Question for everyone. I made a lengthy post yesterday but forgot to ask y'all somethign. As I mentioned yesterday I'm a black guy and I'll be 40 in a few days. I have a very large extended family and on Facebook there is always an endless stream of messages from my cousins going on and on about how "oppressed" they are and how hard it is to be black in America. Ironically, these cousins live in nice suburban neighborhoods and have good jobs. Then they spout off about these recent police cases.
Should I bother to debate them? I am so tempted sometimes to do my best Thomas Sowell or Milton Friedman impression and just hammer them with facts. Although I am so outnumbered and I have come to the conclusion that people who have a desire to find racism/oppression everywhere will see it everywhere. Same with modern day feminists who are "oppressed" for being women in the west on a daily basis according to them but can't lift a finger to help women in countries that truly have draconian laws against women.
Honestly, buy them a Sowell book, if they want to compare oppression points against a man who grew up in black harlem, was a high school dropout, joined the marines right after military desegregation in the korean war, graduated magna cum laude from Harvard in 1958 , and became a fellow in the Hoover Institute in 1980. How does fucking Tupac have a documentary and not this man.
I know! And he was a marxist in his youth. I remember when they said “we need to hear black voices” I said I’d pass out Sowell books
He's the most highly regarded person on historical economics and societies aside from Jared Diamond, but his research and findings are too controversial for critical theory. Plus his critics of American policy have been spot on since the 70s to today.
I suppose you could try, but if they're so hellbent on insisting they're oppressed, it might as well be like talking to a wall and you would be far better off muting them.
Thanks. I honestly don’t understand. It seems like today the trendy thing is to show how oppressed you are.
Neither do I, the world is not perfect, but I don't know how sitting around crying "waaah I'm opressed give me money" makes a difference.
It is. I'm a different "marginalized group" than you, but I've been running into the exact situation you are with some of my friends and extended family. They saw someone promoting an oppression narrative on TV or social media and suddenly it's part of their identity. For some of them, it really is just a trendy brand they're wearing and I have no doubt that they'd completely drop it and deny they ever believed it if it suddenly fell out of fashion with their favorite celebrities. In the meantime though, they're all in some sort of virtue signal arms race, posting grandiose statements and obviously fake stories about oppression, trying to see who can top each other.
My signaling that I haven't bought into the narrative like they have just means I'm not as cool as them, or I'm just not as enlightened as them. Nothing I say has any meaning outside of that. Like the other poster said, might as well be talking to a wall.
Good point. Trump did a good job banning Critical race theory. Honestly getting rid of that and also the notion that only whites can be racist would be great.
Honest advice? Don't alienate your kin.
In six weeks, we're looking at two potential situations:
Trump wins. The left has been slow cooking under Democrat/Funder rhetoric and resrouces. If your family buys this shit, they're probably going to be part of the explosion. This will drastically increase faction on all side. Under those circumstances, you'll probably be best off at least being on good terms with family.
Biden wins. The left is on the right side of history. Maybe things will simmer down, maybe they'll think it's time to extract some sense of vengeance while the government is at their back. Either way, faction increases, albeit at different rates depending on the action.
In either scenario, by being black, your choice of faction is already limited. Don't burn any bridges right now.
you cant use reason to get people out of a position they didn't use reason to get into
Pretty profound. Is that your quote?
nope, stole it from somewhere, if you search for it the source will probably show up
Give them an open ear and listen to them without judgement. Only then would will they might reciprocate and listen to what you have to say.
I have. I’ve given them their say but I doubt they will give me my say. But you have a good idea.
Get off facebook.