“What do you think, Colleen?”

In episode 22 of iLifeZone, Colleen Wheeler was referred to frequently as the “token” woman. This sound recording is an excellent artifact of the final destination of all those non-white males who demand equality and expect instant, sensational results. And when you see the word ‘sensational’ here think of the literal meaning of this word: this refers to the stimulation of the senses of hearing and seeing.

So you get to hear the self-described “bunch of white guys” ask Colleen, “What do you think?” And you get to hear the assertion, “You are part of the team.” You might imagine based on some Hollywood stereotype (that many of you may mistake for statistical reality) that Colleen confronted this group behind the scenes and demanded some kind of “politically correct” “gender equality.” And of course your sympathies go out for “the bunch of white guys” making a sincere effort to do their best at clumsily dancing steps they did not learn as children. Ah, it’s such “a burden to make them feel better…”

My interpretation of the tone in Colleen’s voice is that they were not making her feel better—and this sort of pandering should have no comforting effect on any intelligent person raised in a stable home where basic infantile needs were met. My ears told me that Colleen was in a typical, profoundly unequal relationship with “a bunch of white guys,” who have no evident experience with “dealing with minorities” in a non-hierarchical manner while Colleen has vast amounts of experience dealing with “a bunch of white guys” in a technical/professional setting. It is an error to seek out these unequal relationships without consciously recognizing this basic inequality. Unfortunately, many self-described “minorities” call these relationships “their life,” which implies that not seeking out “a bunch of white guys” means you are dead.

Based on this minority reasoning, then, a technologist like Ed Dunn writes Blog entries from beyond the grave. Dude, this is a guy that writes “Silicon Valley bigots” like there’s no white-supreme tomorrow. Isn’t he committing venture capitalist suicide by not taking extreme care to ingratiate himself with any possible suitors or patrons? In the very least, can’t he strike a self-promotional pose among the pundits and become a “token” voice of diversity like Colleen Wheeler? Shouldn’t he go through this hierarchical hazing like “the rest of us”? Is not this out-of-body experience the only path to success?

My purpose for writing this Blog entry is to inform many of you that this “success” ain’t shit. I would rather be completely ignored than asked questions like, “What do you think?” in such a lock-step, stiff “token” context. The arguably subtle implication to any surprise at what I am writing is that getting any attention from “a bunch of white guys” is worth more than being completely ignored by a “bunch of white guys.”

I just think Ed Dunn is young, strong and pissed off—as in indignant. We are living in times when veritable Galileo-like voices are talking about the vacuum while the holy flock laughs and mocks because “everybody knows” a feather always falls slower than a stone. My appeal is to the natural laws that predate the existence of the concept of whiteness—and the concept of “race.” We need to conserve our energy to save it for those who actually need it. We need to seek stability and calm to leverage information from the experience of others. And the experience of Colleen Wheeler with “a bunch of white guys” is nothing to whine and fight for—and her real “life” experience is typical of what happens when “a bunch of white guys” try their darndest to be inclusive. The technology of the podcast makes these experiences easier to examine from the comfort of your home.

We a have a full interview of Ed Dunn, “The Dunn Phraser Gun: Ed Dunn of Fooky.com,” here in the kinté space.

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