How to use white privilege to make racism disappear.
In-depth and enlightening discussions about racism seem to be appearing with greater and greater frequency in fandom. It makes you tired, right? Relax; white privilege has you covered.
White privilege manifests itself in many ways, but the most effective technique for making racism vanish was summed up by coffeeandink: "Attempts to discuss race, cultural appropriation, racism, or racially inflected power disparities, whether American or global, invariably end up discussions of the hurt feelings of white people."
Surprisingly, making the discussion about you is the only strategy you will ever need to make racism disappear; you can rely on it for years without repeating yourself. Here are some variations, but remember this is not a complete inventory. Use it as a springboard!
Variation I: You are immune to racism.
You're white, yes, but you can't do anything racist, or say anything racist, because you are a member of an oppressed minority: recovering alcoholic, formerly anorexic, kinda disabled, near-sighted, an atheist (yes, I'm describing ME!). This excuses you from thinking, talking, or doing anything about racism. This variation is great, because it is privileged as all get out. Are you a white fangirl who feels bad at Christmas because you're an atheist in a primarily Christian society? Your issues are always more important than a Black fangirl deeply hurt by racism.
Spin-off of this variation: Color-blindness! You don't even notice what color a person is, because of (insert your extremely interesting and unique circumstances here). It's an excellent strategy, because it is exhausting to refute, requiring fans of color to go over the entire history of western civilization and how we cannot escape its influence. Don't worry; they will get tired and give up. They get tired easily, because unlike you they can never ignore racism.
Variation II: You have nothing useful to say about racism.
Because it IS about you, and whether you appear intelligent and groovy. You could say, "I am sorry my friends have been hurt by racism." But that doesn't make you look very smart, does it? Say nothing. Or, tell us about your great-great-great-grandmother who was Native American.
Variation III: The current discussion of racism is too depressing/confusing/tiring for you.
Life is hard for white people, especially white people who are recovering alcoholics and kinda disabled and not part of the Christian majority. All our spare cash is blown on sunblock! If needed, go off on a tangent about the disappearing ozone layer. Which brings us to...
Variation IV: Tangents, especially pseudo-scientific digressions.
My favorite strategy! Does the human genome project prove race is "real" or just a social construct? Which country is the most racist? When I said discussions about racism were becoming more common in fandom, what did I mean by fandom? The possibilities are ENDLESS.
Past example: the discussion about Martha being a stereotyped Black character in Doctor Who. Thanks to tangents, we learned it wasn't technically possible for white British people to be racist about Blacks, the way white Americans are racist about Blacks, because of...I can't remember, but it may have been the Welsh. Or the Scots. Or the Irish. Who are the real oppressed minority in the UK! Also, Doctor Who writer Russell T. Davies is a gay man, and oppressed! In short: white British people (especially the gay ones) can't be racist, therefore Doctor Who can't be racist, therefore the depiction of Martha cannot be racist. Fantastic! P.S. I'm Irish-American, and bisexual!
Let me share with you my personal moment of tangent glory. The issue was: "Supernatural alienates fans of color because Black people on the show are depicted as bad guys." I wrote that Black characters such as Agent Henricksen aren't bad guys, they are anti-heroes. I was eloquent and insightful, and successfully avoided the real topic. Other white folks ran with it in an even more rewarding direction, arguing endlessly about the spelling of Henricksen. Even IMDB can't get it right!
Just keep talking about your tangent until everyone notices how smart you are...talk about ANYTHING but the fan of color who cried herself to sleep.
Another example: remember Hey white people, stop making Ronon a barista in your Stargate Atlantis AUs? It was so depressing; can't we just get back to thinking about how hot John and Rodney and Ronon are? Thankfully, YES, because a bunch of white people pointed out it was just fanfiction, and racism in fanfiction isn't real, any more than a stargate is real. You're not a tinhat who thinks it's all real, are you?
Keep this in mind: fictional depictions of racism hurt no one. A person of color offended by this fake racism is overly sensitive, mean, crazy, rude, and less educated than you. Because you know the show/film/book better than anyone! You'd be totally willing to talk to a fan of color about it, if you could be certain she was on your level, and had parsed the source with the same awesome dedication. Which brings us to an extremely common tactic, hardly worth mentioning, but sometimes it will be all you have.
Variation V: You may be willing to engage if and when everyone is nice.
You're a special and very white snowflake who doesn't have to talk about racism until fans of color are excruciatingly polite, and properly appreciative of your niceness. But watch out for the words uppity and tone. They could be taken the wrong way.
Past example: If fans of color had mentioned it nicely, moderators at a Harry Potter fanfiction community would have removed miscegenation as a story prompt immediately. But because Black people were mean about it, the mods had to leave it up or else they would have been giving in to the mean people. And then they decided maybe mean people weren't the issue, but the story prompt had to stay, because changing their minds was impossible. Moderators can never change their minds; it would break the Internets.
Spin-off of this variation: You tried to address racism, but fans of color were too mean and made you feel bad. Describe your hurt feelings in detail; emphasize how the incident triggered your alcoholism/atheism/anorexic issues.
Be careful, because this can morph into Mean girls (or boys) of color made me into a mean white girl (or boy), and you might have to take the drastic step of deleting your blog to garner the maximum amount of sympathy and attention.
Here ends my suggestions on how to use white privilege to disappear racism. Mix and match, and create your own. Also see How to suppress discussions of racism. Chock full of ideas!
The current discussion on racism, also known as the Cultural Appropriation Debate, has been particularly difficult to avoid. It's not about a single TV show, which you can claim to have never seen, or one particular incident, which you can claim to have missed because you were out of town at a sunblock convention. It's huge, and may require desperate measures.
Some white people are failing to use their privilege. For instance, telesilla wrote Dear bare-assed white people. Rydra_wong has been tirelessly collecting links on the discussion, making it almost impossible (but not quite!) to evade.
I look forward to your comments, especially if you have something to say about the human genome project. I am totally ready to spit in a tube. And you? Or we could discuss Henricksen. Is there a C? An O? I care.
White privilege manifests itself in many ways, but the most effective technique for making racism vanish was summed up by coffeeandink: "Attempts to discuss race, cultural appropriation, racism, or racially inflected power disparities, whether American or global, invariably end up discussions of the hurt feelings of white people."
Surprisingly, making the discussion about you is the only strategy you will ever need to make racism disappear; you can rely on it for years without repeating yourself. Here are some variations, but remember this is not a complete inventory. Use it as a springboard!
Variation I: You are immune to racism.
You're white, yes, but you can't do anything racist, or say anything racist, because you are a member of an oppressed minority: recovering alcoholic, formerly anorexic, kinda disabled, near-sighted, an atheist (yes, I'm describing ME!). This excuses you from thinking, talking, or doing anything about racism. This variation is great, because it is privileged as all get out. Are you a white fangirl who feels bad at Christmas because you're an atheist in a primarily Christian society? Your issues are always more important than a Black fangirl deeply hurt by racism.
Spin-off of this variation: Color-blindness! You don't even notice what color a person is, because of (insert your extremely interesting and unique circumstances here). It's an excellent strategy, because it is exhausting to refute, requiring fans of color to go over the entire history of western civilization and how we cannot escape its influence. Don't worry; they will get tired and give up. They get tired easily, because unlike you they can never ignore racism.
Variation II: You have nothing useful to say about racism.
Because it IS about you, and whether you appear intelligent and groovy. You could say, "I am sorry my friends have been hurt by racism." But that doesn't make you look very smart, does it? Say nothing. Or, tell us about your great-great-great-grandmother who was Native American.
Variation III: The current discussion of racism is too depressing/confusing/tiring for you.
Life is hard for white people, especially white people who are recovering alcoholics and kinda disabled and not part of the Christian majority. All our spare cash is blown on sunblock! If needed, go off on a tangent about the disappearing ozone layer. Which brings us to...
Variation IV: Tangents, especially pseudo-scientific digressions.
My favorite strategy! Does the human genome project prove race is "real" or just a social construct? Which country is the most racist? When I said discussions about racism were becoming more common in fandom, what did I mean by fandom? The possibilities are ENDLESS.
Past example: the discussion about Martha being a stereotyped Black character in Doctor Who. Thanks to tangents, we learned it wasn't technically possible for white British people to be racist about Blacks, the way white Americans are racist about Blacks, because of...I can't remember, but it may have been the Welsh. Or the Scots. Or the Irish. Who are the real oppressed minority in the UK! Also, Doctor Who writer Russell T. Davies is a gay man, and oppressed! In short: white British people (especially the gay ones) can't be racist, therefore Doctor Who can't be racist, therefore the depiction of Martha cannot be racist. Fantastic! P.S. I'm Irish-American, and bisexual!
Let me share with you my personal moment of tangent glory. The issue was: "Supernatural alienates fans of color because Black people on the show are depicted as bad guys." I wrote that Black characters such as Agent Henricksen aren't bad guys, they are anti-heroes. I was eloquent and insightful, and successfully avoided the real topic. Other white folks ran with it in an even more rewarding direction, arguing endlessly about the spelling of Henricksen. Even IMDB can't get it right!
Just keep talking about your tangent until everyone notices how smart you are...talk about ANYTHING but the fan of color who cried herself to sleep.
Another example: remember Hey white people, stop making Ronon a barista in your Stargate Atlantis AUs? It was so depressing; can't we just get back to thinking about how hot John and Rodney and Ronon are? Thankfully, YES, because a bunch of white people pointed out it was just fanfiction, and racism in fanfiction isn't real, any more than a stargate is real. You're not a tinhat who thinks it's all real, are you?
Keep this in mind: fictional depictions of racism hurt no one. A person of color offended by this fake racism is overly sensitive, mean, crazy, rude, and less educated than you. Because you know the show/film/book better than anyone! You'd be totally willing to talk to a fan of color about it, if you could be certain she was on your level, and had parsed the source with the same awesome dedication. Which brings us to an extremely common tactic, hardly worth mentioning, but sometimes it will be all you have.
Variation V: You may be willing to engage if and when everyone is nice.
You're a special and very white snowflake who doesn't have to talk about racism until fans of color are excruciatingly polite, and properly appreciative of your niceness. But watch out for the words uppity and tone. They could be taken the wrong way.
Past example: If fans of color had mentioned it nicely, moderators at a Harry Potter fanfiction community would have removed miscegenation as a story prompt immediately. But because Black people were mean about it, the mods had to leave it up or else they would have been giving in to the mean people. And then they decided maybe mean people weren't the issue, but the story prompt had to stay, because changing their minds was impossible. Moderators can never change their minds; it would break the Internets.
Spin-off of this variation: You tried to address racism, but fans of color were too mean and made you feel bad. Describe your hurt feelings in detail; emphasize how the incident triggered your alcoholism/atheism/anorexic issues.
Be careful, because this can morph into Mean girls (or boys) of color made me into a mean white girl (or boy), and you might have to take the drastic step of deleting your blog to garner the maximum amount of sympathy and attention.
Here ends my suggestions on how to use white privilege to disappear racism. Mix and match, and create your own. Also see How to suppress discussions of racism. Chock full of ideas!
The current discussion on racism, also known as the Cultural Appropriation Debate, has been particularly difficult to avoid. It's not about a single TV show, which you can claim to have never seen, or one particular incident, which you can claim to have missed because you were out of town at a sunblock convention. It's huge, and may require desperate measures.
Some white people are failing to use their privilege. For instance, telesilla wrote Dear bare-assed white people. Rydra_wong has been tirelessly collecting links on the discussion, making it almost impossible (but not quite!) to evade.
I look forward to your comments, especially if you have something to say about the human genome project. I am totally ready to spit in a tube. And you? Or we could discuss Henricksen. Is there a C? An O? I care.