6 ms·
Ibram X Kendi's book How to be an Anti-Racist argues that racial discrimination is not only acceptable but morally necessary if it reduces average-level dispari
by hihihihi1234 5y ago
Ibram X Kendi's book How to be an Anti-Racist argues that racial discrimination is not only acceptable but morally necessary if it reduces average-level disparities between racial groups.
Well, he doesn't really "argue" it, he just asserts it, and I can't say I'm convinced, but the book is a massive bestseller and these ideas are very influential.
- curtisblaine 5y ago> morally necessary if it reduces average-level disparities between racial groups. How can introducing more disparities reduce the average of disparities?
- hihihihi1234 5y agoLet me preface this by saying that I don't think Kendi is a deep thinker and I'm not endorsing his ideas, just describing them. But I don't think we're using the word "discrimination" in the same way as each other. What I mean is this: if (say) black people are underrepresented in academia, Kendi thinks that universities should discriminate in favor of black people to rectify this disparity. And the same logic should apply across all sectors of society - we should actively discriminate everywhere until all races are equally represented in all endeavours. As Kendi puts it, "the only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination." It's a simple philosophy... one might even call it simplistic. Coleman Hughes wrote a good review of the book. I agree fully with Hughes: https://www.city-journal.org/how-to-be-an-antiracist https://www.city-journal.org/how-to-be-an-antiracist
- curtisblaine 5y agoVery simplistic indeed. It seems a way to fuel further hate in an already polarized era (at least to me)