Defining 'White Supremacy' Downward
Since it's now an axiom that all white people are racist, what to call actual racists? The SJW / neo- PC answer is: white supremacists! (Here's just one example. They're all over. I started seeing the term getting thrown around by some of the loonier liberals on Inside Carolina, but it took me a long time to figure out what was up. )
So, yeah. Your grandparents who marched for civil rights? Racist. Your generally good-hearted but slightly racist neighbor? A white supremacist.
Of course this kind of linguistic bullshit, if it were to stick, would leave us without the resources to conveniently refer to, y'know, actual white supremacists. Like these ignorant jackasses.f
Inaccuracy and hyperbole are among the PC's favorite weapons.
So, yeah. Your grandparents who marched for civil rights? Racist. Your generally good-hearted but slightly racist neighbor? A white supremacist.
Of course this kind of linguistic bullshit, if it were to stick, would leave us without the resources to conveniently refer to, y'know, actual white supremacists. Like these ignorant jackasses.f
Inaccuracy and hyperbole are among the PC's favorite weapons.
posted by Winston Smith at
9:20 PM
3 Comments:
I'm sympathetic with many of your complaints about these issues, that said, I'll try to play devil's advocate here. I personally think the label (i.e. "white supremacist") is convenient for folks who (allegedly) aren't racist, yet (consciously or not) want blacks to assimilate into mainstream (white) culture, and who are thus comfortable with black people iff they act white (in dress, talk, etc). Are these people racist? Probably, but calling them racist doesn't seem to get at the phenomenon in the same way that calling them white supremacists does--since they're apparently fine with anyone (regardless of skin color), so long as they act white. My mom is a great example of this; she's had black friends, doesn't at all mind having multiple black neighbors, and yet, consciously or not, is really only ok with these "good" blacks (as her friends and neighbors have been). What do you call these people (like my mom)? They aren't really picky about skin color, but do latently assume that white culture is the cultural zenith and that any derivation from it is problematic. That seems to me, on the face of it, to be a sort of white supremacism. No? (Granted that this very obviously isn't the same thing as being a KKK member, but do we really need to reserve the "white supremacist" label for them? Doesn't "asshole" do the trick?)
I'm always interested in what people mean to refer to by "acting white" or "acting black." If it were up to me, I probably wouldn't have come up with these distinctions. It seems to imply the only difference between the behaviors described by the terms is the frequency with which they appear relative to skin color, and therefore, anyone who dislikes something that is considered to be "acting black," for example, must only dislike it because it's not "white" (or vice-versa).
But I have a hard time thinking of a good example of such a thing. I've seen lots of alleged examples of "acting white" or "acting black," and purportedly racist reactions to them. However, it seems to me that preference for one behavior over the other in most, if not all, of these situations is based on the merits of the behavior without consideration for the actors' skin color. For example, if speaking aggressively with the intent to intimidate is considered "acting black," the implication is that there's no problem with the speech, but rather, it's just not what white people are used to. If that's true, so goes the argument, then white people who are put off by such speech are simply racist.
Of course, it's not the case that the only relevant distinction here is the skin color of the actor in question, and so it's not the case that preference for or against the behavior must be based on the actor's race. It's not about the fact that a black person is speaking in a style which is distinct from the way white people speak merely by being more common among black people, but rather that the speech is aggressive and intended to intimidate.
If your mom really does dislike certain behaviors which are utterly benign but more typical of black individuals than white individuals, then I guess that is some form of prejudice. Perhaps it is racist. However, I have rarely encountered good examples of this sort of thing in discussions which speak of "acting white" and "acting black."
A,
I'm not sure I really have much to say about all this.. I see the point, but--and this may be philosophical bullshit--but my first inclination is to say that disliking a culture doesn't mean disliking the people who have the culture on grounds of race.
Like, for instance, I've long been a fan of a lot about Jewish culture, but I don't have any real views about Jews as a race, i.e. in terms of their biology.
But you really do raise an important point. My evil father was definitely a racist--like, a very enthusiastic one. Blacks are the special target of his ire. But he *loves* the distinction between "good ones and bad ones." Good ones are the ones that work hard and...I don't know. Other stuff. Bad ones are the ones that are shiftless and so on. (It's actually more complicated than that...)
In actual fact, I never saw him treat non-whites worse than whites. Now, that could be because actually he hates everybody... But...he actually treats blacks *better* than he treats the average white person. He's downright solicitous. It's all, in actual fact, way more complicated than people think...
But anyway...my father is my paradigm racist. There's no way he's not one. But after years of observation, I've concluded that it's probably really black *culture* that he hates...if that's really black culture...
So...maybe you're right.
I'm at a loss.
(Also, I seem to be drunk..so...)
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