Is White Privilege to Blame for Otto Warmbier’s Death?
Leave it to the social justice warriors to connect the death of Otto Warmbier to so called “white privilege”:
As shocked as I am by the sentence handed down to Warmbier, I am even more shocked that a grown man, an American citizen, would not only voluntarily enter North Korea but also commit what’s been described a “college-style prank.” That kind of reckless gall is an unfortunate side effect of being socialized first as a white boy, and then as a white man in this country. Every economic, academic, legal and social system in this country has for more than three centuries functioned with the implicit purpose of ensuring that white men are the primary benefactors of all privilege. The kind of arrogance bred by that kind of conditioning is pathogenic, causing its host to develop a subconscious yet no less obnoxious perception that the rules do not apply to him, or at least that their application is negotiable. (…..)
As I’ve said, living 15 years performing manual labor in North Korea is unimaginable, but so is going to a place I know I’m unwelcome and violating their laws. I’m a black woman though. The hopeless fear Warmbier is now experiencing is my daily reality living in a country where white men like him are willfully oblivious to my suffering even as they are complicit in maintaining the power structures which ensure their supremacy at my expense. He is now an outsider at the mercy of a government unfazed by his cries for help. I get it. [Huffington Post via reader tip]
What is interesting is that there have been far fewer white people detained in North Korea than other races which the author makes no mention of in her article. There has been 16 American detainees in North Korea since 1996. Five were white, eight were ethnic Koreans, one black and one hispanic. I have long recommended against traveling to North Korea, but many Americans have traveled there with no issues. The biggest reason Americans have been detained is because of religious reasons, or in the case of Euna Lee and Laura Ling sheer stupidity.
This actually makes Warmbier’s detention very different from all the others. What we don’t know is was Warmbier told by someone in the hotel he could have the poster in order to have an excuse to arrest him? It seems pretty insensitive to me to blame so called “white privilege” when all the facts of why he was detained and what happened to him are not known.
“This actually makes Warmbier’s detention very different from all the others. What we don’t know is was Warmbier told by someone in the hotel he could have the poster in order to have an excuse to arrest him?”
I’ll bet La Shat (author of this piece) believes the cop planted evidence on OJ.
But the DPRK legal system is comparatively beyond reproach.
Another thought…what are the odds he actually didn’t take anything at all?
Probably better than average.
That’s not to say he wasn’t foolish for visiting the DPRK in the first place.
But I’d bet good money La Shat is exactly the type of person to spout about “American ignorance” and the need for “cultural enrichment” of the disenfranchised/marginalized peoples who might behave badly but let’s-not-hold-that-against-them and those-are-Conservative-lies-anyway.
So all the nK citizens dying in prison camps have white privilege too? Won’t they be happy to know that.
Liz by the way, the reason you couldn’t find anywhere to comment on this was HuffPole like so much of what Millennial Media is today is one-way communication. Listen to me, follow me, like me. Twatter is a virtual room of infinite size with anywhere around a billion people shouting at everyone else. These people love to claim to want discussions but all they really seek is to dictate. They further this goal by 5h1tting up any place that does offer commenting section with Tbone’ish trolling.
“La Shat”
Ooo look Liz made a dirty joke.. too much fraternizing with CH it would seem. 😎
Anyhoo…
This question’s pretty easy to answer.
Q. Who/what is to blame for his death?
A. The DPRK. They directly caused his death via the violence inflicted upon him.
Sure if you want to delve into the timeline you could link earlier decisions that led to this but the direct cause is whatever the heck they did to the guy while in detention.
I certainly believe visiting the DPRK is a bad move, so is 5-fingering a poster from your hotel room and it’s completely reasonable for a society to have laws to punish/prevent such behavior:
A $250 fine, a night or two in the pokey, a few weeks community service… those things are in the realm of misdemeanor theft.
Not 15 years of hard f’ing labor.
The issue is the DPRK’s way of governing. Stopping people from going there doesn’t make the DPRK go away, it doesn’t make them stop doing it to their own people. North Korea is the oldest biggest turd on a plate of potatoes, sooner or later if you don’t do something about it you’re going to have to eat it.
Years of “Meh it’s not happening here so what do I care?” are quickly catching up and we’re throwing down with these clowns one day. Options are shrinking.
In any case I was completely not surprised to see “I’m a black woman though” in that toilet paper of an article above (personally thought it was some dumbass white girl) and she should just go F herself.
““La Shat”
Ooo look Liz made a dirty joke.. too much fraternizing with CH it would seem.
Why whatever do you mean? La Shat means “the cat” in French. Very clean. 😉
GAH I want to rip this bitch’s hair out!!!!
Guy gets jumped after his car breaks down in the wrong hood:
https://www.liveleak.com/view?i=c39_1498071426
https://twitter.com/hiphopsrevival/status/877244509410795521
“GAH I want to rip this bitch’s hair out!!!!”
Just don’t use the rippins as a weave, then you’d be guilty of cultural appropriation. ❗
That sucks. My husband’s car broke down in Liberty City, Miami, a long while back when we were in college. He had a very white friend in the car. He stopped at a house to ask to use the phone (this is before cells) and the (black) man answered pointing a gun at him. Took one look at his friend (who was hunkered down low but still visible) in the car and said, “Get that guy in here! It’s dangerous!” This is a true story.
How do you break down in the wrong hood?
Rule 1: Don’t go to the wrong hood where the feral pavement apes run wild. Buy your drugs elsewhere.
Rule 2: If you absolutely must go to the wrong hood because your local connection is dry, carry a fućking gun.
All the butthurt of lynchings that may (or may not) have happened a half century ago get no sympathy when this kind of violence is normal in many black communities… not just against unwise whites but also against other blacks.
Youtube is always a good source to watch some Wild Kingdom level of When Primates Attack.
It is fashionable to deny that great sections of American black culture is shockingly broken and then lable anyone a racist who actually notices this…
…but Obama was so decisive in race relations… encouraging black-on-white racism, violence against innocent people and businesses, and general opposition to just and orderly aspects of society that benefits everyone… that there is no shame in calling out the animals for animal behavior.
La Shat does mean cat in French, must have some other usages.
Me and a buddy were on a train going through France in the early 80’s.
We were across from a young couple, and for some reason my buddy said “Le Shat”, he was quite the prankster.
The young man of the couple comes up to my buddy and says in a threatening way, ” What do you mean by that?”
My buddy just acted innocent, “What do you mean it’s just cat in French?”
French guy “Ah, ok.”, implying, if you say so I ‘ll accept that.
I never asked my buddy about it, but we did have a lot of fun when we were travelling Europe on our EURAIL Passes.
Did he know the “t” is silent? Sounds like “shaw” when spoken.
🙂
French is weird. It seems like they took Italian, cut off the end bit and slurred it all together to form the French language.
Don’t mispronounce casino in Italy! Pronounce it the wrong way and they’ll direct you to the local brothel.
That sounds like the right way to pronounce casino. Either way you’re losing money at least you leave with a smile. Maybe an STD too… 😮
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZ3dohf03fA
we never know what we will learn here.
Heh, never said I could write or read it. I only know what it sounds like when spoken. 😉