The problem is that "whiteness" is entirely a leftwing, neo-Marxist word designed to set people at each other's throats while the purveyors of such disingenuous nonsense use this deliberately manufactured discord to grab power. "Look, squirrel!"
America is not a "white" nation anymore than Liberia is a "black" nation. Culture, not skin color, is the controlling social dynamic.
Bada bing! What these leftwing nuts and Marxist psychos really mean by "Whiteness" is Western Civilization. Europe, from the Renaissance on has created the greatest achievements and progress in history. The. losers of the left can't abide that.
Right. I think in 100-years-ago America, Italians and Germans and Poles and Irish and English people never joined hands and celebrated their "whiteness" together. LOL. Sometimes, actually, they were at each other's throats. The fact that from time to time one would mistake one for the other is incidental.
the ugly history of how the americo-liberian minority dominated the native majority in liberia for over a century easily dispels 'toxic whiteness' nonsense, but i doubt many of the purveyors of such nonsense can find liberia on a map.
Until the 90's there was an accepted notion that immigrants would do their best to integrate into their new countries' customs and social mores rather than attempt to force their host country to bend to their needs. Create a merging of the host country and the immigrant's culture, not a "foreign country inside the host country". ie. New York's Chinatown, not "China in New York". It's past the point where we go back to insisting that this social contract be enforced. If people don't like it, they can remigrate back to their original country.
Great point and something I think about a lot. When our grandparents came here from Europe, yes, they were looking for a better life (jobs, money, freedom) but that wasn't to the exclusion of becoming part of American culture. They wanted to assimilate! That seems to be all but gone now and is one of the things dividing the world into incompatible cultural enclaves that the Left uses to sow discord.
I think you gloss over a bit about our grandparents and assimulation. They did want to become accepted members of American societies, but that full acceptance happened at about the 3 generation. My great father never was fully fluent in English despite coming here when he was 19 years old in the early 1910s and living until his 80s. My great grandmother on my other side also never fully learned English couldnt but sign her name and died at 99 after arriving in this country in her early 20s. Both of my parents were fully integrated proud Americans, but both brought traditions unique to their grand parents culture to my family. Each new culture that joins the American Melting Pot changes the whole neither the new addition nor the existing culture remains the same.
I didn't mean to imply that immigrants of that time didn't hold onto traditions or didn't live near other people from their countries of origin. But I do think there was generally a very different mindset and approach whether or not the first generation was able to fully assimilate or not.
As an immigrant myself, the difference between then and the Western world today is that I didn’t force my new country’s citizens to change to accommodate the traditions and thinking I brought with me from the country I left. I wanted to be an American.
Melting Pot used to work -- in Baltimore you had "Greek Town, Little Italy"
A celebration of their culture but also welcoming in both directions. You weren't banned from the Greek Orthodox festival because you weren't that religion. You were welcomed to share in their culture. Respect flowed in both directions.
Great answer Matt. My son-in-law, who is the father of my bi-racial grandkids, often expresses his exhaustion with the racial insanity that perpetuates rather than eradicates the problem.
Hit Matt. Ridiculous question from anyone who has read you for any length of time. And I agree totally. The only problem these days seems to be that "anyone" becoming an "American" no longer means aspiring to American values. Yes, freedom of religion and free speech, but also the idea that we were all one not separate. I think the Chinese in China towns came closest to Islam now but they were different. They DID retain some culture (as did the Irish and Italian), but also wanted to blend, speak English, follow our laws. I think Hispanics are the same as well. But I get the uncomfortable feeling that Muslims want to set up an alternate society here (I grew up in southern MI) and I don't like the idea of importing huge groups at once--they should have to be vetted individually or as families and acclimate more into the melting pot. LEftists seem to be trying to force multi-culturalism on us instead of Americanism, which is different. That thing we all had in common: wanting to be American. And that thing in England was just atrocious.
I do not see ethnocentrism as anything but natural. Tribes congregate. Tolerance is a separate aspect, and that tolerance diminishes the larger the "non-ethno" percentage of population. Of course, this assumes that said population does not assimilate, but creates a society within your society, and growing ever larger.
That is something that "diversity is our strength" types will never, ever admit. They believe tribalism can somehow be therapized away, or bullied out of people via struggle sessions, in order to create some latter-day New Soviet Man. The existence of a fixed "human nature" is anathema to these folks.
The notion that we can legislate human nature out of existence is pure leftism, and leftism only. No-one over the mental age of 25 (i.e., with a fully matured brain) could believe that for one second.
forget therapy, that is only for the docile. The rest of us would have to be "publicly shamed" (another tried and true Soviet methos of societal control) and then punished if recalcitrant. We see it in Europe today.
I marched in a 5,000 person Catholic Corpus Christi procession through streets of Portland, OR yesterday. There were Whites, Latinos (of many flavors), Vietnamese, Poles, etc. - we were all together as the Body of Christ to proclaim the Body of Christ. This happened in communities across America and the rest of the world.
The racial/ethnic/sexual conflict blown up in the media is just a distraction technique by our overlords to keep us fighting each other, rather than them.
The fact that our legislators are spending their time- and our money- trying to carve out protected classes, etc, is extremely unhelpful. The only thing they should be looking at is wealth. That's color blind.
"This constant lying is not aimed at making the people believe a lie, but at ensuring that no one believes anything anymore. A people that can no longer distinguish between truth and lies cannot distinguish between right and wrong. And such a people, deprived of the power to think and judge, is, without knowing and willing it, completely subjected to the rule of lies. With such a people, you can do whatever you want." -Hannah Arendt
“As much as any other citizen of any other place?”
The entire non-Western world is overtly ethnonationalist. They don’t generally even have the vocabulary to describe it because it’s like a fish trying to describe being wet.
You say, “anyone can become an American overnight, provided he or she accepts a few minor guidelines.”
Can the same be said of Japan, Kenya, China, Colombia, Vietnam, or Saudi Arabia? No. A foreigner can never become Japanese, Kenyan, Saudi, etc.
So you’ve set out some irreconcilable contradictions here. Should America be as chauvinistic as citizens of other countries, or is it great that anyone can become an American? Because these are mutually exclusive propositions.
I’m trying to work it all out myself. What I know for sure is that the progressive Western establishment is a suicide cult.
Yes, Americans can allow ourselves pride in our nation - and this is not incompatible with being proud that anyone accepting our founding principles and our laws can become one of us.
But we cannot allow hordes of those who seek to destroy those principles and laws into the country without opening ourselves to the charge of cultural suicide.
Swimming through public discourse feels more draining by the day. Sometimes I just want to turn off the noise and watch baseball. But checking out entirely is a risk—like falling asleep on a park bench. You never know what will shake you awake, or if you will manage to wake up at all.
This is a philosophical question, but Taibbi is a journalist. So in answering this question he is not wearing his journalism hat, but is giving his opinion as a citizen under the US Constitution. A more precise answer is that in a democracy, the will of the people decide as in everything, good or bad. And if it doesn’t work for them they will in their own self-interest change it.
The problem about the UK as in most countries in the West, is that the ruling class is intellectually and morally bankrupt. So in their desperation they concoct schemes such as this to dump on their own citizens to hang onto power.
The problem is that "whiteness" is entirely a leftwing, neo-Marxist word designed to set people at each other's throats while the purveyors of such disingenuous nonsense use this deliberately manufactured discord to grab power. "Look, squirrel!"
America is not a "white" nation anymore than Liberia is a "black" nation. Culture, not skin color, is the controlling social dynamic.
Bada bing! What these leftwing nuts and Marxist psychos really mean by "Whiteness" is Western Civilization. Europe, from the Renaissance on has created the greatest achievements and progress in history. The. losers of the left can't abide that.
All the time ignoring that Marx was a Westerner too, as were the Frankfurt dipshits.
There is a rotten apple in every bunch.
Right. I think in 100-years-ago America, Italians and Germans and Poles and Irish and English people never joined hands and celebrated their "whiteness" together. LOL. Sometimes, actually, they were at each other's throats. The fact that from time to time one would mistake one for the other is incidental.
Right. People are actually arguing that there's no distinction to be made between a Sicilian and a Norwegian.
But there are significant differences between Watusi, Bantu, Somali, cultures, too. Lebanese culture is not identical with that of Saudi Arabia.
And Algeria is not Minorca.
the ugly history of how the americo-liberian minority dominated the native majority in liberia for over a century easily dispels 'toxic whiteness' nonsense, but i doubt many of the purveyors of such nonsense can find liberia on a map.
Much as they can't see slavery as anything other than whites owning blacks. That isn't even simply wrong, it is cult-like in its rejection of reality.
How about start with, everyone can carry a knife, or no one can carry a knife. Your religion's rules don't trump our's.
Or as a sometimes wise man once said, "the way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race."
Works for me.
"You call that a knife, mate?? THIS is a knife!!"
Famous line!!
Until the 90's there was an accepted notion that immigrants would do their best to integrate into their new countries' customs and social mores rather than attempt to force their host country to bend to their needs. Create a merging of the host country and the immigrant's culture, not a "foreign country inside the host country". ie. New York's Chinatown, not "China in New York". It's past the point where we go back to insisting that this social contract be enforced. If people don't like it, they can remigrate back to their original country.
Great point and something I think about a lot. When our grandparents came here from Europe, yes, they were looking for a better life (jobs, money, freedom) but that wasn't to the exclusion of becoming part of American culture. They wanted to assimilate! That seems to be all but gone now and is one of the things dividing the world into incompatible cultural enclaves that the Left uses to sow discord.
I think you gloss over a bit about our grandparents and assimulation. They did want to become accepted members of American societies, but that full acceptance happened at about the 3 generation. My great father never was fully fluent in English despite coming here when he was 19 years old in the early 1910s and living until his 80s. My great grandmother on my other side also never fully learned English couldnt but sign her name and died at 99 after arriving in this country in her early 20s. Both of my parents were fully integrated proud Americans, but both brought traditions unique to their grand parents culture to my family. Each new culture that joins the American Melting Pot changes the whole neither the new addition nor the existing culture remains the same.
I didn't mean to imply that immigrants of that time didn't hold onto traditions or didn't live near other people from their countries of origin. But I do think there was generally a very different mindset and approach whether or not the first generation was able to fully assimilate or not.
As an immigrant myself, the difference between then and the Western world today is that I didn’t force my new country’s citizens to change to accommodate the traditions and thinking I brought with me from the country I left. I wanted to be an American.
Melting Pot used to work -- in Baltimore you had "Greek Town, Little Italy"
A celebration of their culture but also welcoming in both directions. You weren't banned from the Greek Orthodox festival because you weren't that religion. You were welcomed to share in their culture. Respect flowed in both directions.
"foreign country inside the host country"
If you were talking physiology instead of culture you're almost describing cancer.
Great answer Matt. My son-in-law, who is the father of my bi-racial grandkids, often expresses his exhaustion with the racial insanity that perpetuates rather than eradicates the problem.
Hit Matt. Ridiculous question from anyone who has read you for any length of time. And I agree totally. The only problem these days seems to be that "anyone" becoming an "American" no longer means aspiring to American values. Yes, freedom of religion and free speech, but also the idea that we were all one not separate. I think the Chinese in China towns came closest to Islam now but they were different. They DID retain some culture (as did the Irish and Italian), but also wanted to blend, speak English, follow our laws. I think Hispanics are the same as well. But I get the uncomfortable feeling that Muslims want to set up an alternate society here (I grew up in southern MI) and I don't like the idea of importing huge groups at once--they should have to be vetted individually or as families and acclimate more into the melting pot. LEftists seem to be trying to force multi-culturalism on us instead of Americanism, which is different. That thing we all had in common: wanting to be American. And that thing in England was just atrocious.
That "uncomfortable feeling" is your spider sense recognizing reality.
I do not see ethnocentrism as anything but natural. Tribes congregate. Tolerance is a separate aspect, and that tolerance diminishes the larger the "non-ethno" percentage of population. Of course, this assumes that said population does not assimilate, but creates a society within your society, and growing ever larger.
That is something that "diversity is our strength" types will never, ever admit. They believe tribalism can somehow be therapized away, or bullied out of people via struggle sessions, in order to create some latter-day New Soviet Man. The existence of a fixed "human nature" is anathema to these folks.
The notion that we can legislate human nature out of existence is pure leftism, and leftism only. No-one over the mental age of 25 (i.e., with a fully matured brain) could believe that for one second.
forget therapy, that is only for the docile. The rest of us would have to be "publicly shamed" (another tried and true Soviet methos of societal control) and then punished if recalcitrant. We see it in Europe today.
Everyone on Bluesky: "It's called being a heckin decent human being!! And if you're not, you're a Nazi! And all Nazis need punching!"
The New Soviet Man has become the New EU Man.
Why do the most peaceful, prosperous countries seem to have homogenous populations?
I marched in a 5,000 person Catholic Corpus Christi procession through streets of Portland, OR yesterday. There were Whites, Latinos (of many flavors), Vietnamese, Poles, etc. - we were all together as the Body of Christ to proclaim the Body of Christ. This happened in communities across America and the rest of the world.
Keep it simple, like Mom did: “My house, my rules.” It just means that as long as you observe a few basic parameters, you’re welcome.
The racial/ethnic/sexual conflict blown up in the media is just a distraction technique by our overlords to keep us fighting each other, rather than them.
The fact that our legislators are spending their time- and our money- trying to carve out protected classes, etc, is extremely unhelpful. The only thing they should be looking at is wealth. That's color blind.
It’s all so tiresome, it makes me want to check out.
That is the intent...
"This constant lying is not aimed at making the people believe a lie, but at ensuring that no one believes anything anymore. A people that can no longer distinguish between truth and lies cannot distinguish between right and wrong. And such a people, deprived of the power to think and judge, is, without knowing and willing it, completely subjected to the rule of lies. With such a people, you can do whatever you want." -Hannah Arendt
Yes.
Matt, Welcome back! Great answer!
“As much as any other citizen of any other place?”
The entire non-Western world is overtly ethnonationalist. They don’t generally even have the vocabulary to describe it because it’s like a fish trying to describe being wet.
You say, “anyone can become an American overnight, provided he or she accepts a few minor guidelines.”
Can the same be said of Japan, Kenya, China, Colombia, Vietnam, or Saudi Arabia? No. A foreigner can never become Japanese, Kenyan, Saudi, etc.
So you’ve set out some irreconcilable contradictions here. Should America be as chauvinistic as citizens of other countries, or is it great that anyone can become an American? Because these are mutually exclusive propositions.
I’m trying to work it all out myself. What I know for sure is that the progressive Western establishment is a suicide cult.
Yes, Americans can allow ourselves pride in our nation - and this is not incompatible with being proud that anyone accepting our founding principles and our laws can become one of us.
But we cannot allow hordes of those who seek to destroy those principles and laws into the country without opening ourselves to the charge of cultural suicide.
Oddly, we in the UK are not 'inbred'.
As you might say, 'Hell no!'
We know. Nasty is gonna nasty.
1776. 4th July. 2026. Who knew?
Swimming through public discourse feels more draining by the day. Sometimes I just want to turn off the noise and watch baseball. But checking out entirely is a risk—like falling asleep on a park bench. You never know what will shake you awake, or if you will manage to wake up at all.
This is a philosophical question, but Taibbi is a journalist. So in answering this question he is not wearing his journalism hat, but is giving his opinion as a citizen under the US Constitution. A more precise answer is that in a democracy, the will of the people decide as in everything, good or bad. And if it doesn’t work for them they will in their own self-interest change it.
The problem about the UK as in most countries in the West, is that the ruling class is intellectually and morally bankrupt. So in their desperation they concoct schemes such as this to dump on their own citizens to hang onto power.
I think we need to have a National Conversation About Race. It would solve all our problems. How come no one has suggested this?
LOL