University of Minnesota on Whiteness Pandemic

[Oompa Loompa]

Not that I think it will make an actual difference to you, but it is not referring to skin color.

Whiteness refers to culture not biology: the centuries-old culture of Whiteness features colorblindness, passivity, and White fragility, which are all covert expressions of racism common in the United States. Naming the Whiteness Pandemic shifts our gaze from the victims and effects of racism onto the systems that perpetrate and perpetuate racism, starting with the family system. At birth, young children growing up in White families begin to be socialized into the culture of Whiteness, making the family system one of the most powerful systems involved in systemic racism.​

This is deliberately provocative to stimulate conversation about racism.

Poke. You want to talk about "White Culture" and how it is separate from biology. Yet when I ask you to discuss "Black culture" just crickets. I completely understand.

 

[iluvatar5150]

Because there is no evidence that opposing viewpoints have ever been considered in any presentations of the theory, until after the concept was made public - by opposition groups. If the concept were balanced and forthcoming, analysis of opposing views would be documented alongside the findings, somewhere, and would be visible on the internet. But instead, they don't seem to exist:

AI Review:

Analysis of Opposing Viewpoints

The academic presentation of the "whiteness pandemic" theory primarily focuses on the mechanics of its own framework and related theories (such as White Racial Identity Development theory). However, when the concept has been discussed in a broader public context (notably through a University of Minnesota website that hosted the paper and related resources), significant opposing viewpoints have emerged, primarily from conservative groups and media outlets.
These opposing viewpoints argue that the theory:

• Promotes collective guilt: Critics argue the theory effectively paints a large segment of white Americans as perpetuating racism simply by virtue of their birth and socialization, which they contend generates collective guilt.
• Is "activist-academic scholarship": Conservative groups like Parents Defending Education claim the concept is an "absurd idea" and an example of "far-left programming" gaining undue legitimacy through academia.
• Lacks generalizability: Backlash points to the original study's narrow, unrepresentative demographic (mostly liberal, high-income, well-educated white mothers from the Minneapolis area) to question the general applicability of its conclusions.
• Is unscientific: Opponents view the premise of a "whiteness pandemic" as political or ideological rather than a rigorous, neutral scientific concept.

I shouldn't have to pour over the original manuscripts just to see where opposing viewpoints are analyzed. In any serious research, these things are always well documented and made available...

When they aren't made available, you know you're looking at psuedoscience, or worse - political/ideological activism disguised as academics.

Even though I searched the entire internet with AI?

I don't see why you're choosing to be so obtuse with this.

You searched the internet with AI, didn’t find what you were looking for and then declared it to not exist?

lol, are you serious? You apparently don’t know anything about how any of those things work. How do you know you fed the AI appropriate search terms? How do you know it was trained in the material you’re look for?

The only person being obtuse here is you.

What "creed" are you talking about? This rhetoric is the garbage that has been rejected by the United States, and many countries in Europe because they do not want to become like France, Great Britain, and Germany. The country has spoken, and they reject the CRI, DEI, woke trans ideology. Get over it! It is dying and the only thing you, and the Minisota academic elite can expect from it is another 4 years of Trump and a growing racial divide.

What are you talking about? Why did you ask me what I meant by “creed” and then assume an answer that was wildly inaccurate? Are DEI and “woke ideology” your default target for anything you don’t like? If I’d wanted to say something about DEI, I would have done so.

What I meant by “creed” was an adherence to a certain set of values and ideals: all people are created equal; people deserve certain fundamental rights such as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; etc. America’s very existence was built on being a “melting pot” of migrants from other cultures all working towards, as our founding myth would claim, a more prosperous future via hard work and rugged individualism. Obviously reality was somewhat more murky than that, but that’s the story we’ve told ourselves and, traditionally, becoming “American” has been more about that than about birthplace.

But some, including perhaps most notably JD Vance, are trying to change that concept of “Americanism” to something more restricted to lineage, especially lineage via certain blocs of early migrants.

This piece covers it fairly well:

https://nationalinterest.org/feature/jd-vances-dangerous-view-of-american-nationhood

 

[Perpetual Student]

Not that I think it will make an actual difference to you, but it is not referring to skin color.

Whiteness refers to culture not biology: the centuries-old culture of Whiteness features colorblindness, passivity, and White fragility, which are all covert expressions of racism common in the United States. Naming the Whiteness Pandemic shifts our gaze from the victims and effects of racism onto the systems that perpetrate and perpetuate racism, starting with the family system. At birth, young children growing up in White families begin to be socialized into the culture of Whiteness, making the family system one of the most powerful systems involved in systemic racism.​

This is deliberately provocative to stimulate conversation about racism.

I try to understand that this is written by America's brightest and smartest.
I try and fail.

 

[Landon Caeli]

You searched the internet with AI, didn’t find what you were looking for and then declared it to not exist?

lol, are you serious? You apparently don’t know anything about how any of those things work. How do you know you fed the AI appropriate search terms? How do you know it was trained in the material you’re look for?

The only person being obtuse here is you.

It..doesn't..exist..! Face it.

I asked the AI: "does the theory of a whiteness pandemic show differing views and analyze opposing viewpoints"

...There's nothing there.

Now you have two options. Show me the evidence to prove me wrong, or openly admit here, for all to see, that you are wrong and I am right.

 

[iluvatar5150]

It..doesn't..exist..! Face it.

I asked the AI: "does the theory of a whiteness pandemic show differing views and analyze opposing viewpoints"

...There's nothing there.

Face what? The fact that you’re using a tool that very well may not be able to answer the questions you’re asking it, and haven’t looked at the actual papers of which you claim to know the contents?

Your argument is nothing more than a stunning display of ignorance.

 

[hedrick]

It..doesn't..exist..! Face it.

I asked the AI: "does the theory of a whiteness pandemic show differing views and analyze opposing viewpoints"

...There's nothing there.

A Google search turns up several references, but they all go back to that one person.

It's someone's clever idea of talking about standard concepts about racial attitudes.

However this sort of thing bothers me. I suspect everything said has researched support. But the choice of terms and attitudes might as well be white nationalist propaganda. Academics needs to start thinking about how what they write will look to the public. After all, the public pays their salaries.

 

[Landon Caeli]

Face what? The fact that you’re using a tool that very well may not be able to answer the questions you’re asking it, and haven’t looked at the actual papers of which you claim to know the contents?

Your argument is nothing more than a stunning display of ignorance.

You're wrong and everyone knows it

 

[Landon Caeli]

A Google search turns up several references, but they all go back to that one person.

It's someone's clever idea of talking about standard concepts about racial attitudes.

So we have a social prophet, preaching race like it's gospel, at a public university, under an academic veil.

Disgusting.

 

[hedrick]

So we have a social prophet, preaching race like it's gospel, at a public university, under an academic veil.

Disgusting.

Ugh? The intent is to preach the need to avoid racism, though this is perhaps hidden in oddly chosen terms.

 

[iluvatar5150]

You're wrong and everyone knows it

No, what everyone knows is that you’re making claims out of your own ignorance and overconfidence in AI.

The two papers those authors wrote and cite on that page are freely available if you look for them (and you don’t have to look hard). Despite the more sensational headlines, the first one is about how white people are less likely to talk to their kids about race. The second one is a follow up after a year of heavy coverage of George Floyd and BLM. What alternate theories would you have liked them to examine?

 

[Richard T]

I reject the author's generalization that anyone raised in America is subject to the "whiteness pandemic." There are quite a few areas where whites are a minority. There also are some areas where everyone is white. The latter is odd because how can special rights exist for white people when everyone is white? So is there white privilege in those communities? I do agree that those at the top in leadership or wealth should work to flatten the economic curve, though certainly not too far where regulations stifle growth and output. Anyway, an interesting thread.

 

[hedrick]

No, what everyone knows is that you’re making claims out of your own ignorance and overconfidence in AI.

The two papers those authors wrote and cite on that page are freely available if you look for them (and you don’t have to look hard). Despite the more sensational headlines, the first one is about how white people are less likely to talk to their kids about race. The second one is a follow up after a year of heavy coverage of George Floyd and BLM. What alternate theories would you have liked them to examine?

Personaly I would have liked the University to publicize their research with more descriptive language, rather than with language guaranteed to create a public backlash.

 

[DaisyDay]

I try to understand that this is written by America's brightest and smartest.

Why would you try to do such an inane thing?

I try and fail.

Oh well. How about trying to understand what their actual point is, even if you disagree with it?

 

[Oompa Loompa]

You searched the internet with AI, didn’t find what you were looking for and then declared it to not exist?

lol, are you serious? You apparently don’t know anything about how any of those things work. How do you know you fed the AI appropriate search terms? How do you know it was trained in the material you’re look for?

The only person being obtuse here is you.



What are you talking about? Why did you ask me what I meant by “creed” and then assume an answer that was wildly inaccurate? Are DEI and “woke ideology” your default target for anything you don’t like? If I’d wanted to say something about DEI, I would have done so.

What I meant by “creed” was an adherence to a certain set of values and ideals: all people are created equal; people deserve certain fundamental rights such as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; etc. America’s very existence was built on being a “melting pot” of migrants from other cultures all working towards, as our founding myth would claim, a more prosperous future via hard work and rugged individualism. Obviously reality was somewhat more murky than that, but that’s the story we’ve told ourselves and, traditionally, becoming “American” has been more about that than about birthplace.

But some, including perhaps most notably JD Vance, are trying to change that concept of “Americanism” to something more restricted to lineage, especially lineage via certain blocs of early migrants.

This piece covers it fairly well:

https://nationalinterest.org/feature/jd-vances-dangerous-view-of-american-nationhood

First, "woke" is a term that the left has created to describe themselves. So embrace it instead of disassociating yourself from it. Second, "woke" is not anything I don't like, it is the garbage presented in the OP that the country has widely rejected. Third, the "creed" or "values" you speak of implies that those coming into the country wish to assimilate into American culture. Not third world nationals strong arming third world customs onto another nation. This is why there is so much outrage in Europe, and even here in the United States. We are all tired of third world hooligans coming into another country feeling entitled to demand subsidies at the tax player's expense only to bring crime and instability. I dare you to name a single thing Somalia refugees have contributed to Minnesota other than crime.

 

[Oompa Loompa]

No

Yes.

 

[Oompa Loompa]

"If you were born or raised in the United States, you have grown up in the Whiteness Pandemic, and you can play a role in halting and reversing this pandemic, especially if you are White because of the power and privilege you hold in this racialized society. If you were socialized into the culture of Whiteness during childhood it is not your fault, but as an adult it is now your responsibility to self-reflect, re-educate yourself, and act."

Whiteness Pandemic

innovation.umn.edu

This may be helpful in understanding the Minnesota political culture.

I invite liberals to talk about the "Blackness Pandemic." The University of Minnesota are safe to talk about a imaginary "Whiteness Pandemic," so why can we not talk about a "Blackness Pandemic" here on this forum thread? I will wait. My point is simple, liberals will ignore the "Blackness Pandemic" because it will inflame Black people. So why should they be surprised that CRT and talk about a "Whiteness Pandemic" will inflame white people and perpetuate racial division?

 

[Valletta]

I invite liberals to talk about the "Blackness Pandemic." The University of Minnesota are safe to talk about a imaginary "Whiteness Pandemic," so why can we not talk about a "Blackness Pandemic" here on this forum thread? I will wait.

Racism against Asians should be included in the talk.

 

[BPPLEE]

I invite liberals to talk about the "Blackness Pandemic." The University of Minnesota are safe to talk about an imaginary "Whiteness Pandemic," so why can we not talk about a "Blackness Pandemic" here on this forum thread? I will wait. My point is simple, liberals will ignore the "Blackness Pandemic" because it will inflame Black people. So why should they be surprised that CRT and talk about a "Whiteness Pandemic" will inflame white people and perpetuate racial division?

All us ignorant white people are in denial about our own privilege, advantages and how we hold the other races down (as we struggle to pay our bills)

 

[iluvatar5150]

First, "woke" is a term that the left has created to describe themselves. So embrace it instead of disassociating yourself from it. Second, "woke" is not anything I don't like, it is the garbage presented in the OP that the country has widely rejected.

That’s all wonderful and also totally irrelevant to the comment of mine to which you responded.

Third, the "creed" or "values" you speak of implies that those coming into the country wish to assimilate into American culture. Not third world nationals strong arming third world customs onto another nation. This is why there is so much outrage in Europe, and even here in the United States. We are all tired of third world hooligans coming into another country feeling entitled to demand subsidies at the tax player's expense only to bring crime and instability.

Yeah? How much damage have immigrants done to your area?

I dare you to name a single thing Somalia refugees have contributed to Minnesota other than crime.

What a colossally ignorant and bigoted thing to say. Imagine if I said something like that about angry black conservatives from Louisiana. What have you and the rest of your ilk contributed except strife?


Here’s one guy who did a bunch of good work:

Hussein Samatar - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Have you ever even been to Minnesota? Or do you just repeat the things that Fox news and the various Russian troll bots feed you?

 

[FreeinChrist]

ADVISOR HAT

This thread was moved from News & Current Events as that forum requires a link to a credible news source. The article in the OP is a paper from the University of Minnesota Cultural and Family Life Lab.​