*snorts* Typical. If a woman flunks science, that means that all women are bad at science. If a Muslim bombs a day-care center, then that means that all Muslims are homicidal maniacs. If a black man is fired from work and becomes homeless, then that means that all blacks are lazy and good-for-nothing.
But if a white, Christian man ever fails at anything or does anything horrible, he's never taken as a representative of white men as a whole. He's an isolated incident, an individual, an EXCEPTION to the awesomeness that is White Male Supremacy.
White men can do poorly, do so-so, or do brilliantly and nobody will think anything of it. Meanwhile, women and minorities have to jump through hoops to even be ACKNOWLEDGED on the same level that white men are, and even then, it's often not enough, because if they do succeed, it's always a fluke. Or they were "lucky." Or they were helped out by affirmative action. Or they knew someone or slept with someone who made sure they were promoted. You know, anything but their own merits and talents as individuals. And if they ever slip up, if they ever make a mistake, then it's back to the starting line for you, and the Glorious White Patriarchy will all just smugly nod and sneer that they KNEW that there had to be a catch somewhere, they KNEW that something had to be wrong, for you to get where you are.
Just look at what poor Sonia Sotomayor had to go through. She went to Yale and Princeton, graduated with the highest honors, and has more judicial experience than any of her white male predecessors. If she were a white man, people would generally regard her with respect, no matter what her policies were. But since she's Hispanic, she must have only gotten to where she did because of affirmative action and she must be biased in favor of "her people," and because she's a woman, her alleged "temper" could be a liability, whereas Scalia, Alito, and Roberts can rage all they want and be as prejudiced as they want and nobody cares.
So, one crazy white guy can be convicted of making bombs and that's the way that he'll be remembered: as a crazy white guy. Nothing more, nothing less. Nobody will say that his behavior is indicative of anything wrong with white men as a whole. Nobody will say that we should keep tabs on white men and profile them. White racists like this idiot will pat themselves on the back and say, "What are you looking at ME for? I didn't do anything. It was just this one lunatic. There's nothing wrong with me or people like me. How can you suggest such a thing?"
I am so effing sick of this double standard. I really am.
