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"Virtue Signaling"

🕑 Added 2020-06-04 12:05:59 +0000 UTC

Comments

Sarah Kamp

I recently relistened to this episode because I appreciate how you guys communicate with one another. At the 35 minute mark, T.K. differentiates between " truth and your political philosophy about what we need to do with that truth". He goes to say the truth is not left or right, conservative or liberal. I found that statement very interesting and helpful for processing bipartisan political issues and interactions with others about those political issues. I find that it is hard to find the truth. Often we are only fed the opinions about what to do with the truth but even then I think the truth gets lost/skewed (intentionally or unintentionally). Do you have any advice as to where to find that truth? To then in turn think independently about the specific issue... then be open to listening to both similar and differing opinions...then hopefully have mindful conversations based on the specific issue/truth. I feel that basic foundation piece is difficult to come by and leads to me feeling underprepared to participate in politically based discussions.

Lauren Ginsberg

Yes, that's true. Thanks for the thoughts. I guess I was trying to acknowledge the systemic power which results in white people being more favorably viewed than BIPOC. It's not something that all white people as individuals are even aware of or want to harness though, of course not. But due to the power structures in play "reverse racism" can simply not exist

The Minimalists

While I respect your opinion, and I agree with the specific birdwatcher example, that's not what T.K. was communicating during this conversation. I speak with him on the phone and in person frequently, and I know from experience that he's allergic to the kind of thinking that leads to blanket statements like "all [adjective] people are [adjective]." In fact, he thinks that kind of simplistic reductionism is harmful to helpful discourse. —JFM

Lauren Ginsberg

TK has a lot of patience with you guys 🤣 I think if you listen to his explanation of racial prejudice vs racism a few more times you'll understand better. All white people have power over Black people in the US, just take the lady who called the police in Central Park for example. She knew that she had the power to even threaten to make a phone call that could potentially result in the use of systemic inequality against the bird watcher simply because she's White and he's Black. That's power + racial prejudice combined, or racism