The White Man's Burden
By Robyn of Berkeley
AmericanThinker.com
I was just filling out an application to be a provider for an insurance panel. And one of the questions they ask is, "Are you a GLBT-owned business?"
GLBT
means gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgendered.
I rolled my eyes when I saw this. I thought,
"So, if I share my bed with a woman, I would be
a superior therapist, a more desirable member of
your insurance panel?"
Of
course, the questionaire also asked whether I
were a minority- or female-owned business.
Apparently, if I were an Asian woman who sleeps
with other women, I would be a Most Valuable
Player in the psychotherapy world.
What
also occurred to me while filling out the
application is that every special category
exists aside from that of a white, straight
male. If someone is gay or a woman or a person
of color, the welcome mat is laid out. But what
about an ordinary Joe, a working-class stiff
from Toledo?
How
does he get into college when all the
recruitment efforts are aimed at others? And
if he does get in, how does he afford it --
especially now, with Obama at the helm?
I
heard a while back that ObamaCare snuck a
backdoor scheme into ObamaCare, for the
government to make student loans,
not the banks. If this happens, you better
believe that the money will be shelled out based
on "social and economic justice."
Some
young men turn to the military as a way of
accessing needed funds for college. What are
the consequences?
They
are, in fact, grave: white, working class men
are at much higher risk of being mortally
wounded in the battleground than their
privileged counterparts. And while the working
class risk their lives, the snooty elite go to
college on daddy's dime.
So
let's put the pieces together here: everyone
aside from a white, straight guy can obtain all
sorts of special help in the form of jobs,
financial aid, and college enrollment. On top
of this, there are scholarships and grants
galore for most people, aside from white males.
(There are even college
scholarships
for
illegals.)
But
a white guy -- even one with who is broke --
gets very little. He may choose to join the
Army instead, and possibly be seriously injured.
What
is wrong with this picture?
Of
course, I really shouldn't talk since I helped
create the mess we're in. As a feminist, I
spent much of my youth marching for women's
rights. I have expended countless hours
complaining about inequities toward women.
But
I have seen the light. I now realize that we've
created a monster with so many people wailing
about sexism and racism and all the other
"isms."
After decades of grievances, we haven't turned
into a fairer nation; we're simply an angrier
one. In the age of Obama, aggrieved groups have
joined together to demand their rights,
endeavoring to put the white man under their
thumb.
Now
men are marginalized and demonized. They are
given the demoralizing message that they are
unnecessary. Of course, this message is
fallacious.
The
United States would cease to operate if
conservative white males went on strike tomorrow
(not necessarily a bad idea, by the way). We'd
do just fine shorn of most of the metrosexual
crowd -- the college professors and the
activists. But we'd crash and burn without the
manly man. It's he who does the essential work
that others cannot, like patrol our streets,
extinguish fires, and drive tractors.
As a
former progressive, I know how tempting it is to
blame others for our own problems. It's easier
to implicate the "system" or the Man than to
take a good and hard look in the mirror.
But
this life is not about "getting mine;"
it's about what we have to offer the world.
It's about living with dignity and honor, not a
thirst for revenge.
Life
is not fair; it is not supposed to be fair.
Someone, somewhere will always have more, while
others will have less. Disappointment is
hard-wired into this human realm; and this is
just as true for the white man as the person of
color.
The
Buddha put it this way, that life is composed of
the "l0,000 joys and the l0,000 sorrows." We
grow old, we get sick, and, one day, we and our
bodies will perish.
And
when that day happens, we won't take anything
with us except for our character -- or lack of
it. And there are no amount of laws or
affirmative action programs that can change the
way the world works.
A frequent American Thinker
contributor, Robin is a recovering liberal and a
psychotherapist in Berkeley. Robin's articles
are intended to inform and entertain, not to
provide therapeutic advice or diagnosis.