1) [The New Yorker's Kelefa] Sanneh writes, “Evidently this [Hanson’s] advice, the wisdom of generations, can be summarized in a single sentence: ‘When you go to San Francisco, be careful if a group of black youths approaches you.’”I should add that the sentence is not Sanneh's invention, but exactly what Hanson reported his father said to him ("I think that experience [a mugging] — and others — is why [my father] once advised me, 'When you go to San Francisco, be careful if a group of black youths approaches you'"). Still, Hanson protests that this was taken out of context:
That is entirely untrue, and the disingenuous Sanneh knows it. His phrase “summarized in a single sentence” does not characterize what I wrote, which was as follows: “In my case, the sermon — aside from constant reminders to judge a man on his merits, not on his class or race — was very precise. . . . Note what he did not say to me. He did not employ language like ‘typical black person.’ He did not advise extra caution about black women, the elderly, or the very young — or about young Asian, Punjabi, or Native American males. In other words, the advice was not about race per se, but instead about the tendency of males of one particular age and race to commit an inordinate amount of violent crime.”
All that is a single sentence?To be fair, maybe Sanneh should have added to his summary sentence, "...and make sure when you tell this story years later you add a bunch of not-all-of-them-are-that-way boilerplate; it doesn't change anything, but some people will be fooled."
Later Hanson tries the Old Reliable about how liberals think people who get mugged had it coming, and yells about Obama. This should save him from Derbyshire treatment by the National Review editorial board; Derbyshire's racism is pure and apparently heartfelt, whereas it's easy to believe Hanson is as full of shit on this subject as he is on everything else, and merely uses it as a signaling device to let National Review's core readership know he's on their side.
How is this any different from garden-variety "I'm just speaking statistically" horseshit that racists always try to hide behind?
ReplyDeleteNote what he did not say to me.
ReplyDeleteSo true. Treat every man according to what he doesn't say and we'll ALL 'scape whipping.
Shorter VDH: I am not as racist as John Derbyshire, but my dad? HO LEE SHIT!
ReplyDeleteHow dare Sanneh quote VDH!
ReplyDeleteFor something they consider to be an obvious truth, they sure are compulsive about repeating it as often as possible. I guess because the rest of us is so dumb that we just can't grasp the threat posed by the young black male hordes otherwise.
ReplyDeleteIt's even more pompous.
ReplyDeleteW'all, fuck, there's a chainsaw to account for in this.
ReplyDeleteAny minority will do.
When you go to San Francisco, be careful if a group of black youths approaches you.’” Offer void if you "be sure to wear flowers in your hair."
ReplyDeleteSTD Hanson's specialty.
ReplyDelete~
Upvoted for Shakespeare.
ReplyDeleteJudging conservatives by what they actually said or did is the worst kind of slander. What's important is that they're Real True Americans.
ReplyDeleteHe did not advise extra caution about black women, the elderly, or the very young — or about young Asian, Punjabi, or Native American males
ReplyDeleteRemember, kids, if you're only racist against one particular race, it's not racism!
Proving you are "not as racist as John Derbyshire" is one of the lower hurdles in life.
ReplyDeleteYes, because FREEEDOMM!
ReplyDeleteBut Hanson blamed latinos for stealing his chainsaw and a white dude for burning down his orchards! Surely this is proof that he's not a racist, just an all-purpose paranoid crank!
ReplyDeleteYou know, this is self-evidently, self-serving bullshit, but there's a small glow in it — he actually seems a bit ashamed. It's coming out as defensive stupidity, but there's small shame there!
ReplyDelete...but my dad? HO LEE SHIT!
ReplyDeleteYou lost me when you started talking about the Asiana Airways flight crew.
"[Holder's] oration was likewise not aimed at binding wounds"
ReplyDeleteNeither, of course, was Victor Davis Derbyshirius Hanson's oration, but powerful black men (and the "aggrieved" black community) should be careful what they say around whitey.
It's like it's not his fucking job to make VDH feel better about his petty hatreds or something.
ReplyDeleteThat's Theopompus to you!
ReplyDeleteNo matter how Victor Charlie Foxtrot tries to slice it, profiling is still bullshit. (Hope that doesn't bring a certain troll of your Veev columns out of the woodwork.)
ReplyDeleteGhost of Hanson's dad: "Goddamn it. there you go, misrepresenting shit I told you again. I said, if you go to San Francisco, avoid speaking with anyone long enough for them to talk you out of your money. That includes elderly Asian women, toddlers and dogs.
ReplyDeleteI'm going back to my grave now. Don't fucking make me come back, Asshole."
VDH dreams of a day when people of all ethnicities and religions can join together as one in getting the hell off his lawn.
ReplyDeleteA world where there aren't many races, but one: the race to get away before crazy old man Hanson comes back with his gun.
It's fascinating just how often conservatives like VDH, Rush, Malkin, Althouse, Reynolds, etc. become enraged when someone quotes them verbatim when they've said something stupid and offensive.
ReplyDeleteI'd say it puts the lie to the conservative trope about them having the courage of their convictions, but I've never met or heard of a conservative that actually stood behind stated conservative beliefs when confronted about said beliefs.
When a commenter complains about casual racism at NRO, the others want proof instead of ad hominem, etc. So "...the tendency of males of one particular age and race to commit an inordinate amount of violent crime.” is not proof, and you can't really argue with these people.
ReplyDeleteDamn that Tina Fey!
ReplyDeleteLess of a dog whistle, more of an air-horn that has driven the user deaf.
ReplyDeleteZuzu! Where you've been? Hope you're well.
ReplyDeleteSomebody post the request line for a global polling group so that I can ask for a world survey on the question:
ReplyDelete"How scary are white people?"
On a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the most terrifying, I have to say, white people are so 5 they're really 11.
The things you people do whenever you want something - like a pay bonus or a flirt buddy or a patent or a continent.
It's not that you've cornered the market on genocide and hate crimes and slavery and American Idol rigging and express checkout item count excess and dropping nuclear bombs on civilian populations (well, okay, that last one's exclusively yours for now), but you really have made an exceptional effort to do so, century after century.
Even the Han Chinese are frightened by you, though they hate to admit it.
Which is to say, when walking in San Francisco or any other damn place in the white world, I try not to be seen. Say below if you do the same. Extra props if you yourself are white and desperate to be invisible because no people are scarier than white people, especially if they're scared white people.
Hanson does know this, but he thinks we don't. Therein lies the purpose, scope, and methodology of the entire right blogosphere.
Somehow I think this leads to my voting for Beau Biden instead of Liz Cheney, but it's too early on a Saturday night for me to face that shitfuckgoddamithow fate.
Apparently VDH thinks he's like a pharmaceutical ad, wherein all the "this stuff could really kill you or shrink your balls if you actually ingest it" is included in faint white on gray font in the ads. Sorry, Vic, conversation doesn't come with disclaimers neatly appended.
ReplyDeleteLater Hanson tries the Old Reliable about how liberals think people who get mugged had it coming, and yells about Obama.
ReplyDeleteOT but you know the saying, "a conservative is a liberal who got mugged"? My rule is "A liberal is a conservative who got outsourced."
Hmmm. I did see it opined recently that white guys are a heck of a lot
ReplyDeletescarier than black guys mainly because they can do whatever the fk they
want to you and get away with it scott free. Becuz they're white guys,
rite?
So considering that White Guyz crashed the economy and are not in jail and tortured lots of people and are not in jail and started wars that killed shit loads of people for no particular reason and are not in jail and are trying every day to yank Medicare and Social Security out from under the feet of poor folks and are not in jail and are still in positions of leadership where they are trying to
do even more shit to non-white folks, I kinda, pretty much, agree.
Oh, and I didn't even mention that white guyz can pretty much Scotch the voting rights of brown peoplez. Thanks to Mr. Supreme Court Justice Mastah Roberts and the great states of Texas and North Carolina!1 Yippee!
ReplyDeleteHe's not a racist, but he keeps calling all South Asians "Punjabi" because a) he's been wrong about so much for so he's used to it, b) George Allen taught him not to say macaca in public, or c) this famous historian knows so little about Indian geography, he might as well just start calling all Greeks "Spartans."
ReplyDeleteGod, that's annoying
A wealthy white guy can shoot another guy in the face, and the guy who was shot will be the one to apologize.
ReplyDelete"Just remember Jerry, it's not racism if you BELIEVE it."
ReplyDeleteOr, more likely, if you just lump anyone with darker skin than a sunburned Scandinavian-descended prick into the single hand label "black" you needn't have to worry about listing all the untouchable to your larval offspring.
ReplyDeleteShame? Or just the usual confusion of the sociopath when they tread over social taboos that are invisible to themselves.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, fathers living in San Francisco were telling their own sons, "Always try to be kind and helpful to rubes coming to the big city. Remember they will be nervous about being alone in the traffic and tall buildings, so you should approach them in groups to reassure them they are welcome. And those white dudes often panic from all the noise, so be sure to chase after them and don't let them get lost."
ReplyDeleteEvidence of what a truly great orator Hanson the First really was.
ReplyDeleteliberals think people who get mugged had it coming
ReplyDeleteWe are all about the victim-blaming, aren't we?
That saying always aggravated me. It's based on the premise that everyone is as self-centered, entitled a prick as your average rightblogger. I have been the victim of crimes before, but that doesn't mean I feel the need to demand that policies be changed to punish the criminal and his entire socioeconomic group.
ReplyDeleteI dunno, I think you're too kind. Did you read the whole column? It seems to me he's defensive not because of even a flicker of shame but because he thinks his view is justified. He's angry because someone called him a racist for beliefs that are fully supported by his own experience, by skewed crime statistics (or in this case, anecdotes), and Christ, even by the names of violent offenders. This is standard right-wing racist crap. I'm only surprised he didn't get to how black-on-white crime is a million times more likely than white-on-black and tell us some of those "wave of black mobs brutalizing whites" stories.
ReplyDeleteFrom FBI data tables:
ReplyDeleteProblem #1 - guns: Information collected regarding type of weapon showed that firearms were used in 67.7 percent of the nation’s murders, 41.3 percent of robberies, and 21.2 percent of aggravated assaults.
Problem #2 - Southerners: 44% of all murders took place in the South, vs. 16.2% in the Northeast -- this huge disparity is reflected in every single category of violent crime; the highest in the South, lowest in the Northeast (and to a lesser degree, everywhere else).
Problem #3 - white people: According to the FBI arrest stats for 2011, these punks committed 65% of forcible rapes, 64% of aggravated assaults, 69% of burglary, 73% of arson, 66% of all other assaults. In fact they are responsible for 70% of total arrests for all crime.
And yet in none of VDH's context does he or anyone else advise giving kids a stern warning about white, gun-toting Southerners.
But I thought Theopompus 'tis of love.....
ReplyDeleteFurther wisdom from Hanson the Previous:
ReplyDeleteIn Chicago, circumlocute the insolent, dusky-hued youth.
Those in juvenescence from the Ethiop avoid when in Boston.
The Moors in their young manhood shalt thou shun whilst in St. Louis abiding.
...and thus began his classical education.
Well they do call him the race cowboy. Now that Derbyshire's gone.
ReplyDeleteI was walking home late after a rap concert in a predominantly black area of Brooklyn the other night and almost got mugged. Sounds like a bullshit story, eh, but it's true. Though I can't be 100 percent sure I almost got mugged, I didn't turn around, never saw the guy, but I trust my instincts in that regard. The street had turned unexpectedly dark and lonely and someone was shadowing me. But then a few people appeared, which I expect caused him to hesitate, and I got through the dark area, so all was well. Do I have a point? I guess it's that I have a lot of experience being out late at night in big cities and feel secure in saying that Hanson's advice is not just racist, but just plain stupid. I've never been mugged in the street and that was only the second time I came close in at least the past ten years. The talk should be about location and environment. Don't get caught in dark, lonely places, especially non-residential neighborhoods, especially in the poorer parts of town, and if you do, act confident and don't look at people like you think they're about to mug you; that kind of thing. It's universal. To make it an African American thing is definitively racist.
ReplyDeleteI agree, but only to a point. You can get mugged anywhere, wether it's well-lit and/or crowded. Don't walk down dark streets when you think you're being followed is easy and pretty much instinctual. But thinking that that's where "the boogeymen" of your instinctual fears congregate is weird.
ReplyDeleteWell, you instigated that dreadful war against....uh..christmas... That's like a porrajmos wedded to a holocaust wedded to whatever them homahsesshuals call it.
ReplyDeleteAs easy as falling asleep or passing out drunk. or both.
ReplyDeleteAh, yes, The Republican Greedhead , foremost among the Native American tribes.
ReplyDeleteWell, I find it weird that you are worried about getting mugged in well-lit crowded places. It's not that your boogeymen (whoever they are?) congregate in dark lonely places in the middle of the night; it's simply wise to deny would-be muggers the opportunity by staying out of places that offer it. If not getting mugged is a high priority, of course. There are all kinds of reasons one might be in dark, lonely places in the middle of the night, but ignorance of safety basics shouldn't be one of them. Why the fuck would you even argue that point, and in such a condescending manner at that?
ReplyDeleteYeah, that was kinda my point. Basic safety is fine, and mostly obvious. Which is why so many neglect to be aware in otherwise, supposedly, safe places. Most people are aware of shit like "don't walk away from a crowd if you think someone is following you". The more insidious threat comes from people close to you. Date-rape, for example, isn't a misnomer.
ReplyDeleteYea well, the topic was about Hanson's ridiculously racist and just plain ridiculous advice to his kid on not getting mugged by strangers in big cities, so I was just trying to stay on topic.
ReplyDeleteHe should be thankful that he doesn't have to give the "how to deal with racist assholes who may have guns" talk, but I doubt he'd even acknowledge the need for such.
It wouldn't compute, it would come out as: "Well, when Rome finally sacked Carthage, you see...". And the talk should mostly be about don't trust anyone, especially idiots in authority. And especially if they're white and you're not.
ReplyDelete"a conservative is a liberal who got mugged"
ReplyDeleteYeah, well, a conservative is a liberal who got... wait, most of them were assholes from the git-go.
Hey, Christmas TOTALLY had it coming, so that's one for Hanson.
ReplyDeleteYeah, prancin' around all fancy, not just decorated from star to stumb, the tree was askin' for it!
ReplyDeleteyeah its the jock/fratboy type, be they younguns or all grown up, that make my neck hairs stand up....its always been them that hassled me as a weirdo, never anyone of a diff rnt race....
ReplyDeleteCan't we just leave pine trees alone?
ReplyDeleteThere's no resin to needle the trees.
ReplyDeleteYou have just ascended into the pine-acle of pundum. Puut on your favourite hairshirt, before it is forched upon you.
ReplyDeletebzaaap!!bzappp! incoming zhdanovite alert!!!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.theamericanconservative.com/giant-robots-fight-giant-lizards-in-globalization-allegory/
yeah this is why kids have always loved monster movies & mecha cartoons, bc of the, hard hitting von mises institute sponsored political allegory!!
In a classic use of guilt by association, he believes that the reader should be outraged that
ReplyDeleteWho could imagine that some OTHER source of organized sentences would steal the National Review's guilt-by-association shtick?
""Cloverfield” dealt with post-9/11 psychic traumas"" .... Seriously? How?
ReplyDeletePeople get their iPhones jacked in the broad light of subway cars. Light isn't a perfect antiseptic.
ReplyDelete'When you go to San Francisco, be careful if a group of black youths approaches you'"
ReplyDeleteESPECIALLY IF THEY HAVE A CHAINSAW, THOSE ARE THE BLACKS WHO TOOK MY CHAINSAW
‘When you go to San Francisco, be careful if a group of black youths approaches you.’
ReplyDelete...'cuz them damn dot-com types'll make your rent go right up, I'll tell you what...
The response I heard long ago was, "a liberal is a conservative who's been arrested."
ReplyDeleteAnd in that Castro place, ancient Greece studies you!
ReplyDeleteyeah if anything, that was avengers, with the self aware take on mass destruction in nyc....otoh, it might have just been another marvel supervillains destroy nyc storyline, and they finally decided, nope,not too soon any more....
ReplyDelete....i know which one i think i s more likely!!
I actually enjoyed the review. You could practically hear the bubbling of the bong in the prose.
ReplyDeleteYeah, not too hard to figure out that the show must go on. I'm still stuck on Cloverfield, though. Why would anyone take a stand on something that hollow?
ReplyDeleteI think prose is too strong a word.
ReplyDeleteI really felt like the film that MOST captured the post-9/11 American psyche was Team America: World Police.
ReplyDelete"Fuck you, Hans Brix!"
AMERICA! Fuck Yeah!
I think he's mainly doing it because d) he thinks you'll find it annoying, and maybe also e) for a little bit of that colonialist frisson. (Dormed with a guy who always looked for chances to call Zimbabwe "Rhodesia." And smoked a fucking pipe. It's a whole lifestyle for some people.)
ReplyDeletehey its a name ppl will recognize....shows how hip & cutting edge he is....i mean, Cloverfields only 4yrs old....since you cant expect consrvative cultur critics to get out much....sad to say, its probably the only other monster movie hes seen in the last 10 yrs....
ReplyDeleteNice post. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteftp