This influencer well covers the issues with Jason Aldean’s song and video in this Instagram post, but I must say, the idea of “soft bigotry” is a fallacy. I have come to expect this sort of discussion from this influencer, while she does her level best to speak to and re-educate her audience about important issues.
So many people I know take comfort in the idea that they are better people than Donald Trump, the Klan, the Proud Boys and that ilk of US society that I have no hope for change. Those are the most extreme examples of how racism shows up and not what maintains the existence of anti-blackness. The threat and actuation of violence is, however, the terrorism that keeps it in place.
The idea that there is such a thing as “soft bigotry” leaves room for this kind of thinking to flourish.
As a person thinketh, so are they.
Thinking leads to speaking and leads to actions by the speaker and often the hearers. There is a proverb I was taught by one of my mentors, “word sound has power”. This idea can be a blog entry all on its own for all the multicultural examples that exist. People who aren’t connected to their humanity, therefore, the humanity of others, don’t see the impact of their speech.
I was going to write a piece about free speech before this Jason Aldean song and video came to light. Now seems like the perfect time.
There is an idea about free speech that one is free to speak anything that doesn’t cause chaos, like falsely screaming “FIRE!” in a crowded theater. Isn’t that what Trump’s affect on the US, and dare I say the global society has been? Isn’t that what this video does?
Mostly, it seems that this notion of stoking panic has been used to limit the speech of those with whom those in power disagree. I offer that a little discussed notion about it is rarely touched and until it is examined and addressed, we will do little to effectuate the transformation of society. The fact that falsehoods aren’t just “little white lies” seems to escape those with platforms and microphones in the public discourse. Stoking fear about Black violence is the biggest example that lives in the psyche of many suburbanites, when historically, it has been Black people who have been the target of mob and vigilante violence since we were brought here under systemic racism.
Speech that stokes the once (back in the early 70s) smoldering embers of anti-blackness is akin to falsely screaming “FIRE!” in a crowded theater. People call them “dog whistles” and “saying the quiet part out loud”. Do they really know what they are saying?
It is like being proud of being color-blind – uninformed. Most are uninformed, being manipulated and lead by those who operate in bad faith, gaslighting and keeping us separated so they may continue to rule the uninformed and undereducated. It seems to be a value of that class, not being informed, or educated. I understand why they promote those ideas, all the while using people’s ignorance against them.
Recently, I was part of presenting a talk about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Prior to those discussions there was a phenomenal CPR presentation. In wrap up of the meeting, someone said that we learned valuable information that could save someone’s life, referencing the CPR presentation. My colleague and I immediately chimed in that the DEI information can also save someone’s life. As I reflect on it today, one may have more opportunities to save someone’s life by not arrogantly and ignorantly promoting the popular culture’s notions about anti-blackness. Start somewhere, one doesn't have to know it all to make a difference.
Many of the people of the global majority know what we hear when we are subjected to the many ways our existence and experiences are gaslit by the media and popular culture. It has been going on since we got here. Just because it doesn’t speak hate and violence outright, doesn’t mean it doesn’t set the stage for violence and other acts of bigotry to happen as this young person shares. Yes, get her handbook also, it has to be better than with what you arrived.
Please unlearn and relearn what we’ve been taught about history and society. Up to then, you will be promoting lies and fallacies. Don’t be that person who is arrogantly ignorant, perhaps unknowingly falsely yelling “FIRE!” in the crowded theater of society and looking around like you have no idea why people are being trampled. It is one’s ignorance and arrogance that causes it. Don’t be that person.
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