4 ms·

I don't speak for your family history in a personal sense and I get your main point about the ridiculous absurdity of racial groupings, but Islamic states and k

I don't speak for your family history in a personal sense and I get your main point about the ridiculous absurdity of racial groupings, but Islamic states and kingdoms which include the Arabic peninsula, were also notorious slave states for centuries. Again, despite many PC narratives, slavery was hardly the exclusive province of European colonial powers working against oppressed others around the world. Again though, these modern PC culture groupings that make reference to "white privilege" for all Caucasian looking people fall into the ignorantly ridiculous, or obtuse. I'm Eastern European, from the Balkans, my family and me were war refugees who never had much serious privilege in our lives but I've had people lecture me about white privilege as if I somehow have fault for an arbitrary genetic manifestation on the skin and am thus little different from any caricature of self indulgent wealthy, institutional white business men (not that there's anything specifically wrong with them either by the way). Ironically, in my direct "privileged white" family, a paternal grandfather was a concentration camp inmate and a maternal great grandfather was an ostarbieter for the Nazis, deported to the Reich during the World War as.... a real-life 20th century slave.

colordrops 4y ago
My family are poor christians from a 2000 year old farming village in southern lebanon who almost certainly nothing to do with the Islamic slave trade. But I get your point.
- anonu 4y ago
  Which village?
  - colordrops 4y ago
    Small enough that I might reveal my identity by naming it.
- helloworld11 4y ago
  Yes, I'm sorry if I came across as at all pointing a finger at you or your family, not at all the case and it would be foolish given the rest of my comment narrative. Just mentioned the Arabic history of slave trading as a general counterpoint to a dominant narrative of it being a European custom above all else.
Thermosetty 4y ago
Of course you see yourself differently as an "Eastern European" - Those distinctions don't translate to the US because when juxtaposed with darker skinned people (particularly the Descendants of Slaves in the US), the differences between Europeans becomes negligible. Eg - When the Irish/Italians immigrated here in the 20th century they were initially seen as "other" but after a few decades "graduated" to white. So yes you do benefit, even if you don't realize it.
- helloworld11 4y ago
  No. Whatever qualities, privileges or detriments that ignorant others ascribe to my skin color are not my fault or my responsibility to feel guilty over. This applies in all cases for anyone of any color. What's more, your simplistic, ignorant color-based dismissal of an entire and enormous range of historical, cultural and personal history differences between certain eastern Europeans and certain other Europeans is no less insulting than the kind of low key racism that some people apply by labeling all blacks or brown-skinned people the same. The differences in both cases are emphatically not negligible. That you openly think this way is likely only because it's been instilled as politically acceptable. It sure as hell has no real merit. That some so-called progressives often think this way today is a sad reminder of how old stupidities can come full circle to infect new generations.
  - Thermosetty 4y ago
    Calm down - I never indicated any of that. In a functional sense when compared to darker skinned, non European people; in the US specifically, European cultural differences are far less significant as they are in Europe. This isn't limited to Europeans, clearly.
  - skinnymuch 4y ago
    This isn’t about feeling guilty about your skin color. Sure some “progressives” incorrectly think that. Not a huge deal.
yieldcrv 4y ago
> Again, despite many PC narratives, slavery was hardly the exclusive province of European colonial powers working against oppressed others around the world. Which PC narrative suggests otherwise? I'm not familiar which one pretends and relies on the exclusion of various slave trades, can you elaborate?
- helloworld11 4y ago
  Let's be serious. Have you never once spoken to a crowd of people that self identifies as woke or some combination of qualities that amount to the same essential definition? I have, with many of them and yes, among quite a number of people, the dominant narrative is of constantly making reference to "Eurocentric hegemonic" historical cultural destruction/oppression with disdain for any mention of the very well established historical facts of many other cultures doing exactly the same things. None of this is to minimize the long European history of colonial oppression, but it's certainly not trait that's particular to that continent or its different cultures.

colordrops 4y ago

My family are poor christians from a 2000 year old farming village in southern lebanon who almost certainly nothing to do with the Islamic slave trade. But I get your point.

anonu 4y ago
Which village?
- colordrops 4y ago
  Small enough that I might reveal my identity by naming it.
helloworld11 4y ago
Yes, I'm sorry if I came across as at all pointing a finger at you or your family, not at all the case and it would be foolish given the rest of my comment narrative. Just mentioned the Arabic history of slave trading as a general counterpoint to a dominant narrative of it being a European custom above all else.

Thermosetty 4y ago

Of course you see yourself differently as an "Eastern European" - Those distinctions don't translate to the US because when juxtaposed with darker skinned people (particularly the Descendants of Slaves in the US), the differences between Europeans becomes negligible. Eg - When the Irish/Italians immigrated here in the 20th century they were initially seen as "other" but after a few decades "graduated" to white. So yes you do benefit, even if you don't realize it.

helloworld11 4y ago
No. Whatever qualities, privileges or detriments that ignorant others ascribe to my skin color are not my fault or my responsibility to feel guilty over. This applies in all cases for anyone of any color. What's more, your simplistic, ignorant color-based dismissal of an entire and enormous range of historical, cultural and personal history differences between certain eastern Europeans and certain other Europeans is no less insulting than the kind of low key racism that some people apply by labeling all blacks or brown-skinned people the same. The differences in both cases are emphatically not negligible. That you openly think this way is likely only because it's been instilled as politically acceptable. It sure as hell has no real merit. That some so-called progressives often think this way today is a sad reminder of how old stupidities can come full circle to infect new generations.
- Thermosetty 4y ago
  Calm down - I never indicated any of that. In a functional sense when compared to darker skinned, non European people; in the US specifically, European cultural differences are far less significant as they are in Europe. This isn't limited to Europeans, clearly.
- skinnymuch 4y ago
  This isn’t about feeling guilty about your skin color. Sure some “progressives” incorrectly think that. Not a huge deal.

yieldcrv 4y ago

> Again, despite many PC narratives, slavery was hardly the exclusive province of European colonial powers working against oppressed others around the world. Which PC narrative suggests otherwise? I'm not familiar which one pretends and relies on the exclusion of various slave trades, can you elaborate?

helloworld11 4y ago
Let's be serious. Have you never once spoken to a crowd of people that self identifies as woke or some combination of qualities that amount to the same essential definition? I have, with many of them and yes, among quite a number of people, the dominant narrative is of constantly making reference to "Eurocentric hegemonic" historical cultural destruction/oppression with disdain for any mention of the very well established historical facts of many other cultures doing exactly the same things. None of this is to minimize the long European history of colonial oppression, but it's certainly not trait that's particular to that continent or its different cultures.