New group for Hillary supporters: White Man’s Burden

It’s a new year so maybe it is a time for a new group.

Following Hillary Clinton’s defeat, one of my white male programmer friends (mid-50s now and therefore in the sunset of his career in this young person’s field) posted the following on Facebook:

I would really hate to be gay, or a woman, or a minority, or an American right now.

Of course I couldn’t resist suggesting that he visit Abigail Johnson “to comfort her on the coming tough times?” (Johnson is the richest person in Boston.) I pointed out that “if you want to feel sorry for someone who identifies as ‘gay’, Peter Thiel could perhaps use a hug.” I ended with “This black American also merits your sympathy: http://www.forbes.com/profile/robert-smith/ ”

A few days later, Facebook friends signaled their intention to join the “Million Women March” on Washington, D.C.: “ALL women, femme, trans, gender non-conforming and feminist others are invited to march on Washington DC the day following the inauguration of the President elect. ”

What did the Facebookers who plan to participate in the Million Women March have in common? None of them were “women.” As with the above exchange, the passionate Hillary supporters were white males.

In their 50-60 years on the planet, none of these folks had ever written anything about Jews except to criticize the Jews of Israel for being the world’s most horrible and pernicious people. Ever since Trump’s election, however, they’d devoted themselves with passion to protecting American Jewry from Manhattan/LA/South Florida-based Jew-haters (i.e., Trump and Steve Bannon):

Steve Bannon is a known antisemite, as well as an abuser. Wake the fuck up, this is NOT okay!!

URGENT. RED ALARM. This is an EMERGENCY. (I do not use those words lightly.) Donald Trump just appointed an anti-Semitic white supremacist bigot as his chief advisor and strategist.

Steve Bannon, our nation’s foremost antisemite, is now WH senior council.

If you believe that an antisemite, woman-abuser, white supremacist dirtbag like Steve Bannon has no place in the White House, then I suggest calling these representatives and telling them directly.

White supremacist and antisemite Steve Bannon will serve as chief strategist and senior counselor in the Trump White House. This is only the beginning.

[Note that the “abuser” stuff comes out of a lawsuit for custody and child support profits filed against Bannon by a former wife. The allegation reported by newspapers was based on an affidavit from the cash-seeking plaintiff, a not atypical situation in the American family courts.]

A couple of weeks later these same folks had rallied around the idea of creating sanctuaries for undocumented immigrants (it turns out that almost every place in the U.S. is a suitable sanctuary except for their own houses). They had also pledged to register as Muslim in what they said was “Donald Trump’s proposed database of Muslim-Americans.”

I’m thinking that I could harness the power of these good-hearted Facebook friends who want to use their elite educations, $150,000/year incomes, and spare time to help the female, the gay, the non-white, and even the persecuted Jews. My new group will be called “White Man’s Burden.”

Structure: No dues or actions required beyond some virtuous-sounding postings on Facebook.

Thoughts?