Flush #2: Original Sin Is The Color Of Your Skin

My beady little troll eyes chuckled at the white woman racked with her white guilt. Her translucent reflection, coated upon my soulless eyes, was feebly attempting to cast her white skin upon some crudely formed altar, which appeared to be made of mud, spit and snot. Above this altar, written in her own vomit, were the words “White Privilege”. Silly human, even a troll can see through your intentions; fabricating a lucrative commodity eh? A little treasure for the gullible & naive to lust after eh? So they too can publicly carry imaginary crosses and offer themselves up to their gods? Under my breath, from the back of my mouth, my thoughts loitered about my blackened tongue. “‘Not a pleasing smell for the gods.. this stench of your offering has only disturbed their slumber.. to atone for your sins is one thing, but do not cast them at me, with a price”. Ali heard me snorting, and she turned and stared right at me, as if her eyes pierced through the cold, damp darkness that surrounded me. She asked me to step out from the shadows, but with a condition - to do it very slowly, as she had never seen a troll, and she didn’t want her whiteness to offend me. I laughed to myself, as only her actions would provoke me to judge her character, not her whiteness. I lumbered out from my shadows and to my surprise, she was not repulsed by my trollish features. Then with a warm gesture, Ali extended out her hand. My blackened heart fluttered with an emotion which I haven’t felt in a while, JOY! I offered my clammy hand in return, and she told me to walk with her. I obliged, and down we went, into to the very bowels of a belief system that the Left was now espousing. A belief system, that if revealed in other forms, could easily be repackaged for consumption on the Right, and then ruthlessly mocked on the Left. A delightful cycle of moral grandstanding between political camps, that would nourish my dark little troll heart.

I could taste the desperation in her words, so I dined on her musings. Ali wanted white individuals to feel conflicted. Ali wanted white individuals to feel shame. Ali wanted white individuals to feel guilt for being something for which they had no choice or control over - their DNA. Even if a white human was a moral and ethical person who practiced the golden rule, well that probably wasn’t enough, because white privilege enabled them to be that ethical and moral individual! This troll knows a thing or two about presuppositionalism! Alas, Ali proceeded to brag of her escapades - the luring & trapping of white people, and baiting them with shame and guilt. She quivered in joy thinking about her followers flogging themselves for naughty thoughts, which were simply ghosts of her projections. Finally, Ali told me about what she offered her followers. A vaccine, something that would inoculate their “whiteness issues”. And from the comfort of my shadowy realms, I too had observed Ali guiding her followers through this ritual of inoculation. As they chanted “You pathetic white people, being white. You make me sick! White Privilege!!!”. Then one by one, they picked up their cross, ready to sacrifice themselves upon the altar of “White Privilege”.

My tiny troll brain was full. I couldn’t take any more of Ali’s rubbish, so I politely excused myself from her presence and retreated back to the comfort of my cold darkness to mull my thoughts and untangle myself from Ali’s web of deceit, as the warmth from holding Ali’s hand made me feel even colder.

Lost in my thoughts, I deduced that Ali perceived whiteness as a contagious disease, which required some form of containment. I also concluded that her beliefs needed a scapegoat, an excuse to exist. To be more accurate, her beliefs behaved more like a parasite which required a host, and in this case the parasite (Ali) latched onto the naive, gullible, and perhaps mentally ill. Ali seems all too content to prey on the weak, and she seems blissfully unaware of this. As much as I want to like Ali, 95% of my being feels obligated to make a clear distinction between what could be honorable intentions and point out how people could be exploited by her religiosity.

So in good conscious, this troll understands why its fair to attack Ani. It’s the use of her words, which then became descriptive labels for an entire segment of the population, based entirely on skin color. It’s as if the term “White Privilege” was conjured out of the ether simply to create division. This term, “White Privilege” appears to be regarded like it was originally presented on stone tablets. It left me to ponder, if Ali feels so comfy telling white people how they are privileged, with no exceptions allowed, then why doesn’t Ali feel comfy hiding behind other made up terms, say like “Blackness Shenanigans”? I don’t know what it means, but that’s not really the point. The point is that a label was literally pulled out of my Troll ass which now defines a whole segment of the population, just like Ali did with “White Privilege”. It’s easy to do - just observe skin color, come up with term, and then qualify the term with some presuppositional trap that has no tolerance for honest dialogue or room for excuses, or shifting of blame. Voila!!! “Blackness Shenanigans” is born! But this Troll understands why Ali doesn’t correct black people for their “Blackness Shenanigans” disease. Because any rational black person would probably just call her out as being a racist. Just sayin’, I honestly don’t think black people would appreciate Ali’s judgement, or the mind games that she employs, simply because she can observe a skin color, then justify an argument that “Blackness Shenanigans” is some type of “Come To Jesus” moment that all black people should seek reconciliation with, because they are black. Come to think of it, no rational thinking person would like to be treated this way, regardless of their skin color.

Just sayin’, it sure would be nice if Ali engaged in the discussion of racism. Not just pandering to one aspect of race, and then boil it down to click-bait activism, and imply that “whiteness” is some type of 1-dimensional monster. Because this 1-dimensional monster will only create more tension, apprehension, and additional polarization. Why? Because people don’t like being told that they need to atone for something for which they are not guilty of. There are reasons why people don’t trust religious pundits, and from what I have observed, she is using the very tools that they employ, by manipulating people with guilt and shame.

If I had to simplify her message, Ali wants people to see a cause & effect. But on her terms. For example, she wants white people to see in color, so white people can eventually be color-blind (in this case, deemed not a racist). But a condition must be met, the white person must acknowledge that “white privilege” courses through their veins. If they don’t accept these terms, then they are a “white privilege” denier (another term that I just pulled out of my Troll ass), or in Ali’s case, a white person with blinders on. For Ali, the “white privilege” denier, or someone who hasn’t taken her courses, or attended her seminars, or someone who honestly claims they are not a racist, is simply naive or disingenuous. Finally, her argument that white people need to see in color before they can be color blind is pure troll bait for any detractor who feels compelled to attack her 1-dimensional “White Privilege” monster. I am quite sure that there is already a meme out there that says, “So you are tellin’ me that I need to become a racist in order to not be a racist? Because that’s what you’re sayin’”. Surely this is not how an educator (one who holds a Ph D) wants to engage people, to compel them to listen to her arguments, or to be taken seriously by students.

Hear my dribble, Ali. The problems that I contribute to my world are mine, which no Troll can take from me. Not even the color of my Troll skin can be blamed. I also don’t want to peddle the illusion that immoral behavior of one is equal and applies to all, and then treat it like a lease agreement for the next generation of Trolls who will reside in my shadowy world.

This Troll is skeptical about Ali Micheal’s honesty and sincerity with her approach to educating people about racism. Which makes me suspect that Ali Micheal just wants to feed on low hanging fruit in the form of gullible white people who can be convinced that they too, should feel white guilt, just like her. But she will make the money and they won’t. Ali Micheal wants people to be angry about what she has seen & experienced, so attaining full color blindness (Operating Thetan) is not attainable until you accept the burden of your cross, or in this case your “white privilege”, because of your whiteness DNA stuff. Ali Micheal genuinely seeks some form of atonement, and dammit, you should too. But what do I know, I’m just a Troll.