Sick: White Male Poet Wonders Whether White Men Should Stop Writing
The question, which seems to be real (because of the SJ hurt-i-ness within), showed up on a blog, "The Blunt Instrument," and the particular blog item is substitled, "...On Publishing And Privilege":
I am a white, male poet--a white, male poet who is aware of his privilege and sensitive to inequalities facing women, POC, and LGBTQ individuals in and out of the writing community--but despite this awareness and sensitivity, I am still white and still male. Sometimes I feel like the time to write from my experience has passed, that the need for poems from a white, male perspective just isn't there anymore, and that the torch has passed to writers of other communities whose voices have too long been silenced or suppressed. I feel terrible about feeling terrible about this, since I also know that for so long, white men made other people feel terrible about who they were. Sometimes I write from other perspectives via persona poems in order to understand and empathize with the so-called "other"; but I fear that this could be construed as yet another example of my privilege--that I am appropriating another person's experience, violating that person by telling his or her story. It feels like a Catch-22. Write what you know and risk denying voices whose stories are more urgent; write to learn what you don't know and risk colonizing someone else's story. I genuinely am troubled by this. I want to listen but I also want to write--yet at times these impulses feel at odds with one another. How can I reconcile the two?
Next logical question: Should white men stop living?
via @CathyYoung63
"Should white men stop living?"
According to many SJWs, yes.
Ben at June 4, 2015 5:30 AM
Yeah, right, Ben. Name one.
If he feels he has to offer is his whiteness and maleness, he shouldn't have been a writer in the first place.
Patrick at June 4, 2015 5:35 AM
> Yeah, right, Ben. Name one.
http://www.counton2.com/story/28813386/controversial-sign-put-up-near-summerville-elementary-school
Snoopy at June 4, 2015 5:53 AM
And yet, we reward white female writers who appropriate others' experience vis-a-vis "The Help."
Micki at June 4, 2015 6:33 AM
Now Micki, you know that ANYTHING done by non-male non-white is acceptable (under some kinda logic) simply because those that have been subjected to white male privilege get a free pass in all things.
Fyi, white male privilege includes their women, their religion, their money, and hell I guess their pets as well. (See Obama's statement about our tendency to "cling" to things.)
Bob in Texas at June 4, 2015 6:46 AM
I'll steal InstaPundit's quote: WHITE MEN? NO. THIS PARTICULAR WHITE MAN? QUITE POSSIBLY.
I R A Darth Aggie at June 4, 2015 6:50 AM
Artemis,
All he is trying to change here is having the students not being in charge of his agenda.
His agenda is still
"Of course someone's social standing affects whether their ideas are considered offensive, or righteous, or even worth listening to. How can you think otherwise?"
He agrees w/the premise that your race determines how valuable your thoughts are and thus how valuable you are.
Thus he is not fighting the good fight.
Bob in Texas at June 4, 2015 7:14 AM
" Yeah, right, Ben. Name one."
"James Lee" the Discovery channel bomber. Pretty much was part of his manifesto he was angry that NPR and the Discovery channel wasn't pushing the zero population stuff enough.
Joe J at June 4, 2015 8:46 AM
this guy must believe that he writes for The Benefit of Humankind™ and has writer's block or something...
I guess normal poets are too selfish, writing for their own interest, and then seeing if anyone out there is interested in reading it...
having to get it out of their head before it explodes.
as if D.T. wrote:
"Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light."
as a public service announcement.
This guy is a putz.
SwissArmyD at June 4, 2015 9:59 AM
How does he know that publishing Chinua Achebe's writing did not deny a "more deserving" voice his chance? After all, Achebe's books were chosen because they would appeal to a large segment of the mostly-white book buying public.
When publishers choose to publish something, they also choose not to publish something else. IF a writer's work is what publishers think will sell, it gets published. The "voice" behind it doesn't matter. The dollars it will generate do.
This guy's a self-absorbed navel gazing putz.
Conan the Grammarian at June 4, 2015 10:42 AM
Swiss, I agree the guy is a putz. It also sound like he is almost there with the stop living question.
Ben at June 4, 2015 11:54 AM
If they stop living they stop paying.
Bill O Rights at June 4, 2015 12:15 PM
I kind of want to bounce a question to those who think like this. "Since in other countries whites are not the majority or privileged group in power, (China, Japan, etc) does he support silencing the Japanese in Japan, so the whites there can write more? Just to basically answer does he hate the majority or White people.
Joe j at June 4, 2015 1:03 PM
Joe J is a genius! Here's a list of a lot of places this guy can go and write poetry in and feel good about himself.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_African_countries_by_population
Bob in Texas at June 4, 2015 1:13 PM
It has to be satire. No white male really thinks that way. Au contraire. When I get bored with snorting caviar off some Asian taint, I lie back and ponder. Would I rather go hunting blackskins over the weekend or fly down to Guatemala for a Viagra fueled binge of under-age sex? I know they need the foreign income down there. But who am I, Santa Claus?
So hunting it is. I know Jeff just finished with his tobacco company merger last month. Maybe I'll just pop by the Vineyard to see if he'd like to go.
Canvasback at June 4, 2015 2:18 PM
This is from The Onion. Right? RIGHT???
I weep for the future.
Daghain at June 4, 2015 4:54 PM
He's right. He should stop writing. Tonight would be good.
kenmce at June 4, 2015 5:33 PM
"He's right. He should stop writing. Tonight would be good."
Last year would be better.
dee nile at June 4, 2015 5:47 PM
Ironically, his writing has just been exposed to a bunch of folks who never woulda heard of him.
NicoleK at June 4, 2015 11:57 PM
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