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Everything I know about the book is from a Yaron Brooks podcast. He describes its worldview as one where all white people are inescapably racist by due being bo

Everything I know about the book is from a Yaron Brooks podcast. He describes its worldview as one where all white people are inescapably racist by due being born white in this place and time, and that there is nothing we can do about it because it is part of our psyche. Additionally, it is not so much individual thoughts or intended actions that are to blame, but society and our institutions, that are also inherently racist whether or not there are any policies you can point to or not that indicate it. Apparently, white poeple are uncurable in this way. Yaron's issue is that it denies individual responsibility for their wrong-headed thinking utterly; denies free will and the ability for individuals to change their minds and be decent; and finally, that by characterizing people as inherently this or that on the basis of race is itself a deeply racist approach to the topic. Is this an accurate summary or is it mistaken?

krapp 6y ago
Maybe you should read the book yourself and form your own opinion.
- gentleman11 6y ago
  I have a reading list with about 20 books in it, and this one isn't going to make to the top of that list because of the summaries I have read. If those summaries are wrong, I'll reconsider. I didn't present an opinion above, just notes from somebody's summary and then asked if it was accurate.
  - krapp 6y ago
    Fair enough, but read the rest of the thread - you're not likely to find many unbiased opinions on it around here. You'd probably be better off reading book reviews.
    - gentleman11 6y ago
      Skeptical of the book reviews I have seen so far > The book raises striking and specific points about how as whites we have biases toward race while pretending we are colorblind. She states specific examples, and outlays practical way forward. > Most of the lower star ratings of this book seem to be exhibiting the exact fragility she outlines, and really only prove to drive her point home further. - Goodreads
dragonwriter 6y ago
> Is this an accurate summary or is it mistaken? From a very quick look at the preview on Google Books, I'd say it's deeply inaccurate when it comes to the central message of the book. > He describes its worldview as one where all white people are inescapably racist by due being born white in this place and time, and that there is nothing we can do about it because it is part of our psyche. The point the book seems to lay out for itself is that awareness of the nature of racial privilege and the related sensitivity is key to enabling one to doing something about it, the exact opposite of it being inescapable. From the introduction: “If, however, I understand racism as a system into which I was socialized, I can receive feedback on my problematic racial patterns as a helpful way to support my learning and growth.”
- api 6y ago
  > "If, however, I understand racism as a system into which I was socialized, I can receive feedback on my problematic racial patterns as a helpful way to support my learning and growth.” With stuff like this it can be helpful to change the hot button hand grenade word to something less emotional. So change racism to "dysfunctional family behavior" or "alcoholism" and imagine the statement is discussing recovery. Does it sound reasonable now? I haven't read this book so I can't comment about it overall. I would say that for hot button issues like this I am inclined to reserve judgment until I read the actual book.
- Thorentis 6y ago
  No, the central message of the book is that in order to become less racist, you need to become less white. This directly ties racism to belonging to a particular race, rather than making it a matter of individual choice and responsibility. And even if it is still a matter for the individual, the book asserts that racism is an inherently white trait. Again, that's racist. The book promotes far more racist ideas than it combats. Its popularity shows just how happy people are for the pendulum to swing the other way.
  - dragonwriter 6y ago
    > No, the central message of the book is that in order to become less racist, you need to become less white. Assuming you have read the book and reached that conclusion based on the actual content, I'd be interested in specific support for that claim. Because while I haven't read much (again, just some of the freely-available preview on Google Books), that description conflicts with essentially every bit I have read, including the sentence I quoted from the introduction, which from reading the introduction seems to be the author’s direct statement of their motivation with the book. > And even if it is still a matter for the individual, the book asserts that racism is an inherently white trait. It seems to say it is a system into which Whites in the modern USA tend to be socialized into participating in in varying ways and degrees; it seems to be extremely repetitive on the point that it is a product of social context and not an inherent trait. I supposed it is possible that after the introduction the author pulls a 180° and reverses every word of the Introduction, but it seems a lot more likely that the people painting the books content as being a bunch of things that the Right has been setting up as strawmen to argue against for decades before the book was published in discussions of race are just setting up those same strawmen again instead of engaging with the content of the book.

krapp 6y ago

Maybe you should read the book yourself and form your own opinion.

gentleman11 6y ago
I have a reading list with about 20 books in it, and this one isn't going to make to the top of that list because of the summaries I have read. If those summaries are wrong, I'll reconsider. I didn't present an opinion above, just notes from somebody's summary and then asked if it was accurate.
- krapp 6y ago
  Fair enough, but read the rest of the thread - you're not likely to find many unbiased opinions on it around here. You'd probably be better off reading book reviews.
  - gentleman11 6y ago
    Skeptical of the book reviews I have seen so far > The book raises striking and specific points about how as whites we have biases toward race while pretending we are colorblind. She states specific examples, and outlays practical way forward. > Most of the lower star ratings of this book seem to be exhibiting the exact fragility she outlines, and really only prove to drive her point home further. - Goodreads

dragonwriter 6y ago

> Is this an accurate summary or is it mistaken? From a very quick look at the preview on Google Books, I'd say it's deeply inaccurate when it comes to the central message of the book. > He describes its worldview as one where all white people are inescapably racist by due being born white in this place and time, and that there is nothing we can do about it because it is part of our psyche. The point the book seems to lay out for itself is that awareness of the nature of racial privilege and the related sensitivity is key to enabling one to doing something about it, the exact opposite of it being inescapable. From the introduction: “If, however, I understand racism as a system into which I was socialized, I can receive feedback on my problematic racial patterns as a helpful way to support my learning and growth.”

api 6y ago
> "If, however, I understand racism as a system into which I was socialized, I can receive feedback on my problematic racial patterns as a helpful way to support my learning and growth.” With stuff like this it can be helpful to change the hot button hand grenade word to something less emotional. So change racism to "dysfunctional family behavior" or "alcoholism" and imagine the statement is discussing recovery. Does it sound reasonable now? I haven't read this book so I can't comment about it overall. I would say that for hot button issues like this I am inclined to reserve judgment until I read the actual book.
Thorentis 6y ago
No, the central message of the book is that in order to become less racist, you need to become less white. This directly ties racism to belonging to a particular race, rather than making it a matter of individual choice and responsibility. And even if it is still a matter for the individual, the book asserts that racism is an inherently white trait. Again, that's racist. The book promotes far more racist ideas than it combats. Its popularity shows just how happy people are for the pendulum to swing the other way.
- dragonwriter 6y ago
  > No, the central message of the book is that in order to become less racist, you need to become less white. Assuming you have read the book and reached that conclusion based on the actual content, I'd be interested in specific support for that claim. Because while I haven't read much (again, just some of the freely-available preview on Google Books), that description conflicts with essentially every bit I have read, including the sentence I quoted from the introduction, which from reading the introduction seems to be the author’s direct statement of their motivation with the book. > And even if it is still a matter for the individual, the book asserts that racism is an inherently white trait. It seems to say it is a system into which Whites in the modern USA tend to be socialized into participating in in varying ways and degrees; it seems to be extremely repetitive on the point that it is a product of social context and not an inherent trait. I supposed it is possible that after the introduction the author pulls a 180° and reverses every word of the Introduction, but it seems a lot more likely that the people painting the books content as being a bunch of things that the Right has been setting up as strawmen to argue against for decades before the book was published in discussions of race are just setting up those same strawmen again instead of engaging with the content of the book.