Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America by Ijeoma Oluo
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Looking For Guidance

I am aware of the pain, frustration, and often terror that black people feel in the racist environment of America. I know that black voters are persistently taken for granted, casually betrayed, and almost always mis-represented by white American politicians. I see in news reports and in statistics, the systematic unfairness of the American judicial system and the calculated use of the system to weaken the political strength of the black community. I have read about the success of politicians like Nixon and Reagan who have explicitly used the bait of the ‘Southern Strategy’ and the ‘War on Drugs’ to degrade people of colour and to exploit the pervasive racism in the country.

In short, I am that mediocre white dude who is clearly the target (as well as the caricature) of this book. I have indeed implicitly presumed opportunities are available simply because of my race. I have been oblivious to the myriad signs and signals that have become part of my stereotypical reaction to racial difference. Despite my liberal talk, I have not demonstrated the real political priority of race by my actions. If this book is intended to remind me of these things and to increase my sensitivity to race and confirmed commitment to the issue of race, it has done its job.

But if I am the target market, what’s the point of the book? It does not present a nuanced argument or offer previously undisclosed facts about how racism works in America. It does not suggest new legislation or propose social norms. So aside from feeling chastised, what am I to do with this book? Talk it up among friends? Write reviews to help it sell? Pass it on perhaps? I need guidance. A polemic is just a rant when there isn’t a political objective.

The committed racist won’t even open it. The lover of cowboy films will deny that the persistent cinematic theme of white supremacy has any effect at all on his perception or attitudes about race. Joe Biden supporters are likely to dismiss his dodgy record on things like bussing in light of the rather more pressing problem of a Trump second term. The fact that some of Bernie Sanders constituency appear to be racist thugs, ditto. And what Republican, even if he or she does read, is going to take seriously an issue about either misogyny or racism in their party when their national cohesion depends upon just that issue.

In her introduction, Oluo says she decided to write the book during a retreat for women writers. They ended up, she says, talking about the horrible white males they have encountered in their lives, most of them not even reaching the level of mediocre. I have had a similar experience and come to a similar conclusion as these women in the woods. They (we) do everything they’re (we’re) accused of - contradicting, talking over, acting pompous, pretending to knowledge they don’t have, aspiring to reputation and position for which that are incompetent, and very often presuming that they are superior because of their race and sex. They (we) are mostly awful.

“Nobody is more pessimistic about white men than white men,” Oluo says. And of course she’s right as I just confirmed in that last paragraph. As a man one is either a moron, or trying not to be a moron, which is even more depressing. I believe testosterone and its cultural glorification is abhorrent. I think that in the Age of the Smart Machine traditional masculine virtues are bunk and hope that women can quickly overcome techno-misogyny for all our sakes. And I know it’s necessary to shout about the persistent vileness that is racial hatred, in all its forms.

But shouting at me has diminishing marginal returns. So what does a mediocre white dude with his XY deficiency and his inferior gene pool do?

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