On the Internet, nobody knows you're White
I know I keep going on about this, but bear with me, it's an interesting twist to the whole mess.
One of the reasons I outraged some FOC (Fen Of Colour) was that I attacked two individuals - all but calling one a liar, dismissing the other's argument as "rubbish" - whom they believed were fellow FOC.
However, in both cases, the people I had a go at were not FOC, but fellow White chicks. (One was neadods, who identified herself as a White woman. I don't want to "out" the other, so will not identify her, but I happen to know her IRL.)
I apologised to both people for my hotheaded behaviour, but got no response from either. When I whinged about this, it was taken as a White woman demanding validation from the WOC she had offended.
It disturbed me that I was seeing what were, to my mind, flimsy and sometimes factually incorrect arguments about racism coming from White women. I expected FOC would have better insights, and they did - for example, skywardprodigal in backinblue and karnythia in lifeonmartha.
I don't wish to suggest that it wasn't my own clumsiness which landed me in the mess in the first place, nor that this was the only hurt or offence I've caused. It's just that I now know for a fact there's been a misunderstanding about my behaviour, and I wanted to set the record straight.
ETA: In case any sceptics think there's no difference between telling a White woman she is incorrect about racism, and telling a WOC she is incorrect about racism - take it from me, there's a big difference. Frankly, I don't think I'd have the bottle. (ETA again: check out How to Become a Clueless White Person for more on this.)
One of the reasons I outraged some FOC (Fen Of Colour) was that I attacked two individuals - all but calling one a liar, dismissing the other's argument as "rubbish" - whom they believed were fellow FOC.
However, in both cases, the people I had a go at were not FOC, but fellow White chicks. (One was neadods, who identified herself as a White woman. I don't want to "out" the other, so will not identify her, but I happen to know her IRL.)
I apologised to both people for my hotheaded behaviour, but got no response from either. When I whinged about this, it was taken as a White woman demanding validation from the WOC she had offended.
It disturbed me that I was seeing what were, to my mind, flimsy and sometimes factually incorrect arguments about racism coming from White women. I expected FOC would have better insights, and they did - for example, skywardprodigal in backinblue and karnythia in lifeonmartha.
I don't wish to suggest that it wasn't my own clumsiness which landed me in the mess in the first place, nor that this was the only hurt or offence I've caused. It's just that I now know for a fact there's been a misunderstanding about my behaviour, and I wanted to set the record straight.
ETA: In case any sceptics think there's no difference between telling a White woman she is incorrect about racism, and telling a WOC she is incorrect about racism - take it from me, there's a big difference. Frankly, I don't think I'd have the bottle. (ETA again: check out How to Become a Clueless White Person for more on this.)