The Sonia Syndrome: Why White Men Are Doomed

The Daily Beast ^ | 6.2.09

[lewisglad]

Quite soon, likely this week, Sonia Sotomayor will arrive on Capitol Hill, where she will be greeted by a gaggle of lawmakers. Nearly all of them will be white. Most will be men.

It must be said: These guys are doomed. All of these dark-suited white male politicians, with their crisp shirts and red coordinated ties, will be embarrassingly lacking the key appendage required in American politics today. Through elections and re-elections, grueling fundraising dinners and various travails required for elevation to the highest offices in the land, they thought they had it all! And until now, darn it, they did. They had what was needed to make it in America.

But now, it’s not enough. These politicians are missing…an identity. As in “identity politics.”

OK, so here’s the issue, or so it seems based on the fevered response to a few sentences from Judge Sotomayor: If you happen to be a 54-year-old Hispanic woman from the Bronx, and if you happened to notice, somehow, that you are a 54-year-old Hispanic woman from the Bronx…and then if you imply, let’s say in an address to an academic audience, “Hey! I’m thinking I’m a 54-year-old Hispanic woman from the Bronx and that’s going to have something to do with how I look at the world…and oh, by the way, I’m thinking that may even give me a better perspective on the tapestry of global human experience than a rich white guy from Greenwich, Connecticut….”

Well, you have just entered the world of identity politics.

There appears, we’ll understate, to be concern among some conservatives—and I do emphasize some, because there’s a whole group of smart conservatives —that Sonia Sotomayor’s so-called identity politics have compromised her legal judgments, and would continue to do so on the Supreme Court.

[fr_freak]

I should add that not all white societies are successful. The Soviet Union is an example, but also a lot of the Spanish, French, and Portugese former colonies, such as South America and parts of Africa, have failed spectacularly, while many if not most of the former British colonies have thrived, to include Hong Kong and India. The Anglo culture seems to be more successful even compared to other “white” cultures.

[Disambiguator]

Argh! You beat me to it.

You have to be able to post quickly, or you're DOOMED.

:^)

[Constitution Day]

So sorry. I was working instead of Freeping!

I’ll try to get my priorities in order in the future. :)

[Peter Libra]

Whoops! I somehow knew I should have put it more succinctly, sorry. I meant that your comments were a worthy rebuttal to this continued denigration of another group, that group being the old white heirachy. This by people like the nominee to the Supreme Court.

I meant that your rebuttal had a decent foundation. This because it did not contain vituperation about the worthy judge- Sotomayor. Sure it is good to read some people teeing off on her comment, but I just liked the examples given re this now much maligned group. There, fixed it.

[Jo Nuvark]

I’ve seen three or four Brinks Home Security
commercials and all of them portray home invaders
as white males. I’m sick of this profiling and
have registered a complaint with the company.
You may do the same at this website.

http://www.brinkshomesecurity.com/contactus.htm

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