Or, why I believe we are headed in the wrong direction...and the possibility of a corrective course. This will be long.
First, I realize that perhaps my posts on here are misunderstood. People are told narratives that are easy to believe because they are simplistic and those around them profess to believe the same. Perhaps it's because of my early tendency towards atheism that I view such people with suspicion and disdain wrongly. It's easier to be told what to think than to think hard, or critically, with adherence to reason and rationality. I'm guilty of it too...if such guilt exists.
Regarding racism I'm fortunate enough to have grown up with parents who expressed disdain for racists and taught me that judging people by such superficial characteristics was inherently wrong. I can, without shame, repeat the most racist thing I've ever heard my father say (though he didn't realize it) and when I corrected him around age 15, he never said it again. My mother for all the years I knew her never made a racist judgment or statement until the day she died. I'm fortunate to have grown up this way, and if anything, I made distorted assumptions that my experience was typical. I heard racist statements at the houses of friends who were white, asian, and black and many times my friends, their children, were ashamed enough to apologize for it. It always looked like progress.
That's not to say that the other didn't occur as well. Many times those same friends or others have tried to justify those beliefs as if they reflected something real. I did have hope though, that in time, more parents like mine would emerge and our society would be better off for it. I figured this was the way of societal progress and it was always slow....rules can change fast, but perception changes slowly.
That's not to say I was unaware of violent racists or cultural undercurrents that were racially motivated. I knew they existed, I had seen them in person infrequently, and on tv occasionally.
I wanted to explain this so you understand where I'm coming from as a formal student of politics and political philosophy and history, and an avid reader and informal student on culture, history, philosophy, psychology, and the myriad other topics that I have never stopped trying to learn more about.
On racism then. Racism is painfully simple in its construction and only slightly more complex in its expression. It's an idea of characteristics that superficial being entwined with characteristics that aren't. To say a black man is lazy because he is black would be racist. To say that you can identify a Jewish person by the size of their nose is racist. To say a white man is successful because he is white is indeed, racist. There is no assumption of an individual that can be made by appearance of skin tone, lip size, eye shape or any other physical characteristics that are factually correct. It stands to reason then that without factual data, no such statements can be true of such groups. It would not be racist to say that Jewish people are wealthier, on average, than the average US person. Last I checked, they are. It would be wrong to say this is so because they are Jewish....or some moral defect like greed....or to assume any such thing about any Jewish person. The fact of the group may exist as an average but to abstract from the fact some other causal assumptions is a grave mistake. There are far too many possibilities for the fact to ever be certain of the cause. No judgement of the individual based upon such reasoning can be justified.
I understand why this can be difficult to avoid....merely looking for facts about racial groups tends to cause people to associate the two as connected inherently.
Still...it's a pretty simple concept. It's easily proven false. It's fundamentally no different from any other unjustified association of unrelated characteristics. I used to assume that people with southern accents were less intelligent...same with many blonde girls. We can all be guilty of these assumptions but they rarely rise to the level of shame fulness unless we let them rule our behavior.
That's my view. It's a type of wrongly formed association of unrelated superficial characteristics. As such, it's hard to take any professed racial expert seriously. There's nothing really to be an expert on other than perhaps it's history....or the pattern seeking biological basis for it in our brains.
That's not the concern of our time though. The concern is the potential damage it causes to our society and lives. On this I've given considerable thought. I would say that...
1. In everyday interpersonal interactions it can be harmful and degrading. Particularly so if the racial beliefs become widespread or generally accepted as true...or if the target holds dear some aspects of their racial identity (which itself carries it's own problems). Therefore there is no racism towards any group that is acceptable or justified.
2. In practice, if not in policy or law, it limits opportunities and potentials. It damages entire communities. It tends to be a result of #1 being allowed to proliferate. It's difficult to deal with if it's undetected as a deliberate expression of racism.
3. In policy or law, it's most harmful. It limits the opportunities and potentials of entire racial groups. It damages the health and wellness of entire generations.
Understanding these things I believe we can understand how to properly interact with each other. Attempting to disregard these characteristics with the grace and understanding that we will inevitably fail, as all people do, from time to time. When such beliefs are found, an understanding of their origin, and an understanding of why they are wrong is the ideal for moving forward.
There has been a rather vast a different set of ideas put forth lately that I disagree with. The reasons why they have been put forth I can only speculate on but I admit, its speculation...and welcome anyone who disagrees and feels they can rationally explain why my views are wrong.
It seems to have started with the idea that a better definition of racism was necessary, though nobody ever explained why. It was a prejudice + privilege sort of vague definition that no one ever really used apart from attempting to justify the racial beliefs of some towards others. Nobody really used this new definition either, and continued using the old, and I am certain of this.
If anyone were to pass a racist statement written on a wall, for example, and identify it as such....without knowledge of who wrote it. Without that knowledge, no analysis of power or privilege occurs. This was never a useful or good definition for any reason other than the one I stated above.
Still, it proliferated, and in doing so it effectively signaled a "green light" for anyone racist to express their beliefs against white people (including white people) and eventually other races (as long as it's not expressed by white people). This hasn't been helpful for race relations...but it can be.
The new definition has been abandoned for obvious reasons. Non-white people who have been openly racist towards whites they have some power over would be rightly deemed racist and the definition falls apart. New definitions have been proposed since but no one understands them. They're too vague to make racism identifiable.
At best, the idea of systemic racism seems to be an attempt to reconcile the previous definition while maintaining its original purpose of justifying racial hatred towards anyone of "privilege". It does this by being vague, and demanding a rigidly dogmatic viewpoint of equating a status of victimhood with moral righteousness....and therefore justifies hatred, disdain, envy, and even violence.
I had some small hope that the violent attacks on asians recently, by multiple racists, would enable some reflection and reconsideration of race that led to a reconciliation...maybe one closer to my views. Instead, the narrative bends again for blatantly political reasons...to blame white people. There is no amount of reconciliation or reflection to correct this view....because it's inherently racist.
The attempts to do so now are concerning. Indoctrination of this racist viewpoint in school is vile and reprehensible. Passing laws and policies that treat whites as less than other races, because they don't work as hard, or don't claim victimhood is inexcusable. It's causing a reactionary increase in white nationalist supremacy that continues to fuel the false political narrative. It's threatening to erase the difficult decades of progress we've made.
The cause of this seems directly related to the left's embracing identity politics as demographics shift....and unfortunately, many of their most vocal and politically motivated are racist.
The future of this course is ugly, violent, and unfortunately in the best case, I think we'd simply have to come full circle back to the view of racism I described above. I think there's a possibility of reconciliation now....but it's not easy. We cannot hope to eliminate racism entirely, and we certainly cannot hope to create a just and equitable society by indoctrinating children and discriminating against whites in law.
Understandably, the focus of racial discussion has been entirely on white people and the socio-cultural beliefs that racism has influenced and it's results. We have, after all, been the primary source of it and it's harm historically. That's a fact. However, I can safely say that I've never seen the widespread cultural acceptance of and attempts to justify racism against whites like I have any other group in my life. In the majority of my years, racist attitudes and beliefs have been discouraged and shamed. It's sad to see so many racists unashamedly profess their hatred.
The reasons I believe the current course will fail are many but to put it simply, you cannot claim victimhood while standing on someone's neck. You cannot sit a seat of power that was given to you by discrimination and claim righteousness. We risk teaching a generation of white people that they must atone for crimes they aren't guilty of through rules and laws that deny them the same humanity they have.
It risks a backlash of bitter, beaten down whites with a legitimate grievance of injustice and ultimately I don't expect them to be gentle or understanding. Ultimately, I'd expect them to see justification for their own hatred and demands of power and wealth and privilege to follow.
This is avoidable I think, if we are able to do something difficult. If we can speak openly and honestly, regardless of race, would be a start. I do this and get chastised for it so I understand why it's difficult. I think if we call out all racism and stop pretending its harmless because of its scope, power dynamics, or target.
If we start there, I think we can begin a careful, gentle, and understanding examination of racism in non-white communities. It will be difficult, but I see no other way to progress. We can't endlessly redefine racism to avoid it, we cannot hope to eliminate the damage of racism without it. A lot of good and progress has been made in the white community by it...and I understand that it can seem shameful....so we avoid it. It need not be. As an aspect and fault common to all humanity there's only shame in hiding or justifying it.
I welcome any thoughts, criticisms, and disagreements so long as they are constructed with a consideration of my viewpoint...and not a personal attack.
I understand that sometimes people read my posts, make assumptions, and take offense. I don't apologize for it. I think you deserve the truth of my views out of respect, and don't see any value in platitudes. We may disagree, but I wish no one any harm. Your assumptions are your own.
Thanks for reading.