Comment by shwaj

I feel a bit bad having written my comment, because the OP appears to be in some generalized pain about, let’s say, racist white men, fascism, or whatever. I can empathize with that, see how it lead them to write something ugly and evidently false about the recently deceased.

Myself, I remember seeing a YouTube video of people being asked “is it OK to be white?”, the same polling question that Scott Adams reacted to (I suppose) angrily/fearfully when only 53% of black people responded affirmatively. The question landed differently in video form because you could see the individuals in question: they were clearly individuals, even if you could lump them into categories if you wanted to.

I remember a few. There was an elderly black couple who looked happy in their long marriage, who I’d guess to be church goers, who found the question a bit preposterous: of course there’s nothing inherently wrong with the color of anyone’s skin. There were belligerent whites who bristled at the implication that someone would suggest that something was inherently wrong with them. There were white liberals who weren’t sure that there wasn’t something inherently wrong in them, their inner conflict plain on their faces.

One black woman stands out in my memory, because I took minutes to pause the video and reflect on how she made me feel (as a white man who thinks it’s racist to judge anyone by the color of their skin). She was vehemently, virulently of the opinion that it’s not at all OK to be white. Or so it appeared; maybe she was doubling down for the camera. Her friend was embarrassed and didn’t feel comfortable to offer her own opinion.

I found this woman’s ugly opinion to be personally hurtful, and I found it worthwhile to look inward to the parts that felt judged, that felt unseen, that felt afraid. I knew that it wasn’t representative of all black people, but it still hurt. I understand the history that lead (mislead) her to such an outlook, but that understanding didn’t lead to immediate empathy; I was repulsed by her ignorance and hate (not the color of her skin, it should go without saying). I closed my eyes and breathed until I found empathy for her. I just repeated the same exercise; the empathy came more easily this time.

In light of this memory, I also have empathy for Scott Adams. When faced with rejection of whiteness, unfortunately he responded (very publicly!) with fear and (what has been characterized, and may be) racism. I don’t agree with him, but I understand the pain that he was reacting to. And therefore I can’t be so quick to judge him as a “piece of shit”, when there are numerous people (dozens! lol) in this conversation who have had direct personal experience with him, and found him to be a caring and helpful individual. Maybe he wasn’t a total piece of shit, maybe he was just afraid.