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Who Is Entitled to Fear?
Privilige and entitlement, depending on who's doing the theory, are either the same or the go hand in hand.
Let's consider some guys who wanted to kill the presidential nominees:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
pecunium) The fears of the white Republican candidate's camp is given credence, while the fears of the black Democratic candidate are dismissed.
Too political? Let's consider some children:
On Friday, somebody sprayed chemicals into a room of a mosque full of women and children who had gathered to pray. Here's how someone who was there described it:
Now, in the United States, white Christians feel entitled to fear from attacks from Muslims. So entitled that in the name of their fear, they feel entitled to strip the civil and human rights of citizens and visitors, to demand racial profiling, to attack other nations. Anonymous whispered possibilities of threats are enough to blare across the country and put all Americans on the lookout for "suspicious persons." People far from any sort of terrorist target feel entitled not only to their fear, but for their fears to override those of everyone around them. "Better safe than sorry" is the watchword, without regard to how safe they already are and who will be made sorry to massage their psyches.
Meanwhile, Muslims, people from countries where Islam is the dominant religion, and people who Americans think might be from countries where Islam is the dominant religion are the ones who are killed, detained, arrested, and harrassed.
Muslims are the third-largest religious group in the United States. They live amid millions of people who believe them to be evil and untrustworthy; people who are perfectly willing to sacrifice Muslims to preserve their own entitlement; people who have the power and numbers to make that sacrifice happen.
But tomorrow, they will gather together all across the United States to celebrate their religion—a celebration ostensibly guaranteed by this country—knowing that doing so makes them the largest target for a terrorist attack in the country.
So who really is entitled to fear?
Further reading:
Let's consider some guys who wanted to kill the presidential nominees:
*Three men conspire to kill Obama.(From
They get guns, with scopes (one of which may have been stolen).
The rent a vehicle under someone elses name.
They have body armor.
They express a, violent, antipathy to the candidate.
They have travelled to the city the candidate is going to be in.
This is, "not a credible threat and no charges related to that aspect of things are entertained.
*One man, already in jail sends a nastygram to to Mccain's office.
He says there is some lethal powder in the letter, and the person reading it is dead.
He admits McCain might not be reading it.
He has no actual poisons.
This something we won't tolerate.
So, here you have it.
Death threats, from those incapable of carrying them out against the Republican candidate = charges
Death plots, with overt acts, weapons and actual plans... not credible; not worthy of charges.
pecunium) The fears of the white Republican candidate's camp is given credence, while the fears of the black Democratic candidate are dismissed.Too political? Let's consider some children:
Nancy Grace doesn’t have an aneurysm on camera when LaToya goes missing. Dan Abrams doesn’t get outraged when Marcus or Jamar vanishes. Katie Couric and Barabara Walters don’t break down in tears when kids from South Central are murdered. Bill O’Reilly and Keith Olbermann don’t interrupt your program when Jaunita is found chopped up into pieces. Magazines and newspapers aren’t tracking those cases. They’re just not news enough or “human interest” enough for all of that.(From Racialicious) The fears of white Americans (of violence to themselves and their family) are fostered and pandered to, while the fears of those in minority communities are made invisible despite their greate likelihood.
Ironically, according to the FBI, the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children and other orgs, most of missing children (those under 18) in America are neither white nor female. In fact 33% of all missing children under 18 are African American girls; overall, it’s believed that Black, Hispanic and Asian Americans account for over 40% of all missing children under 18. As for missing adults (those over 18), the National Center of Missing Adults, FBI, and other orgs have report similar findings.
On Friday, somebody sprayed chemicals into a room of a mosque full of women and children who had gathered to pray. Here's how someone who was there described it:
She told me that the gas was sprayed into the room where the babies and children were being kept while their mothers prayed together their Ramadan prayers. Panicked mothers ran for their babies, crying for their children so they could flee from the gas that was burning their eyes and throats and lungs. She grabbed her youngest in her arms and grabbed the hand of her other daughter, moving with the others to exit the building and the irritating substance there.(From Daily Kos) Today, the local paper removed its original story, links to it now point to a later article:
The paramedic said the young one was in shock, and gave her oxygen to help her breathe. The child couldn't stop sobbing.
. . . .
She tells me that her daughters slept with her last night, the little one in her arms and sobbing throughout the night. She tells me she is afraid, and will never return to the mosque, and I wonder what kind of country is this where people have to fear attending their place of worship?
"The men didn't say anything to her (before she was sprayed)," [the police chief] said. "There was nothing left at the scene or anything that makes us believe this is a biased crime."(From the Dayton Daily News)
Now, in the United States, white Christians feel entitled to fear from attacks from Muslims. So entitled that in the name of their fear, they feel entitled to strip the civil and human rights of citizens and visitors, to demand racial profiling, to attack other nations. Anonymous whispered possibilities of threats are enough to blare across the country and put all Americans on the lookout for "suspicious persons." People far from any sort of terrorist target feel entitled not only to their fear, but for their fears to override those of everyone around them. "Better safe than sorry" is the watchword, without regard to how safe they already are and who will be made sorry to massage their psyches.
Meanwhile, Muslims, people from countries where Islam is the dominant religion, and people who Americans think might be from countries where Islam is the dominant religion are the ones who are killed, detained, arrested, and harrassed.
Muslims are the third-largest religious group in the United States. They live amid millions of people who believe them to be evil and untrustworthy; people who are perfectly willing to sacrifice Muslims to preserve their own entitlement; people who have the power and numbers to make that sacrifice happen.
But tomorrow, they will gather together all across the United States to celebrate their religion—a celebration ostensibly guaranteed by this country—knowing that doing so makes them the largest target for a terrorist attack in the country.
So who really is entitled to fear?
Further reading:
- Language Log on what is "suspicious" and how police resources are used in privileged communities.
- The Angry Black Woman on the history of the United States ignoring attacks of people of color in their places of worship.
- Orcinus's ten-part series Eliminationism in America, which details how the rhetoric of elimination has led to atrocity again and again and again in American history.
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On the other hand, talking about fears being justified, or even more accurately, actions inspired by fear being justified, well then, you're talking about something that can actually be judged.
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I recommend the LA Weekly article for the extra muckrakery that spurred the Times article.
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Full disclosure, before I begin: I am white and Christian. Also, Canadian, which may matter here and there.
Some thoughts:
* I think it's misguided to lay the blame for anti-Muslim racism and xenophobia entirely at the feet of white Christians, for a few reasons. For one thing, it's a generalization of the very type you're speaking up against. I'm having a difficult time parsing your statements above as conveying a message other than "White Christians are racist, because they are white and Christian." Am I reading you wrong on that? And if I'm not reading you wrong, are you suggesting that these white Christians inherit this predispotion for racism from their whiteness, their Christianity, or both?
* Also, the term "Christian" in popular usage is one of those terms like "middle-aged", where people apply the general idea to themselves or others, as it suits them to do so, without being precisely clear on what it means. Think about it... when was the last time a US presidential candidate didn't claim some sort of Judeo-Christian religious affiliation, either genuinely or as a flag of convenience? (I'm not sure, but I think the practice goes back to at least Kennedy.) I don't know what your opinion is of these people, but in my opinion, it's pretty clear that some of these politicians have been phony about their so-called faith. Wouldn't you agree?
* As for racial profiling, I'm of the distinct impression that it happens more or less as often in the secularized liberal bi-coastal areas as it does in the "Bible belt". (A quick search for racial profiling in Google News just now turned up stories from Manhattan, Maryland, Michigan, and Boston among the first 10 found. for instance.) And if the profiling is happening outside of the white Christian areas, I'm sure some of the other racism is happening too.
Meanwhile, Muslims, people from countries where Islam is the dominant religion, and people who Americans think might be from countries where Islam is the dominant religion are the ones who are killed, detained, arrested, and harrassed.
Don't get me wrong - I'm very sympathetic to the general sentiment that people of all faiths (and please note, I'm explicitly extending this to faiths other than my own) should be free to practice their faith safely and free of harassment and ridicule - but I think you may actually be weakening your argument a little by conflating domestic incidences of personal racism with unpopular government-sanctioned acts performed under the pretext of war.
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As a start, I recommend reading up on privilege as it is generally used in anti-oppression settings. The Angry Black Woman has a good selection of reading regarding white privilege. But privilege can exist among many types of groups. Male privilege is often discussed in the context of feminism, and
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Perhaps not surprisingly, given geography if nothing else, this looser definition/usage of "Christian" is new to me. (I am familiar with the term WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) when talking about predominantly white predominantly Christian privilege in attitude and practice; is that term no longer in currency any more?)
Of course, failing to grok this contributes to a certain amount of misreading throughout. On the bright side, however, it lead to neurosophy's post below, which filled in some of my blind spots nicely.
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Whether the Presidents (and Senators, and Reps, and...) have been pious or just winking at us it irrelevant. The fact that they have to play the game is relevant. Christianity as a doctrine is not being implicated in this argument. The argument is not "being a Christian somehow magically turns you into a drooling racist". The argument is (well, the one that I'd make) that mainstream American culture, which draws its primary influence from the perspectives of white male Christians and their orthopraxy, is especially toxic toward Muslims (and "perceived Muslims") and blind toward injustices against minorities. Can one use or abuse religion to inoculate oneself against charges of discrimination, or fall prey to the cult-like insanity of people who abuse religion to do horrible violence to our society? Oh totally. I hath seen it with mine eyes. Some people think there's a holy war going on, that the US was founded to fight another Crusade, that the founding fathers were fundamentalists, and that Obama is the antichrist. Does that implicate the religion itself in the problem? That's a tetchy question. The argument usually goes, "that's not how the religion is supposed to work; those guys are all screwed up". But so to do they say. So I would eschew that and focus on culture, which is pleasantly non-inflammatory. When talking about American culture, especially in the context of power structures, you have to use the words "white" and "Christian". Well, you could say "ite-way" and "ristian-chay" instead. If that made you feel better.
Fuller disclosure: I just woke up. I hope that had sense in it.
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I do want to ask for clarification on one thing, though. You say:
When talking about American culture, especially in the context of power structures, you have to use the words "white" and "Christian".
Are you talking primarily about political and business power structures? Unless I'm misinformed (again ;-), power structures in post-secondary education, the entertainment industry, and (arguably) journalism are still predominantly white, but are not predominantly Christian.