Whatever you believe about the ethics of sitting down, don't tell me the easy thing to do would be to stand silently with one's teammates.
I couldn't disagree with more.
Sure, Colin Kaepernick may have made a political statement by not rising for the signing of his National Anthem, and it may very well be an effective one in terms of his stated goal of "raising awareness."
But don't tell me it was the hardest thing he could have done.
Don't tell me he chose NOT to do the easiest thing.
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But these little historiography lessons doused critical theory don't move the needle at all. In fact, I think for most average observers, and those who are not POC, they are flatly unconvincing. Think of it this way: you telling me I can't do the right thing vis a vis race relations 'cause I don't understand the "structures," the "systems" of oppression and how they work in predictable ways is codswallop exactly in the same way a Christian telling an atheist he can't be moral because he doesn't know Jesus is bogus.
Don't do blackface simply because it is disrespectful. If POC convince white people of that, I suggest POC should accept that win and move on. I don't think it is wise to foreclose the "face-saving" way out for white people, which is the plausible deniability (and it may be true or not true) that they had no idea indeed precisely how much offense they have caused, and therefore how much disrespect they are on the hook for.
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TENSION of course can lead to a mighty snap, it can be all too much. That's why tension has to be managed.
A divided society, in the truest sense, is beyond tension- appeals to reason or moderation don’t work in those cases.
The very middle class that is the cornerstone of developed economies’ tax base, the very electorate and spine of 1st World civil society is under pressure. A middle class that is distinguished from the lower class by reaping few or no social benefits and entitlements, but is distinct from the wealthy in that it may be education-rich but relatively asset poor, where income is primarily from wages and not from asset appreciation and capital gains, is really feeling the crunch these days.
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What gets me about Hapa is it has no urgency. Whether it may appear optimistic or not, the crucial thing is Hapa doesn't care.
Hapa's central mission is to end racism, which is a noble idea but that doesn't mean that the thinker of a noble idea is noble itself. You can tell me that you masturbate because it is the safest sex, but that doesn't mean you aren't a wanker. Robin Hood was noble and all in his vigilante efforts to implement a folksy "trickle down" economics in medieval times, but he was still a thief.
Rather than being optimistic, I posit that Hapa is actually indifferent.
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