es] women and minorities, and the long-term unemployed" in addition to skilled professionals and white male construction workers, not one that is limited to women and minorities.
ReplyDeleteBut he said that he wants fully HALF of all those jobs to be SPECIFICALLY DIRECTED AWAY FROM WHITE MALES.
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree that white men are discriminated against and trashed -- please, don't watch TV, other than ESPN it's all man hate -- the blogger from that white male just screams wimp.
ReplyDeleteHere's what men should do: Man up! I mean, c'mon, this guy just whines and whines. A real man tackles adversity head on. This guy is a Wimp with a capital 'W' -- it's nauseating.
We have different definitions of wimp. In my view, a wimp ignores the problem or, conversely, physically fights about it. The real man raises the issue as intelligently as he can, persists as long as it seems worth the effort, and when it doesn't, accepts that this is the wrong era to advocate for men, and moves on. Hence, you'll see my latest civic-engagement posts relate to other crucial issues--such as Obama's policies, and Israel.
ReplyDeleteI just want to say thank you. Thank you for putting this out there.
ReplyDeleteI do have to say that it is not only the white man who wonders if he is a minority, it is also the white women. The white women have also been treated very unfairly in this country. The white women has come to know we are all the minority for a while now.
I do not think this man is a whimp i think he is feed up with all the favortism that has been going on and on and on.
It needs to stop!!
We are all humans we should all be treated the same.