Long Form Links – Politics, Homeless Chic, Waiting

Ta-Nehisi Coates – Let It Come

Rick Perlstein has outlined how Nixon basically turned a victimology of white struggle into a political career. Then there are the racists who terrorized the black middle class in the South, and then routinely charged that they, themselves, were the aggrieved, not the blacks who they’d just run out of town. White victimology is lamentable and ultimately accepted, mostly because the “white working class” is more an idea, an weird amalgam of the purity of the white Southern belle and nobleness of the savage, than an actual group of people. Still it’s been a sight to watch the same clucking heads that dismiss black people for “a culture of failure” and for worshiping ignorance, now tell us that it’s fine for someone who potentially holds the fate of civilization in their hands to know as much about the Bush Doctrine as the man on the street, to think that “Intelligent Design” is science. Enough, indeed. Marion Barry wrecked D.C. These fools are talking about the world.

Threadbared – Homeless Chic (full post)

“The people with the best style, for me, are the people that are the poorest. Like, when I go down to like Venice Beach and I see the homeless, I’m like, oh my god, you’re pulling out like crazy looks. They pulled shit out of like garbage bags.” – Erin Wasson to NylonTV* (posted to Fashionista)

“It is currently ‘in’ for the young and well-fed to go around in torn rags [most recently seen as "hobo chic," or "dumpster chic," as best embodied by Mary-Kate Olsen v.2006], but not for tramps to do so. In other words, the appropriation of other people’s dress is fashionable provided it is perfectly clear that you are, in fact, different from whoever would normally wear such clothes.” –Judith Williamson, 1986, “Woman Is An Island: Femininity and Colonization,” in Studies in Entertainment: Critical Approaches to Mass Culture, Tania Modeleski, ed., Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 116.

* It’s as if NYLON can’t stop being ridiculous.

Model Minority – On Waiting Around for a Man

However, there is something to be said how men can put work first and companionship second, whereas we are willing to sacrifice our work, for the opportunity for companionship.

I mentioned this to Filthy and he offered that as women, we are socialized to make the love from a man our number one priority.

He and I than began to have a discussion about how one of the ways that patriarchy measures manhood is by dollars so it makes sense that heterosexual men are willing to put emphasis on work over a desire to be with a woman. They do this because they have been socialized to do so. This is a narrow cell to live in. I sensed in him that it was a moment of realization for both of us. It became clear that this may have a tendency to damage the quality of life for both women [and men]. In that moment, I became empathetic towards men about the fact that we may expect them to perform in ways that they haven’t been taught or given the tools to carry out.

Capitalism is able to maintain its hold over the spirits of men by telling them that they are what they take home after taxes.

Furthermore, as Black people, who were originally brought to this country to work for free, and to give birth to children to work for free, I suggest that we be cautious with tying our humanity to pay after taxes.

I also added that if men are encouraged to pursue work over women, then implicit in that line of thought is that women or a woman will always be around to be pursued. This would indicate that we are expendable, replaceable and in ample supply.