All-purpose news and politics thread: Two Steps Beyond!(Part II)

[Kirby101]

People really need to look at the truth about why she claimed NA ancestry and the fact she did not benefit from it. It is a ginned up problem, even slighter and smaller than Hillary's emails.
The comments about it on this thread are way off the mark.

[numberthirty]

(Illinois Politics)...

If Lightfoot's walk will be anything like what she is talking in her first few days, I'm interested.

[Tendrin]

People really need to look at the truth about why she claimed NA ancestry and the fact she did not benefit from it. It is a ginned up problem, even slighter and smaller than Hillary's emails.
The comments about it on this thread are way off the mark.

Yeah, the idea that Warren is 'despised' is ludicrous. No, she doesn't have the highest favorables, but the media has definitely been pulling an 'emails' on her, yes.

[Adam Allen]

People really need to look at the truth about why she claimed NA ancestry and the fact she did not benefit from it. It is a ginned up problem, even slighter and smaller than Hillary's emails.
The comments about it on this thread are way off the mark.

I think it's up to people who know the truth to correct the misconception. I was just telling a friend about this, this past weekend ... who ironically is a white woman, but who was convinced Warren was unethical due to the whole Native American thing. Warren never was Rachel Dolezal, though.

[Malvolio]

ALL-PURPOSE NEWS AND POLITICS THREAD: The Show Must Go On

[PwrdOn]

I think it's up to people who know the truth to correct the misconception. I was just telling a friend about this, this past weekend ... who ironically is a white woman, but who was convinced Warren was unethical due to the whole Native American thing. Warren never was Rachel Dolezal, though.

Granted it's not the most egregious mistake ever, but I just can't think of a single justification that would make it understandable why she did it. Sure this is just another case of the Republicans trying to troll a Democrat over something that they absolutely do not have the moral high ground to speak on, but at the same time it's not just some nothingburger that you can dismiss out of hand because there's just enough there to make you feel a bit disturbed, especially now that she's running for president.

[Tendrin]

Granted it's not the most egregious mistake ever, but I just can't think of a single justification that would make it understandable why she did it. Sure this is just another case of the Republicans trying to troll a Democrat over something that they absolutely do not have the moral high ground to speak on, but at the same time it's not just some nothingburger that you can dismiss out of hand because there's just enough there to make you feel a bit disturbed, especially now that she's running for president.

A lot of Americans have these kind of stories about their ancestry, though. It's something white people have been doing for generations. I was told I had Native American somewhere in my ancestry and its almost certainly untrue, you know? She thought she had a legit claim, was proud of it as a lot of white people unnecessarily all, and included it in part of her personal story even though she never benefitted from it.

It's a nothing burger. Where it /becomes/ a burger is in her attempt to deal with it trough ancestry testing. /That's/ where she screwed up... but that screw up is completely irrelevant to the discussion white people are having over it which is rooted in the notion of 'minorities getting special treatment'.

[jetengine]

Granted it's not the most egregious mistake ever, but I just can't think of a single justification that would make it understandable why she did it. Sure this is just another case of the Republicans trying to troll a Democrat over something that they absolutely do not have the moral high ground to speak on, but at the same time it's not just some nothingburger that you can dismiss out of hand because there's just enough there to make you feel a bit disturbed, especially now that she's running for president.

"Huh this things asking for my ancestry, well my Grandma said we were NA so sure"

Plus she didnt get any benefits from it, its literally the same as you ticking the wrong box in the form. Compare that to what Hillary's emails were supposed to be and it IS a nothingburger.

[PwrdOn]

A lot of Americans have these kind of stories about their ancestry, though. It's something white people have been doing for generations. I was told I had Native American somewhere in my ancestry and its almost certainly untrue, you know? She thought she had a legit claim, was proud of it as a lot of white people unnecessarily all, and included it in part of her personal story even though she never benefitted from it.

It's a nothing burger. Where it /becomes/ a burger is in her attempt to deal with it trough ancestry testing. /That's/ where she screwed up... but that screw up is completely irrelevant to the discussion white people are having over it which is rooted in the notion of 'minorities getting special treatment'.

That's exactly the problem though, isn't it? For white people, having a few native ancestors far up your family tree is considered a cool piece of trivia that you can take pride in, rather than a shameful secret that must be hidden from polite society, but that certainly hasn't been true of every minority group. The only reason it is the case for natives is because they are so marginalized and destitute that they pose absolutely no threat to white domination, and have little choice but to fake a smile and play along as whites continue to co-opt bits of their heritage for novelty value while ignoring their outstanding grievances.

Obviously, we shouldn't expect Warren to be reflecting on 400 years of exploitation when filling out a simple form, and certainly back when she did it the notion of "cultural appropriation" being a societal problem didn't exist and would never have crossed her mind. But the standards of public discourse today demand that people be retroactively accountable for past missteps, and her inability to address this issue properly is going to be an issue going forward because the Republicans will continue to attack her about it and she isn't going to be able to just brush it off as more nonsensical trolling.

[worstblogever]

A lot of Americans have these kind of stories about their ancestry, though.

Hell, Trump just said his father was born in Germany this week. (Nope, grandpa was.) Worse yet, the Trump family also has had several points where they claimed Swedish ancestry.

Honestly, if he took a 23 and Me test, I wouldn't be shocked if it came back 50% porcine DNA.

[Tendrin]

That's exactly the problem though, isn't it? For white people, having a few native ancestors far up your family tree is considered a cool piece of trivia that you can take pride in, rather than a shameful secret that must be hidden from polite society, but that certainly hasn't been true of every minority group. The only reason it is the case for natives is because they are so marginalized and destitute that they pose absolutely no threat to white domination, and have little choice but to fake a smile and play along as whites continue to co-opt bits of their heritage for novelty value while ignoring their outstanding grievances.

Certainly. This is a problem towards native people but it has /very little/ to do with what white people are doing with it or how it's being discussed. That's my point. Natives are so marginalized that their voice isn't relevent to the attacks being launched at her in the first place.

Obviously, we shouldn't expect Warren to be reflecting on 400 years of exploitation when filling out a simple form, and certainly back when she did it the notion of "cultural appropriation" being a societal problem didn't exist and would never have crossed her mind. But the standards of public discourse today demand that people be retroactively accountable for past missteps, and her inability to address this issue properly is going to be an issue going forward because the Republicans will continue to attack her about it and she isn't going to be able to just brush it off as more nonsensical trolling.

It's something she'll have to work on but I do think she can get past it. It's not like the GOP has the ability to do much more than fuel aggreived white resentment towards her and people who buy that narrative are not especially likely to pull the lever for a Dem in the first place.

[ed2962]

Warren's claim of native ancestry is particularly damaging to her because the people who would be most offended by it are the same ones whose support she is counting on to carry her candidacy. There's just something particularly odious about a wealthy white woman so cynically co-opting the struggles of natives for personal advantage, and while this is not the most egregious case there doesn't appear to be any kind of circumstance in her life that would justify it. And while Trump and his cronies obviously are the last ones who should be taking a victory lap over this, it's hard to look at her the same way now. Would a President Warren really look out for the well-being of minorities, or would she sell us out at the first opportunity to chase that silly moderate dream of bringing (white) America together?

If so, it makes her no different that Harris, Booker, O'Rourke, Mayor Pete etc...

This is exactly what Trump and the GOP wants people to focus on...instead of considering Warren's positions on abortion, legal weed, civil rights, gay rights...let's worry about if she is or is not Native American.

[ed2962]

That's exactly the problem though, isn't it? For white people, having a few native ancestors far up your family tree is considered a cool piece of trivia that you can take pride in, rather than a shameful secret that must be hidden from polite society, but that certainly hasn't been true of every minority group. The only reason it is the case for natives is because they are so marginalized and destitute that they pose absolutely no threat to white domination, and have little choice but to fake a smile and play along as whites continue to co-opt bits of their heritage for novelty value while ignoring their outstanding grievances.

Obviously, we shouldn't expect Warren to be reflecting on 400 years of exploitation when filling out a simple form, and certainly back when she did it the notion of "cultural appropriation" being a societal problem didn't exist and would never have crossed her mind. But the standards of public discourse today demand that people be retroactively accountable for past missteps, and her inability to address this issue properly is going to be an issue going forward because the Republicans will continue to attack her about it and she isn't going to be able to just brush it off as more nonsensical trolling.

It's been true of African Americans. It's not uncommon for some black folks to say, "Oh, I got a little bit of Indian in me..."

[JCAll]

All-Purpose News And Politics Thread: I'd Turn Back If I Were You!

[ed2962]

(Illinois Politics)...

If Lightfoot's walk will be anything like what she is talking in her first few days, I'm interested.

Same here. But she'll still have to deal with decades of machine politics and it means facing off against ( and I hate to say it, but...) some minority/gay politicians who have made the status quo work for them.