Sticker #092A Profile for Mass Shootings? How About White Suburban Male.
by Joe Biel Author
There's so much political resistance and debate around guns. While gun violence has been on tremendous decline for over 20 years, most of the public has the opposite perception. Debates rage about whether this should be mitigated through gun regulation and control, mental health services, or just continue to be ignored. But mass shootings remain a common variety of gun violence and there's one uncomfortable, yet shockingly consistent fact about the shooters. If bullying caused school shootings, you would see trans shooters, queer shooters, female shooters, POC shooters. Bullying does not cause school shootings; entitlement does. and white boys are the most entitled demographic by far. They have been promised wealth, power, and women-as-commodity in all forms of media since childhood. and when they don't receive it, they react the way mass media has taught them: with glorious violence.
(Sturdy vinyl sticker with black print on a white background. Reads: "A profile for mass shootings? How about white suburban male.")
by Joe Biel Author
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Comments & Reviews
Racism = Predjudice + Power. (remedial definition for some) Anyone can show bias, bigotry or privilege -- not everyone can exhibit racism.
Reason why this sticker is on sale: not many people have bought it. Whay have not many people bought it? A lot of people in the punk/activist scene are (surprise!) white suburban males! Hey!
And they don't dig getting their toes stepped on.
B, while I think you were right on with every other word you wrote, your implication that a person can't be racist against white people is ridiculous. If a person of color makes a statement like "All white people are materialistic and uptight," that would be a racist statement, now wouldn't it? If a person of color owns a business and refuses to hire white people, because s/he doesn't like white people, is there any other word for such a person other than 'bigot'? How about a white person who socializes only with people of color and won't acknowledge his whiteness? Isn't he showing hate for his white race?
I understand that there's a social and political structure in place that operates systematically and complicates this issue, but that doesn't mean it's impossible or even unlikely for individual people to be racist against white people. Anyone can judge someone based on the color of their skin. White America may have the largest share, but it certainly doesn't have sole ownership.
A film I just watched in sociology ("Tough Guise") class made a point similar to this. Basically, "white, suburban male" is considered the standard type of teen, so no one thinks to take that into account. We need to examine the cultural influences that would cause so-called "normal" kids to act in these ways. And part of this involves dropping the stereotype that all criminals are inner-city ethnic minorities.
Hey I've always wanted that sticker it suits me well
This sticker is right on. A lot of poor, minority schools have recently been wasting their scarce money on things like fences, security cameras, their own cops, and metal-detectors when in fact outcast white boys (fyi i am a white boy) are more like the type that shoots or bombs random people. Poor minority schools should be spending their money on more electives and supplies, not degrading police state-like measures. It is racist to treat them this way.
wow burb and the saras are idiots
Bingo. this isn't saying "white people are evil" (and we could go on for hours on the legitimacy of saying anyone can be "racist" against white people.)
it's saying that the news media honestly never thought to do a racial profile of the shooters, because they were white, and "white" is the non-race that nobody ever talks about because it's assumed to be the norm, when in fact whiteness has a very specific set of assumptions around it. I notice nobody took issue with the "male" part, and i'm wondering why that is.
As for the "suburban" part: when kids get shot in the inner city, they don't even need to MENTION the profile, because everybody knows that it's a nonwhite, poor, urban boy. nobody wonders why poor brown kids are shooting eachother. they need an explanation when middle class white boys do. you're trying to say THAT isn't about racism?
this is an ANTI-RACIST sticker.
Actualy, the mention of ANY race in a seemingly negative style,is infact racist. What kind of bullshit is this "white privilege" stuff? rather nice double standard though.
OK, let's get one thing straight, the mere mention of race and especially white privilage is NOT racist. Just because something makes you uncomfortable dosn't mean that it's bad in some way. Confront your prejudices.
Huh? You say that it's "very racist" to point out the profile for school shootings is "white suburban male" (which, if you check the facts, is the profile.) Yet, you "remotely agree" with school shootings? Are you saying that it's okay for someone to go into a school and start shooting other people indiscriminitely? I'm confused.
Wow, how very, very racist. I am surprised this site supports a sticker such as this one. Even though I remotely agree with school shootings, I most definitely do not agree with this statement. I still love this site though.
For one thing the school shooters were white. I'm not sure that that fact can be disputed. The sticker is commenting on the fact that the investigation and the media were saying that there was no profile linking these shooters when in fact they were all suburban white kids. Historically, criminal profiles were racist (which is stereotyping whereas this is reporting that the shooters were white).