Thread by @polotek

I have talked a lot about how Whiteness resists examination. It does not allow us to talk about it in a way where we can start to understand it's qualities.

I believe one of the reasons for that is that it has scammery at it's core.

https://twitter.com/quidditch424/status/1438355644621463555

There is a growing conversation about the meaning of American freedom. In a very real way, it's about the freedoms to harm others.

This is still coming together for me. I keep telling y'all that I'm a poor student of history. But it makes sense with everything I see.

I've been talking to @operaqueenie a lot about what we see in the world since Trump emerged. One of the things that is clear is Trump declared that it's scamming season. This environment is filthy with people trying to take advantage of others.

I'm saying it's not a coincidence that white nationalism and scammery are finding a strong partnership. I'm coming to understand that has always been part of the point. The reasons Whiteness was invented have always been about building wealth by actively harming others.

The thread above is about Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos. I think this story only seems novel to people because she's a woman and she's pretty (I said what I said). But there's nothing novel about people going along with a giant scam and then pretending they didn't know.

The thing is that American culture intentionally blurs the line between scams and "visionary genius". It's only a scam if you get caught. If you get rich and powerful enough that people can no longer hold you accountable, you win. That's the American way.

Right. Just to be clear, scammery didn't start with Trump. The only thing novel about trump is his gross incompetence. He didn't even try to hide. Trump taught us how bankrupt our institutions are. He made them drop even the pretense of seriousness.

https://twitter.com/time_is_food/status/1438522212290596864?s=19

I mentioned the environment that Trump ushered in because I think it's obvious enough for us to see it and learn from it. If we are lucky, the right people will regain control and open scamming season will die down. But it won't go away. It's always there. It'll be harder to see.

I'm thinking hard about this. It's important to try to be thorough with my point, so this should not go unsaid. This is a culture I'm talking about. So it stands to reason that Americans are susceptible to scams. It's part of the culture. What I'm saying is these scams work.

Theranos, crypto, Ivermectin, QAnon. Scams can get really big and go really far in America. And a big part of that is we make room for scams. There are certain kinds of scams that have always been acceptable in American culture. America believes in the freedom to scam people.

Let's talk about some scams that are deemed completely legal and okay. Publishers stealing content from online communities, delivery apps classifying drivers as contractors, Gerrymandering, healthcare cost inflation.

Scams are everywhere. We pick and choose which ones are "bad".

And last but certainly not least, white supremacy is the oldest scam in American history. Going strong 400 years in.