Everything Is Racism -- Even Bernie's Mittens!
Christina Hoff Sommers tweeted, and then I tweeted, and then she tweeted:
So tired of it. "Infecting" is right. There's either a function key or a web-based "everything is racism" sentence generator. You throw your story in and it rewrites it in a way that turns cat hair or whatever into a sign of "systemic racism," blah, blah, blah.
— Amy Alkon (@amyalkon) February 2, 2021
Yes, per Sommers' next tweet, even Bernie's mittens are made out to be racism. David Knowles writes at yahoo!news:
A public high school teacher in San Francisco named Ingrid Seyer-Ochi, who wrote an op-ed for the San Francisco Chronicle that appeared on Sunday and quickly went viral. Seyer-Ochi's objection was to the "privilege, white privilege, male privilege and class privilege" symbolized by Sanders's choice of a relatively casual Burton snowboarding jacket and repurposed wool mittens.Seyer-Ochi addressed the topic with her students, who she said were also upset by what they saw as the implicit message being delivered by Sanders's choice of outerwear.
"What did they see? They saw a white man in a puffy jacket and huge mittens, distant not only in his social distancing, but in his demeanor and attire," Seyer-Ochi wrote, adding, "What did I see? What did I think my students should see? A wealthy, incredibly well-educated and -privileged white man, showing up for perhaps the most important ritual of the decade, in a puffy jacket and huge mittens.
"I don't know many poor, or working class, or female, or struggling-to-be-taken-seriously folk who would show up at the inauguration of our 46th president dressed like Bernie."
I see a man who has the air of being perpetually constipated and whose bluster always reminds me of my Uncle Seymour on a little too much Manischewitz. But you do you!
PS Also from the story above:
Sanders monetized his viral fame to raise more than $1.8 million for various causes from the licensing of T-shirts and other merchandise with the now iconic image. The beneficiaries include Meals on Wheels, Feeding Chittenden, the Vermont Parent Child Center Network, the Chill Foundation, the Bi-State Primary Care Association and senior centers.
Sanders was not center stage at the event, and other people around him (even women) were dressed similarly. He had a suit under his coat.
He became a meme because he's Bernie, not because he was the only one dressed that way.
Also, as a New Englander, this did not strike me as odd at all. I've worn parkas to fancy places, with my nice clothes underneath. Some weather a nice wool coat doesn't cut it. He is an old man.
I will say there is some snobbism sometimes associated with being under-dressed. People out to prove how above it all they are. Vestiges of our Puritan past.
There may be truth to Black people needing to dress up more, and not being able to pull off being under-dressed,though.
NicoleK at February 1, 2021 11:40 PM
Better to call out the razor wire and thousands of National Guard troops as racist, making the scene more like the worship of Kim Jong-un than an inauguration.
So many people were clamoring to be there. Right?
Radwaste at February 2, 2021 3:53 AM
Well put, NicoleK.
"Every truth has two sides."
Maybe the question should be: Did any elderly black spectators that day (I don't know how many were at the ceremony, if any), really feel the need NOT to wear truly warm clothing, just to look more formal? How about the elderly white people?
Not to mention that it's likely that all the attention Bernie got was about poking affectionate fun at him. I.e., it wasn't exactly complimentary, even though I would hope no one would blame any elderly person for putting warmth (and safety) first. And hands and feet are especially vulnerable.
But yes, I've heard that complaint before about rich people getting to dress as shabbily as they please, on all occasions, as if they can't be bothered to spare even a little civility, much less a dime, to the people around them. Plus the complaint, from black people, about having to dress to the nines just to go grocery shopping, so as not to be shadowed all the time.
Lenona at February 2, 2021 5:51 AM
"I don't know many poor, or working class, or female, or struggling-to-be-taken-seriously folk who would show up at the inauguration of our 46th president dressed like Bernie." ~Seyer-Ochi
There is your key line. Someone dresses differently than Seyer-Ochi does. Clearly anyone who is in any way different than Seyer-Ochi is a racist. Cue laugh track.
If you are in the middle of the snow you wear a coat and mittens. If you are in the deep south you wear short sleeve shirts.
Also, Bernie is always grumpy. He is grumpy on stage. He is grumpy when he is alone. The man is a perpetual grump. Complaining that he looked grumpy at this event is like complaining that people were wearing underwear.
Ben at February 2, 2021 6:02 AM
Bernie is thinking "that should have been me up there, fucking DNC twits robbed me again".
I R A Darth Aggie at February 2, 2021 6:30 AM
Because the poor and working class are famous for attending formal gatherings in tuxedo?
Bernie showed up on a cold day in a parka coat and mittens, not a wool overcoat and leather gloves. That's Bernie. He eschews the trappings of wealth, despite being wealthy himself.
Saying that Bernie's outwardly casual look at a formal event is evidence of white supremacy because only white people can show up under-dressed is ridiculous, as are most "woke" allegations of white supremacy.
The photo became a meme because it was Bernie. American politics always seems to have a crazy old man and Bernie has succeeded Lyndon LaRouche as the crazy old man of American politics.
Conan the Grammarian at February 2, 2021 7:02 AM
The word 'racism' itself is problematic, constructed as it is of the words 'Ra' (patriarchal deity);
'cis', (h8ful straight person); and
'm', an abbreviation for 'male', the most privileged and violent of the 17 known genders.
Stop using your heteronormative expression oppression to undermine minority rights!
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at February 2, 2021 9:44 AM
What is behind complaints about Whiteness, Masculinity, Privilege, Inequity, etc.?
Envy. Pure and simple.
The appropriate response? Go f*ck yourself, loser.
Jay R at February 2, 2021 9:51 AM
Believe me, Bernie the Brooklyn Blowhard is not terribly "well-educated."
Privileged? Well, in the sense that just about anyone working for the bureaucratic civilian-side of BurlingtonVTGov, or FedGov is privileged. Paid for being bossy and generating little of value.
For the unwoke part of Vermont (and yes, there is such a thing), he's always been a laughingstock or embarrassment, depending upon the time of day. But the hippies and trust funder imports from MA and NJ swamped out their votes starting in the mid-70s.
ruralcounsel at February 2, 2021 12:17 PM
Team Nicole.
It doesn't matter how precious the event is, if you've been invited but are not going to get to kiss the bride, you can dress however the hell you want in terms of outerwear.
crid at February 2, 2021 2:02 PM
None the less, the finest words in this comment thread are "despite being wealthy himself."
crid at February 2, 2021 2:05 PM
Conan: Because the poor and working class are famous for attending formal gatherings in tuxedo?
______________________________
Well...practically, according to Miss Manners. That is, they don't necessarily wear tuxedos, but the working classes are often more LIKELY to be sticklers for wearing formal clothes on formal occasions, because good manners and appearances are often all they can afford. (No, I can't find the exact quotation right now.)
After all, if you're in the lower half, you can wear money or have money, but seldom both.
Lenona at February 2, 2021 4:22 PM
""Every truth has two sides."
Not according to Kosh (the Vorlon. He knows things)
More wonderful even than the razor wire, the thousands of troops considered chattel by those on stage, the continuing idea of impeaching what is not a private citizen...
...is the idea that the Dems and all of those feebleminded fools forgot or disregarded Al Gore, whose victory would in no way be a surprise, and I submit that election shenanigans would not even have been necessary had he been the nominee.
*I* would have voted for Tulsi!
Radwaste at February 2, 2021 4:31 PM
Evil Bernie: turning a meme into meals on wheels! how dare he, how oppressive!
The racism trope is handy for people who really don't have something to say.
cc at February 3, 2021 8:19 AM
https://www.vox.com/the-goods/22245223/black-middle-class-racism-reparations'
Maybe you can be instructed by this article....
BITU at February 3, 2021 6:12 PM
"Maybe you can be instructed by this article...."
White People Bad: Black People Most Affected
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at February 4, 2021 9:19 AM
You mean the one in which selected people complain they have so much credit card debt that they can't pay their student loan debt? Maybe the problem isn't the type of debt, but the presence of so much of it.
Conan the Grammarian at February 4, 2021 10:16 AM
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