• Jackson
    1.8k
    Just read this article and wanted to know what others thought.

    "It’s essentially a turf war. Only Latino authors can write novels about Latinos. Only Holocaust survivors can convey the truth of the Holocaust. Only disabled people can portray disabled people. Everyone else is out.
    Culture is a conversation, not a monologue."

    https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/24/opinion/lived-experience-empathy-culture.html
  • Jackson
    1.8k
    This raises questions for epistemology and ethics, let alone aesthetics.
    Does being a white male mean you have white male experience? I have no idea what that means.
  • Deletedmemberzc
    2.5k
    Does being a white male mean you have white male experience? I have no idea what that means.Jackson

    Do you know what it feels like not to be a white male?
  • Jackson
    1.8k
    Do you know what it feels like not to be a white male?ZzzoneiroCosm

    I do not know what it feels like to be a white male.
  • Deletedmemberzc
    2.5k
    I do not know what it feels like to be a white male.Jackson

    Are you a white male?
  • Jackson
    1.8k
    Are you a white male?ZzzoneiroCosm

    Yes.
  • Deletedmemberzc
    2.5k


    Then your assertion rings disingenuous, silly, tendentious. It's clear you have an agenda. Enjoy.
  • Jackson
    1.8k

    Then your assertion rings disingenuous, silly, tendentious. It's clear you have an agenda. Enjoy.ZzzoneiroCosm

    You should not be on a philosophy forum.
  • Gregory
    4.7k


    I think you were saying that you don't consider your life different because of race or gender?
  • Deletedmemberzc
    2.5k
    You should not be on a philosophy forum.Jackson

    I'll keep that in mind. Many thanks.
  • Jackson
    1.8k
    I think you were saying that you don't consider your life different because of race or gender?Gregory

    Where did I say that?
  • Jackson
    1.8k
    Opening paragraph of the article:

    "Did Dana Schutz, a white artist, have the right to paint Emmett Till? Was it fair that a white historian, David Blight, won a Pulitzer for his biography of Frederick Douglass? Should Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner be the ones to update “West Side Story,” a musical conceived by four Jewish men but fundamentally about Puerto Rican lives?"

    https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/24/opinion/lived-experience-empathy-culture.html
  • Deletedmemberzc
    2.5k
    Can you paste the whole article? There's a pay wall.
  • Jackson
    1.8k
    Hume was a critic of the concept of identity. Even a person is not identical to itself.
  • Deletedmemberzc
    2.5k
    I do not know what it feels like to be a white male.Jackson

    I wonder if you know what it feels like to be a person.
  • DingoJones
    2.8k


    Well, its obvious you know how it feels to be a self righteous twat. So theres that.
  • Deletedmemberzc
    2.5k
    Well, its obvious you know how it feels to be a self righteous twat. So theres that.DingoJones

    I'm not sure the evidence points to that conclusion. Can you set it out?
  • BC
    13.6k
    Good job -- the opportunity to skewer two semi-sacred cows with one goring.

    You were doing fine until you said, "I do not know what it feels like to be a white male." and further said you were a white male.

    Your are a white male; you have experiences; they are, of necessity, the experiences of a white male. It's not more complicated than that. I too am a white male--a gay, working class, upper-midwestern white male, to be specific. My experiences are those of a gay, working class, upper-midwestern white male.

    You don't have to think of yourself as the archetypal "white male"--you are, in all likelihood, not.

    American black men, Japanese women, South African white men, British Indian women, and so on all have unique sets of experiences, but they are not all the same. We can generalize some, but only so far.

    The trouble with identity is projecting "sameness" on everyone who shares the identity. Gay men, for example, even gay white upper midwestern working class men, are likely to be be very different as individuals.
  • Jackson
    1.8k
    Your are a white male; you have experiences; they are, of necessity, the experiences of a white maleBitter Crank

    I have the experience of being a biped, too.
  • DingoJones
    2.8k


    Your judgement of Jackson. Jumped to conclusions about his character. He doesnt know how to be a person? He has an agenda?
    All because his question didnt suit your own position, your own agenda.
    Every post you’ve made so far reveals your self righteousness. The twat part comes from your dismissive attitude towards a mere question. Positions so easily threatened are seldom solid ones.
    So ya, self righteous twat seems appropriate based on the evidence.
  • Deletedmemberzc
    2.5k
    I have the experience of being a biped, too.Jackson

    Good. You concede you "have the experience of being a biped." Biped - that's one quality you possess. You have other qualities too: maleness and whiteness.

    The burden is on you to explain how you manage to "have the experience of being a biped" while not having the experience of being white and male. All three are qualities you possess.
  • Jackson
    1.8k
    Good. You concede you "have the experience of being a biped." Biped - that's one quality you possess. You have other qualities too: maleness and whiteness.

    The burden is on you to explain how you manage to "have the experience of being a biped" while not having the experience of being white and male. All three are qualities you possess.
    ZzzoneiroCosm

    What is white male experience?
  • Deletedmemberzc
    2.5k
    Every post you’ve made so far reveals your self righteousness.DingoJones

    I was thinking more of a philosophical argument. For example:

    1. Dingo has decided I'm a self-righteous twat with very little supporting evidence.
    2. Folks who jump to judgmental conclusions based on very little supporting evidence should be called judgmental.
    3. Dingo should be called judgmental.
  • Deletedmemberzc
    2.5k
    What is white male experience?Jackson

    You're not addressing my argument.

    ... explain how you manage to "have the experience of being a biped" while not having the experience of being white and male. All three are qualities you possess.ZzzoneiroCosm
  • DingoJones
    2.8k


    It becomes philosophical cuz you put the points in numerical order?
    And yes, im making a judgement. Being judgemental. So?
    I didnt judge you for being judgmental, you might say i was judging you for being self a righteous twat. In fact, i did.
  • Deletedmemberzc
    2.5k
    . He doesnt know how to be a person?DingoJones

    This is misworded. I asked if he knows what it feels like to be a person. This isn't a judgment. It's a step in a philosophical argument. His answer will be yes or no. And on we go from there.

    He has an agenda?DingoJones

    I see an agenda.

    He wants to assert that there is no such thing as white experience or male experience. That's all he wants to do here. That's an agenda.

    Read on to see if this is his agenda. :smile:
  • Deletedmemberzc
    2.5k
    I didnt judge you for being judgmental, you might say i was judging you for being self a righteous twat. In fact, i did.DingoJones

    So to your view being judgmental is in some sense superior to being a self-righteous twat. Good.
  • Deletedmemberzc
    2.5k
    becomes philosophical cuz you put the points in numerical order?
    And yes, im making a judgement. Being judgemental. So?
    I didnt judge you for being judgmental, you might say i was judging you for being self a righteous twat. In fact, i did.
    DingoJones

    Is it possible you misinterpreted my words and drew an erroneous conclusion?

    Or are you infallible AND judgmental?
  • BC
    13.6k
    "It’s essentially a turf war. Only Latino authors can write novels about Latinos. Only Holocaust survivors can convey the truth of the Holocaust. Only disabled people can portray disabled people. Everyone else is out."Jackson

    Horse shit, of course.

    An incompetent Latino writer will do a much worse job writing novels about the Latino experience than a competent writer from some other cultural group. The same goes for novels about the white--or any other--cultural experience. The first requirement is that the author be a good observer and a competent reporter. There are additional requirements, of course, like writing ability, imagination, control of plot and characters, discipline (to get the thing done) and so on.

    What a survivor can bring to an account of the Holocaust is personal experience. Personal experience alone is insufficient. One must also have the capacity to tell the story. Having personal experiences of any kind and being able to communicate what that experience was like just isn't that easy to do well.
  • Jackson
    1.8k
    What a survivor can bring to an account of the Holocaust is personal experience. Personal experience alone is insufficient. One must also have the capacity to tell the story. Having personal experiences of any kind and being able to communicate what that experience was like just isn't that easy to do well.Bitter Crank

    I am quite familiar with the Dana Schutz controversy. The museum stood by her:

    “The 2017 Whitney Biennial brings to light many facets of the human experience, including conditions that are painful or difficult to confront such as violence, racism, and death. Many artists in the exhibition push in on these issues, seeking empathetic connections in an especially divisive time. Dana Schutz’s painting, Open Casket (2016), is an unsettling image that speaks to the long-standing violence that has been inflicted upon African Americans. For many African Americans in particular, this image has tremendous emotional resonance. By exhibiting the painting, we wanted to acknowledge the importance of this extremely consequential and solemn image in American and African American history and the history of race relations in this country. As curators of this exhibition we believe in providing a museum platform for artists to explore these critical issues.”
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2017/03/23/dana-schutz-responds-to-outcry-over-her-controversial-emmett-till-painting/
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