"boys are boys and we don’t want folks thinking they’re racist or anything, might ruin their futures…"
Ooh yeah, because racism is bad, but calling a white person racist is beyond the pale. I know that song and dance.
Much as I hate racism, I also hate that "racist" has become a fixed epithet. It creates a false sense of security by letting people imagine that racism is the fault of a small number of visible bad people and we're fine if we just ridicule the designated villains enough. This opportunity wipes out opportunities to learn and grow, and to recognize the pervasiveness of the phenomenon. Which is sort of the point, I guess, as far as perpetuating a racist system goes.
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Date: 2014-05-08 04:13 am (UTC)Ooh yeah, because racism is bad, but calling a white person racist is beyond the pale. I know that song and dance.
Much as I hate racism, I also hate that "racist" has become a fixed epithet. It creates a false sense of security by letting people imagine that racism is the fault of a small number of visible bad people and we're fine if we just ridicule the designated villains enough. This opportunity wipes out opportunities to learn and grow, and to recognize the pervasiveness of the phenomenon. Which is sort of the point, I guess, as far as perpetuating a racist system goes.