I was listening to a very confused human being just now. The phone call, which happened on Pakman's show, tried to make the case that power dynamics override any sort of discrimination. For a second, I thought to myself, she must be trolling, but no, not at all, she was being serious.
Not to state the obvious, but it seems like we ought to: Racism makes no power dynamics distinction. The concept itself, the toxic concept I should add, is simply that someone believes themselves to be superior to another, only due to race. Now, we can talk about how race is a social construct, we can talk about the fake narrative of "the whites", but that's not the point here.
At no point in time does power dynamics come into play here. I mean, there's acts of racism still to this day, and not all of them are committed by "the whites" as some people would claim. Not to throw Japanese people under the bus, but this is one of those social challenges that they are also dealing with, and as far as I know, Japanese people are not white.
Now to be fair, maybe the point the caller was trying to make, is to say that if the minority group is powerless, then the negative feelings they may have towards the majority group cannot be "enforced" for lack of a better word. And, I can see that, I can concede that it might be true the majority of the time, but that does not mean racism is OK, nor that it's not present as she claims.
At any rate, at your own risk, give this video a listen, and tell me... Is this not a confused child or what?
MenO
This has become the mainstream liberal political standard. My girlfriend is heavy into politics in our city and many of the meetings assume this "fact" as the foundation of subsequent conversation.
In the end it's all semantics and definitions. They are now defining racism as being the victim of the power dynamic, therefore you can't be a victim of racism when you're white.
I think it's very interesting and concerning.
I basically wasn't allowed back into my original college way back in the day. The dean had me point out on a map where i was from. Long story short, she implied that because I was from a wealthy neighborhood and I was white that I wasn't going to be let back in.
Even though this fits all the parameters of this new definition of racism, I get the feeling mental gymnastics would be done to call it something else. I wonder what this means for the future.
The truly troubling thing about this argument is that it's assumed that every place on Earth has the same problems as America. It's extremely short-sighted and lacks perspective. All the while the ones who make this claim call themselves "woke".
Yeah well, that's offensive to me. As if I'm some slumbering zombie.
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Racism goes all ways not matter who's in power. If you hate due to color than the power dynamic does not matter ypur still racist that simple. Thanks for the post and sorry about my other comment rant.
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You got me on this one.
I feel that the long term power structures which dominate our culture are inherently racist.
I could sight posts for days in banking, education, health care, and entertainment but I feel these things are not controversial in that they are in plain sight. Leaving that aside there is subconscious bias. We often don't notice the subtle bias that is hard wired into our mentality.
Yeah, being white means having privilege. It's gotta be hard, but get used to it and learn to accept that hardwired privilelge precludes racism. In that every level of society helps you, while EVERY level of society harms people of color, especially Indigenous peoples.
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I'm not denying in any way shape or form the existence of privilege. I fully realize that I can get away with walking at 2am in a neighborhood that is not my own, mostly due to my skin color. I won't even deny the fact that we are still fighting systematic racism in our nation.
But what is the goal we want to achieve? If it's eradicating systematic racism, I'm all onboard. If, however, it's inverting the roles, putting other people under the injustice of prejudism, then... We've learnt nothing.
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It's very typical of a person who enjoys a privilege to fear not the loss of the privilege, but that others would do them as dirty as they do others. It's all Lord Of The Flies now. Just don't be the "other" and you should be fine.
How do we avoid "othering" minorities, LGBTQIA, refugees, handicapped, white people... ? I am open to suggestions.
From what I had read, shared play is key. Can't we all just get a lawn, and play Bocci Ball?
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Lol seriously because I am white I have privilege lol no. Life can be hard for any race, any sex, and any age group. The very notion that because my skin is a certain hue people will not judge or down play me is just bull. Now I am not going to fight about it because you think it's true. I have dealt with crap side by side with people of various colors in the projects of Baltimore to the trailer parks of West Virginia. I have seen people of all races get points for it so your arguement dies not play in my experience brother.
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Because you are white. If you were actually another color you would have the perspective required to see beyond your privilege, like you said no point in arguing. Suffice to say that predominantly black schools have less funding and fewer graduates, predominantly black hospitals have a lower life expectancy and higher infant mortality rates. I can't expect you to understand red lining or you know LYNCHING, but yeah, white privilege is a thing.
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Lol yea I am white and lived in black areas for a good portion of my life. You want to think someone's got that leg up on you because of the race go right ahead but lying to yourself. Most problems are caused by socioeconomic issues that stem from communities not race. The choices people make are what make life hard I know because I made bad ones and good ones.
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Like I said man you're not going to agree with me and I really don't care. I've seen people come from Bad areas and great areas do shity things and do great things. The factor was not their race the factor was their commitment and their individualism. Subscribing to the idea that one group has something that another does not is bull because you can always try to change your circumstance. That's all I got have a great one thanks for the talk
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Having lived in the apartheid regime I think the term racism is too broad a statement and we need to define what we're talking about. Can we be racist to any race? Sure we can discourage interaction, we can argue, we can insult them etc
Can we oppress and subdue a certain race through the systematic use of power and favouritism? Now I think there is where people are finding their argument because even with affirmative action those who benefitted from previous regimes and slavery have built up generational wealth, power and networks that aren't easily disrupted by government policy or progressive thinking
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I'm pretty sure she was referring to systemic racism, hence why she would be talking about power structures/ power dynamics, and it's pretty hard to deny systemic racism, it is evident in who gets what kind of loans, all the way to who is paraded and courted by Hollywood and the entertainment industry, and in effect, every single time the government is asking "what race you are" it is solidifying racism.
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Interesting.
I, personally, have always found the idea that you can't be racist against someone who's "white" to be completely idiotic. Caucasian is a race just like any other. The very definition of racism is to hate or discriminate against someone because of their race. Your reasons for doing so or what you believe you're justified in doing, has never been a factor, and I feel that there's too many people who wrongly include those factors.
Being a racist in it's most bare forms, simply means that you are willing to be ignorant enough to group people together and discriminate against them based on something as simple as skin color.
To believe that you cannot be a racist against a Caucasian person, due to some socio-economic matters, is absolutely ignorant. In my opinion.
Basically, racism is stupid period, but if you're going to be racist, at least own up to it and don't use some guise of "It's legitimized due to these factors!" as some sort of shield against backlash for your discrimination.
Again, all in my opinion.
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Precisely my point...
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