8 ms·
Well as a POC, there's plenty of things I don't feel comfortable sharing. A lot is situational. It's really hard sharing anything that might make people realize
by lambdasquirrel 6y ago
Well as a POC, there's plenty of things I don't feel comfortable sharing. A lot is situational. It's really hard sharing anything that might make people realize they might not be as "progressive" as they think they are – regardless of where they are on the political spectrum.
Liberals are frequently unaware of their blind spots (but if you take care, they can be corrected). And then there's a swath of conservatives that don't think they're racist. If you should suggest it, it's too easy for them to dig themselves deeper into a hole.
All too frequently, I'll wish I stuck to non-political / comfortable topics – and remembered that political-correctness is there to protect me as an individual, so I can live in my bubble and get on with the day, even though PC-culture might be bad policy for society.
- skinkestek 6y ago> And then there's a swath of conservatives that don't think they're racist. You are aware that the way you phrase it makes it sound like we all are? I've recognized a few times that I say things in a way that makes people mad even though my original point was fine.
- cultus 6y agoHave you considered that perhaps you could have unconscious racial biases? It sounds like you do if you're making people mad about it.
- skinkestek 6y agoMostly people are not mad at me for this but for other things I guess. In fact I have had a foreigner come back and thank me several years later for the effort I put in for her and there are several others that seem happy evertime I meet them. (HN is a weird place though. Here I am racist according to many peoples definitions.)
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- all_usernames 6y ago> makes it sound like we all are Ding ding ding! Yes. We all are. Conservatives and liberals. Everyone is programmed with racist attitudes from the culture-at-large. Many or most never question these unconscious attitudes. In my experience, folks who have been actively working on racism and social justice for years if not decades are the first to admit that they too carry racist, largely unconscious, beliefs and attitudes. A lot of people don't seem to grok unconscious bias.
- tmpz22 6y ago"We all are. Conservatives and liberals." Genuine question, does this include black people?
- JAlexoid 6y agoYes, because racism is: Racism, also called racialism, the belief that humans may be divided into separate and exclusive biological entities called “races”; that there is a causal link between inherited physical traits and traits of personality, intellect, morality, and other cultural and behavioral features; and that some races are innately superior to others. https://www.britannica.com/topic/racism https://www.britannica.com/topic/racism
- dixie_land 6y agowhen you put it that way it almost sounds like a neutral and scientific term
- Fjolsvith 6y agoPretty fancy description. I was taught that racism was treating someone wrong because they didn't look like myself.
- shadowgovt 6y agoThere's a couple of definitions. Formal academia and colloquial definitions have drifted apart.
- dangus 6y agoOf course, there’s no way that Republicans are racist or sexist (intentional or not). A full 9% of Republican congresspeople are women. There are 3 Black Republican congresspeople, or 1.19%.
- jasonm23 6y agoWhy would these people not be racist or sexist? Women and men can both be sexist towards women, and hold generalised negative prejudices and biases towards men. (what some people would call sexism towards men.) Similarly black people can both be racist towards black people, and similarly hold negative generalised prejudices and biases towards non-black people. (What some people refer to as racism.) Humans are inherently biased.
- lambdasquirrel 6y agoI apologize if it made you feel that and it wasn't comfortable. But part of my consideration in saying that was... this is not politically correct to say (i.e. that it might sound like all conservatives are racist), and I don't know how else to say it, so, I'll say it. But I do appreciate that you called it out. I grapple with being racist all the time. The way I climbed up was through a lot of institutions that racist. I grapple with my complicated place in the world, when I talk to my shrink, and not infrequently, because there's a lot of non-PC / uncomfortable things about it all too. I can't get away from both sides of the racism, because of the genes I was born with, so I have to talk about it with someone. If people don't like the whole politically-correct thing, well, this is it too.
- blue52 6y agoI've found the best way is just to accept the silly label if someone accuses you of "racism".
- trianglem 6y agoI’d rather accept that literally everything else was silly so nice try.
- mcv 6y agoMy approach is to try to understand in what way I might still be racist and improve myself.
- skinkestek 6y agoThat is a good attitude, in line with what others are talking about with "original sin". My and I guess many others point in this thread is that a lot of people are running around alienating a lot of people who would be ashamed to even catch themselves thinking a racist thought by insisting they are "racist" since they might have implicit biases.
- schwartzworld 6y agoSupporting the racists because you think it's better for your wallet is still racist. Supporting policies that hurt POCs disproportionately is racist even if you don't understand why. When someone points out something is racist, is your response to explain why it isn't or change?
- DeusExMachina 6y agoPeople should not change just because you redefine being racist however you please.
- schwartzworld 6y agoHave I redefined it?
- wu_tang_chris 6y ago> Well as a POC stopped reading
- lovegoblin 6y agoWhat? Why?
- JungleGymSam 6y agoBecause that person believes their point of view must be taken as truth and cannot be questioned because of the color of their skin. We used to call this "racist".
- cultus 6y agoYou are a racist who is projecting.
- dangus 6y agoExcuse me? If you don’t mind, can you please point out the sentence or phrase lambdasquirrel said that would indicate to you that they consider their point of view must be taken as truth and cannot be questioned? They were just giving their opinion based on their perspective, and their status as a person of color was something they felt was an important detail since the original article involved demographic data, and you jumped down their throat over it.
- JungleGymSam 6y ago> Well as a POC That right there.
- JAlexoid 6y agoBeing POC doesn't make you any more or less right - considering that nothing of what you wrote is exclusively applicable to POC in US. You created a narrative that any opposition to your opinion will be instantly regarded as racist. (That said, I disagree with the prejudiced person above)
- Diesel555 6y ago> And then there's a swath of conservatives that don't think they're racist You do realize you are taking a gigantic group of people and classifying them all as having some property without knowing the person at all, sounds discriminatory. And realize you used the word conservative, not Republican, so don't base it on policy decisions that people support as we all known Republicans do not represent conservative policies in most cases you are concerned about. These are two different things which are not inclusive or mutually exclusive.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]