Checking their privilege down on the waterfront!

SATURDAY, MAY 17, 2014

Julia Fisher’s suggestion: Should the horrible people who aren’t like us be told to check their privilege?

Frankly, it all depends!

For many purposes, we prefer the previous language, in which people who had a lot of advantages were told that they had a lot of advantages—perhaps even that they had “all the advantages.”

“Advantages” sound like things you’d want to confer on other people. In many contexts, “privilege” sounds like something a scold employs to make people loathe themselves.

In fairness, tyrants have always enjoyed spreading forms of loathing around. And alas! As part of our biological inheritance, we’re often attracted to tyranny and its unpleasant approaches.

Writing at The New Republic, Julia Fisher suggested a different approach! Admittedly, she never should have been discussing this topic at all. Because she attended Georgetown Day School, Fisher shouldn’t be stating her views about the concept of privilege.

(For background, see our previous post.)

Fisher shouldn’t have spoken at all! But since she so predictably did, we thought we’d focus on one thing she said. The highlighted passage made us think of a famous movie scene:
FISHER (5/6/14): Told to check your privilege, it’s pretty easy to feel shut out of conversation; an advantage in life might be turned into a disadvantage in debate. “Check your privilege” can come across as an expectation that a person be repentant for sins he has not committed. In its most generous usage, of course, “check your privilege” isn’t meant to make anyone feel guilty—only to make them recognize their privileged position. But it has the effect of invoking guilt, in large part because the phrase is so often used ungenerously, as a weapon rather than a gentle reminder.
Should people offer “gentle reminders” to those who have all the advantages? Should they try to be “generous” with such running dogs?

Leave it to a privileged person to offer such suggestions! That said, let’s motor on:

When they start their privilegesplaining, the privileged children who type for Salon may tend to be less than generous. In their hearts, they know they’re right. Just like Goldwater did!

That said, Fisher’s suggestion made us think of that famous movie scene. In the scene, Edie Dugan and Terry Malloy are walking not far from the waterfront.

In this very famous scene, Terry Malloy seems to decide that he admires this gentle person—that he may even want to be like her:
On the Waterfront (1954)
TERRY: You know, I've seen you a lot of times before. Do you remember parochial school out on Puluski Street? Seven, eight years ago?

[...]

You don't remember me, do you?

EDIE: I remembered you the first moment I saw you.

TERRY: By the nose, huh? Some people just got faces that stick in your mind.

EDIE: I remember you were in trouble all the time.

TERRY: Now you got me. The way those sisters used to whack me, I don't know what. They thought they was going to beat an education into me, but I foxed them.

EDIE: Maybe they just didn't know how to handle you.

TERRY: How would you have done it?

EDIE: With a little more patience and kindness. That's what makes people mean and difficult. People don't care enough about them.

TERRY: Are you kidding me? I'd better get you home. There’s too many guys around here with only one thing on their mind.

Am I gonna see you again?
When Edie drops one of her gloves, Terry picks it up and slips it onto his hand. To our eye, he starts to notice, in this scene, that Edie is a better person than he is—that she’s different from many of the people he knows on the waterfront.

To our ear, the fiery youngsters at Salon sometimes sound a bit like the sisters out on Puluski Street. The way they whack their moral inferiors, we don’t know what!

Maybe they just don't know how to handle the racists they find, it seems under every bed.

Whatever! When we read Fisher’s inappropriate words—words which never should have been spoken—we thought of this famous scene, which launches On the Waterfront’s undercard.

In the film’s primary theme, Brando fights with and defeats the mugs. In its more resonant secondary theme, a little tenderness works.

In the passage we’ve bolded above, we thought we heard Edie Dugan’s voice. Just think what a squish Julia Fisher would be if she had gone to Friends!

45 comments:

  1. For BOBfans who don't understand that blogger is a winger in spite of the endless "we liberals" that pepper his writings- the execrable Camille Paglia (Thank God she has dropped out of public sight) was another who claimed to be a liberal and would write appalling things about liberals.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bob coulda been a contender.

      Delete
    2. Don't confuse your Stalinism with liberalism.

      Delete
    3. Thanks, 3:47, for the maocontrast.

      Delete

    4. How To Stop A Divorce And Save Your Marriage?(Dr Brave).


      Hello to every one out here, am here to share the unexpected miracle that happened to me three days ago, My name is Jeffrey Dowling,i live in TEXAS,USA.and I`m happily married to a lovely and caring wife,with two kids A very big problem occurred in my family seven months ago,between me and my wife so terrible that she took the case to court for a divorce she said that she never wanted to stay with me again,and that she did not love me anymore So she packed out of my house and made me and my children passed through severe pain. I tried all my possible means to get her back,after much begging,but all to no avail and she confirmed it that she has made her decision,and she never wanted to see me again. So on one evening,as i was coming back from work,i met an old friend of mine who asked of my wife So i explained every thing to her,so she told me that the only way i can get my wife back,is to visit a spell caster,because it has really worked for her too So i never believed in spell,but i had no other choice,than to follow her advice. Then she gave me the email address of the spell caster whom she visited.(bravespellcaster@gmail.com}, So the next morning,i sent a mail to the address she gave to me,and the spell caster assured me that i will get my wife back the next day what an amazing statement!! I never believed,so he spoke with me,and told me everything that i need to do. Then the next morning, So surprisingly, my wife who did not call me for the past seven {7}months,gave me a call to inform me that she was coming back So Amazing!! So that was how she came back that same day,with lots of love and joy,and she apologized for her mistake,and for the pain she caused me and my children. Then from that day,our relationship was now stronger than how it were before,by the help of a spell caster . So, i will advice you out there to kindly email this wonderful man {bravespellcaster@gmail.com},i f you are in any condition like this,or you have any problem related to "bringing your ex back. So thanks to Dr Brave for bringing back my wife,and brought great joy to my family once again.{bravespellcaster@gmail.com}, Thanks..

      Delete
  2. OMB (How he got there!)

    ...Fortgang is a college freshman. For that reason, there’s no obvious reason to care about the things he says, or to expect great insight from him.
    -------
    Young Fortgang’s views don’t exactly matter. But over at the new Salon, they’re staging their latest group nervous breakdown about something the demonic freshman wrote for a campus newspaper."

    BOB 5/6

    Here we are 8 posts later, wondering if a solo nervous breakdown is any more intellectually appetizing than a group effort.

    KZ

    ReplyDelete
  3. Picking on Fortgang the Frosh is in line with Joan Walsh's making a hobby horse of that old coot who called POTUS a n****r and then offered strained justifications for his language.

    We used to ignore such people as Bundy, Sterling, and this latest fool. But if Walsh & Co. did that, they'd have to go out and find real stories of genuine import to cover and practice real journalism, and, gee whiz, that's a lot of work!

    According to movie mythology, Eva Marie Saint accidentally dropped her glove. Most directors would have called cut, but Kazan let the camera roll, wanting to see how the actors would handle the snafu. Brando picked up the glove and began to fiddle with it, continuing to deliver his lines. He tried it on for size, as if he were trying on Edie's point of view.

    That take made it into the film. Supposedly it was, or is, considered one of method acting's nicest little moments.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kooks and Sharpton's targets are the lies on which modern progressives base their ideology. They have to find outliers and liars because their entire philosophy is empty and degenerate.

      Delete
    2. This is ridiculous. Fox put Bundy out front as a hero defying the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, and made a national issue of him. Walsh is not supposed to react to that because. . . well, because Bob has told you to despise Joan Walsh and, like any good Fox viewer learns what to think from Fox, you learn what to think from Bob> Same with Fortgang. Walsh made a big deal out of him after Time and Fox gave him a bog platform -- never, mind you, as big a deal as Bob has made of him.

      Delete
  4. Beautiful post and a fine example of the kind of old school compassionate liberalism that many of today's upstart "liberals" could learn a thing or two from.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That said, don't leave out the cadres of "modern progressives."

      Delete
  5. Julia Fisher suggested a different approach! Admittedly, she never should have been discussing this topic at all. Because she attended Georgetown Day School, Fisher shouldn’t be stating her views about the concept of privilege.

    Doesn't TDH know by now that you get extra self-awarded brownie points and progressive head-nodding for your insight and good-personism when you call yourself out?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Obviously an unchecked conservative comment.

      You don't "call yourself out." You "come out."
      Sorry if I spread some loathing around, but if the dog fits, run with it.

      Delete
  6. The way they whack their moral inferiors, we don’t know what!

    Vintage

    ReplyDelete
  7. Really Bob. Do you have to show your old fogey BVDs in public so often?

    The Guradian more than covered this whole issue almost a year ago.
    Your ancient film and tlevision references are embarrassing enough, but your history is wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong wrong.

    http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/jun/05/check-your-privilege-means

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. http://www.fogeyunlimited.co.uk/acatalog/Underwear.html

      Delete
    2. Agreed 5:37. It is the kind of thing a young, inexperienced scribe would write.

      Delete
    3. I disagree 5:37. You are dropping an "A" bomb to avoid the substance of the argument that Bob's topic is old news and his take is incorrect.

      Delete
    4. The "substance of the argument " was to cast an insult.

      Because a topic has been written about before does not make for end of discussion. That "old news" seems to be getting some amount of discussion in a certain branch of liberal media these days. Far from embarrassing, anyone, regardless of generation, who cannot appreciate the On the Waterfront reference is decidedly uncool.

      Delete
    5. OLD people are SO stupid! Us KIDS can do it! We have the power! We're KIDS and we make the BEST decisions!

      Delete
    6. "Progressives" make more Alzheimer's jokes about an older person whose ideology they don't like than all conservatives combined. Hateful, bigoted and damaged people.

      Delete
  8. According to an earlier comment, minorities are burdened because they're surrounded by people who are different from them. The exercise described by Julia Fisher emphasized to minorities at that school that they were surrounded by people different from them. Is this ultra-modern liberalism seems or old-fashioned racism?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You must refer to a comment from an earlier thread on a different post. Fuzziness does not become you. It is what we expect from career pseudo-liberal media leaders.

      Delete
    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    3. For some people, obstacles and challenges breed character and resilience. Maybe the should be taking their steps in the opposite direction to everyone else.

      Delete
  9. Bob, I would love you to do a whole post explaining "our biological inheritance" which attracts us to tyranny.

    That said, you can wait until you have solved Tuscaloosa.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We wonder why nobody else took note of that?

      KZ

      Delete
    2. Complete 8th Grade and you might understand it.

      Delete
    3. The red blooded American biological inheritance is freedom.
      For an excellent discussion free of "privielege checking, follow the link:

      http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3106107/posts

      Delete
  10. It's the same ol' same ol'.
    The conservative moral, self disciplined, tough-love as dished out by moral superiors such as nuns, powerful people, and tough guys trying to get by, versus the Liberal nurturing; "With a little more patience and kindness. That's what makes people mean and difficult. People don't care enough about them."

    Bush, McCain = tough, stern, manly daddys.
    Obamas (both), Clintons (both) = weak, soft, girly nanas.

    It's not biological unless you apply certain attributes to a particular sex, and insist that social Darwinism MUST follow the same distorted description of the natural world, i.e. "Red in tooth and claw."

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thank you for this. I'm so glad you're in the world.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Well put, gravymeister. So, which works better, Tough Love or nurturing? Groups like Mormons, Jews, Chinese, Japanese, Indians (Asian), and Filipinos received tough love. Or, maybe tough, non-love. These groups are at the top of the heap today.

    No group has been nurtured more than Native Americans. And, blacks have been significantly nurtured in the last few decades. Yet, these groups lag.

    It is true that blacks have made enormous progress since federal nurturing began. However, blacks were making even faster progress in the period before that nurturing began. There's no way to re-run history, so we will never know whether all the federal nurturing speeded up or slowed down black progress.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. DinC, you are a walking billboard of straight up, willful stupidity.

      You've got a bizarre understanding of "nurture."

      S

      Delete
    2. Well put, DinC

      Delete
  13. "No group has been nurtured more than Native Americans." Just, wow.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don 't mean to deny that Native Americans were horribly mistreated. But, the Bureau of Indian Affairs has been in existence for many decades, with the goal of nurturing Native Americans. Wiki says
      The BIA serves the 566 federally recognized tribes through four offices:
      The Office of Indian Services: operates the BIA’s general assistance, disaster relief, Indian child welfare, tribal government, Indian Self-Determination, and Indian Reservation Roads Program.
      The Office of Justice Services (OJS): directly operates or funds law enforcement, tribal courts, and detention facilities on federal Indian lands. OJS funded 208 law enforcement agencies, consisting of 43 BIA-operated police agencies, and 165 tribally operated agencies under contract, or compact with the OJS. The office has seven areas of activity: Criminal Investigations and Police Services, Detention/Corrections, Inspection/Internal Affairs, Tribal Law Enforcement and Special Initiatives, the Indian Police Academy, Tribal Justice Support, and Program Management. The OJS also provides oversight and technical assistance to tribal law enforcement programs when and where requested. It operates four divisions: Corrections, Drug Enforcement, the Indian Police Academy, and Law Enforcement.[1]
      The Office of Trust Services: works with tribes and individual American Indians and Alaska Natives in the management of their trust lands, assets, and resources.
      The Office of Field Operations: oversees 12 regional offices; Alaska, Great Plains, Northwest, Southern Plains, Eastern, Navajo, Pacific, Southwest, Eastern Oklahoma, Midwest, Rocky Mountain, and Western; and 83 agencies, which carry out the mission of the Bureau at the tribal level.


      Delete
    2. The term nurture does not refer to govt intervention.

      Delete
  14. Checking Somerby's Views on White Privelege Down With Tucker

    http://crooksandliars.com/2014/05/tucker-carlson-its-racist-attack-point-out

    ReplyDelete
  15. The Next Multi Part Series for TDH

    http://nomoremister.blogspot.com/2014/05/trigger-warning-ambivalence-on-trigger.html

    ReplyDelete
  16. Please. Everyone with two brain cells knows that 'Check your privilege' equals 'Shut up whitey'. But that's ok because racism against whites doesn't count.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No wonder conservatives have a hard time figuring out what the expression means.

      Delete

  17. How To Stop A Divorce And Save Your Marriage?(Dr Brave).


    Hello to every one out here, am here to share the unexpected miracle that happened to me three days ago, My name is Jeffrey Dowling,i live in TEXAS,USA.and I`m happily married to a lovely and caring wife,with two kids A very big problem occurred in my family seven months ago,between me and my wife so terrible that she took the case to court for a divorce she said that she never wanted to stay with me again,and that she did not love me anymore So she packed out of my house and made me and my children passed through severe pain. I tried all my possible means to get her back,after much begging,but all to no avail and she confirmed it that she has made her decision,and she never wanted to see me again. So on one evening,as i was coming back from work,i met an old friend of mine who asked of my wife So i explained every thing to her,so she told me that the only way i can get my wife back,is to visit a spell caster,because it has really worked for her too So i never believed in spell,but i had no other choice,than to follow her advice. Then she gave me the email address of the spell caster whom she visited.(bravespellcaster@gmail.com}, So the next morning,i sent a mail to the address she gave to me,and the spell caster assured me that i will get my wife back the next day what an amazing statement!! I never believed,so he spoke with me,and told me everything that i need to do. Then the next morning, So surprisingly, my wife who did not call me for the past seven {7}months,gave me a call to inform me that she was coming back So Amazing!! So that was how she came back that same day,with lots of love and joy,and she apologized for her mistake,and for the pain she caused me and my children. Then from that day,our relationship was now stronger than how it were before,by the help of a spell caster . So, i will advice you out there to kindly email this wonderful man {bravespellcaster@gmail.com},i f you are in any condition like this,or you have any problem related to "bringing your ex back. So thanks to Dr Brave for bringing back my wife,and brought great joy to my family once again.{bravespellcaster@gmail.com}, Thanks..

    ReplyDelete


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