A Washington Post op-ed claimed that white men are let off the hook when they make hateful remarks toward black and Jewish people.
Corporations such as including Adidas, Vogue, Gap and other brands, recently severed ties with West after he caused an uproar for wearing “White Lives Matter” attire at a Paris fashion show and for vowing to go “death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE.” WaPo columnist Karen Attiah claimed that white men are never handed the same punishment as Kanye West.
Attiah argued that the “deplatforming” of a black man for his rhetoric, but allegedly not punishing white men, proves that the “predominantly white, capitalist institutions” create boundaries around bigotry. She argued that white men are able “to withstand social pressure” from other groups like African Americans and Jews.
“The ‘deplatforming’ of Ye is a strong and necessary check against hate speech. But the saga reinforces how fraught it is to look to predominantly White, capitalist institutions to enforce and maintain boundaries around hate and bigotry in this society,” Attiah wrote.
Congrats, you canceled Kanye. Call me when White guys get in trouble. https://t.co/RzAuzriktS
— Karen Attiah (@KarenAttiah) October 26, 2022
“The mess has opened up resentments around which groups’ historical traumas have the social power to merit mass sympathy and consequences, which is a losing battle. The only real victor in the antisemitism/anti-Blackness struggle olympics is white supremacy,” she wrote.
“Second, it’s all very well to cancel Ye, but as a Black purveyor of anti-Blackness and antisemitism, he was low-hanging fruit. The rules of racial capitalist hierarchy means that White men who traffic in anti-Blackness and antisemitism manage to withstand social pressure from the groups that they attack.”
She then argued that Spotify protected podcast host Joe Rogan after it was leaked that he repeatedly used the n-word on his podcast, for which he later apologized. She also pinpointed Hollywood welcoming back Mel Gibson, who is currently directing a “Lethal Weapon” film, for his alleged anti-semitism. (RELATED: Adidas Severs All Ties With Kanye West)
The columnist then took shots at Fox News host and Daily Caller co-founder Tucker Carlson and former President Donald Trump. She criticized Carlson for visiting and interviewing West after the “White Lives Matter” backlash, and Trump for calling on Jews to have more support for him.
She concluded the piece arguing that “rabidly racist White men” should be canceled in the same fashion as West.
“At the end of the day, all I want is for us is to end hate and intolerance. In that spirit, I wish we didn’t defend White men’s hate speech as legitimate “open debate,’” she concluded. “I only wish we could cancel the rabidly racist White men in our culture and politics, just as we’ve done for an ignorant Black rapper who makes really ugly shoes.”
