http://www.timwise.org/

Tim Wise is coming to town to lecture local liberals on how lucky they are to be white oppressors. Check out his website. He's got a pretty impressive resume for a guy who only claims to have a bachelor's degree, teaching Master's level courses at major universities. He also keeps the bills at home paid by working as a consultant for organizational diversity training and assisting lawyers suing for racial discrimination in various venues. Obviously Wise is making a very good living scolding corporations and government workers for failing to recognize their part in the racial steamroller that is flattening people of color (mainly black ones) right and left.

I was interested to learn that white women who refused to abandon Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign are racists, and that the Rev. Jeremiah Wright was right on in his comments to his congregation, but White America can't handle the truth of his condemnation. He also informs us that hapless black residents attempting to flee New Orleans during Katrina were herded back into town at gunpoint by police in neighboring suburbs. Funny that one didn't manage to make the news headlines.

What a load of crap. It's hard to determine if Wise is one of those people who delights in being a square peg by shouldering all the sins of his race to declare his own nobility, or just another academic hustler who's found a new way to delight the burka-and-Che T shirt crowd by skewering white people from a podium for a tidy sum.

Either way, he's pukesome.

I actually am a big fan of Wise. I read his book "White Like Me" and thought it was very thought provoking on white privilege, a topic that is hardly ever addressed in the mainstream. He talks about his struggles with racism and wrote a great essay on white privilege as it pertains to Gov. Palin.

I appreciate his work and don't think he's pukesome at all.

Sorry, I've got my hands full feeling guilty for my ancestors eating Jesuits 400 years ago. Don't have time to go to that party.

I don't think that being aware of racism is the same thing as feeling guilty. I'm always confused at why the two are so conflated by those who wish to deny the existence of the former. Same with men who rail against feminism, as if its sole purpose is to make them feel bad for being born with a penis. How self-absorbed, self-referential! Feminism and anti-racism are movements designed to personalize "the other": that which is NOT male or white, respectively. Taking an honest look at how certain characteristics of your life (economic, sexual, racial) entail privilege in society is not the same thing as feeling bad about yourself. And acknowledging which characteristics may mean that you have to work a bit harder to achieve what you want isn't martyrdom. It's just realistic. Being born on third base and thinking you hit a triple may be comfy, but it's also delusional.

I'm a man who was born in to a feminist household. Let me tell you, it sucked ass. I understand quite well what it's like to be discriminated against because of sex. I also get the added bonus of being discriminated against because of my sex before I could even understand what discrimination was.

I was also called a racist by a teacher when I was in the 7th grade. I was a racist, I shit you not, because I didn't have any black friends. It didn't seem to matter to this person that there were only 3 black kids in the entire school, 2 of which I wanted nothing to do with. Something about gang colors and all that good jazz.

I'm all for equal pay based on skill and all that good jazz. But whenever people start crying out "feminism feminism" and "racial equality" my BS flags go up by default. I think I need to pick up "White Like Me." Maybe it could point to some privilege that I'm missing. Lord knows I could use a little privilege to help me move up a notch in my job. Unfortunately that job was already filled by a woman who doesn't seem to know technology from a can of paint. Bit of a problem when you work in IT, wouldn't you say?

Racism exists. There's no question about it. What I'm not comfortable with is the heavy emphasis that's placed on it as a source of social ills. Its gross overuse leads whites to tune it out as crying wolf, and leads others to rely on it as a crutch to explain other issues away.

Among his moneymaking projects, Tim Wise is a consultant to attorneys who file discrimination lawsuits.

I personally and professionally know a number of people who have filed such suits. Some of them are nice people. Some are not. None of them are stupid. But each one of them, with the encouragement of an attorney with a strong financial incentive to file such legal actions, has chosen to file lawsuits when they are denied what they want professionally or have had adverse job action taken against them.

I cannot speculate as to whether they hope, as one former coworker of mine did, to obtain a large financial settlement that allowed them to live for the rest of their lives off the proceeds of a large lawsuit award that was utterly undeserved. If the true facts surrounding their situation had been admissible in court, they would be in prison, not rich and idle.


The job skills and performance of these people range from marginally competent to very competent. None has achieved anything noteworthy in their professional performance, despite ample opportunities to do so, many of which were specifically offered to them to advance diversity in the workplace and the ranks of management. But the common factor among them all has been a fatal career flaw. Poor work habits, personal conduct ranging from severely inappropriate to criminal, extreme and outspoken disloyalty to their management, placing personal and political agendas above their work, and other issues have alienated these people from their professions and their peers, and poisoned their careers. Yet these people insist that they have been mistreated by their employers soley because of their race or gender. Most seem to be genuinely convinced that they are superior employees who richly deserve rapid advancement and recognition of their brilliance. Few of their peers share that opinion of them.

And every single one of them has offered evidence of such discrimination that they and everyone they work with know is patently and deliberately false. Ironically, well meaning supervisors have often provided aid to such frauds by failing to document and deal with poor work and misconduct, fearing that they themselves will be accused if they do so, with the result being a work record that shows little in the way of documented issues or corrective action. In a civil courtroom, if the employer didn't document misconduct or job issues, they didn't happen.

It's very easy for a society to become defensive when so many people who raise accusations of discrimination and racism are complete frauds who are using the legal system to portray themselves as victims and evade the rightful consequences of personal misconduct and poor work performance. While it's certainly not true of every case, and true discrimination and injustice undoubtedly exist, there are so many examples of this kind of phony accusation available that it unfairly taints the claims that are in fact legitimate.

That is not the fault of "The System". It's the fault of the humbugs who file them, and destroy the credibility of real victims by the sheer volume of lies and false claims that surround them.

thrice wrote:

The job skills and performance of these people range from marginally competent to very competent. None has achieved anything noteworthy in their professional performance, despite ample opportunities to do so, many of which were specifically offered to them to advance diversity in the workplace and the ranks of management. But the common factor among them all has been a fatal career flaw. Poor work habits, personal conduct ranging from severely inappropriate to criminal, extreme and outspoken disloyalty to their management, placing personal and political agendas above their work, and other issues have alienated these people from their professions and their peers, and poisoned their careers. Yet these people insist that they have been mistreated by their employers soley because of their race or gender. Most seem to be genuinely convinced that they are superior employees who richly deserve rapid advancement and recognition of their brilliance. Few of their peers share that opinion of them.

So am I correct in assuming you think that "these people" are only being promoted so that their employers aren't considered racist or sexist? They posses such bad work ethic and behavior and no skill what so ever but are still being promoted over their equally or more qualified white or male counterparts?

You are certainly entitled to your opinions about Tim Wise and whether or not you think he is doing respectable work. But his mission in life is not to blame white people for being white, but to simply call attention to the real prejudice that still occurs in our society, despite it being a "color-blind" society that we are living in now. I really recommend reading his book, "White Like Me" before writing him off as pukesome. You might learn something from him. I certainly did.

"So am I correct in assuming you think that "these people" are only being promoted so that their employers aren't considered racist or sexist? They posses such bad work ethic and behavior and no skill what so ever but are still being promoted over their equally or more qualified white or male counterparts?"

I assume that your quotation of "these people" is a sly reference to racism, as in "you people". If you reread my post, you'll understand that it refers to a specific group of people I know that were introduced in the preceding paragraph.

In one situation, an employee sued for discrimination because they did not receive a job assignment they requested- despite the fact that others of their same gender and ethnicity had been given the same job and similar jobs both before and after they sought it.

Think about your question. Let's say none of those things are applicable. Applicant in question has a not-so-bad work ethic, not-so-bad behavior, and some skills. This is the kind of ringing endorsement of an individual that they warrant being promoted to supervise others and serve as an example to others in the company?

Let's for the sake of my example discard skills and experience, which can be very subjective in their evaluation. Let's focus on behavior, personal maturity, and professionalism.

Physically threatening subordinates. Witnessed sexual harassment of female employees. Public intoxication and sexual harassment in public places. Outspoken criticism of company management to key customers while representing the company. Meetings with adversary parties to provide damaging information to undermine management and damage the company's reputation. Public and private confrontations with top management, screaming at and cursing them in the view of others. Obstructing investigation of serious misconduct by friends which was later discovered to the discredit of the company. Criminal conduct that would have been ample grounds for firing that was dealt with by much less severe consequences- a decision that management has lived to regret.

Which of the above qualities would you find acceptable in someone you chose to be a trusted member of your management team, someone you would feel confident to depend on to honestly and ethically manage your company and set an example for those they led?

I hope you would agree that none of the above are acceptable traits of leadership.

"The people" in question insist that those things should be disregarded.

I don't. And I applaud management for upholding standards of ethics and professionalism, despite the fact that they resulted in ridiculous claims of discrimination.

That is what I would call the courage of your convictions.

People of all races, both genders, and various sexual preferences have risen to top management positions in my company. During my career, the only ones that I can recall that resorted to legal action for discrimination are people who failed to harness their personal demons sufficiently to follow a successful career path. Those who had the skills, brains and personal discipline to move up in the organization did so, regardless of race or gender. Not always smoothly, and not always easily. They no doubt faced difficult barriers, but overcame them. Their success was their own.

One assumes that the black person with the crowbar skulking around a darkened house is about to commit a robbery, one is a racist.

One assumes that a white person has grouped together some minority people they know personally for the sake of being racist, one is an avid fighter of racism.

Nice. Real nice.

thrice wrote:

I assume that your quotation of "these people" is a sly reference to racism, as in "you people". If you reread my post, you'll understand that it refers to a specific group of people I know that were introduced in the preceding paragraph.

Let's be clear. I was not making a sly reference to calling you a racist. I quoted "these people" because you did specifically state that you were referencing people at your place of employment. I understood that. And wanted to address your concerns about "these people", not everybody who takes legal action against racial discrimination which is how I interpreted the direction your post was going on. If I was wrong in thinking that, then I apologize. I just wanted to be clear as to why you thought promotions for the group of people you were referencing were uncalled for.

praecorloth wrote:

One assumes that the black person with the crowbar skulking around a darkened house is about to commit a robbery, one is a racist.

One assumes that a white person has grouped together some minority people they know personally for the sake of being racist, one is an avid fighter of racism.

Nice. Real nice.

Please.