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Some of y'all have hard me talk about how Whiteness as a culture resists examination. I'm glad to see that is changing. https://nmaahc.si.edu/learn/talking-about-race/topics/whiteness
The infographic from this page is interesting. The content itself is nothing special. But the idea of assigning these traits to a culture of Whiteness rather than treating them as defaults. That's new. It opens the question of other ways to be that are equally valid.
Update. The NMAAHC page above has removed the infographic. From a brief glance, there is no indication of why. But let me know if you see different. Thanks to @ThorbenDahl for noticing.
I missed this. Thanks. In short, people got mad and made them take it down. That's what I thought, but I didn't want to jump to conclusions. https://twitter.com/gruntleme/status/1284148031714025472?s=19
At this point, I can share some of my own thoughts about this. I think the site itself is pretty good, the infographic is not. I think it's a bit too reductive. It takes more to really capture white American culture. Shallow attempts are too easily rejected.
I want to reiterate again that what we are seeing is a rise in discourse about what Whiteness is. It's a big topic, and it's likely to take a while to hone in on. (Folks who identify as WASPs seem to co-sign it though)
Most importantly though, the infographic losses nuance in what is true to convey. I suspect that is part of the argument that got them to take it down. The traits aren't things that white people *are*, they are things that white culture *values*. Things revered by white culture.
If you go back to David's screed from yesterday, you can see it clearly. He certainly wasn't behaving rationally. He came to defend the *idea* of rationality. He believes it is at the root of all "civilized" society.
Someone yesterday called these "totems" for white people, and I thought that was very astute (Sorry I can't find the mention). I think that's an important discussion. But the infographic muddies the waters on traits vs totems.
