After yesterday's post entitled Give the Underdogs a Bone, we received several comments accusing us of wanting "special rights" for LGBTQ people.
There are a couple of ways to accomplished this:
Either way, whichever method we use to fight against power and privilege, we seem to rile up folks who are offended by our audacity -- how dare we even try to achieve equality!
Apparently, to them -- whether violent or non-violent -- we are a threat.
Speaking of White, wealthy, Christian, "heterosexual" men, we heard MSNBC's Tucker Carlson say something extremely hypocritical on his show last week and we wanted to call him out on it (no pun intended – OK, we intended a pun).
But first, a bit of background on Carlson, who grew up steeped in wealth and privilege:
Carlson, age 38, has his own hour-long talk show on MSNBC - a job we are sure he earned by working harder than any of the other millions of journalism students who put themselves through college and managed to graduate!
Each weekday, Carlson has access to a megaphone which he uses to broadcast his opinion -- no doubt based on his vast worldly experience -- to millions of viewers.
But we digress. Back to the point of this post...
On Wednesday, September 26, Carlson and guests were discussing the case of the Jena Six (6 Black Louisiana teens arrested for attempted murder after beating up a White teen because a noose was hung in a tree at the school all of the boys attend).
Carlson was upset over the fact that thousands of civil rights marchers had gathered in Jena to protest the disparity of treatment toward these Black boys who were charged with attempted murder for a school-yard fight and where one had already been tried, convicted and sentenced to 22 years in prison. The jury was all White as were the judge and prosecutor in the case.
Carlson just couldn't wrap his little wealthy, privileged, White male mind around the reason people were protesting:
Especially given that only a few months ago, he admitted that while in high school, he and another friend bashed a gay man who "bothered" him in a men's room in Georgetown.
Needless to say, most of the negative comments were from "straight" White men.
The Constitution and every one of our original civil and criminal laws, including the tax code, were written with the purpose and intention of benefiting and protecting the rights and privileges of White, wealthy Christian, heterosexual, able-bodied men.
Every citizen who is NOT White, wealthy, Christian, heterosexual, able-bodied or male – which is most of us – have had to scratch and claw our way under the umbrella of legal rights, benefits and protections – many of which are paid for by our tax dollars.
- We can use our literal majority (there are more of us than them) to forcibly take our share by revolting, rioting, looting and terrorizing, or
- We could petition the Government, vote, lobby, protest, and do everything within the law to try to try force those with power to share it.
Either way, whichever method we use to fight against power and privilege, we seem to rile up folks who are offended by our audacity -- how dare we even try to achieve equality!
Apparently, to them -- whether violent or non-violent -- we are a threat.
Speaking of White, wealthy, Christian, "heterosexual" men, we heard MSNBC's Tucker Carlson say something extremely hypocritical on his show last week and we wanted to call him out on it (no pun intended – OK, we intended a pun).
But first, a bit of background on Carlson, who grew up steeped in wealth and privilege:
"[Carlson] is a son of Richard Warner Carlson, a former banker, Los Angeles local news anchor, U.S. ambassador to the Seychelles, director of the U.S. Information Agency, and president of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. His mother is the former Patricia Caroline Swanson. He has one sibling, Buckley Swanson Peck Carlson. Carlson's maternal grandmother, Roberta Fulbright Swanson, was a sister of U.S. Senator J. William Fulbright, while his Swedish immigrant great-grandfather Carl A. Carlson founded Swanson, the frozen-foods conglomerate.A right-wing conservative (he says he is a Libertarian but his words belie that claim), Carlson often can be heard railing against the evils of "big" Government programs that purport to help the poor. He decries what he calls "special rights" for minorities – especially the poor, women, Blacks and gays.
Carlson attended St. George's School, a boarding school in Middletown, Rhode Island. After graduation, he majored in history at the private liberal arts Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, but did not receive a degree."
Carlson, age 38, has his own hour-long talk show on MSNBC - a job we are sure he earned by working harder than any of the other millions of journalism students who put themselves through college and managed to graduate!
Each weekday, Carlson has access to a megaphone which he uses to broadcast his opinion -- no doubt based on his vast worldly experience -- to millions of viewers.
But we digress. Back to the point of this post...
On Wednesday, September 26, Carlson and guests were discussing the case of the Jena Six (6 Black Louisiana teens arrested for attempted murder after beating up a White teen because a noose was hung in a tree at the school all of the boys attend).
Carlson was upset over the fact that thousands of civil rights marchers had gathered in Jena to protest the disparity of treatment toward these Black boys who were charged with attempted murder for a school-yard fight and where one had already been tried, convicted and sentenced to 22 years in prison. The jury was all White as were the judge and prosecutor in the case.
Carlson just couldn't wrap his little wealthy, privileged, White male mind around the reason people were protesting:
"Here's a very simple question. Which is-I think hanging a noose is... disgusting. However is that worse than violence? People are acting like that's worse than violence. Violence is always the worst thing, is it not?"Interesting to hear Carlson opine that violence is never called for – no matter the provocation.
Especially given that only a few months ago, he admitted that while in high school, he and another friend bashed a gay man who "bothered" him in a men's room in Georgetown.
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