White folks, is Tim Walz a "unicorn"? (non-political)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was going to say that over the years I've met many white men who are like Walz. Particularly my colleagues.

But then I realized maybe my profession (teaching) draws these guys. That's good for everyone.

--not white

I’m a high school teacher and he is a very, very common representation of the good kind of older guy coach/teacher you see in many schools.

Walz stopped teaching/coaching professionally at age 42. He wasn't old.
(He stopped teaching when his students attended a Bush rally in 2006 )

While he was a high school teacher, Walz was the faculty advisor to the high school students’ LGTBQIA+ student club.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know a lot of men like Walz (as described by the OP). He is not a unicorn. Too many biased people in this world. You all need to get out more.

You know, lots of men that publicly support LGBT people?

DP. I mean, yes? Of course, lots/most men do, at least generally.

No they don’t. They don’t go to the pride parade, they don’t fly a flag, they don’t vote for their rights, they don’t lead a club.

They just try really hard not to say f$&&)ot or gay in front of their gay niece/nephew.

And don't you want to ask yourself why Walz does? I think in fact that man does struggle with identity, and I wonder if the troll who started this thread was getting at that to begin with.

You and the troll are both out of your trees.

My 76 year old white dad does fly a flag (my kid gave it to him), and votes for LGBTQ rights.

He’s not gay, and he doesn’t have 21st century language to describe his positions. He says: “Life is hard enough already. There’s no reason to make it harder for anyone. People should be who they are.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know white men in the south much. But Walz is very much like middle aged white dads in my community in suburban Maryland.

Please name the community because he’s NOT like the ones in suburban MD community.

[Anonymous]

I haven't read all 6 pages of responses, but I think Trump is attractive to White men who are threatened with a change to their privilege. I say this as a White woman. When DEI was first being taught in the '90s, my firm was primarily White with no one in leadership non-White. During those classes, I recall men talking about losing opportunities that they had historically had provided for them. They didn't talk angrily or against anyone, but did talk as if they did not want things to change for them.

I also think that as women have joined the workforce, closed the income gap, and begun to think that marriage was a choice, this has also been a big change for men. Some men have embraced this equality and some have not. In my opinion, they are threatened, but I don't feel comfortable generalizing.

I don't know if Walz is a unicorn or not, but if he truly is who he is showing himself to be right now, and others on this thread are saying he is not a unicorn and many White men are like him, I am thrilled and hopeful for American society.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know white men in the south much. But Walz is very much like middle aged white dads in my community in suburban Maryland.

Please name the community because he’s NOT like the ones in suburban MD community.

My dad and my husband are both very reminiscent of Walz and in the suburban Maryland community. Chevy Chase specifically.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know a lot of men like Walz (as described by the OP). He is not a unicorn. Too many biased people in this world. You all need to get out more.

You know, lots of men that publicly support LGBT people?

DP. I mean, yes? Of course, lots/most men do, at least generally.

No they don’t. They don’t go to the pride parade, they don’t fly a flag, they don’t vote for their rights, they don’t lead a club.

They just try really hard not to say f$&&)ot or gay in front of their gay niece/nephew.

And don't you want to ask yourself why Walz does? I think in fact that man does struggle with identity, and I wonder if the troll who started this thread was getting at that to begin with.

You and the troll are both out of your trees.

My 76 year old white dad does fly a flag (my kid gave it to him), and votes for LGBTQ rights.

He’s not gay, and he doesn’t have 21st century language to describe his positions. He says: “Life is hard enough already. There’s no reason to make it harder for anyone. People should be who they are.”

Sounds like your dad is a good man despite raising a child who mocks him for not having “21st century language,” whatever that might be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live in MN and know a LOT of white middle aged men like Walz. So I don’t think he’s a unicorn generally. But I do think we haven’t really seen anyone running for president or VP like him before. He’s a genuinely good guy. There are a lot of genuinely good guys. But not a lot of genuinely good guys who attain high political offices.

Probably the closest in recent memory is Tim Kaine. One of my favorite politicians and a genuinely good guy.

[Anonymous]

Unicorn in the sense that he left the military instead of deploying, is basically incompetent and has views wildly out of touch with main stream America.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know a lot of men like Walz (as described by the OP). He is not a unicorn. Too many biased people in this world. You all need to get out more.

You know, lots of men that publicly support LGBT people?

DP. I mean, yes? Of course, lots/most men do, at least generally.

No they don’t. They don’t go to the pride parade, they don’t fly a flag, they don’t vote for their rights, they don’t lead a club.

They just try really hard not to say f$&&)ot or gay in front of their gay niece/nephew.

And don't you want to ask yourself why Walz does? I think in fact that man does struggle with identity, and I wonder if the troll who started this thread was getting at that to begin with.

You and the troll are both out of your trees.

My 76 year old white dad does fly a flag (my kid gave it to him), and votes for LGBTQ rights.

He’s not gay, and he doesn’t have 21st century language to describe his positions. He says: “Life is hard enough already. There’s no reason to make it harder for anyone. People should be who they are.”

Sounds like your dad is a good man despite raising a child who mocks him for not having “21st century language,” whatever that might be.

NP, and how is that "mocking"?

I don't think you actually are unclear on what "21st century language" is, but just in case: The words people use change as they consider the connotations of those words. Words that were insulting in the 17th century are benign or even complimentary now, and the reverse is also true.

Please stop referring to your assistant as "A nice colored girl" and saying your daughter is shaping up to be a "women's libber"

[Anonymous]

There is no way waltz is 60

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a white woman, I think he is your typical sane, reasonable, solid person. The kind of person who will stop and help you if you have a car accident.

He seems to have a lot of charisma.

We'll see. We've only just met him, and don't know a lot about him yet.

This. He is extremely charismatic, more than Bill Clinton. And still so good lookin at his age!

Walz definitely brings Clinton to mind. Same kind of down-to-earth energy. Uncanny that Walz has a daughter named Hope; Clinton's from Hope Arkansas.

Clinton combined his relatableness with keen policy info/data and dumbed it down to so ppl understood him. I don't think Walz can bring that, but he certainly seems like a pretty decent guy to his family and others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know a lot of men like Walz (as described by the OP). He is not a unicorn. Too many biased people in this world. You all need to get out more.

You know, lots of men that publicly support LGBT people?

DP. I mean, yes? Of course, lots/most men do, at least generally.

No they don’t. They don’t go to the pride parade, they don’t fly a flag, they don’t vote for their rights, they don’t lead a club.

They just try really hard not to say f$&&)ot or gay in front of their gay niece/nephew.

And don't you want to ask yourself why Walz does? I think in fact that man does struggle with identity, and I wonder if the troll who started this thread was getting at that to begin with.

You and the troll are both out of your trees.

My 76 year old white dad does fly a flag (my kid gave it to him), and votes for LGBTQ rights.

He’s not gay, and he doesn’t have 21st century language to describe his positions. He says: “Life is hard enough already. There’s no reason to make it harder for anyone. People should be who they are.”

Sounds like your dad is a good man despite raising a child who mocks him for not having “21st century language,” whatever that might be.

NP, and how is that "mocking"?

I don't think you actually are unclear on what "21st century language" is, but just in case: The words people use change as they consider the connotations of those words. Words that were insulting in the 17th century are benign or even complimentary now, and the reverse is also true.

Please stop referring to your assistant as "A nice colored girl" and saying your daughter is shaping up to be a "women's libber"

DP. Your father was 52 at the beginning of the 21st Century. The terms you are throwing about were in use in — maybe — as late as the 1980s. Your father sounds rational and would have stopped using the language you to him. You just wanted him to use language that you prefer rather than show empathy to people in the words that are fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tim Walz is actually what many white men his age could be had they not been radicalized by Fox News. I’m serious.

Honestly? This is pretty accurate. A large part of whiteness is not being self-aware of our own identity markers. We're just "white". Add maleness to that, with maleness being the default standard of basically everything but women's menstrual and reproductive items, and there's not a whole lot of self-evaluation required/expected.

So it does start to seem a little magical when a white dude understands and accepts that he is, in fact, a white male, and what that means in a larger cultural context, because according to the culture at large, he didn't have to.

The bar is on the ground, and Walz clears it. It's not actually magic, and shouldn't be treated as such, but comparatively...

Excellent post, thank you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unicorn in the sense that he left the military instead of deploying, is basically incompetent and has views wildly out of touch with main stream America.

You are disingenuous and gross

And a god dammed liar
Your idiot brain supports liars
The European Union has issued a formal letter to Elon Musk, demanding that he censor Donald Trump in their upcoming interview.

The EU warns of "legal obligations" if Musk does not take action to prevent the spread of "disinformation."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tim Walz is actually what many white men his age could be had they not been radicalized by Fox News. I’m serious.

Honestly? This is pretty accurate. A large part of whiteness is not being self-aware of our own identity markers. We're just "white". Add maleness to that, with maleness being the default standard of basically everything but women's menstrual and reproductive items, and there's not a whole lot of self-evaluation required/expected.

So it does start to seem a little magical when a white dude understands and accepts that he is, in fact, a white male, and what that means in a larger cultural context, because according to the culture at large, he didn't have to.

The bar is on the ground, and Walz clears it. It's not actually magic, and shouldn't be treated as such, but comparatively...

Excellent post, thank you.

Agree. This is a great synopsis of the Walz effect.