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> Maybe they are just a convenient way for (culturally, if not financially) upper class whites to signal virtue to each other? That's just silly. You don't kno
by vinceguidry 11y ago
> Maybe they are just a convenient way for (culturally, if not financially) upper class whites to signal virtue to each other?
That's just silly. You don't know what you don't know. How do people find racial, social, and political consciousnesses? They aren't born with it. Not upper class white people, and not black people either. Something has to perpetuate it, some event that forces you to awaken to all in the world that's shitty and motivate you to do something about it, and, more importantly, change yourself so you don't perpetuate those things.
Blacks can't get away from the various hells of the world, they naturally find that consciousness at a really early age. Whites are insulated from them through a process that, these days, we call privilege.
It's easy to lampoon white people who suddenly find their social consciousness through some picaresque encounter with world-weary minorities, it's a much-mined cultural cliché. But it's the wrong reaction. Worse, it smacks of egotism, perhaps you think that you're one of those white people that aren't affected by privilege.
- H0n3sty 11y agoBlacks can't get away from the various hells of the world I believe this is known as the racism of lowered expectations.
- rmxt 11y agoThere is a line between "acknowledging reality and the lingering effects of institutionalized racism" and "the racism of lowered expectations," but it is not drawn at "blacks can't get away from the various hells of the world." The former is what I think the GP is getting at.
- H0n3sty 11y agoImplying that one race cannot do what other races can is racist.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- vinceguidry 11y agoI don't believe in that particular form of racism. I think it's a rhetorical trick employed in defense of the status quo, like people who say we're being racist for not having a white history month.
- H0n3sty 11y agoI believe that segregating history for blacks into a single month is also a form of racism. A single month implies that there is ~1/12th as much history.
- vinceguidry 11y agoI disagree. You're not offering a better alternative. That's the difference between a real political argument and rhetorical noise. Let's say you ran for office on the platform of eliminating Black History Month. How far do you think you'd get? Do you think your message that Black History Month is racist would resonate with the people you're trying to help?
- H0n3sty 11y agoThe political platform would not be eliminating Black History Month, it would be fully integrating Black History into our classrooms in every month. Changing the lessons and more adequately representing the history of black achievement in America. My message would not be that Black History Month is racist, but that it's time we integrated our history. Do you think this could resonate with voters? We integrated our schools, communities, military, etc,... why not our history?
- vinceguidry 11y agoOk, now you need to distill those wishes into a policy proposal. How would "integrating our history" look on a piece of legislation? On an executive order?
- yummyfajitas 11y agoThe closest thing to a clear definition of privilege that I've found is this checklist:https://www.deanza.edu/faculty/lewisjulie/White%20Priviledge%20Unpacking%20the%20Invisible%20Knapsack.pdf https://www.deanza.edu/faculty/lewisjulie/White%20Priviledge... In a couple of weeks I'm giving up nearly all [1] of those benefits for what is very far from the first time. The 18-36 hour flight bothers me more than the loss of privilege. I know exactly how little privilege is worth. [1] I don't have children, so a few items (e.g. 8, 14) don't apply. 35 doesn't apply since I'm not a scheduled caste.
- Chris2048 11y agoWait: > I can avoid spending time with people whom I was trained to mistrust and who have learned to mistrust my kind or me. Is this privilege basically "If I'm black, I have to spend time with whites, but whites don't have to spend time with blacks"?
- yummyfajitas 11y agoA significant chunk of that list is "I don't like white people but there are so many of them and I can't escape". Luckily for me I don't feel any need to escape from Indians and their food is super tasty! I really wish I could find a less stupid definition of privilege to cite, but no one ever gives me a better one.
- Chris2048 11y agook, so a lot of these seem to conflict racial privilege, with the privileges associated with wealth and population %. I might find it hard to find western food in India, or at least if I'm not wealthy. While obviously race and wealth/pop% correlate, this list explicitly frames them as white privilege. Wealth disparity being racially correlated is a problem, but any other results deriving from this aren't in themselves a problem (e.g. finding a barber who can cut your hair). Population % certainly isn't a problem (would you go to India and complain about similar things, wealth discounted?).