2017 saw the publication of a typically “progressive” work inveighing against the victimization of Blacks by Whites. a work which simply ignores human history as an aspect of its narrative, a work predictably celebrated in The New York Times. In “Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America,” Black sociologist and Baptist minister Michael Eric Dyson, speaking, according to his reviewer, out of love, suggests that “whiteness is made up,” is “intellectual rubbish, cultural garbage.” “You don’t get whiteness from your genes. It is a social inheritance that is passed on to you as a member of a particular group.”
Now the assumption by any White person that he is superior to another because of his race or the color of his skin is clearly “rubbish.” But is the social inheritance bequeathed by any given Civilization not inevitably to some extent the result of both the biologically programmed predilections and ultimately the “character” of its members? Is there any integrity whatsoever to the claim that the cultures produced by various peoples in no way reflect who they are? White Western European Civilization, however vile the behavior of many of its representatives, has been at the forefront of human intellectual achievement since the beginning of recorded history; has bequeathed to its people a social inheritance far more evolved than those of most others on the planet. The philosophers of Ancient Greece were attempting to grapple rationally with life’s fundamental issues over two thousand years ago while those native to other continents were and in some cases still are trapped within the Stone Age. Why, Mr. Dyson? With the bias typical of his kind [I refer not to the color of his skin but to his “progressive” dementia] he would seem to be asking us to simply dismiss the inner life of Man from the human dynamic, History being merely the random result of external forces such as geography and climate. It all just sort of happened, the intelligence and character of its participants conveniently removed from consideration. While 99% of the Whites in my social sphere are fervently committed to helping those who truly are victims of oppression in any way they can, Dyson claims a culture of “whiteness” grows “more shameless, more cruel, more uncaring by the day.” Yes, we spend billions here in North America every year because we simply don’t give a damn. If there is growing resentment in some quarters against the cultural status quo it is, I would suggest, precisely because of the nonsense spewed by those such as Dyson. It is not unreasonable to suggest that the election of the ludicrous Mr. Trump was the result of just such resentment. While I read a good deal of tendentious tripe in order to keep up with the latest sanctimonious rants of those on the Left, I have no intention of reading Dyson’s book. But the fact that he dedicates the work to Beyonce Knowles and her family and then begins it with “Hymns of Praise” to Hip Hop artists, suggests that he is the one in need of a sermon, the one who needs to submit the “social inheritance” of his people to the sort of rational self-analysis advocated by Socrates. Are you familiar, Mr. Dyson, with the brilliant philosophical musings of Akon who suggested that because the rest of the animal world fornicates with reckless abandon, Man is entitled to do the same? Beyonce is certainly not above using her sexuality to sell her mediocre product and a good deal of rap, while also exploiting sex, is brazenly self-indulgent, racist and misogynistic. Values to be pursued indeed; values which would seem to go to the very heart of the problems within Black, urban America; values which I know are an affront to the many good people trapped therein. One’s Whiteness does not by definition make one superior to anyone but the social inheritance defended here, an inheritance which is clearly the result of White Western European Civilization, though presently under attack from both within and without, is inestimably superior to that represented by the mediocre crowd cited in Dyson’s introduction. How did we come to this ludicrous point in history where those deemed to be “intellectuals” are given to singing the praises of the venal Beyonce Knowles while denouncing the cultural heritage bequeathed us by Socrates, Aristotle, Locke, Voltaire, etc., etc., as just so much elitist arrogance?