Does the reason apply at home as well?
No it does not.
Does the reason apply at home as well?
Here is what should happen:
First, we need to decide if a white person can feel the feelings of racism, or can they emphasize with someone who has gone through racism.
That's the first step.
So, can a white person know what it is like to be discriminated against because of their skin color?
Kettle, let me introduce to Mr. Pot over here.
Here is my take on the article. Until Fox News, and MSNBC, and our policiticians and writers, like the writer you linked to, stop saying things like:
"white people are far less likely (some would say it is definitionally impossible) to experience racism than are PoC. It seems preposterous to assume that you, a person with no experience in the topic under discussion, would be in a position to lecture someone about that topic"
Then we know that they aren't in it to find a solution, but to make a buck.
So, I guess he won. I clicked his link, and he made his money. Goal accomplished, and now the world is a little worse off because of it.
Another comical quote:
"Regardless, the point remains that it is deeply bizarre that a white person would appoint hirself the objective arbiter of what is and is not racism, over a PoC. It is a preposterous arrogance in any other circumstance, treated with loathing akin to what we assign backseat drivers and Monday morning quarterbacks. And yet we see this ridiculous pattern pop up again and again."
The most comical quote of the day, after he gives the quotes above, is this:
"Hypocrisy, properly done, requires selective omission of the obvious...But the rest of us, those not so dazzled by their self-regard that they able to see through the banal falsity of such posturing, we recognize that racism is real and has real effects and is not some convenient flail with which to thrash our opponents."
Kettle, let me introduce to Mr. Pot over here.
Why is is always, I'm right, and you are dumb for not agreeing with me?
Why can't he come and say, "look, I don't agree with this "real racist" term because of 1, 2, and 3. Then listen to the other side?
Why does he have to come and say, this isn't true because of 1, 2, and 3, and if you don't believe me, your dumb, because it is impossible to know how I feel, and you are white and white people are just racist anyways and the redskins and indians mascots prove this?
One also wonders why a white person who had experienced discrimination for some reason other than race (gender, sexual orientation, religion, political affiliation, disability, etc.) would have nothing valid to say about racism. And are only the people who have personally experienced each specific form of these types of discrimination entitled to comment on those forms? I wonder, what other subjects could we not possibly have valid opinions on? And who gets to decide whose opinions are invalid from the start?
Pot meet kettle, indeed.
I am white so I probably can't say. But there is a salvadoran place here that makes the best pupusas I have ever had. They have $1 pupusas on Wednesdays, so that is a killer deal, and at work it has become known as Pupusa Wednesday. Normally some people at work pick them up, and I just pay for them with the company card, for work lunches obviously. One night I was running late so I decided to pick them up. I called in my order, 20 pupusas (we have ordered as many as 100 at a time...good times =) and they said it would be about 30-45 minutes. I got there a little early and engaged one of the waitresses in small talk, talked up the pupusas big time, and noticed I was the only white person in the whole place. They seemed very good-natured, and I ordered a drink while I waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. 45 minutes in (after giving them nearly a half hour after I ordered, so now an hour and 15 minutes) I asked how much longer it would be. The women behind the counter all gave me weird looks and glanced over their shoulders. One of them told me it would be just a few more minutes. During this time I witnessed a lot of non-white people coming in and ordering, anywhere from 10 to 50 pupusas (can tell from the packaging), and I asked one of them who had to wait a few minutes for what looked like 30 or so if he called in his order, which he said he never did like it was a stupid idea to call in an order. He had his order in about 10 minutes. They all ordered, paid, got their food, and left, and none of them were white.
And still I waited. And waited. I was about ready to ask for my money back when a very disagreeable male come out and asked me what I had ordered. I told him and he turned away and went in the back again, slamming the door, blabbering loudly in spanish I assumed. I looked around and everyone in the place were looking at me, workers and customers alike. I felt incredibly self-conscious and was about to just walk out when one of the women came out with a bag with my order. Normally they are piping hot when we get them, but these were luke-warm at best (could feel it through the package). She was very apologetic until he yelled something at her and she just turned away. I did catch a few words, like the "P" word, if you know what I mean. And as I left no one would make eye contact with me.
So at work I told my co-workers about this, and about then realized that normally the people who pick up the orders are non-white as well. They laughed and said "yeah that guy hates whites, we should have warned you."
I think I got a small taste of what that is like (I have traveled enough that it wasn't my first such experience like that either). I think I am also intelligent enough to be able to empathize from such experiences, although there are obviously certain things I will likely never be able to directly relate to.
As an aside, 12 Years a Slave is a great example of what it would be like for someone to gain that experience first-hand when they grew up not really knowing what it was like to be a slave at all, although I am sure still experienced racist actions during his life before the events of the movie. Eye-opening movie really.
I think the real problem is, we use that word too often.
There is a difference between racism, not agreeing with a thought or idea, and/or just not liking an individual. The problem with the word "racism" or "racist" is that it is evolving into the "god" realm. Such as, when you are in a debate with someone and they say, "well, God told me." The debate ends. You can't discuss topics with that person, because if they believe God told them, then they won't be swayed.
So, in the same vein, if someone doesn't agree with you, the easiest way to win the debate, is toss out the "racism/racist" word, and you're done. Argument over, they won (troutbum/Wells is the best at this). It doesn't matter how right you may be or how wrong they are, they win. You are now the racist.
I think the "real racist" comment extends from that. It is the way to "fight back".
Anyways, just my two cents.
I worked in a cultured marble and bathtub company in highschool/college. There was a Tongan man who ran the place, a true ******* who was the perfect match to the owner's own special brand of assishness (Utah County LDS business owners are notorious for treating employees like filth, and this guy was one of those type of dirtbags). Anyway, this guy hired a lot of Tongans into the higher paying positions, gave them raises, and the best portion of the annual profit "sharing" bonuses while taking his fair share of the white boys' bonuses.
I was a dumb young kid with all the heightened sense of morality that dumb young kids hold, so I wrote a letter to the Vice Chair expressing my discontent with the sitch. Now, being an a-hole company as it were, who do you think this 20 million dollar company had address my concerns? HR? No. I had a sit down and coming to talk with the Head Tongan in charge and that's where it ended. Kind of strange way to address racism charges, especially with a minor. The segregation was so obvious that only a fool would plead innocent to those charges... Anyway 2.0, being an a-hole to employees and hiring people like that guy is sure to cost you. My best friend and I trashed upwards of $30,000 in product over a two week span, and Head Tongan ended up getting busted stealing over $250k worth of product. And that was all they could prove after becoming suspicious and installing cameras. On top of that, they hired 24/7 security which added to the costs in perpetuity.
That experience didn't harm me one bit because I had a strong support system in place to help me along in life (both family and society at large). That's the difference and what I see as the bigger problem than racism in this day and age. Strong support systems overcome any racism, as has been shown in groups of immigrants from
Ireland to Nigeria (25% of Nigerian-American families make over $100,000 btw).
/ramble
Won't click the link. What's the jist of it.
Hmmm...interesting. I will have to think on that.
I will admit that experinces affect our view on ideas. So naturally there would be differences. But just because someone is more experienced or less experienced with racism does not make their claims of racism and more, or less, true.
Racism, in my view, is being used as a charge against someone simply because they did not give you what you want or do things your way. Doing so only lessens the severity of the charge over all and makes people tone deaf to it. A crying wolf scenario if you will.