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On the other hand, he seems okay rejecting the USA-centric concept of race and says that I'm correct when I suggest that fighting against discriminations as a w
by Zababa 4y ago
On the other hand, he seems okay rejecting the USA-centric concept of race and says that I'm correct when I suggest that fighting against discriminations as a whole would be more productive. In my experience with the woke American perspective, these views get a lot of pushback. The conversation kinds of made me think of someone having views that slightly differs from the norm but walks on eggshells either because the subject is very serious/important and/or because this is the only way to make people accept to have a conversation with you.
Considering the online discourse, "racism is a very touchy subject, be careful when talking about it" sounds like a reasonable approach and something that I would expect someone reasonably smart to do.
When I straight up asked about racism against white people, he told me that it existed, though he called it "prejudice" or "discrimination", he didn't use the word "racism" to describe it.
That would suggest to me that what you were experiencing in your conversation may be an error rather than an ideological stance.
- yummypaint 4y agoWhen I straight up asked about racism against white people, he told me that it existed, though he called it "prejudice" or "discrimination", he didn't use the word "racism" to describe it. This is exactly correct. Racism is not a synonym for discrimination in general, it does specifically refer to the construction of "whiteness" in a largely western context. For example, the caste system in India is not racist. That is not to say it isn't abhorrent and discriminatory, but it pre-dates European colonialism by hundreds and perhaps thousands of years and existed outside that history for a very long time. When talking about British actions in India, however, racism does become a relevant term. It's important to maintain the precision of words so people don't just talk past each other. Some people are very weirdly militant about trying to redefine the word in a way that takes away from its descriptive capability.
- kbelder 4y agoNonsense. Adding a particular skin color into the definition of racism is racist in and of itself. And the attempt to turn 'whiteness' from a racist discriminator into some sort of cultural-historical-social grouping is purely a rationalization of this racism.
- cuteboy19 4y agoAbsurd. Indians are very racist towards Africans. Where exactly does whiteness come in here? Simultaneously denying the agency of Indian people and ignoring the plight of the (small) African community in India.
- yummypaint 4y agoThat is still considered racism. Don't shoot the messenger. You can read up on how the concept of whiteness fits in on your own time.
- cuteboy19 4y agoEven more absurd. There are no Indians who are white in any sense of the word.
- versteegen 4y agoI don't know about India, but races/racial terms like "white" are culturally defined. E.g. apparently Americans (sometimes?) refer to Pacific Islanders as "black"? That's absurd to me.
- yummypaint 4y agoIt's all absurd. There is no biological basis for any of it. The concept of "whiteness" was invented to justify enslaving "non-white" people for profit. Full stop. Who is considered white has changed over time, mostly by slow expansion as groups seek to gain the priviledges associated with it. Again there is a broad wealth of literature about this written from all kinds of perspectives from the time when slavery was formally the law of the land until today. It's quite disappointing that some people feel so threatened by the historical record and thereby deny themselves the opportunity to learn.
- cuteboy19 4y ago>Who is considered white has changed over time, mostly by slow expansion as groups seek Ah so since a few people became white, we can extrapolate that to say that anyone can become white. > broad wealth of literature I have no interest in reading pseudoscience, let alone indoctrinate myself with this ideology. There are no falsifiable predictions here, all these people do is redefine words to suit whatever political ideology is in vogue.
- Manuel_D 4y agoI have almost never hear of racism being specific to whiteness. The caste system is not racist because it's perpetrated along caste lines, which exist even within the same ethnic groups. Ethnic hatred between groups, for example, in Africa is still racism. Even though from a Western racial lens they'd all be categorized under the umbrella of "Black", it's racism because the involved parties see each other as a race apart.
- faeriechangling 4y ago>Racism is not a synonym for discrimination in general, it does specifically refer to the construction of "whiteness" in a largely western context. The fact that some academics in recent decades have claimed this for the explicit political purpose of justifying racism against white people don't make what you're saying factual or correct or an accurate description of how that language is typically used.
- Zababa 4y ago> Racism is not a synonym for discrimination in general That is true, sexism and ableism are not racism. > it does specifically refer to the construction of "whiteness" in a largely western context. It most certainly does not. In North Africa there are lots of racism between people based on their skin color. It is racism. On some French islands there are racism against white people based on the fact that they are white. It is racism. In Japan there is discrimination against people that look non-Japanese, be it white people, black people or even Koreans. It is racism. The UN defines racism as: > ... any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life. Whiteness has nothing to do with it. You don't need white people or westeners to have racism, other groups have managed on their own very well on that front. As you said, it is important to not try to redefine racism from a mostly USA-centric view, because the world is bigger than that.