Discussion: Jim Webb Rails Against White Privilege 'Myth' In Defense Of Andrew Jackson

Call the waaaaaaahmbulance.

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Webb has fallen off his pedestal and can’t get up!

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“Any white person whose ancestral relations trace to the American South now risks being characterized as having roots based on bigotry and undeserved privilege.”

Isn’t it well deserved? As evidenced by recent history, most of the southern whites are still very proud of it.

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That ought to earn him a few more guest spots on Faux “News”.

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I’ll take “Ways to kill your vice-presidential hopes in one step” for $20, Alex.

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“This dismissive characterization of one of our great presidents is not occurring in a vacuum,” he wrote. “Any white person whose ancestral relations trace to the American South now risks being characterized as having roots based on bigotry and undeserved privilege. Meanwhile, race relations are at their worst point in decades.”

Hmm, Jim, I have ancestors who were from the south, and I’m cool with it. My ancestors didn’t own slaves, like most southerners didn’t, but even if they had, I wouldn’t take umbrage if people called them out on it. I mean, 'cos like, slavery and genocide practiced by Jackson were, you know, wrong?

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Can someone figure out a way to bring Bernie bros into this?

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He may have had hopes for that but it would never have materialized and I mean never. Webb served his purpose for the Dems in '06 against the Bush maladministration and that’s was it. He can now go back to being a Rethug and bemoaning the incivility of this new century.

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Speaking of stubby little sausage fingers…

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Dodged a bullet with this one.

Shorter Webb: I am hoping Trump will consider me for VP slot. I will reach out across the aisle and pick up some racists votes.

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No, he would make stubby little sausage fingers a good running mate.

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Jim Webb Rails Against White Privilege ‘Myth’ In Defense Of Andrew Jackson

OH Please just where has Webb been for the past 200 years…

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Send the man some infected blankets in honor of his hero, Old Hickory, and a book about the Trail of Tears.

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This is a horribly misleading article. Webb does not “rail against” the celebration of Harriet Tubman and the decision to recognize her on the $20 bill at all. Perhaps you should re-read the first sentence of his piece! “One would think we could celebrate the recognition that Harriet Tubman will be given on future $20 bills without demeaning former president Andrew Jackson as a “monster,” as a recent Huffington Post headline did. And summarizing his legendary tenure as being “known primarily for a brutal genocidal campaign against native Americans,” as reported in The Post, offers an indication of how far political correctness has invaded our educational system and skewed our national consciousness.”

Webb’s issue is not even with the criticisms of Jackson, per se, but rather the historical revisionism whereby we attribute 21st-Century morals to 19th-Century actors and reduce people/administrations to their worst characteristic/action. Jackson, like every other human being (especially with the benefit of ~200 years of hindsight), was a complex and nuanced person who did many good things for the country at the same time he did many things we now consider evil/wrong. Webb’s point is merely that we should not pretend that the negative is all that matters. And there is some logical appeal to his argument. Should we now strip Thomas Jefferson’s legacy from the nation’s history because he, too, was a slaveholder along with his many other personal and professional failures? Agree or disagree with Webb’s perspective, but don’t blatantly mischaracterize with what he wrote. This is another example of the recent HuffPo-ization of TPM: clickbait headlines and out-of-context articles to drive traffic. It’s kind of sad, really. I guess that’s why I mainly just read the “Editors” tab on the site most times now.

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…CTE…

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“The myth of universal white privilege and universal disadvantage among racial minorities has become a mantra,” Webb argued. (Former Virginia Senator Jim Webb)

No one has argued that white privilege was “universal” – I’m not even really sure what Webb means by that.

Mr. Webb, as a 50yo white Virginian, I can say that you did a fairly decent job in the Senate of representing Virginia. Your staff–and yourself–always responded to my inquiries and you seemed genuinely interested in my need or opinion. With all due respect, sir, you are very wrong here. White privilege exists. Nobody is saying that every single white person in America has had a hand in setting up the structure of this nation, its responsibilities, its benefits to the citizens – but even as a very poor, disabled (and gay) man, I can assure you we whites have had a hand or two up where traditional racial minorities have had to struggle more than I would have just to keep up, and many weren’t able to keep up. Seriously, man, you honestly want to tell any thinking person that white privilege has been a myth? I’m unable to continue believing you to be a man of the people, a man with an open mind.

I personally am thrilled the Treasury Dept. will be putting the great Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill. Pres. Andrew Jackson was a man of his times, but he was absolutely horrible for Native Americans in particular – simply reprehensible policies, deception and outright theft. He also did everything in his power to undermine America’s burgeoning financial system – that’s a fact. He never deserved to be on ANY American tender.

With this op-ed, you have gone so far off the reservation. I will now consider you a socially conservative Republican. Please notify us of when you have officially registered as a Republican. Thank you.

edited for grammar.

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Jim Webb also has a history standing up for the Confederate flag of treason, so it’s not like this happened in a vacuum. At some point you just have to say “when someone tells you who they are, believe them”.

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I think his intention was to highlight that white folks are suffering too. Of course, he’s gone about this entirely wrong and should just shut up…but, there’s some point to be made there. After all, once we told the South that they couldn’t own brown folks any more and then took away their institutionalized self-declared superiority over brown people (segregation, etc.), they pretty much just jumped on the plutocracy train and declared that if they couldn’t own and oppress the browns, they’d simply own and oppress everyone.

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