The Aberdeen American News draws all sorts of angry letters to the editor from local white conservatives who don’t want their complacent Trumpism upset weekly by Leonard Pitts, Jr., one of two non-white columnists who regularly appears on our local Opinion page. Pitts’s recent column on Trump’s racism and unfitness for office prompted another round of predictable complaints but also this healthy online response:
Personally, I’m not a huge fan of Mr. Pitts. I feel he paints with a very wide brush and therefore tends to portray large groups of people (particularly whites, Republicans, and especially white Republicans!).
BUT, one of the benefits of reading his column, as well as others I might disagree with, is that it forces me to thing through my own positions so see how others might object and help me in my own responses to them. This will either solidify my position or force me to modify or even abandon it. Occasionally I will even find myself agreeing with someone I would normally disagree with – and that’s healthy.
So keep Mr. Pitts. If we only read people we agree with, we are small-minded, only able to spout the party line on any given issue or candidate, and never able to think for ourselves. No matter what position you hold on a given subject, that is a sad way of thinking [Brian La Croix, online comment, Aberdeen American News, 2017.09.28].
Several Aberdonians have difficulty accepting arguments and facts that challenge their insular worldview. Leonard Pitts may stroke some people’s fur the wrong way, but the Aberdeen American News serves the community well by presenting Pitts’s views as an antidote to regressive groupthink.
Personally, I’m not a huge fan of Mr. Pitts. I feel he paints with a very wide brush and therefore tends to portray large groups of people (particularly whites, Republicans, and especially white Republicans!).
I don’t think he paints wide enough and he sure as heck isn’t mean enough to wingnuts to suit me. Overall, I enjoy reading his work, even when it makes me uncomfortable.
As for Aberdonian whitey wingnuts widdle feelers- who cares. I suspect many cheered when Drumpf called certain football players SOBs.
All the disrespect certain whites get is only what they deserve.
I skim Pitts as I skim George Will and Cal Thomas in the Aberdeen paper, since they usually are simply rehashing national issues on which I can find plenty of commentary in other sources and not giving me much useful South Dakota material. But Pitts provides some balance to the conservative leanings of much of the other content on the op-ed page.
http://www.stormlakepilottribune.com/story/2448221.html
Like to see Powers or someone from Fake Noize try what Katie Couric did in Storm Lake, iowa. Taking a look at ‘White Anxiety”.
FTR, I’d still h_t it.
Interesting article, Mike! Interesting that one of the main “assimilation” concerns is that immigrants don’t know that our culture expects everyone to mow the lawn. On Facebook, Couric notes that whites are a minority in Storm Lake, and that kids speak 19 languages in the high school.
“White Anxiety”—is that just a polite term for latent racism brought to the fore by the prospect of having more than a dozen non-white people in town?
From stories I have heard from people that had worked the packing plants, you don’t mess with the Mexicans. They all carry knives and are fluent in their use on hogs or people. Most of the violence is between Mexicans and other Mexicans.
There used to be quite a number of Laotians and Somalians there.