Sorry to say, but you don't know racism.
I engaged in a conversation about racism in Japan that downward spiraled down into an all out wank-war between myself and a fellow white poster living in the country. To make a long story short, the white person opened up his comment with, " I fucking love racism in Japan! I finally get to know what it feels like to be a minority and I love it. I haven't been denied service yet but I can't wait until it happens! "
I pointed out to him what was wrong with his comment, he in turn said that I was a racist and a bigot because I told him, as a white man, you will never know what racism feels like and to endorse it is completely out of line. He told me that the racist encounters I had in my life were because people simply didn't like me, it wouldn't have made a difference if they were PoC and I had no right to talk about racism because I wasn't born 30 years ago. He also refused to acknowledge the long term affects racism has had on African American culture, finding the term "good hair" to be ridiculous and hard to believe.
The argument made me realize something that I notice happen everywhere in fandom: White people are in some sort of a denial about racist issues or idolize the experience to feel as if they're now "justified" to speak whatever idiotic bullshit that comes to their head. Rather than accept the fact that X may offended X, in most cases, they will open up with " I'm not racist, but.... You're overreacting/Being racist/Contradicting yourself/Making big out of nothing/etc ".
We are crying over spilled milk, sort to say. Racism died in the 1970s, when the schools were finally integrated nationwide and the Jefferson's finally moved on up.
Or the cherry on top, " There's no such thing as racism because there's no such thing as race ".
I wonder why white fans in fandom try so hard to spin the argument back at us? Are they afraid to accept the truth that the situation is still twisted? Do they think that "racism will disappear" as long as we don't "bring it up"?
You wouldn't turn away from someone assaulting a person, so why act like racism does not exist when it is clearly around us to this day. How can you dictate to us of color about what qualifies as racism, or tell how how to "ignore the issue" when you have not experienced the effects of it? This world, our civilization, has been shaped by the ideals spread through conquest and domination by white Europeans. We have been raised with the image that "white" is beauty and "color" must be corrected in order to get anywhere in society.
We still live in a society that the black man will be the first one accused of a crime despite the fact that it was the white person next to him that did it -- because the black person is "threatening".
This is why white people will never truly understand racism. And no, because we say you don't understand racism doesn't make us racist. If you don't know how to build a car, and we let you know, does that mean we're... "carists"?
Does this make me a racist? I do not know. Our "offended attitutes of asshole dickery" is here to show you that the world isn't a painting of roses. Hollywood is still whitewashed, the bowels of the internet still think the word "nigger" and "faggot" are funny, and the Qur'an is being burned. As long as humanity exists, racism will exist.
Now, I am not saying that all white people are racist nor am I saying that white people are the only group that are capable of racism. Anyone is capable of racism, but to that select group who continue to insist that we're the racists for pointing out the errors in our fandoms and society, you are all misinformed and have no place to dictate to us when, where, what, and how we should be offended.
Now that I finally got that off of my chest, I can sleep a bit easier tonight XD
I pointed out to him what was wrong with his comment, he in turn said that I was a racist and a bigot because I told him, as a white man, you will never know what racism feels like and to endorse it is completely out of line. He told me that the racist encounters I had in my life were because people simply didn't like me, it wouldn't have made a difference if they were PoC and I had no right to talk about racism because I wasn't born 30 years ago. He also refused to acknowledge the long term affects racism has had on African American culture, finding the term "good hair" to be ridiculous and hard to believe.
The argument made me realize something that I notice happen everywhere in fandom: White people are in some sort of a denial about racist issues or idolize the experience to feel as if they're now "justified" to speak whatever idiotic bullshit that comes to their head. Rather than accept the fact that X may offended X, in most cases, they will open up with " I'm not racist, but.... You're overreacting/Being racist/Contradicting yourself/Making big out of nothing/etc ".
We are crying over spilled milk, sort to say. Racism died in the 1970s, when the schools were finally integrated nationwide and the Jefferson's finally moved on up.
Or the cherry on top, " There's no such thing as racism because there's no such thing as race ".
I wonder why white fans in fandom try so hard to spin the argument back at us? Are they afraid to accept the truth that the situation is still twisted? Do they think that "racism will disappear" as long as we don't "bring it up"?
You wouldn't turn away from someone assaulting a person, so why act like racism does not exist when it is clearly around us to this day. How can you dictate to us of color about what qualifies as racism, or tell how how to "ignore the issue" when you have not experienced the effects of it? This world, our civilization, has been shaped by the ideals spread through conquest and domination by white Europeans. We have been raised with the image that "white" is beauty and "color" must be corrected in order to get anywhere in society.
We still live in a society that the black man will be the first one accused of a crime despite the fact that it was the white person next to him that did it -- because the black person is "threatening".
This is why white people will never truly understand racism. And no, because we say you don't understand racism doesn't make us racist. If you don't know how to build a car, and we let you know, does that mean we're... "carists"?
Does this make me a racist? I do not know. Our "offended attitutes of asshole dickery" is here to show you that the world isn't a painting of roses. Hollywood is still whitewashed, the bowels of the internet still think the word "nigger" and "faggot" are funny, and the Qur'an is being burned. As long as humanity exists, racism will exist.
Now, I am not saying that all white people are racist nor am I saying that white people are the only group that are capable of racism. Anyone is capable of racism, but to that select group who continue to insist that we're the racists for pointing out the errors in our fandoms and society, you are all misinformed and have no place to dictate to us when, where, what, and how we should be offended.
Now that I finally got that off of my chest, I can sleep a bit easier tonight XD