racism online

why am i getting into debates online about racism?

i was asked for my opinion on this article entitled 100 ways white people can make life less frustrating for people of color and wrote the following:

some of it i agree with 100%, some of it is silly and some of it is overtly racist. one of the biggest reliefs i've experienced since returning to south africa was working in a company where i was part of a white minority of peers, being able to have healthy interracial relations without the marxist left politics overshadowing every interaction and making people disconnect. people were happy to laugh at differences and have real dialogue, which is not what's happening in the rest of the west. not that things are perfect in this country, there's plenty of racism from all walks of life, but it doesn't have to be everywhere and run / ruin everything. i actually just watched a very interesting breakdown on white privilege and intersectionality by jordan peterson in which he makes the amazing point that intersectionality taken to its logical extreme shuts down the foundation of its own argument, i recommend giving it a watch: white privilege isn't real

at the end of the day, people need to learn to be respectful to people who are different to them and to be fair to everyone. anything more or less than that is wrong. there's plenty of systemic racism (see Filming Cops if you don't believe it) but fighting it with a different kind of racism is counterproductive. if you're privileged, use that privilege to make the world a better and more just place for everyone, but feeling guilty or acting purely out of guilt for being privileged in one aspect or another isn't helping anyone.

my opinion was challenged, and so i broke it down:

i don't believe the current state is "good enough", but i also don't believe that the way people are trying to fix things is going to make it any better. if anything, things are becoming worse as more and more white people are feeling shut out of the conversation and stop making any effort, in particular those who weren't and aren't already allied to anti-racism. it's divisive, and divisive isn't good. but that's just my white opinion, right?

i did read the list, let's exhaustively go through the items.

1-5, 7-10: 100%
6: meaningless
11: i don't know what "rinse" means, but cultural appropriation is a positive thing and trying to stop it is divisive. cultural appropriation is a form of cultural evolution and it works both ways.
12: that's not a race thing, it's a being a dick thing. i'm fairly certain it doesn't fall under "things white people do", but if it does then i agree
13-15: 100%
16: questioning anyone's blackness or whiteness is wrong regardless of your race. don't do it if you're white, don't do it if you're black.
17: this is a logical trap to ensure that white people can't be a part of a conversation on race. "shut your mouth, oppressor!" is not making things better.
18, 19: that's treating somebody of a different race as a "man on the inside", which is covered in points 1-10
20: inversely treating people as representatives of their race
21-23, 25, 26, 28: 100%
24: maybe, but also make sure to read up on psychology, philosophy and literary theory that isn't race-bound
27, 29, 32, 33: support art and projects you like, don't support something on principle because it's non-white. make sure you're not only exposed to all-white art and projects, THAT'S important.
30. it depends on what that means, if it's using something "culturally apporpriated" in a positive way it's fine, if it's making a joke of another culture that's different.
31. 100%
35: this is a long conversation, but in summary i don't agree
36, 37: what has this got to do with anything?
38: it's reasonable to expect immigrants to follow the rules of the dominant culture. if you don't like the rules of a dominant culture, move somewhere else. there's a difference between not letting people trample on your freedoms and on imposing your way of life on others.
39, 40: 100%
41: by race, 100%. by culture, factually incorrect. islam is inherently more homophobic than western society. russians are white, they're more homophobic than americans.
42-44: i don't know why this is in the list, but sure, okay.
45, 46: this isn't about racism, it's about being a dick. it's like thinking you have the right to touch a pregnant woman's belly. except if you're in a relationship with a woman of color, in which case don't assume that your partner is "woke" and just tell them not to touch your damned hair.
47: make sure you have whatever you need when you sleep over at a partner's home, this is not a race thing.
48: sure
49: again, the example is a cultural one not a race one. but sure.
50: silly, but whatever.
51-54, 56-58: 100%
55: do what you can with what you have
59: 100%, but the solutions are often societal ones and not personal which is not implied in this point.
60, 64: interesting, it certainly depends on the context but i generally agree
61, 63. 100%
62: rubbish.
65,66: that's one point, and the point is "be fair"
67: i heartily disagree. if you have something to say you should be able to say it and be argued with. simple.
68. which situations? oh, when you want to have a conversation?
69-75 100%
76: i don't know what ICE is
77: depends on how you define islamophobia, and that's a LONG conversation and not for the faint of heart.
78, 79, 81: 100%
80: *sigh* really? all of it, or just the fact that those kinds of racists are real?
82, 83 back to cultural appropriation, it's a ridiculous and divisive idea that we shouldn't celebrate things we like in other cultures. pull the other one.
84: i just did, go ahead and block me if you're afraid of confronting uncomfortable ideas
85 100%, unless it's done in a way that highlights its wrongness, like in bamboozled or tropic thunder
86: don't sing along to our rap songs? no. but don't use the word unless you're actually talking about the word itself. see louis ck on "the n-word", he's on point.
87: yay! let's whitewash history by rewriting historical texts like huckleberry finn! seriously, this is a dangerously stupid idea.
88. sure
89: and a bunch of other reasons, but those certainly contributed. not really relevant.
90: i dunno, i think it's okay to care about race whenever it's relevant, just like every other issue we have to deal with.
91: does anyone actually do that?!
92: again, when relevant. people of color shouldn't have to, so let's move towards a reality in which they don't instead of one in which we all have to be uncomfortable all the time.
93, 96: please watch that video i posted earlier from before.
94: 100%
95: first make sure that the white person in question hasn't experienced racism, because we're not all the same. being shut out of a conversation because you're white is racism. full stop.
97: sure thing
98: 100%
99: that's phrasing of a very particular ideology of victimhood that's only accurate to a point, but i agree with the intention
100: 100%

i invested so much time in that response that i had to post it her for posterity. you're welcome.