White Fright (written by a white man)

[Rebel Queen]

White Fright...By: Michael Moore

I don't know what it is, but every time I see a white guy walking towards me, I tense up. My heart starts racing, and I immediately begin to look for an escape route and a means to defend myself. I kick myself for even being in this part of town after dark. Didn't I notice the suspicious gangs of white people lurking on every street corner, drinking Starbucks and wearing their gang colours of Gap turquoise or J Crew mauve? What an idiot! Now the white person is coming closer, closer - and then - whew! He walks by without harming me, and I breathe a sigh of relief.

White people scare the crap out of me. This may be hard for you to understand - considering that I am white - but then again, my colour gives me a certain insight. For instance, I find myself pretty scary a lot of the time, so I know what I'm talking about. You can take my word for it: if you find yourself suddenly surrounded by white people, you better watch out. Anything can happen. As white people, we've been lulled into thinking it's safe to be around other white people. We've been taught since birth that it's the people of that other colour we need to fear. They're the ones who'll slit your throat!

Yet as I look back on my life, a strange but unmistakable pattern seems to emerge. Every person who has ever harmed me in my lifetime - the boss who fired me, the teacher who flunked me, the principal who punished me, the kid who hit me in the eye with a rock, the executive who didn't renew TV Nation, the guy who was stalking me for three years, the accountant who double-paid my taxes, the drunk who smashed into me, the burglar who stole my stereo, the contractor who overcharged me, the girlfriend who left me, the next girlfriend who left even sooner, the person in the office who stole cheques from my chequebook and wrote them out to himself for a total of $16,000 - every one of these individuals has been a white person. Coincidence? I think not.

I have never been attacked by a black person, never been evicted by a black person, never had my security deposit ripped off by a black landlord, never had a black landlord, never had a meeting at a Hollywood studio with a black executive in charge, never had a black person deny my child the college of her choice, never been puked on by a black teenager at a Mötley Crüe concert, never been pulled over by a black cop, never been sold a lemon by a black car salesman, never seen a black car salesman, never had a black person deny me a bank loan, and I've never heard a black person say, "We're going to eliminate 10,000 jobs here - have a nice day!"

I don't think that I'm the only white guy who can make these claims. Every mean word, every cruel act, every bit of pain and suffering in my life has had a Caucasian face attached to it.

So, um, why is it exactly that I should be afraid of black people?

I look around at the world I live in - and, I hate to tell tales out of school, but it's not the African-Americans who have made this planet such a pitiful, scary place. Recently, a headline on the front of the Science section of the New York Times asked Who Built The H-Bomb? The article went on to discuss a dispute between the men who claim credit for making the first bomb. Frankly, I could have cared less - because I already know the only pertinent answer: "It was a white guy!" No black guy ever built or used a bomb designed to wipe out hordes of innocent people, whether in Oklahoma City, Columbine or Hiroshima. No, friends, it's always the white guy. Let's go to the tote board:

* Who gave us the black plague? A white guy.

* Who invented PBC, PVC, PBB, and a host of chemicals that are killing us? White guys.

* Who has started every war America has been in? White men.

* Who invented the punchcard ballot? A white man.

* Whose idea was it to pollute the world with the internal combustion engine? Whitey, that's who.

* The Holocaust? That guy really gave white people a bad name.

* The genocide of Native Americans? White man.

* Slavery? Whitey!

* US companies laid off more than 700,000 people in 2001. Who ordered the lay-offs? White CEOs.

You name the problem, the disease, the human suffering, or the abject misery visited upon millions, and I'll bet you 10 bucks I can put a white face on it faster than you can name the members of 'NSync.

And yet, when I turn on the news each night, what do I see again and again? Black men alleged to be killing, raping, mugging, stabbing, gangbanging, looting, rioting, selling drugs, pimping, ho-ing, having too many babies, fatherless, motherless, Godless, penniless. "The suspect is described as a black male... the suspect is described as a black male... THE SUSPECT IS DESCRIBED AS A BLACK MALE..." No matter what city I'm in, the news is always the same, the suspect always the same unidentified black male. I'm in Atlanta tonight, and I swear the police sketch of the black male suspect on TV looks just like the black male suspect I saw on the news last night in Denver and the night before in LA. In every sketch he's frowning, he's menacing - and he's wearing the same knit cap! Is it possible that it's the same black guy committing every crime in America?

I believe we've become so used to this image of the black man as predator that we are forever ruined by this brainwashing. In my first film, Roger & Me, a white woman on social security clubs a rabbit to death so that she can sell him as "meat" instead of as a pet. I wish I had a nickel for every time in the past 10 years that someone has come up to me and told me how "horrified" they were when they saw that "poor little cute bunny" bonked on the head. The scene, they say, made them physically sick. The Motion Picture Association of America gave Roger & Me an R [18] rating in response to that rabbit killing. Teachers write to me and say they have to edit that part out of the film, if they want to show it to their students.

But less than two minutes after the bunny lady does her deed, I included footage of a scene in which police in Flint, Michigan, shot a black man who was wearing a Superman cape and holding a plastic toy gun. Not once - not ever - has anyone said to me, "I can't believe you showed a black man being shot in your movie! How horrible! How disgusting! I couldn't sleep for weeks." After all, he was just a black man, not a cute, cuddly bunny. The ratings board saw absolutely nothing wrong with that scene. Why? Because it's normal, natural. We've become so accustomed to seeing black men killed - in the movies and on the evening news - that we now accept it as standard operating procedure. No big deal! That's what blacks do - kill and die. Ho-hum. Pass the butter.

It's odd that, despite the fact that most crimes are committed by whites, black faces are usually attached to what we think of as "crime". Ask any white person who they fear might break into their home or harm them on the street and, if they're honest, they'll admit that the person they have in mind doesn't look much like them. The imaginary criminal in their heads looks like Mookie or Hakim or Kareem, not little freckle-faced Jimmy.

No matter how many times their fellow whites make it clear that the white man is the one to fear, it simply fails to register. Every time you turn on the TV to news of another school shooting, it's always a white kid who's conducting the massacre. Every time they catch a serial killer, it's a crazy white guy. Every time a terrorist blows up a federal building, or a madman gets 400 people to drink Kool-Aid, or a Beach Boys songwriter casts a spell causing half a dozen nymphets to murder "all the piggies" in the Hollywood Hills, you know it's a member of the white race up to his old tricks.

So why don't we run like hell when we see whitey coming toward us? Why don't we ever greet the Caucasian job applicant with, "Gee, uh, I'm sorry, there aren't any positions available right now"? Why aren't we worried sick about our daughters marrying white guys? And why isn't Congress trying to ban the scary and offensive lyrics of Johnny Cash ("I shot a man in Reno/just to watch him die"), the Dixie Chicks ("Earl had to die"), or Bruce Springsteen ("I killed everything in my path/I can't say that I'm sorry for the things that we done").

Why the focus on rap lyrics? Why doesn't the media print lyrics such as the following, and tell the truth? "I sold bottles of sorrow, then chose poems and novels" (Wu-Tang Clan); "People use yo' brain to gain" (Ice Cube); "A poor single mother on welfare... tell me how ya did it" (Tupac Shakur); "I'm trying to change my life, see I don't wanna die a sinner" (Master P).

African-Americans have been on the lowest rung of the economic ladder since the day they were dragged here in chains. Every other immigrant group has been able to advance from the bottom to the higher levels of our society. Even Native Americans, who are among the poorest of the poor, have fewer children living in poverty than African-Americans.

You probably thought things had got better for blacks in this country. After all, considering the advances we've made eliminating racism in our society, one would think our black citizens might have seen their standard of living rise. A survey published in the Washington Post in July 2001 showed that 40%-60% of white people thought the average black person had it as good or better than the average white person.

Think again. According to a study conducted by the economists Richard Vedder, Lowell Gallaway and David C Clingaman, the average income for a black American is 61% less per year than the average white income. That is the same percentage difference as it was in 1880. Not a damned thing has changed in more than 120 years.

Want more proof? Consider the following:

* Black heart attack patients are far less likely than whites to undergo cardiac catheterisation, regardless of the race of their doctors.

* Whites are five times more likely than blacks to receive emergency clot-busting treatment after suffering a stroke.

* Black women are four times more likely than white women to die while giving birth.

* Black levels of unemployment have been roughly twice those of whites since 1954.

So how have we white people been able to get away with this? Caucasian ingenuity! You see, we used to be real dumb. Like idiots, we wore our racism on our sleeve. We did really obvious things, like putting up signs on rest-room doors that said WHITES ONLY. We made black people sit at the back of the bus. We prevented them from attending our schools or living in our neighbourhoods. They got the crappiest jobs (those advertised for NEGROES ONLY), and we made it clear that, if you weren't white, you were going to be paid a lower wage.

Well, this overt, over-the-top segregation got us into a heap of trouble. A bunch of uppity lawyers went to court. They pointed out that the 14th Amendment doesn't allow for anyone to be treated differently because of their race. Eventually, after a long procession of court losses, demonstrations and riots, we got the message: if you're going to be a successful racist, better find a way to do it with a smile on your face.

We even got magnanimous enough to say, "Sure, you can live here in our neighbourhood; your kids can go to our kids' school. Why the hell not? We were just leaving, anyway." We smiled, gave black America a pat on the back - and then ran like the devil to the suburbs.

At work, we whites still get the plum jobs, double the pay, and a seat in the front of the bus to happiness and success. We've rigged the system from birth, guaranteeing that black people will go to the worst schools, thus preventing them from admission to the best colleges, and paving their way to a fulfilling life making our caffe lattes, servicing our BMWs, and picking up our trash. Oh, sure, a few slip by - but they pay an extra tariff for the privilege: the black doctor driving his BMW gets pulled over continually by the cops; the black Broadway actress can't get a cab after the standing ovation; the black broker is the first to be laid off because of "seniority".

We whites really deserve some kind of genius award for this. We talk the talk of inclusion, we celebrate the birthday of Dr King, we frown upon racist jokes. We never fail to drop a mention of "my friend - he's black..." We make sure we put our lone black employee up at the front reception desk so we can say, "See - we don't discriminate. We hire black people."

Yes, we are a very crafty, cagey race - and damn if we haven't got away with it!

I wonder how long we will have to live with the legacy of slavery. That's right. I brought it up. SLAVERY. You can almost hear the groans of white America whenever you bring up the fact that we still suffer from the impact of the slave system. Well, I'm sorry, but the roots of most of our social ills can be traced straight back to this sick chapter of our history. African-Americans never got a chance to have the same fair start that the rest of us got. Their families were wilfully destroyed, their language and culture and religion stripped from them. Their poverty was institutionalised so that our cotton could get picked, our wars could be fought, our convenience stores could remain open all night. The America we've come to know would never have come to pass if not for the millions of slaves who built it and created its booming economy - and for the millions of their descendants who do the same dirty work for whites today.

It's not as if we're talking ancient Rome here. My grandfather was born just three years after the Civil War. That's right, my grandfather. My great-uncle was born before the Civil War. And I'm only in my 40s. Sure, people in my family seem to marry late, but the truth remains: I'm just two generations from slave times. That, my friends, is not a "long time ago". In the vast breadth of human history, it was only yesterday. Until we realise that, and accept that we do have a responsibility to correct an immoral act that still has repercussions today, we will never remove the single greatest stain on the soul of our country.

http://blackland.whgbetc.com/white_fright.html

[Kweku_Omowale]

well rebel queen that goes to show that sometimes the hunter can become the hunted,i watched bowling for columbine,what ya think about the movie?

[SoularFlarez]

word....even white ppl dis-satisified by the way thangs are getten run nowdays...

[Rebel Queen]

Originally Posted by afrikanwarriorzumbi2020

well rebel queen that goes to show that sometimes the hunter can become the hunted,i watched bowling for columbine,what ya think about the movie?

I was unable to seee the whole documentary just bits and pieces so its hard to say.

[Rebel Queen]

Originally Posted by SoularFlarez

word....even white ppl dis-satisified by the way thangs are getten run nowdays...

Not enough of them soular, def not enough of them.

[Kweku_Omowale]

when are u coming to toronto kanada man and see for urself the state of our people here, first hand,is messed up yo

[rebelAfrika]

Originally Posted by Rebel Queen

Not enough of them soular, def not enough of them.

Kwame Ture said white males make up the LEAST revolutionary component in society today.

[Nandii]

Rebel Queen...

I thought this article was awesome... and it's hard for me to believe that a caucasian wrote this thorough, detailed account of the difference in the nature of 'his' people and african peoples ......and even though I know these things already...'him' putting it the way he has, somehow provoked more of an insult to my injury.

I don't know why but....it made me kinda angered at him or ashamed that he was telling such truth from the other side.... like.....

"stromin my face with his fingers and singing my life with his words..."

It felt like when somone says to you " I saw what they did to you and that was fu**** up!!! "They treat me bad...but what they did to 'you' and are 'still' doing.... is really awful."....

Well...... no sh*it Sherlock?

You see it ....We live it. ....Somehow your mistreatment and mine differ greatly in ramifications .....but tell me....

While you were living where I could not live and working where I could not work and your children were going to schools where mine could not go

While you had this position where you had such a clear vision of mine and your "so called abuse" What did you do?.... then?

What are you doing now towards alleviation of the situation?

I mean..while I'm certainly glad that you jotted down all the info and pretty much hav'nt missed a thing.

I hope that the fact that "you feel my pain" aint all you have to bring!


Thanks for the confirmation...I really needed it...

[Rebel Queen]

Nandiii sis its funny you said this cause as i read this, i had a weird feeling too.. it was like yeah he spitting truth right there but hearing it from a white man when as u said we live it everyday does nothing to change the problems. All most people do is tell u the problems and never give u any solutions. Thats always been an issue for me. And the fact that u cant trust too many of dem is another reason for that " feeling". But one thing i must say about michael moore is that he has made many of the white population very uncomfortable. i have seen his documentaries, Roger and Me as well as Farenheit 9/11 and the things he put out there really made u stop and think some shytttt. i know he pissed a few people off with those documentaries. And to be quiet honest even with that weird feeling there was still a part of me that was glad to hear the truth coming from someone, cause not too many like hearing it or for that matter even telling it. By the way that article was actually an excerpt from his book, Stupid White Men... How Ironic huh???

Originally Posted by Nandii

Rebel Queen...

I thought this article was awesome... and it's hard for me to believe that a caucasion wrote this thorough, detailed account of the difference in the nature of 'his' people and african peoples ......and even though I know these things already...'him' putting it the way he has, somehow provoked more of an insult to my injury.

I don't know why but....it made me kinda angered at him or ashamed that he was telling such truth from the other side.... like.....

"stromin my face with his fingers and singing my life with his words..."

It felt like when somone says to you " I saw what they did to you and that was fu**** up!!! "They treat me bad...but what they did to 'you' and are 'still' doing.... is really awful."....

He sees it ....We live it.

No sh*it Sherlock?....Tell me?

While you were living where I could not live and working where I could not work and your children were going to schools where mine could not go

While you had this position where you had such a clear vision of mine and your "so called abuse" What did you do?.... then?...

What are you doing now towards alleviation of the situation?

I mean..while I'm certainly glad that you jotted down all the info and pretty much hav'nt missed a thing.

I hope that the fact that "you feel my pain" aint all you have to bring!



Thanks for the confirmation...I really needed it...

[Nandii]

Originally Posted by Rebel Queen

Nandiii sis its funny you said this cause as i read this, i had a weird feeling too.. it was like yeah he spitting truth right there but hearing it from a white man when as u said we live it everyday does nothing to change the problems. All most people do is tell u the problems and never give u any solutions. Thats always been an issue for me. And the fact that u cant trust too many of dem is another reason for that " feeling". But one thing i must say about michael moore is that he has made many of the white population very uncomfortable. i have seen his documentaries, Roger and Me as well as Farenheit 9/11 and the things he put out there really made u stop and think some shytttt. i know he pissed a few people off with those documentaries. And to be quiet honest even with that weird feeling there was still a part of me that was glad to hear the truth coming from someone, cause not too many like hearing it or for that matter even telling it. By the way that article was actually an excerpt from his book, Stupid White Men... How Ironic huh???

Right on Rebel Queen !......though I had to get that off !.....I dug it and I'm interested.....thanks for the additional info on his other works...I will definately check em' out!

[Nandii]

Should a 400 lb man advise us on the evils of over-consumption?
Should the resident of a million-dollar apartment claim to be a poster boy of the working class?:rollingeyes:
Should a person who thought that Enron was a great investment, that Ralph Nader, Wesley Clark and John Kerry would win, and that North Korea's Kim Jong was changing for the better, advise us on ANYTHING?:shock:

Michael Moore is a paradox. A millionaire who boasts of wealth as proving his value -- "I'm a millionaire, I'm a multi-millionaire. I'm filthy rich. You know why I'm a multi-millionaire? 'Cause multi-millions like what I do. That's pretty good, isn't it?"

He lives in a million-dollar apartment, and boasts of that as well. "I walk among them. I live on the island of Manhattan, a three-mile-wide strip of land that is luxury home and corporate suite to America's elite:shock:..... Those who run your life live in my neighborhood. I walk in the streets with them each day" (Michael Moore, Stupid White Men, p. 51). For vacations, he keeps another million-dollar beachfront house in Michigan.:shcolar:

"You would think that he's the ultimate common man. But he's money-obsessed," said one associate.
He sends his child to a private school -- no sense associating with the working class -- and has some trouble associating with them himself. The New York Post reported on a tantrum he threw in London: "Then, on his second-to-last night, [Michael Moore] raged against everyone connected with the Roundhouse and complained that he was being paid a measly $750 a night. 'He completely lost the plot,' a member of the stage crew told the London Evening Standard. 'He stormed around all day screaming at everyone, even the 5 pound-an-hour bar staff, telling them how we were all con men and useless.:shock: Then he went on stage and did it in public.' At his last appearance, staffers refused to work or even open the theater's doors." NY Post, Jan. 8, 2003.

He supplements his meager income with speaking tours. No more $750 gigs; on his 2004 pre-election tour he charged Utah Valley State College $40,000, Xavier $25,000, and University of New Mexico $35,000. Not bad for an hour or two's work.
Ah, the joys of capitalism....
One of his former associates summed him up: " You would think that he's the ultimate common man. But he's money-obsessed."

And ....
His major themes are his status as the spokesman of the working class, the evils of capitalism, and the selfishness of (all other) Americans.

It would be easy to denounce Moore as a hypocrite. Many conservatives denounce him as a leftist, when in fact the serious left, the thinking left, generally finds him appalling. He is the latest in the modern breed of Limosine Leftists -- individuals who, while personally they share the values of 19th century robber barons, find it flattering to adopt a thin veneer of leftism as a pose, in the same manner they pick a flattering hair style or gown. (A left-leaning critic of Moore summed up the situation very nicely: Moore's appeal lies in his giving wealthy, over-educated, whites an opportunity to laugh at working-class whites.)

But enough on Michael Moore as a person. Let's examine his output.

A consistent theme can be found throughout his work, and that is a theme of deception any time it is useful. Moore fixes upon a conclusion and, when the data do not exist, simply invents them.

Bowling for Columbine.....

A look at Bowling for Columbine (my main analysis to date). In producing his Oscar-winner, Moore altered history, misled his viewers, and edited the footage and audio in such a way as to reverse the meaning. In one case, he took a speech of a person he desired to target; the problem was that the speech was in fact conciliatory and mild. So he spliced in footage from another speech, cut out paragraphs, and spliced the beginning of one sentence to the ending of another. In another, when he wanted to criticize a political advertisement, but it wasn't as pointed as he wanted, he spliced together two different political ads, then added titling which was in neither:shock:.

Stupid White Men.....

A short review of his perhaps autobiographical Stupid White Men. Here we learn such shocking things as -- 200,000 Americans are dying of Mad Cow Disease and no one knows it; Bush secretly stole the election by having Florida bar convicted felons (which Moore maintains were great Gore supporters) from voting; Nader did the Demos a big favor by running in 2000; Enron is a great investment. Okay, Mike.:whip:

Dude, Where's My Country?....

Another of his books --Dude, Where's My Country, (page still under construction.) In this tome we learn "There is no terrorist threat," (p. 95) and Richard Nixon was the last liberal President, (p. 193). (Even more amusingly, in chapter 8 Moore pledges to contribute the limit to whichever Democrat has the best chance of winning (p. 162) and then in chapter 11 tells the reader that the Democrats are "professional losers," that "Democratic Party leaders have told me something they will not admit in public -- that they have basically written off 2004; that they see little chance of defeating George W. Bush" (p. 204) and that they might as well run Oprah Winfrey. (p. 206).)

Fahrenheit 911...

A page on Moore's planned Fahrenheit 911 (in preparation).

Musings on the Cult of Moore...

A very deep question: Moore is unquestionably popular. Is this a clue as to an interesting but dangerous cultural/emotional development?:whip: