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The soft bigotry of low expectations and Hillary Clinton

Aug 29, 2016, 6:44 PM

Have you ever experienced the soft bigotry of low expectations? I have, though I know I’m not a minority.

I worked for a long time in the technology field, but never went to college. When people found out that I didn’t have a college degree they would change the way they would behave around me.

They would define words. They would say something complicated and then try to explain it to me. I also faced being spoken down to by teachers, saying things like “at least you’re not in jail.”

When I look at Hillary Clinton, I see another champion of the soft bigotry of low expectations.

She thinks that without smart people like her, no one could make their way in this world. In concert with her party, which is run by rich white people, we see the bigotry of how they think about African Americans.

Their rhetoric, for years, has been “you can’t succeed on your own. You’re just not quite smart enough.” Basically, mean people are going to take away what you have unless you give me your vote.

Does Hillary do this out of a sense of hatred? No, but I don’t think bigotry has to be tied hatred.

When you speak of the soft bigotry of low expectations, it applies to a Hillary Clinton who believes that you couldn’t possibly address poverty by removing blockades to starting businesses, by removing barriers to getting jobs. Because she’s a soft bigot she thinks only she is smart enough to break through ceilings.

 

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The soft bigotry of low expectations and Hillary Clinton