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It's the reverse direction which always warrants us fulfilling a causal chain. If we see something then we should be able to talk about it, even if there's an a

It's the reverse direction which always warrants us fulfilling a causal chain. If we see something then we should be able to talk about it, even if there's an army of meta-commentators producing downstream effects. For example, we should be able to talk about an ongoing bank run even if it tilts the outcome, just as we should be able to talk about the plain observations of race in front of our faces.

deleted 2y ago
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sph 2y ago
I’m not calling for censorship. I’m just saying that until we stop focusing so much on race, we are still favouring one colour over another and creating inequality and resentment. As an aside, every time I open Reddit, I cringe that two of the most popular and promoted subs are WhitePeopleTwitter and BlackPeopleTwitter. The American model of integration often just feels like a positive, corporate-friendly spin on apartheid.
- happytoexplain 2y ago
  First of all: You're preaching (ranting) to the choir. I 100% agree with your Morgan Freeman quote. But it's an intractable problem. Imagine if a president legally abolished Black History Month or something like that - the impression would be unavoidably hateful and antagonistic. Changes that are ostensibly positive suffer the ratchet effect. So yes, it would be nice if everybody just somehow agreed to "stop", but once a society has cultural distinctions along a racial line with any negative connotations, there is no path to "stop focusing on it" aside from letting time pass. E.g. my elderly friends and many of the people on the social internet aren't going to stop encouraging hatred of black people and encouraging beating or killing them for non-violent crimes, because of a call to "stop focusing so much on race"; and likewise other people aren't going to stop reacting to that hideous part of their own society (various reactions, that aren't all reasonable!) because of a call to "stop focusing so much on race". It's not a "just stop doing it" problem. Only centuries of patience and luck can evolve a society past such a stark divide (both sides think there are decades-scale forced fixes, and they're both wrong). Second of all: Your reply to me was tangential to the criticism I was making of the previous parent. You can and should choose not to rant about race/gender/sexuality abroad. You can't leave your own pronouns at home, like you can a hat. And even if you could, it would still be twisted and unfair to use it as an example of being "political" in direct comparison to wearing a political slogan hat - not to mention it being the slogan of one of the most politically antagonistic figures in the world's living memory. The comparison is emblematic of exactly the target of your rant: Misapplied focus.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

sph 2y ago

I’m not calling for censorship. I’m just saying that until we stop focusing so much on race, we are still favouring one colour over another and creating inequality and resentment. As an aside, every time I open Reddit, I cringe that two of the most popular and promoted subs are WhitePeopleTwitter and BlackPeopleTwitter. The American model of integration often just feels like a positive, corporate-friendly spin on apartheid.

happytoexplain 2y ago
First of all: You're preaching (ranting) to the choir. I 100% agree with your Morgan Freeman quote. But it's an intractable problem. Imagine if a president legally abolished Black History Month or something like that - the impression would be unavoidably hateful and antagonistic. Changes that are ostensibly positive suffer the ratchet effect. So yes, it would be nice if everybody just somehow agreed to "stop", but once a society has cultural distinctions along a racial line with any negative connotations, there is no path to "stop focusing on it" aside from letting time pass. E.g. my elderly friends and many of the people on the social internet aren't going to stop encouraging hatred of black people and encouraging beating or killing them for non-violent crimes, because of a call to "stop focusing so much on race"; and likewise other people aren't going to stop reacting to that hideous part of their own society (various reactions, that aren't all reasonable!) because of a call to "stop focusing so much on race". It's not a "just stop doing it" problem. Only centuries of patience and luck can evolve a society past such a stark divide (both sides think there are decades-scale forced fixes, and they're both wrong). Second of all: Your reply to me was tangential to the criticism I was making of the previous parent. You can and should choose not to rant about race/gender/sexuality abroad. You can't leave your own pronouns at home, like you can a hat. And even if you could, it would still be twisted and unfair to use it as an example of being "political" in direct comparison to wearing a political slogan hat - not to mention it being the slogan of one of the most politically antagonistic figures in the world's living memory. The comparison is emblematic of exactly the target of your rant: Misapplied focus.