Whites Trashed?

                Someone needs to do a study to determine why movie-villains have almost always been portrayed as white people. Whether it be The Joker, The Penguin, The Riddler, Poison Ivy, or Egghead from the Batman series, or Max Zorin (Arayan superman!), Dr. No, Auric Goldfinger, Alec Trevelyan, or Francisco Scaramanga in the James Bond flicks, it’s always the same: the bad dude- or dudette in the case of Poison Ivy- is white. What’s up with that?

                The Master, Rassilon, and other unsavory characters in Britain’s Dr. Who series are also Caucasian. Hell, its “Black Guardian” character is even white!

                Then there is the “Wolf of Wall Street.” Okay, that movie is based on a real person, but still…you get the picture, right?

                As for television…well, almost every evil character is a white man, often a businessman. And pretty much all the dumb ones, too. Even on television commercials men are continually made to look like incompetent, bumbling, ignorant fools, people who couldn’t possibly figure out how to properly scrub a toilet even if they could be made to do so.

                Furthermore, how come when anyone wants to convey their opinion that someone is intolerant or evil, they automatically brand that person a Hitler? Why not label them a Dada, after the notorious Butcher of Uganda, Idi Amin Dada? “Dada” is more fun to say than “Hitler,” anyway. Or they could smear them as a Pot, ala Pol Pot, the brutal Cambodian Commie who saw to the slaughter of 25% of his country’s citizens in the Cambodian Killing Fields. “Pot” is easier to say than “Hitler,” and takes less time to utter, as it’s just one syllable. (Plus, it’s more versatile, too. No one says, “That’s like the Hitler calling the kettle black!” just as no one likes to smoke “Hitler” either. Dude, just sayin’).

                We should be more inclusive in terms of our villains. Or maybe just trash Hollywood.

                But no, it’s always “whitey” that takes it on the chin. And who determined that, if one wants to surrender, one should wave a white flag? I don’t recall having any input on that decision. Are all white people cowards, is that what’s being implied? That must be the case, as when we are scared we “white knuckle” it.

Not convinced of the conspiracy yet? Why do we tell little white lies, hmmm? Is it only white people that are dishonest? If something is overly costly and not worth keeping around, why is it called a white elephant?  Talk about triggering!

Are you starting to get it now? No? Is the term “white trash” affirming and welcoming? No, it’s a vile epithet. And finally, if a person is particularly pale, why do we call them “ghastly white?!” No one has ever labeled anyone else “ghastly black,” or “ghastly” brown, yellow, or red, for that matter.

What to make of these ramblings? There’s no whitewashing it: if you choose to think of yourself as a victim, you are one.

Of yourself.

And that, my friends, is black and white.