So “Hamilton” has gotten pretty much unanimous praise from critics and those lucky (or rich) enough to score themselves tickets to it. Even Mike Pence, despite that thing that happened when he attended the show Friday night, declared on Fox News Sunday that “Hamilton’ is just an incredible production, incredibly talented people. It was a real joy to be there.”
The Trump-loving, Muslim-hating racist behind the blog Diversity Macht Frei begs to differ. As he sees it, Hamilton is basically an act of “white genocide” set to music. In Hamilton, you see, all the Founding Fathers are played by people of color, a deliberate choice by the show’s creator designed to make the cast “look … like America looks now.”
Well, Mr. Macht Frei is having none of it.
This entire spectacle is simply white genocide turned into entertainment. It retells American history with the roles historically played by European Americans instead performed by brown-skinned people of varied ancestry, the whole thing set to music of a style typically associated with those of African race. This is racial appropriation. One race is written out of history, replaced by another. Europeans are being asked to celebrate their own demise, their own effacament from America’s story.
I’m going to let Nathan Fillion take this one:
The blogger continues:
Imagine if someone made a musical about Zulus and all the Zulus were played by Europeans, played to Mozart-like music. You can imagine the outrage that would provoke. But, somehow, when it happens to Europeans, this racial usurpation is OK? No, it’s not OK. In the age of Trump, maybe white people need to establish a new political correctness of their own.
Yeah, it’s not as if white actors have ever played the parts of non-white characters in movies and TV and Broadway spectacles. (Oh, wait.) It’s not as if Jesus, a middle-eastern Hebrew, is ever depicted like some blue-eyed, dirty-blond-haired, white-skinned surfer dude. (Oh, wait.) It’s not as if Fox News anchors have ever worked themselves into a frenzy insisting that Santa Claus — who I am told is not even a real person — is white. (Oh wait.)
It’s not as if a horde of white Harry Potter fans threw a fit when a black actress was chosen to play Hermione in a London theatrical production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child — even after JK Rowling declared that the complainers were racist “idiots” and that “Hermione can be a black woman with my absolute blessing and enthusiasm.” Oh, wait.
It’s not as if the casting of Hamilton is a conscious response to this long tradition of whitewashing people of color out of history and culture.
Oh wait.
Anyhoo, Mr. Macht Frei goes on to demand the inevitable phony boycott of this allegedly white-hating play.
We need people to picket, protest and boycott this so-called musical. There can be no place in modern America for racially inflammatory spectacles masquerading as entertainment. And don’t give me the argument that this is free speech. This isn’t free speech. It’s hate speech. And hate speech doesn’t cease to be hate speech just because it’s set to music. Especially when that style of music is rap*.
Now, Mr. Macht Frei follows up this post with a wry little “disclaimer” suggesting that maybe he’s just trolling, ha ha — which would presumably make his post a sort of parody of the things those evil SJWs say when they object to white people playing people of color.
But the point of his post, if we assume it’s meant seriously, is pretty much identical with the stated aim of his blog — “chronicling the Genocide of the European peoples, the greatest crime in all of history.” If that’s not meant as a joke — and there’s no indication that it is — then it’s pretty much impossible for me to believe that his Hamilton post was meant as a joke.
Tellingly, when The Daily Stormer’s Andrew Anglin reposted Diversity Macht Frei’s post on his site, he left off the disclaimer. And his commenters don’t seem to be in on any joke.
“All of the Founding Fathers are played by n***ers while the “bad guy”, King George III, of course remains white,”one Daily Stormer commenter complains. (Asterisks mine.)
“The tide is turning , all can see the black nightmare that is all around us,’ writes another, using the logo of the Nazi Schutzstaffel (SS) as his avatar.
Destroying one city after another. We are going to win but it will cost many lives because of cowards.
Yeah, kind of hard to see the joke here.
Getting really tired of the “let’s talk about the economic anxiety of working and middle class folks!” people acting like class is a phenomenon that only affects white people. Like, there are working and middle class people of colour, and they didn’t vote en mass for a dangerous bigot. Why wasn’t their vote guided by the “economic anxiety” of their SEC? Oh, right; because what the white middle class is economically anxious about is people of colour taking some part of the teeny tiny slice of the pie that non-rich white people have managed to cling to. “Sure, I’m not rich,” they thought, “but at least I’m still richer than those people.”
This is not a position that elicits much sympathy from me.
@kupo
Ok, I’m baffled.
I said it before; I have white privilege. I’ll say it again; I have white privilege!!
White privilege is not economic privilege. Having white privilege does not translate directly into having economic privilege. I mean, WP helps a hell of a lot, but they are not the same thing. They do not automatically go together. Most will have one, and not the other. Speaking about one does not negate the other!
I’m side-eying the part where you said I’m claiming not to be white. WTF?
Dali said my post was about “white people”, but that’s only partly true. The defining characteristic of the group was CLASS, not RACE. I’m focusing on CLASS, with race (and gender)* being a small sidegig.
Should we focus on (poor) whites and push POC to the side? Absolutely not. POC are the most vulnerable, and they deserve most the attention. Despite my teal deers, I’m not saying otherwise.
*Ok, forgot to put this in my earlier post.
Remember this discussion started as to why women voted for Trump. But women didn’t vote for Trump; working class women did.
Married white middle-class women voted for Trump in a majority.
Your bizarre focus on working-class whites is not based in facts. Trump voters were, on average, higher-income than Clinton voters. Trump voters cited economic anxiety at lower rates than Clinton voters.
Your tender care for the delicate feelings of people who have hitched their wagons to those of literal Nazis makes me cringe. The time to care about the feeeeeeeeeelings of white bigots is long past. The time to care about the tangible damage that white bigots do to the targets of their bigotry is now. “But but but my family voted for Trump and it hurts my feelings when you call them Nazis” is not a reason to stop calling your Trump-supporting family Nazis. It’s a reason to ask yourself why your family loves Nazis so hard.
Shut up,
WoodyMrex.Because you said your post wasn’t about white people. It is. Period.
@Axe,
Ok, I didn’t see it develop on (black) twitter. Even with the splaining, I still think “fuck your economic anxiety” sounds exactly like “you have no economic problems, white spoiled assholes”. Intended or not.
It’s not a problem with the tone of the argument. It’s just a shit argument.
“So you think people are mad, cos you were forced to overclarify?”
No, I don’t think that is 99.99% of my problem. Maybe .01%. But I have a history with SFHC, where she follows me, picks something I said, twists it into something like how I’m supportivive of CHILD MURDER, (all caps), spins that into how I’m a terrible parent, then other people pick up on it, and then I’m stuck in bizarroworld. So yes, being defensive and angry off the bat makes it hard to come across as friendly and nonjugemental.
The other 99.9999999999999% is all me and from long before the “overclarifying” thing. A combination of my terrible opinions, poor social skills, personality disorder, and overall shittiness as a human being. I’m not being trite. I actually really don’t want to be condensending. I just can’t seem to disagree tactfully, no matter how hard I try. I probably would never have come back if Trump hadn’t won, because I just suck so much.
But I’m scared for myself as a women and as a person who’s not straight, and moreso for POC, and so, so, fucking angry with the Clinton campain that Trump won despite doing everything wrong. I cried for days after Trump won. I’m crying right now. If I voted for him I would be here to gloat, so fuckoff with that.
[Edit] Also, no I don’t expect anyone’s sympathy for any of that.
“It’s Clinton’s fault that Americans are racist assholes” requires some mighty logic behind it if it’s to be taken seriously, logic you have not provided.
Because you said your post wasn’t about white people. It is. Period.
Yes, POOR white people. Not white people.as.a.whole.
@mrex
Poor white people still have more privilege than poor black people. I don’t think you really understand how it works.
@mrex
SFHC is not your problem. Your inability to disagree tactfully is not your problem. Your beliefs and your inability to recognize the problems with them are.
This thing still is predicated on the notion that progressives haven’t already tried to patiently and rationally explain the economic benefits of our preferred policies and the unhelpfulness of Republican economic policies about 50 billion times. The fuck your economic anxiety is borne from the frustration over a large segment of the white population not listening to reason and not caring about anything but their racism and xenophobia and their magical thinking about being temporarily embarrassed millionaires who are somehow always one more tax cut away from wealth.
If you have ways to make them see that oppressing others won’t help them economically, great! Go do it! Don’t assume the rest of us haven’t tried and don’t get upset with us for our completely justified anger.
Also, the southern strategy came about soon after the civil rights act was based. Back in the times when the white middle class was doing very well. They voted for the politicians who destroyed that economic security because of racism. It’s not the economic insecurity that caused the racism.
@mrex
This ain’t an argument, it’s a sentiment. ‘Fuck your economic anxiety’ isn’t some debate strategy. It’s also not aimed at Trump voters. We’re saying it to the media (White Liberal(tm) media especially) politicians, and, yes, people like you. All those fuckin thinkpieces telling us to give up on ‘identity politics’ and ‘focus on everybody instead’. Except that ‘everbody’ means the white, male default. And ‘economic anxiety’ is pretty blatant code for rural/suburban, white people. They thought they were slick, but that’s what they mean when they say it. Maybe you don’t mean it that way, but I can’t have you being blind to it. ‘Fuck your economic anxiety’ is a push back against the normalization of bigotry and the marginalization of the already marginalized. It’s not an argument
Try harder or stop. 2 options, pick one
Join the club. We’re all scared. How you deal with that fear is up to you. How the fuck ever, you need to let us deal with that fear as well. And tone policing (again, that is what you’re doing) is the exact opposite of that. Capisce?
The only intersectionality that mrex gives a turd about is class and being white. They certainly don’t care about poor non white people.
And, yes, Mrex, your older relatives are either racists, or are okay with racists. Voting for Obama doesn’t make them not racist, it just means that their willing to put aside their racism when it comes to voting in their own best interests.
Also, stop blaming bigotry on class. Being poor doesn’t make someone racist or otherwise bigoted, any more than being rich makes someone not racist or otherwise bigoted.
@ POM, oh trust me, I’ve definitely started wondering about my family members.
But, yeah, I do blame Clinton, and by extension the Democratic campaign, for loosing literal Obama voters, and too many minorities, and the Midwest, to a populist Nazi Orange. Who was a literal joke from a Simpsons episode a decade ago about “America going crazy”.
So the US is now officially as absurd as a Simpson’s joke. So awesome.
Do I blame her for everything? No. I don’t blame her for sexism. I don’t blame her for the timing of the last FBI investigation. I don’t blame her for voter suppression. I don’t blame her for the media’s cocksure stupidity.
I blame her for not releasing her emails to an independent 3rd party a year ago, I blame her for poor turnout (beyond voter suppression), I blame her for “basket of deplorables”, I blame her for allowing her airspace to be sucked up with anything but what her plan was for the country. I blame her for many people knowing not much more about her and her platform other than “career politician that makes lots of money and seems dismissive of scandals. Wants to raise taxes.”
I blame her for wasting most her airspace on “notTrump”, and thinking that would be enough.
*losing, and all the other dumb spelling mistakes.
“Poor white people still have more privilege than poor black people. I don’t think you really understand how it works.”
Yes of course. All others things held equal, whites will always, always, hold privilege over blacks. And whites will always, always hold white privilege over blacks in all circumstances.
@Axe
” It’s also not aimed at Trump voters.”
Honestly? It fooled me.
” We’re saying it to the media (White Liberal(tm) media especially) politicians, and, yes, people like you. All those fuckin thinkpieces telling us to give up on ‘identity politics’ and ‘focus on everybody instead’. Except that ‘everbody’ means the white, male default. And ‘economic anxiety’ is pretty blatant code for rural/suburban, white people. They thought they were slick, but that’s what they mean when they say it. Maybe you don’t mean it that way, but I can’t have you being blind to it.”
Seriously, thank you for this. I feel like the clouds have parted and I finally actually understand what everyone else is saying.
@mrex
Except all those things only became the issues they did due to sexism. A man can be an admitted con artist, but a woman has to be perfect in every way. I don’t feel very comfy saying that she shoulda taken better precautions against her own oppression. Cos that slope is slippery af
Did you ask? Like, not in a condescending, tone trolly, question talking way, but actually, genuinely ask? I’m not sure you did
Anyway, Trump voters don’t talk about ‘economic anxiety’. Some do, I’m sure, but not in the main. The more vocal ones just spout #MAGA and anti Clinton talking points. The media came up with ‘economic anxiety’, so that they wouldn’t hafta say ‘bigotry’. You still see outlets calling Breitbart ‘a provocative, right leaning website’ or other such weak ass shit instead of ‘hotbed of misogynazis’. Same impulse. Don’t rock the boat, keep the illusion that people (white Muricans in particular) are basically good, and pretend this is normal
Seriously, you’re welcome. Again, I was never tryna fuck with you or play some game. Glad you finally (at least sorta) get it. Now what…
@mrex
You are one of those people who I would never want to be in the same room as, even if I agreed with you on everything. You wouldn’t be able to discuss ice cream flavors without pissing people off. How about you try being not a dickhead and see how that works out? Because this thing you’ve been doing since I started reading WHTM is not working at all.
Isn’t it weird how Trump could make mistakes 10x this bad and yet he managed to win. It’s almost like campaigning mistakes weren’t what swayed voters!
I’d actually thank you to stop calling yourself a Democrat, because you’re the worst kind of self-destructive Democrat. You want to cut Clinton’s throat for not being perfect, but Clinton’s only real error was in underestimating the degree to which the US white electorate is racist as fuck. That’s not a thing she could actually change. You’re blaming her for something that was outside her control, which is almost the definition of misogyny.
The patriarchal media successfully buried most of what Trump’s said, done and been accused of – from campaign fraud to treason to child rape – in favour of 24/7 coverage of the imaginary yet dreaded BENGHAZEMAILS? Must be the woman’s fault.
Y’know what, Mrex, I take back what I said earlier about you being a White Feminist™. Because you’re not any sort of feminist. No, I’m not No True Scotsmanning you, so put down your stomping foot – you’re blaming a woman for the misogynistic bullfuckery she’s had heaped on her every bloody day for thirty bloody years for the crime of daring to step foot in a traditional men’s space, and that’s about as feminist as Erin fucking Pizzey.
And sexist as fuck. Don’t forget the brogressives who voted loudly and proudly for the tumourous fuckspleen purely because they couldn’t bring themselves to vote for a feeemale. *rolls eyes*
@SFHC, I read that as “tumultuous fuckspleen” and was sad when I read it properly again. I don’t know why, I guess I just think that “tumultuous fuckspleen” is the best insult ever.
@mrex,
When you are concerned that you are not communicating clearly, despite trying repeatedly and with different means to do so, it is not an indication that you are bad at communicating. It’s an indication that you’re deeply wrong about something. There is a hole in your perception of the situation, and there’s something important within that blind spot.
(I’m not saying that others in this conversation are just flat out right and you’re wrong about it, mind you. Could be that you’re right and everyone else is wrong. That you have to judge separately)
Forget your position and try to assume someone else’s for awhile. See what it feels like to live inside that space for awhile. Then come back and evaluate your old opinion fresh. Perhaps that will help you see what you’re missing.
@Axe
“I don’t feel very comfy saying that she shoulda taken better precautions against her own oppression. Cos that slope is slippery af.”
Ok. True words.
“Did you ask? Like, not in a condescending, tone trolly, question talking way, but actually, genuinely ask? I’m not sure you did.
No, I didn’t even realize that were having two seperate arguments, so I didn’t even think to ask. That’s on me.
I’m also not sure that I heard the “fuck your economic anxiety” specifically on WHTM until I meantioned it, and had already (wrongly) concluded what it meant. It was a confusing phrase without context.
I’m not excusing not backing right the fuck up and asking for clarification once I started getting baffling “tone policing” criticisms.
” Seriously, you’re welcome.”
Sorry for being so defensive and obtuse, and thanks for putting up with me.
@PI
” How about you try being not a dickhead and see how that works out?”
Is this supposed to mean something to me other than to tell me I’m a pile of shit?
Congrats. I agree.
@POM
“You want to cut Clinton’s throat for not being perfect, but Clinton’s only real error was in underestimating the degree to which the US white electorate is racist as fuck.”
I never expected perfection from her, just slightly less “vote for me or you’re [adjective]” and much, much more “here are my plans”. So we are never going to agree that her only error was underestimating how racist and sexist America is. Which she did, but hey, I can’t fault her there.
@mrex
Yeah, it’s supposed to mean be nice to people.
When did Hillary say anything even remotely like this?