sociology presentation of cultural imitation (for lack of better description)

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Notice: No ... I am not Cody Fisher, nor do I want to be him (but of course he is one of those youngsters who's convinced that he'd be a whole lot better at being me than I am at being me!) - and this young man made a point to belittle me in his comment. It wasn't lost on me either, that even though he was commenting that "they" (me) could've spent time answering the question instead of criticizing the woman commenting, he could've done the same instead of criticizing me. In any event, the young man made a choice to degrade me and so this is what I do & if he has a problem with it he can ... yup, sue me! (Seriously!) ... but I will put a shortcut link here to the section that describes one main critical point and why I got so upset (This page is also not about the corporate entertainment magician ... he has the "dot-com" domain.)

I will make myself clear on this point: there have been numorous crimes committed against me in my life. I was victim of a violent hate crime as a young man and it was psychologically traumatizing because I was targeted by a Black man merely because I look white. I told him afterwards that I didn't understand because I was raised to not be prejudiced. The man's eyes grew wide at that information and he took off. It was a violent attack on me but I didn't want to hurt the man, he was civilian and I was in the military, and in my hesitation he tried to kill me. A mental health therapist who has a master's degree, and about twenty years in the human services field, said to me that it was a miracle that I was alive after I had told him my history. (He wasn't exaggerating, he didn't do that.) One of the last crimes committed against me was when my old landlord (a wealthy real estate broker with a downtown firm) lied under oath in a local county civil court over a few hundred dollars. (I have the court transcripts!) My reason to take him to court was to call him out on shutting the boiler heat off. There was an elderly lady there that lived in a garden level apartment that complained to him about the heat all the time before she passed away. The landlord was abusive to the elderly lady but she was a white elderly lady so no one really cared. I lost the court case because he lied and my own family didn't even ask me what happened.

This is a sociology presentation (work in progress) about a young man's insistence on interjecting into a conversation where I had replied to a woman's comment on the FaceBook social media platform. (Screen captures included here in conformance with fair use in this criticism.)

This man, Cody Fisher, took issue with me confronting a woman who asked the question "Who does she want to answer questions?" regarding a grieving mother's statement that she wanted questions answered about her son's death. The included news article's text mentioned that the mother wanted questions answered and it was phrased by her to be obviously addressing her son's murderer.

I am calling this cultural imitation (for lack of better description at this time) but it is a display of a very serious issue that arises occassionally and, like in this instance, can be downright cruel because the result is that an abolitionist's indignation is (deliberately) misconstrued as pointless anger. The posit was that it was a legitimate question and politely asked with concern and respect and consideration and human dignity ... except it wasn't asked that way ... it was asked in a condescending way or castigating (is the word I would like to use). The young man interjected with a statement implying I was unnecessarily angry and part of the problem.

(A critical point & why I got so upset ⇾ ) It was ambiguous who the question was directed at (the mother or the journalist) but I am not sure that was intentional. I assumed it was directed at the mother and so there's an implication that her late son's lifestyle was the cause of his death ... or it's just that there is so much random killing going on that a perpetrator will be perpetually anonymous ⇽ and that goes to enviroment or social class (race) which is what crossed my mind so I got upset. It's because of how I learned sociology, there was a point specifically taught to me by a mentor: ... When it is implied that something degrading is considered befitting or unavoidable for a specific innocent group (class or caste) of people then that is an infringement (potential violation) of those people's human rights. In a way it is cultural supression of a crime victim's U.S. Constitutional 14th Amendment right to equal protection of law and that is racist when the victim is of color. (The "Jim Crow" laws were gov't level suppression of equal access to that 14th Amendment protection; but with the influence of social media in our era, that protection of the 14th Amendment can still be suppressed and even is continuously in regards to the "mentally ill" demographic to the point of pure fucking evil with the stigmatizing and stereotyping the vulnerable, traumatized, & marginalized people as always the cause of any violence! ... Anyway, ⇽ the latter is a separate issue, but a very serious one!)

It turned out that the question was (meant to be?) interpreted as critique of the journalist but I figured that the article was intentionally kept brief for emphasis since it included a link to the original news piece. The article was clearly focused on the human-interest angle.

I'd like to point out here that I suspected that the "Virginia Lakers" could be a false-flag account. The timeline has typical right-wing leaning political posts & I didn't think anyone would just naturally be so insensitive. I thought it possible that it is even controlled by Cody and he is intentionally race-baiting. He didn't mention race (but I did) but usually the whole point is to avoid that until it comes time to show how racist every associated white (looking) person is being in this situation who doesn't take part in scapegoating some other designated, inculpable white person. If the blame is misplaced then there is the test; it's implied that normal, non-racist white people understand that it is their duty to shrug off any misdirected accusation and so any that don't are racist. It's akin to a witch trial. Racism always exists in everything that happens in society (theoretically) and the "wok" cult are just going to reveal how it's oppressing them here. "The news media doesn't give minorities the same coverage and human dignity" (maybe) but the details can be worked out as the scheme unfolds now that they got somebody on the hook.

In any event, this is important for me because I ended up being accused of racism because I mentioned that I looked white. I brought it up because I felt that I was being judged, and my words weighted against that point, so it became important to me. I think maybe that gets to be the main issue. Racism can affect white (looking) people too but that would be the very first thing that would be adamantly denied and repudiated by many; but I realize that people may phrase it wrong and it is more about "race relations" that affect whites and with that there's the presumption that it's what a white person needs to fix since white people are racist ... ? ⇽ that is where there is contention. All white people are not racist and some of those non-racist white people are probably like me, out of a Northern (Union) family and the "race war" had already claimed some lives of our family but we felt we made some good progress in the cause of equality in our country but then, like what happened to me here, we get blindsided with this accusation that we just don't understand the situation and the systematic global oppression. The fact that I spent my life fighting that is completely disregarded and dismissed. I have had life set backs, I have been a victim of a hate crime when I was younger but never allowed that to change my perspective. I have suffered as a result of race relations ... there were times in my life I was treated as an outcast because I would not side with some white people in regards to some race related incident. I don't like to mention that because I feel that it may be hurtful to some people of color if they knew how often it comes up and how prevalent it is ... I never wanted to "virtue signal" by talking about the instances but there were a few times in my life that I had to "stand up" to prejudiced people and suffered a bit as a result.

So the plain reality is this ... the racism issue that exists has affected me too, personally, and it could be shown in a tangible way that I endured physical hardship and abuse as a result. Of course that seems like I must be exaggerating or at least selfish of me to point that out when I (am) obviously (look) white ... but I am not 100% is the thing and my knowledge (& interest) of social science was strongly influenced from that branch of my family tree ... in my way I am carrying forward my grandmother's crusade for racial equality. So I get indignant and got rebuffed and "reproached" as being a problem ... I know I look white & am sensitive about being presumed racist because that undermines my credibility. Once the issue of racism arises though my defensiveness can be (or deliberately will be) misconstrued as defensiveness of a racist position and I can't concede to that ... but it will seem like I am expected to for the sake of harmony (for goal of equity) and my refusal can only mean that I am racist and the viscious circle starts for sadistic people (like Cody Fisher) to have a little fun toying with me (from my perspective - but I have a right to that). It hurts me also since I am not allowed the dignity of validation of that, so any of my experience (which much is pertinent) is purposefully suppressed and ignored.

All that leads to a main point of mine and something of immence importance that I can reveal here that has been a source of contention (from what I have deduced) among white people and that is the idea of "crtical race theory" and simply, for the sake of my argument here, I will define it as the historical, global, oppression of people of color by white European descended people; although that is an overgeneralization since there is inner conflict and ethnic differences to the point of physical violence that even extended into my own life. The inner-conflict axiom helps clarify the definition of "racist" though since the obvious result is that any inner-conflict that is known or presumed (and maybe even verbally acknowledged) is put aside for sake of oppression of anyone of color. That was what got impossible for me to the point of inner-tormoil and socially outcast. I get jealous because then I end up getting ridiculed and accused of being weak and am expected to accept from that label from some ("wok") young person who would never endure the hardship that I have. It becomes enjoyable for this young man of color to intimidate and oppress me. He refused to read any forum message on etiquette that I provided and that was critical for me to get him to understand that discussing others in their presence (or not in their presence, but using the word "they" as in a different class of people) ... but discussing others in an objectifying way is a habit of racist people (which is known already) but I once heard the statement "they sure like to imitate, don't they" from a man who was white supremacist and I just about started a bar fight as a result. ... My reality! I wasn't always accepted by a main large group; I was often marginalized & even was tormented, "bullied" and sometimes (to reiterate) all as a direct result of my mixed-race or ethnicity but yet it is insisted that is impossible because I look white. The implication then is it was obviously my fault for not giving in to being racist .. but I am of mix-race and so I get dismissed & oppressed; being outcast qualifies as being oppressed, doesn't it?

... and so here I am being bawled out by a (obviously by his profile photo) young Black man ... he discredited me on account of my indignation (because I am an intellectual I can catch subtle nuances; intellectuals are also a historically persecuted group) and so I was oppressed by him, technically ... and for racism to exist there has to be an oppressor and oppressed ... so Cody is a young Black racist man is my argument now and that statement reveals the essence of a contention in that it is insisted by the "politically correct" or knowledgeable about racism crowd that a Black man couldn't be racist because it defies the definition. A racist person is in the oppressive side but the problem with social dynamics is that nothing is absolute and in smaller group social dynamics the roles of oppressed and oppressor could be reversed; and so then denying that reversal would become another aspect of the oppression ("reproached"). My other evidence of my contention is that Cody used the word "they" when talking about me in my presence and that is a habit of racists when they are speaking about minorities. Since I am of mixed-race (that includes American Blackfoot) the minority group would include me in this case. (Ain't that a bitch, eh Cody?!)

The participants in the discussion were two obviously white women, and Cody, who all seem comfortable enough to feel accepted, and approved of, regardless of the level of discourteousness of the request for more information that they're defending. None of them are being racist, supposedly, and Cody is even defending both the women. Of course the question arises: why would a Black man would intentionally collaberate with someone (like Virginia Lakers) who's stance on social issues isn't supportive of racial equity? ... It defies logic. She had anti-vax posts on her timeline, and the virus is affecting people of color disproportionately, as many calamities do, and anyone involved with politics, and/or public political debate, should be aware of that fact. The contention that a Black person can't be racist is propaganda and the assertion can only be supported by ignoring social science and human condition. People have been known throughout history to act in ways that contradict their own values & principles (or what those traits would be expected to be for someone in their circumstances); but people can work as double-agents, for whatever reason, if nothing else than they could just want to maintain the customary roles. Black people would always have racism or whites to blame by reinforcing the traditional antagonism and prejudices, so there is motivation for people of color to proliferate racism. One evening I was walking in my neighborhood and got yelled at by a young man driving a car. He yelled something about me being white, but the fact that I was walking and he was driving a car didn't stop him from harassing me. If he would have physically attacked me then it would be an aggravated charge since I am considered "disabled" by federal law. So the young Black man driving his car harrassed an older, disabled (Honored U.S. Navy Veteran) man who was walking through a neighborhood. ⇽ explain how that is not "racist" of him! The traditional oppressor/oppressed roles were reversed in the situation. I yelled back at him something like: "why do you have a problem with me? You have the wrong person!"; but if there is ever any question of whether I have any right to speak out on the subject of "racism" then that event by itself qualifies me. (Of course the fact that incident actually occurred in reality would be vehemently denied by other white people who are "non-racist" and that would actually be a criminal act since it would be witness intimidation. I would be scapegoated. I am a descendant of Quakers and they were notoriously abolitionists and persecuted. (There is still the issue with capital punishment in our country. It is disproportionately applied and so also needs to be abolished. I advocate for the abolishment of it on social media as well to help the Society of Friends people and so my credibility is important to me & I can get defensive. Maybe I need to learn how to keep my emotions in check so sadistic, young men like Cody wouldn't be able to get so much enjoyment out of belittling me, right? Whatever!)

The young man failed to use inclusive language. It's really just a superiority contention; being inconsiderate of the mother's grief & then insulting to me but I am not to insult them. It takes a special level of callousness, or straight-up narcissism, to be so casual when discussing a mother's grief and insisting that she be hounded for more information. (I think I repeated that point but these people were playing off like it was nothing more than a stolen car that the news article was describing.) This other dumb white bitch chimed in with the "article was extremely poorly written" and figured that the all upper case "extremely" would be adequate to use instead of providing details as to what made the human-interest news article so substandard. It actually wasn't, is my assertion, but they were geared up to play journalist critique and it's apparently appropiate when the article is about people of color since the news media doesn't treat people of color with the same dignity and respect that they'd extend to white people. I didn't think it was so appropiate though, and I've explained why.

But that debate of who can be labeled "racist" has come up in my own life but I've deduced that there must've been an emphasis on the crt aspect in some public schools, maybe region specific; or maybe there was some other vetting process that existed in public schools and there was a modified lesson plan to address the issue. Yes, I am speculating* here but the reason is that I realized that in Southern states it could have been beneficial to focus and emphasize the historical, global aspect to help minimize local conflict among young people while learning the history of their area. By my theory here, it's also possible that it was recognized that students of Union descended families wouldn't necessarily need that emphasis. My reasoning here is that I personally don't remember learning about early American history with such a stress on crt. Slavery went on in early America, primarily in the South, that led up to the Civil War, the American Blacks continued to suffer human rights violations over the last decades and many were/are poverty stricken.

I asterisked the word "speculating" in the prior paragraph because there is also a possibility that my personal recollection of the subject may be affected by the family based education that I received (which may not be uncommon) but in my case I didn't have a way or term to describe the ethnic culture I was from. I knew it to be a little different than my friends' but there was a lot of military service (that I wasn't to brag about) in my family and we were outdoor recreation people (except my g'ma because she couldn't), and it was stressed on me to not be racist. That term was used in that way with me (and I took it to heart) and long ago I decided that I could at the very least stay true to that familial value. To reiterate here; I occasionally suffered on account of that integrity.

I have learned in my experiences interacting with other traumatized people that issues that I realize affect me negatively usually affect some others as well but I can sometimes explain or describe a concept or social dynamic where others have difficulty. I am not the only one in that position and there's a motivation for people who have experienced trauma & abuse to share their perspectives. There have been sociology studies and professional expert analysis and I make a point to study as much as I can. All of that can be to my detriment since my understanding of equity leads me to take what's been considered a liberal stance on some issues and I have even ended lifelong friendships with people who always would insist on a hard-lined, uncompassionate stance on social issues which I knew affected the disadvantaged in a negative way. Of course my credibility and knowledge is refuted by many of those people and so there has been a refusal by some of my old friends and/or acquaintances to ever support me in my advocacy. I had an old friend that seemed to attempt to console me a bit on one issue but on the issue with Elijah McClain there was silence from him ... ok, whatever; but then he eventually posted in support of police and I unfriended him. ⇽ That was my oldest living childhood friend that I unfriended over racism.

So my objective is to present a perspective of racism from the position of a marginalized, mix-raced American; and one that although appears white (& usually identifies as such, not only for convenience but modesty/humility) I was negatively impacted myself by racism ... or "reverse-racism" is the way I described it but that term isn't accepted. I don't have formal education in the subject outside of childhood public school but I am fairly well read in the fields of psychology & sociology and made an effort through my life to interact with, listen to, and learn from people of all walks of life. Many of those people were part of a separate minority demographic that happens to be a combined group of traumatized and abused people of all races.

Of course it would be ideal if I could amass an accepted level of formal education to establish acceptable expertise (pay my dues) before submitting my opinion but that would be an impediment for me that I would hope could be avoided. Since sociology is, in essence, the study of all of our social interaction and dynamics, etc. then anyone can surely learn about it as an autodidact. By that same token then my assessment here of how racism affected me in my life, and my assertion that my personal experience and perspective could be helpful, can be evaluated by the reader as to my understanding of the subject. If that doesn't satisfy then I will finally reveal that my childhood inherited education regarding slavery included the origins of the people who were enslaved and what they suffered through before and after the Civil War. My grandmother once made it a point to discuss with me what people suffered through on the ships and she instilled on me that it's something that I must remember & always take into consideration.

The other thing to consider if challenging me on race ... oh, err - this ain't about race so Cody says, so back to caste (social class) ok ... my culture knows a bit about tragedy (as I mentioned) but to elaberate here I am also of Catholic Irish ancestory and they were an oppressed class among the other whites. To segue into a related note about white history is Catholics & Protestants were notoriously fighting each other and the resulting violence (& persecution) in England is what most of the early Colonial American settlers were escaping ... most were also pacifists but their settlements were still sometimes attacked by nomadic, indigenous tribes. But no ... of course it all wasn't equivalent to slavery but oppressed people can be more compassionate & indignant ... ⇽ and that concept of enlightenment has been covered in none other than Plato's The Republic, specifically in BOOK VII. There has also been "generational abuse" in my family's history, and my paternal grandmother even made a point to document a traumatizing event she had as a child.

As sensitive as this issue is for many and maybe even my own feelings of undeservedness and lack of confidence could be exploited to refute my credibility; if nothing else I will point out that I won't be budged off of my position as a commitment to an old friend of mine who's backgroud turned out to be just about opposite of mine (but he didn't discuss it much for my sake, it seems now); he was marginalized too though, since he was ugly as sin (to put it bluntly) and may have passed away already. I also am dedicated to it on account of my g'ma and what she endured and her influence. I will most likely make adjustments and I will also make additions.

The reality is that the source of more information about the grieving mother's questions would only be the grieving mother so she would need to be questioned further and that would be demanding, was my point. I covered exactly why it would be demanding with the information about the Jewish tradition regarding grieving but Cody ignored that because he must be an antisemite. Does no one have compassion? ... actually there was immediately a number of likes on my first reply but I deleted it because I was irritated and hurt because I was labeled disgraceful by a young man who made it his point to shame me.

I would also like to mention that I mean no disrespect to the mother who lost her son that the news article was covering but I thought it better not to include anything specific about her or her late son in this presentation. I reiterate here that I advocate for the disadvantaged, & vulnerable, & marginalized and that is always in the forefront of my mind.

There was another event that would qualify as "imitation" that helps exemplify the concept and provide a clearer definition as well as revealing possible resulting consequences. A local young Black man known to be a political and social activist was organizing and participating in protests of homeless encampment sweeps that the police and city services workers were conducting. The protesters contention was that the sweeps were human rights violation when actually it would be human rights violation to allow the encampments to continue indefinitely. (Yes, sometimes gov't needs to protect people from themselves since human beings cannot always be rational.) There was another assiciated health problem that existed during this time too with a body lice epidemic so the sweeps were critical to help eliminate the threat to the vulnerable, at-risk, disadvantaged human beings. The protestors also were impeding people from connecting to the available services that would help them! Since I am a human rights advocate I am not always against law enforcement and I ended up in the position of defending their actions on social media but I have also been unjustly brutalized by police in my past (an old therapist of mine knows about that) so the actions of the young, Black political protestor puts me in a position that is a bit dangerous for me since by credibility is threatened by being labeled a police sympathizer. The protestors' actions were violating U.S. Constitutional rights of vulnerable citizens who were in need of assistance but to explain that puts me in position to be scapegoated; and I was over all of that on social media since the grandiosity of the protestors' supporters causes them to insist that anyone who chooses to debate with them be completely dedicated to that one issue and be a culturally acceptable, indisputable expert. (These younger people are so narcissistic & arrogant that they accept nothing short of absolute perfection. I have experienced much trauma in my life so it will always be extremely difficult for me acquire the neccessary level of acceptance and respect to be that indisputable source, but my compassion spurs me forward regardless!)

Another recent controversy arose in my local area with the revealing that one of the city's old mayors was a member of the KKK. There began a vehement campaign to change the name of the redeveloped section of the city where the original main airport that was named after him had been. Seems like a reasonable and enlightened action to take. The problem is that there was an overwhelming misinformation, or more accurately, a defamation campaign associated with the cause, where the fact that the old mayor made a point to betray the organization and his actions helped end the Klan's control of the region was completely ignored. That old mayor also "...welcomed delegates to the NAACP convention" in June of 1925. There is a book in the local city library that covers the event regarding the old mayor's task force that was largely comprised of World War I veterans. I've included the excerpt of the relevant text of A Short History of Denver in this webpage.

A final note: Make no mistake ... if anybody has any problem with me or what I am doing here then take a look at this ...
There's a situation that has been going on for 6 years now where a Black father posted a photo of his young daughter as a public humiliation punishment. It is child abuse & I tried reporting the post & I contacted the man's state social services but of course nothing was done because it takes a bit of explaining why it is abuse ... no ... everybody knows that it is abuse but it is important that the child abuse is used to punish people who have care & compassion ... Just like I was chastised here for my care & compassion. To clarify here: this concept of "imitating" that I have attempted to describe in this essay is not isolated to only be committed by people of color; but if called on it they can deflect responsibility with accusations of racism and that is oppressive of them! Anyway, I got a few Likes on my question to "Virginia Lakers" in the first few hours though, so I know that there are many decent people out there but there is just the continuous mission to silence U.S.!

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Because it is a distortion of being more fully human, sooner or later being less human leads the oppressed to struggle against those who made them so. In order for this struggle to have meaning, the oppressed must not, in seeking to regain their humanity (which is a way to create it), become in turn oppressors of the oppressors, but rather restorers of the humanity of both.
~ Paulo Freire

The biggest danger to our rights today is not from government acting against the will of the majority
but from government which has become the mere instrument of this majority...
Wrong will be done as much by an all-powerful people as by an all-powerful prince.
~ James Madison

"Only a lively appreciation of dissent's vital function at all levels of society can preserve it as a corrective to wishful thinking, self-inflation, and unperceived rigidity" The Wrong Way Home : Uncovering the patterns of cult behavior in American society | by Arthur J. Deikman, M.D
ISBN 10: 0807029157 ISBN 13: 9780807029152

Photograph of my old department crewmembers & I displaying our
Battle Efficiency Award onboard the now decommissioned USS Wabash AOR-5

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