Friday, June 15, 2012

Klavan auf die Kultur

Andrew Klavan (author of Homelanders, the Young Adult book series about amnesiac, karate-choppin' teens taking on the post-9/11 Jihadist threat to America) is the culture critic for Pajamas Media, or whatever they've changed their name to (Feetie Media?  Negligee News?  The Snuggie Sentinel?), and he fears for our future.  Specifically, he's afraid that if we don't encourage racists to speak, we will have nothing but silence, because while everybody is thinking racist thoughts, some people are shy, and need to be brought out of their shells before they can freely smirk to a local TV reporter that Negroes are like locusts.
Racism or Silence? What’s Wrong With This Picture?
These are our sole choices -- no substitutions!  (Okay, one -- you can get a baked potato instead of the pasta salad after 5 PM.)

Basically, Andrew's thesis is identical to Rachel Carson's in Silent Spring, except in his version it's Monsanto and American Cyanamid that are the heroes.
This comes by way of Glenn Beck’s increasingly excellent online news site The Blaze. A local Buffalo man is interviewed after the home of an African immigrant is set on fire by an arsonist. The Buffalo man says the fire is understandable because African-Americans ruin any neighborhood they move into.
Klavan was kind enough to embed the clip, so here you go:  "White Man Speaks Out Against The Detroiting of Buffalo, NY" (He's also disturbed about the Anaheiming of Cucamunga, but that's another news report.)

In case you're having trouble viewing the clip, here's a transcript (I've edited out some of the callow reporter's increasingly flummoxed questions, because they're really all the same question: "Are you aware you're saying this shit on TV?"):

REPORTER:  They're classifying this fire as a potential hate crime.  What do you think about that?

WIFE-BEATER WEARIN' WHITE DUDE:  I think that if people just stayed on their own side of town, their own neighborhood, that things like that wouldn't happen...Every race and color has their own section of Buffalo almost, so, if they just stay on their own side things like this wouldn't happen.  People in these neighborhoods don't want those type of people moving down here and ruining the property value and destroying the neighborhood.  So when things like that happen it shouldn't be such a shock.

REPORTER:  What do you mean by "those types of people."

WBWWD:  (GRIN)  Minorities.  African Americans...They've already wrecked the East Side, why should they come down to the South Side and wreck that neighborhood?...A lot of people feel this way, they just won't say it.

REPORTER:  Why are you coming out and saying these things?

WBWWD:  'Cause I own a home and I've seen what happens when they move into the neighborhood.  Property value goes down.  Kids on the corner.  Crime goes up.  The East Side used to be a beautiful place -- look what they did to that...They just ruin neighborhoods.
 Now before I react, let me reiterate what I’ve said here before. I believe racism as a philosophy is knuckleheaded pseudo-science and moral idiocy. It is the kind of half-smart thinking I expect from leftists
I wonder which half of racism Andrew things is the smart part (and if he advises it to keep that side facing the camera at press availabilities).
and goes entirely against the respect for the individual that is at the heart of conservatism.

That said, what struck me about the video above was not the opinion of the interviewee — who is an honest person on the ground reporting the facts as he sees them — but the reaction of the interviewer from local TV station WIVB-TV. He (sounds like a kid) is clearly shocked by the man’s direct response to his questions and keeps asking, “Don’t you see something wrong with what you’re saying? Mightn’t this be offensive? Isn’t there a bias to your opinion?”
Really? Is that the problem?
Well Andrew, while I agree the Wife-Beater Wearin' White Dude's bigotry is unfeigned, I think the reporter is also genuinely nonplussed, so I'm not sure why it's the sincerity of WBWWD's racism that earns him the moral high ground in your estimation.  (In fact, even Glenn Beck's Blaze calls this interview an "odd case of racial animus" and "a symbol of persistent racist tension in American society," so if you're really determined to pull off this degree of eye-batting disingenuousness, I recommend you first invest in an ivory fan and some pro tips from a 19th Century French courtesan.
This is what the left teaches us. It’s not the actual facts that are a problem — it’s speaking your observations out loud, that’s where the real difficulty lies.
So an African immigrant moves into a majority white area and his home is promptly torched (because arson boosts property values, but the instant your local greengrocer starts stocking plantains, you can kiss your nest egg goodbye), and the "actual facts" of the situation is that if the newcomer didn't want an accelerant splashed around the house and his every worldly possession put to the match, he should have stayed on his "own side of town"?
 This guy may not have the whole story. He may be misinterpreting his observations. We all do that sometimes. But if he isn’t allowed to report honestly what he sees and express his opinions about it, how is anyone ever going to find out what’s happening?
For example, until I watched this clip, I never knew that minorities wreck neighborhoods, nobody ever had the courage to tell me -- and it's not like I don't try to keep up with the news.

On the other hand, if Andrew thinks we'll never be able to "find out what's happening" unless we have ready access to the racist views of blanched dickheads, then I have good news for him: it's called Any Random Comment Thread on the Internet.
 This interviewer is essentially suggesting the man shut up and stop answering his questions.
Actually, the interviewer seems to be suggesting the guy just stop dropping turds from his gob (or alternately, trying to stretch out the interview until a cat comes along and kicks some sand over the pile collecting at their feet).
 He wants his own interviewee to stop relaying his point of view!
Or he doesn't want to be an unfiltered conduit for Stormfront-quality racist bullshit!  But still -- how dare a reporter question his interviewee?
 Maybe instead, this intrepid reporter should — oh, just for instance — listen to the man!
You never know when a rationalization for ethnic cleansing may come in handy.  Nevertheless, I watched that clip a couple of times, and far from filibustering, the reporter is actually and gamely prompting the subject to speak.  What seems to have irked Andrew is that the interviewer isn't solemnly absorbing WBWWD's racist bullshit, but instead trying to lead the conversation toward the more interesting questions of "your neighbor's house was deliberately set on fire -- do you really think the most appropriate response is to drop quotes from the Aryan Nation Page-A-Day Calendar?" and "You do realize that thing behind me is a camera, right?"
 And then maybe check out whether or not his opinion is widespread and whether or not it has any basis in truth.
It's a two minute clip.  WBWWD talked for at least half of it, and if you need even 60 seconds to determine whether or not his opinion ("git off mah land!") has "any basis in truth," Andrew, then may I just say I wouldn't trust you to critique the cultures in Activa yogurt.
I personally believe that poor black (and many poor white) Americans have had their lives degraded by leftist policies and ideas that discourage the formation of complete families, relieve people of the need for industry and self-care, teach them that they are hated and helpless victims of society and undermine their faith in God. 
Pouring gasoline on their front porch is just the first step toward healing these wounds.
 I fear for this guy. I fear he’ll suffer retribution at work and in other ways for speaking directly — I daresay manfully. 
I always thought "suffering retribution manfully" involved a bushy mustache, assless chaps, and a safe word -- so again, thanks to this interview I'm finding out a lot more about what's happening. Certainly more than I ever found out from What's Happening? or even What's Happening, Now?
But the problem is not with him speaking out loud that which, as he says, many others believe, the problem is with a leftist media regime that has schooled even those who don’t agree with them that they are not to say what they see lest they be branded evil.
Or, you know, broadcast on the local news, then put in complete and unedited form on Youtube.  But if anybody brands this guy, it's good to know that he'll take it manfully.
Well, of course. If people start relaying what’s right in front of their eyes, leftism is doomed.
Right, because I'm hard pressed to think of a more credible ambassador for conservative values than this guy.  Still, who am I to argue with the culture critic for Dr. Denton Daily?  I suppose our doom will go something like this...

"Hey look, there's an unreconstructed bigot in a tank top."

 "Well, there goes insurance coverage for prescription contraceptives."

R.I.P., Leftism.

13 comments:

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

Ku Klux Klavan offers us a klue.
~

Cole said...

In a bizarre way, I agree with Klaatu (or Klevon or whatever), in that I would dearly love for these assholes to be prominently displayed on major media outlets around the nation. Shove this nasty, bitter, dare I say evil Murkin underbelly right into the faces of the complacent, Nazi-appeasing mainstream population so they can see what they are allowing to fester in our society.

But I don't really think that is the outcome Herr Klavan-Goebbels is expecting.

And to be honest (sigh), I'm not entirely sure anymore that it would be.

Rugosa said...

What a blast from the past - I grew up on Buffalo's East Side, hearing that same crap. Nice to know the old ways aren't forgotten.

And it was a beautiful neighborhood when people had jobs.

D Johnston said...

Now before I react, let me reiterate what I’ve said here before. I believe racism as a philosophy is knuckleheaded pseudo-science and moral idiocy. It is the kind of half-smart thinking I expect from leftists and goes entirely against the respect for the individual that is at the heart of conservatism. That said

Wow, 54 words. That's the longest variation on "I'm not racist, but" that I've ever heard. I was half expecting it to end with "The Aristocrats!"

Anyway, I was really hoping that you were kidding about Homelanders, but alas. Klavan claims it's been optioned for a movie, which is staggering. He's been responsible for a few films, most of which lost money. Still, maybe this one will be as financially and critically successful as True Crime!

heydave said...

Personally, I feel free to just tell these assholes to stop talkin's stupid shit, 'cuz no way am I going back to jailjust for hurting them.

LA Confidential Pantload said...

Oh, no, it wasn't the firebomb. 'Twas leftists burned the house.

Bill S. said...

Appropos of nothing the boneheaded wife beater wearing dude said, or the creepy bald dude who tried to defend it...I read "Denton Daily" as "Dilton Doily"

zombie rotten mcdonald said...

Old Baldy up there "fears for this guy"; speaking, of course, of WBWWD. NOT the guy who had his house torched. You know, the person who ACTUALLY suffered retribution.

WTF is with these people.

gocart mozart said...

I read "Any Random Comment Thread on the Internet" as "Ayn Rand Comment Thread." Was I wrong to do so?

Carl said...

Interesting. I wonder if this racist redneck is related to Malcolm X?

Scott, you may or may not know, but the rural parts of New York state are actually more redneck-y than the entire states of Alabama and Mississippi combined.

Anonymous said...

I dunno what Klavan's problem is. There IS a network which would likely quote Wife Beater Guy with approval. It's called Fox News.

Anonymous said...

"had their lives degraded by leftist policies and ideas that...teach them that they are hated"

hmm.. guy's house is set on fire, and this jerk is saying how it is to be expected, spewing a bunch of racist crap..... Ok, so how is this NOT an example of how some people are hated? Sounds like it is just telling people the facts.

Anonymous said...

Sorry to carp, but isn’t ‘assless’ the Platonic essence of chaps ? Although 'assless chaps' sounds more melliflous, I guess.

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