Can a terrible, delusional racist really be ‘polite?’
Recently, The Daily Beast was asked to tag along on a “patrol” with the gang from Towson University’s “White Student Union.” Their fearful leader, Matthew Heinbach, is repeatedly described by nearly everyone he encounters as being an especially ‘polite’ human. Which is weird, because he is also an insane racist.
Heimbach is super concerned about the “genocide of the European people,” which is weird, because that is not at all a thing. Oh, and of course, he and his group feel importantly about the preservation of “white culture.”
Is white culture endangered? Let’s see. I just went to the grocery store, and there was plenty of mayonnaise to go around– and although Wonderbread specifically is no longer a thing, there are certainly many similar options available to the discerning consumer. Let’s turn on the TV and play the “how many channels must I change before I see someone who is not white” game. I got 17 before I happened to land on the Spanish channel. That’s some endangerment.
I really feel like it’s fairly unnecessary to explain why everything this dude thinks is wrong. Even if we are just starting with the fact that he lives in Maryland and has a “Go Home, Yankees” bumper sticker on his truck. While Maryland was a border state and found itself fairly split during the Civil War, the state eventually did side with the Union. Which makes him… a Yankee.
Everyone with half a brain knows that the reason we do not have “White Student Unions” or “White History Month” or whathaveyou is because White is considered the default setting. Most of the students are white (87% at Towson), and all of the months are white history months.
But on the question of politeness. I think it’s probably possible to be a genial racist– you can probably think all kinds of terrible things and still be somewhat pleasant as a human. Apparently many people found Hitler to be quite charming. I do not, however, think it is possible to believe these things and have genuinely good manners.
Sure, you can advocate for these things and know which fork to use. But at the end of the day, manners are about making people feel welcome. Manners are about putting the comfort of others before your own personal convenience. Someone who would put a picture of Adolph Hitler up on a school bulletin board, primarily because he knows it would be upsetting to people, is not a polite person. A person with truly good manners cannot be a bigot.
