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Nice people change nothing. They never have and they never will. Those who are nice are so invested in their niceness, in their sense of propriety and civility, that they rarely raise their voices above a whisper, even in the face of sweltering oppression. Nice white people were the ones who didn’t own black folks during the period of enslavement, but also didn’t raise their voices against the ones who did. Nice white people are the ones who didn’t spit on sit-in demonstrators, but also had no problem spending money with businesses that had remained segregated all those years.
To be nice is to have an emotional stake in the prevention of one’s own pain. Nice people don’t like to look at the ugly. It’s upsetting, most of all because it puts us on the hook and calls forth our humanity to actually put an end to that pain. Precisely because most people are good, decent, and nice, they turn away from any evidence that the world, and their society, is less decent than the sum total of its citizenry. It’s too much to take in. This is the irony of niceness… unlike persons with antisocial personalities or severe sociopathy who quite enjoy pain and suffering and often seek to cause it, those who’re nice are so wrapped up in rainbows and lollipops as to make gazing upon the truth a bridge too far. …
In short, and though I know it won’t strike some folks as particularly, well, nice, we really must say it… fuck nice. The fact that there are many who would be more disturbed by my language here than by the death of black men at the hands of police, tells us all we need to know about the poison that is niceness, and about the dangerous souls who cling to that self-concept like a badge of honour. They have made clear by virtue of their silence what side they’re on; and that will not, cannot, be forgotten.
Tim Wise
The complete piece is here
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Editor:
The TRUTH will set you free. Niceness fetters you to UNTRUTH… which means that you’re not only unfree, but it also means that you’d inflict hurt and pain to conceal your true lack of compassion and empathy. The most scabrous sorts are the “good news” and “family values” crowd… they value “niceness” above all else. This means that they’d repress anyone or anything that goes against their notions. Do ponder that…
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Voices from Russia 
Tim Wise on “Nice”
Tags: ethical orientation, ethics, moral stance, morality, morals, political commentary, politics, United States, USA
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Nice people change nothing. They never have and they never will. Those who are nice are so invested in their niceness, in their sense of propriety and civility, that they rarely raise their voices above a whisper, even in the face of sweltering oppression. Nice white people were the ones who didn’t own black folks during the period of enslavement, but also didn’t raise their voices against the ones who did. Nice white people are the ones who didn’t spit on sit-in demonstrators, but also had no problem spending money with businesses that had remained segregated all those years.
To be nice is to have an emotional stake in the prevention of one’s own pain. Nice people don’t like to look at the ugly. It’s upsetting, most of all because it puts us on the hook and calls forth our humanity to actually put an end to that pain. Precisely because most people are good, decent, and nice, they turn away from any evidence that the world, and their society, is less decent than the sum total of its citizenry. It’s too much to take in. This is the irony of niceness… unlike persons with antisocial personalities or severe sociopathy who quite enjoy pain and suffering and often seek to cause it, those who’re nice are so wrapped up in rainbows and lollipops as to make gazing upon the truth a bridge too far. …
In short, and though I know it won’t strike some folks as particularly, well, nice, we really must say it… fuck nice. The fact that there are many who would be more disturbed by my language here than by the death of black men at the hands of police, tells us all we need to know about the poison that is niceness, and about the dangerous souls who cling to that self-concept like a badge of honour. They have made clear by virtue of their silence what side they’re on; and that will not, cannot, be forgotten.
Tim Wise
The complete piece is here
******
Editor:
The TRUTH will set you free. Niceness fetters you to UNTRUTH… which means that you’re not only unfree, but it also means that you’d inflict hurt and pain to conceal your true lack of compassion and empathy. The most scabrous sorts are the “good news” and “family values” crowd… they value “niceness” above all else. This means that they’d repress anyone or anything that goes against their notions. Do ponder that…
BMD
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