Something has been bugging me for a couple of days and I really want to get it off my chest
I am still very angry about the Seinfeld and Friends crap that happened over the past couple of days. Seeing white kossacks completely flip their lid at a black kossack for even daring broach the topic of white male privilege during the rise of the sitcom era was disgusting but not surprising. Apparently, addressing privilege surrounding the inception of a television show around these parts is enough to inspire hundreds of comments that amount to the same points over and over and over again, refuted dozens of times. Thread upon thread of kossacks coming in, completely missing the point of this very thoughtfully written diary, then double/triple/quadrupling down when its suggested that their defensive reaction may actually be white racial identity at work.
It drives me up a wall. Most kossacks pay lip service to POC voices around here, but when push comes to shove, when a sacred *thing* comes up for criticism, hundreds of words are devoted to defending said *thing*. When someone criticizes something that is enjoyable to another person, I get how it can feel like an attack. But when you march into a diary and take immediate umbrage at a black person for daring to criticize your favorite, beloved *thing*, you miss the larger point because you are more worried about licking your wounds and being offended to listen.
When someone criticizes a *thing* they are not criticizing you at all. A *thing* and your interest in it are two completely separate entities. A person can criticize said *thing* and not, in turn, criticize you in the process. People completely side-stepped this point, and in comment after comment, harangued this black diarist for not 100% praising Seinfeld. This did not go unnoticed by people who have been reading bkos for years. This tactic (swamping a diary with hundreds of variations of the same comment, usually outsized offense, feigned victimhood, or debate over minutiae) has been used countless times to protect white interests and distract from the main point which was the criticism of the privilege or oppression itself. Yes, right here on dkos, our vaunted “progressive” space.
It really chafes me because no one should have to endure hours and hours of the same critical comments from very angry people simply because they are calling out privilege, oppression, or racism in society. Dailykos strives to be a place that protects black voices but in reality, in real life every day writing and commenting here, it is not. It is a place that preserves the power structure, preserves the status quo, and protects white identity, one can see that plainly. That diary was just another example of it, and one that has stuck in my craw since that shitstorm of a comments section began going off the rails (.01 seconds after the diary was posted, he said not-so-ironically).
Kossacks, if you want to protect black voices — the first step, the very first step, is listen. I learned that BECAUSE OF THE VOICES AT BKOS. Dont drown them out, even if they are addressing your favorite *thing*. Instead, listen and learn something.