>> I've been saying this for a while, based on my experience in my workplace. <<
Well, good. Somebody should or we'll never fix this shit.
>> At this point, I believe the best analogy is racism:modern leftists as original sin:non-modern Christians. It's something to acknowledge, loudly and performatively, with no hope of salvation except perhaps by Grace. <<
LOL Pharisees LOL
>> But at the same time, it's something one must visibly work against and feel guilty about. <<
Guilt doesn't fix anything. Action fixes things.
White people complain that ethnic materials make white children feel bad about themselves. Well, no, the actions of white ancestors did that; the materials only reveal it. But every family tree has some rotten fruit. That's just how genealogy and history work. Nobody is to blame for other people's bad choices.
What matters is what YOU do here and now. If you don't agree with racism, you can call bullshit and work against it, so you're not responsible for it. If you do agree with it, and take advantage of it, then you are morally responsible for it in proportion to your contributions and support.
Racism is about behavior, not appearance.
>> Attending confession might be good too. But since salvation is by faith not by works, there's no point doing anything useful. (Only God/Black People can grant absolution, and they do so - or not - for reasons mere sinners shouldn't presume to understand. But nonetheless, we are all privately certain - at risk of the sin of hubris - that we are personally among the Elect.) <<
If you don't understand how it works, you're never going to get anywhere. If you want to understand cosmology, study religion and the world and people. If you want to dismantle racism, you need to learn multicultural skills and work with different people. Heck, multiculturalism and interfaith work improve both your social and spiritual awareness. It's like the blind men and the elephant: if they had put together all the descriptions, they could've assembled a pretty good conceptualization of an elephant.
>> Or perhaps I should say - modern US AWAB leftists. (AWAB being a coinage for "assigned white at birth" ;-)) <<
*LAUGH* That is so awesome! I've found another way to describe my identity. So far, the best was something a black friend said in college: "Yeah, you can pass for white -- until you open your mouth." I really do look it, but I don't sound it. The other bits are hidden unless you know exactly what to look for, like the fact that white girl hair does not break "unbreakable" hair things and throw the pieces contemptuously across the room. I just don't feel compelled to agree with genocidal maniacs just because the meat I'm currently wearing bears a superficial resemblance to the meat they wear or wore.
I've no idea what racism means to non-white people, or those not over-influenced by US categories. It actually doesn't matter; I'm never mistaken for non-white, so I'm permanently assigned the "white" role in our stupid social drama. (And never mind that, being half Jewish, I'd have been assigned-non-white-at-birth if born when my grandparents were.)
>> I've no idea what racism means to non-white people, <<
Some aspects include ...
* Never knowing when someone will attack you.
* Some people are most aggravated by microaggressions, the endless tiny stream of signals that you aren't good enough or don't belong.
* Others are more upset by rarer but more serious things like fearing for their life at every police interaction, or worrying they'll get deported despite being a citizen.
* Some people thing racism is stupid and exhausting and want nothing to do with any of it.
* People of color raised by white parents are especially screwed because they don't learn the in-race survival skills.
Fortunately, some people of color talk a lot about how racism affects them and what changes they want. So if you can find those references, it creates a more complete picture. I've looked at Native American, African-American, and Hispanic branches primarily -- and they all have very different concerns.
>> or those not over-influenced by US categories. <<
Other places can have very different categories. I read one fascinating piece about a Brazilian family who had members of different skin tones -- they were all what I'd consider mixed-race people -- who were surprised and unsettled when they moved to America and were suddenly considered different races and treated differently as a result.
One white person from South Africa referred to himself as white African-American, which is an accurate description. I don't know why people freak the fuck out over that. He's white; he's from Africa. If he just said African-American then people would think he was black.
Australia has a different issue. For some reason, Aboriginal skin tone washes out in just 2-3 generations. One such descendant described himself as "a blackfella in a whitefella's body." I've encountered examples of racial dysphoria before, but that was among the most dramatic. He really looked white -- until you looked at the nose and the hair texture, then you could see the Aboriginal aspects. So that must have been really frustrating for him.
Now, there are concrete biological markers that cluster in certain areas. But they're obscure things like ear wax texture and tooth funneling, along with a few evolutionary ones like how one African gene protects against malaria with a single copy but causes sickle-cell anemia with a double copy. Skin tone, hair, eyes, etc. don't correlate consistently like people think they do.
Looking at many different conceptualizations of race, ethnicity, and culture reveals that most of them are just things that people made up. That makes it easier to take them with a grain of salt.
>> It actually doesn't matter; I'm never mistaken for non-white, so I'm permanently assigned the "white" role in our stupid social drama. (And never mind that, being half Jewish, I'd have been assigned-non-white-at-birth if born when my grandparents were.) <<
Yeah, that's another thing. The categories have changed over time, a lot. Early on, Irish people were brought over as slaves. Native Americans were enslaved when not simply butchered. Then slavery became identified as a black thing. New Orleans had a three-part caste system with black, creole, and white people; after the Civil War, it collapsed into two and the creoles lost status. If you look at old census records, you can see the racial terms change over time.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dancing_serpent
Thoughts
Date: 2021-12-01 09:42 pm (UTC)Well, good. Somebody should or we'll never fix this shit.
>> At this point, I believe the best analogy is racism:modern leftists as original sin:non-modern Christians. It's something to acknowledge, loudly and performatively, with no hope of salvation except perhaps by Grace. <<
LOL Pharisees LOL
>> But at the same time, it's something one must visibly work against and feel guilty about. <<
Guilt doesn't fix anything. Action fixes things.
White people complain that ethnic materials make white children feel bad about themselves. Well, no, the actions of white ancestors did that; the materials only reveal it. But every family tree has some rotten fruit. That's just how genealogy and history work. Nobody is to blame for other people's bad choices.
What matters is what YOU do here and now. If you don't agree with racism, you can call bullshit and work against it, so you're not responsible for it. If you do agree with it, and take advantage of it, then you are morally responsible for it in proportion to your contributions and support.
Racism is about behavior, not appearance.
>> Attending confession might be good too. But since salvation is by faith not by works, there's no point doing anything useful. (Only God/Black People can grant absolution, and they do so - or not - for reasons mere sinners shouldn't presume to understand. But nonetheless, we are all privately certain - at risk of the sin of hubris - that we are personally among the Elect.) <<
If you don't understand how it works, you're never going to get anywhere. If you want to understand cosmology, study religion and the world and people. If you want to dismantle racism, you need to learn multicultural skills and work with different people. Heck, multiculturalism and interfaith work improve both your social and spiritual awareness. It's like the blind men and the elephant: if they had put together all the descriptions, they could've assembled a pretty good conceptualization of an elephant.
>> Or perhaps I should say - modern US AWAB leftists. (AWAB being a coinage for "assigned white at birth" ;-)) <<
*LAUGH* That is so awesome! I've found another way to describe my identity. So far, the best was something a black friend said in college: "Yeah, you can pass for white -- until you open your mouth." I really do look it, but I don't sound it. The other bits are hidden unless you know exactly what to look for, like the fact that white girl hair does not break "unbreakable" hair things and throw the pieces contemptuously across the room. I just don't feel compelled to agree with genocidal maniacs just because the meat I'm currently wearing bears a superficial resemblance to the meat they wear or wore.
I've no idea what racism means to non-white people, or those not over-influenced by US categories. It actually doesn't matter; I'm never mistaken for non-white, so I'm permanently assigned the "white" role in our stupid social drama. (And never mind that, being half Jewish, I'd have been assigned-non-white-at-birth if born when my grandparents were.)
>> I've no idea what racism means to non-white people, <<
Some aspects include ...
* Never knowing when someone will attack you.
* Some people are most aggravated by microaggressions, the endless tiny stream of signals that you aren't good enough or don't belong.
* Others are more upset by rarer but more serious things like fearing for their life at every police interaction, or worrying they'll get deported despite being a citizen.
* Some people thing racism is stupid and exhausting and want nothing to do with any of it.
* People of color raised by white parents are especially screwed because they don't learn the in-race survival skills.
Fortunately, some people of color talk a lot about how racism affects them and what changes they want. So if you can find those references, it creates a more complete picture. I've looked at Native American, African-American, and Hispanic branches primarily -- and they all have very different concerns.
>> or those not over-influenced by US categories. <<
Other places can have very different categories. I read one fascinating piece about a Brazilian family who had members of different skin tones -- they were all what I'd consider mixed-race people -- who were surprised and unsettled when they moved to America and were suddenly considered different races and treated differently as a result.
One white person from South Africa referred to himself as white African-American, which is an accurate description. I don't know why people freak the fuck out over that. He's white; he's from Africa. If he just said African-American then people would think he was black.
Australia has a different issue. For some reason, Aboriginal skin tone washes out in just 2-3 generations. One such descendant described himself as "a blackfella in a whitefella's body." I've encountered examples of racial dysphoria before, but that was among the most dramatic. He really looked white -- until you looked at the nose and the hair texture, then you could see the Aboriginal aspects. So that must have been really frustrating for him.
Now, there are concrete biological markers that cluster in certain areas. But they're obscure things like ear wax texture and tooth funneling, along with a few evolutionary ones like how one African gene protects against malaria with a single copy but causes sickle-cell anemia with a double copy. Skin tone, hair, eyes, etc. don't correlate consistently like people think they do.
Looking at many different conceptualizations of race, ethnicity, and culture reveals that most of them are just things that people made up. That makes it easier to take them with a grain of salt.
>> It actually doesn't matter; I'm never mistaken for non-white, so I'm permanently assigned the "white" role in our stupid social drama. (And never mind that, being half Jewish, I'd have been assigned-non-white-at-birth if born when my grandparents were.) <<
Yeah, that's another thing. The categories have changed over time, a lot. Early on, Irish people were brought over as slaves. Native Americans were enslaved when not simply butchered. Then slavery became identified as a black thing. New Orleans had a three-part caste system with black, creole, and white people; after the Civil War, it collapsed into two and the creoles lost status. If you look at old census records, you can see the racial terms change over time.