[munchbunny]

Isn't the ability to decide what issue your bring to a space and then deciding which issues you'll "take no position" a privilege?

Why is it privilege to avoid discussing politics in a gardening group? I'll grant that "take no position" can be a privileged position in some contexts, but a gardening group discussion seems pretty clearly not one of those contexts.

[pitterpatter]

I mean to tie it to a more concrete example: Take the incident with the white lady and the black guy who was bird watching in New York. I'm pretty sure he'd love nothing more than to be able enjoy his pretty chill hobby of bird watching without it becoming racial or political or what have you. But the fact of the matter is that's not his choice.

So yea, being able to say you don't take a position in politics can definitely be a privilege.

Edit: Not to say I think people should really be hounding this lady anyways but just want to explain the point about privilege there.

[oh_sigh]

The black guy was the one who attempted to lure her dog away from her to teach her a lesson by "doing something she's not going to like" to her dog(which certainly sounds like a threat).

He admitted to carrying dog treats with him to do just that. And then he posted the video online, attracting even more attention to what would normally just be a "crazy people are crazy" experience that you get in NY when you confront strangers for bad behavior.

I've been accused by a crazy person on the subway of being a rapist, but that doesn't mean that I'm oppressed for being a male of a certain color. It was just a crazy person doing crazy things.

[pitterpatter]

Sure, and she said "I’m calling the cops … I’m gonna tell them there’s an African American man threatening my life." So literally weaponizing racism. I ain't saying the guy is a saint here but clearly the fact that that's the threat she would make kinda says something about our society here.

[oh_sigh]

Yes, I agree the woman was out of line. But her behavior may be explained as her just describing the man in a manner she's seen on TV shows(the perp is 6', stocky, wearing flannel), because she also said something along the lines of "I'm going to tell them it is a black man in a dark shirt and a baseball cap" or something like that. Keep in mind this lady was a vocal supporter of BLM before this incident happened. And the man had already said, basically, "Put your dog on the leash or I'm going to do something you aren't going to like", which really does sound like a threat.

It's possible she decided on the spot to weaponize the mans race against him, or it's also possible she was scared out of her mind that this stranger was accosting her for a minor thing she does all the time (or, she's just off her rocker).

Anyways, my point wasn't about the lady's behavior which was clearly wrong regardless of her reasons, it was more about how the guy in that situation created a situation and then publicized it. I can't really feel sorry for the burdens put upon him, since he went out of his way to make what happened a news story, instead of, again, just chalking it up to crazy people behaving crazy (or racist, which is just another flavor of crazy). Like I've said, I've been stereotyped in NYC because of both my race and gender, but I didn't go out of my way to make a news story about it. I didn't even let it affect my day. Everyone has choices about where they spend their mental energy. Getting into a scuffle in central park because someone has their calm dog off leash near them is not where I would choose to spend mine.

[pitterpatter]

>It's possible she decided on the spot to weaponize the mans race against him

I mean, that's the point I'm trying to make. The fact that she could weaponize his race is a problem to being with.

>Keep in mind this lady was a vocal supporter of BLM before this incident happened.

And mind you, I don't actually think she's some kind of virulent or bad person. It's more about recognizing some of the injustices we unfortunately live with.

> But her behavior may be explained as her just describing the man in a manner she's seen on TV shows

And you know, you're right she could be. But that just speaks to how pervasive a lot of these kinds of structures are.

[oh_sigh]

But...did she weaponize his race? She called the cops and described him. The cops showed up. Both people had already left at that point. It didn't seem that Cooper was in much fear of his race being weaponized against him. It did become a talking point after the fact though.

> But that just speaks to how pervasive a lot of these kinds of structures are.

Cop dramas are popular even in largely monoracial societies that have high respect for their police, and the same tropes exist there(regarding describing suspects in certain terminology).