Not only does Young move from "the concept of “whiteness” to the concept of “white supremacy” — as if they were identical," but he ultimately tells us what should be done about the problem: "White supremacy is a virus that, like other viruses, will not die until there are no bodies left for it to infect. Which means the only way to stop it is to locate it, isolate it, extract it, and kill it." Because he conflates "whiteness" and "white supremacy," his solution is just a bit troubling, no?
I'm going to be charitable here, and assume that this was not his best work.
First, the piece you’re responding to is horrible. The easy conflagration of white with white supremacy is offensive. His condescension on the subject is insulting, and worst of all I can’t see that he contributed any new thoughts or ideas at all with his essay.
Second, the way Aaron Rupar reported the sheriff’s statement, if not technically a lie, should be a career ending mistake. Given your chisel like flexibility on transparency in journalism I was expecting more on that.
Third, I think an initial conclusion that the targeted murder of 8 Asian people in multiple locations by 1 person was motivated by race is fair. I think as we’ve learned more it’s more correct to conclude that the race of the victims is only part of the reasons he killed them. Even this might be wrong, and I’m open to evidence that he was equally comfortable dehumanizing women of other races. But right now it looks like he was a sex addict who saw Asian women not as people, but as objects that existed to provide him with sexual gratification. Until more evidence about his motivation is available, I think it’s more correct to conclude that race was one of the reasons if not the only or primary reason.
Not only does Young move from "the concept of “whiteness” to the concept of “white supremacy” — as if they were identical," but he ultimately tells us what should be done about the problem: "White supremacy is a virus that, like other viruses, will not die until there are no bodies left for it to infect. Which means the only way to stop it is to locate it, isolate it, extract it, and kill it." Because he conflates "whiteness" and "white supremacy," his solution is just a bit troubling, no?
I'm going to be charitable here, and assume that this was not his best work.
First, the piece you’re responding to is horrible. The easy conflagration of white with white supremacy is offensive. His condescension on the subject is insulting, and worst of all I can’t see that he contributed any new thoughts or ideas at all with his essay.
Second, the way Aaron Rupar reported the sheriff’s statement, if not technically a lie, should be a career ending mistake. Given your chisel like flexibility on transparency in journalism I was expecting more on that.
Third, I think an initial conclusion that the targeted murder of 8 Asian people in multiple locations by 1 person was motivated by race is fair. I think as we’ve learned more it’s more correct to conclude that the race of the victims is only part of the reasons he killed them. Even this might be wrong, and I’m open to evidence that he was equally comfortable dehumanizing women of other races. But right now it looks like he was a sex addict who saw Asian women not as people, but as objects that existed to provide him with sexual gratification. Until more evidence about his motivation is available, I think it’s more correct to conclude that race was one of the reasons if not the only or primary reason.