don’t think “being upset” should be the bar to determine whether something is racist. I could get upset because someone has decided to put their hair up in a ponytail or something equally silly, this should not give me the right to lock someone up…
I did specify people, not person. I very much doubt there’s going to be several members of the public that would be disturbed by the pony tail scenario.
My point was that the person doing the actions that may be interpreted as racist, aren’t the person who gets to decide if their actions were racist or not. That is up to the group of people interpreting the actions.
Also, I don’t mention prison at all?
So there has to be some kind of intent or even awareness that they might be offending lots of people… an example of this might be wearing coal black face paint with bright red lipstick… otherwise someone who chose the wrong skin tone makeup might have a legal battle on their hands.
You don’t have to have awareness or intent to participate in racism. I don’t know why you are interpreting this as if it was a legal issue rather than pertaining to human decency?
If you somehow “accidentally” wore enough makeup to look like you were casted in a minstrel show, I’m sure someone would question your actions. If you somehow actually had no idea about the racism implicit in your actions…once informed, any decent person would change their behavior.
I think you are giving a bit too much benefit of doubt to this idea that it’s easy to accidentally get mistaken for a racist.
I have similar concerns about “cultural appropriation” as well. Besides, if you’re making an honest effort to integrate into that community or accept that community… should you be punished for it?
There’s a difference between integrating with a community and claiming that you are a different ethnicity. I don’t think that has much to do with cultural appropriation.
The reason I mention prison, is because when someone is convicted of racism, that’s generally what happens. Depending on your country blackface can land you in prison.
I think that’s quite pedantic, there are very few countries where racism alone will land you in legal troubles, let alone in jail.
Even if we examine the countries where it is punishable by prison time, I doubt the citizens of those countries would “accidentally” dress in black face, and I doubt you could provide me with one incident of someone ending up in jail for “accidental” racism.
Legal issues are Human Decency issues boiled down.
Unquestionably untrue. Legality has no historic basis in morality or ethics, it’s simply a means to control/organize social hierarchy.
I think you do have to have intent or some awareness to be racist. Whether you recognize that as racism or not is a different matter.
Your argument is semantic in nature. What’s the difference between being a racist and participating in racism? If you are against desegregation because it would negatively your property value, are you a racist? Well what would you typically call someone who is vehemently opposing desegregation?
Is it human decency to want to emulate what you like? I think it is. So I don’t mind people wanting to change the color of their skin if that’s what they want to do.
Because culture and ethnicity is not just about the color of your skin, It’s a shared history of lived experiences. Even if you could genetically change the melanin content of your skin, you did not grow up being treated as a Black American, you did not experience the same institutional systemic racism as the minority group you are aping.
as much as I don’t mind them wanting to change their gender, if that’s what suits them, great.
Again, this is falsely conflating gender identity with ethnic identity. Women of different cultures have vastly different shared experiences than women of the same culture.
Since race is 100% a social construct much more so than Gender (the difference between the genes are stupidly small).
While race is a human construct, so is law, economics, and government. The implementation of these social constructs creates very real shared experiences that bond a community together in a unique way.
The ethnicity argument is largely one about cultural appropriation: You can’t have my skin color because you weren’t born with it, you’re actually another color, you don’t know what it means to be my skin color.
More like, you aren’t a part of my culture because my culture is in large part a result of systemic abuse over the color of my skin, and you have never shared that experience.
(Just replace skin color with gender).
Again, gender is not a culture, it’s part of of every culture.
You enjoy R&B, love black hair styles, love black skin tones, maybe you believe in your heart you were always black, go right ahead have at. I’m not going to judge you.
I think defining a culture down to pigmentation while ignoring the hundreds of years of systemic abuse is quite upsetting to most minority groups. It really sounds like youre supplementing your idea of your own ethnic identity onto others. Ethnicity tends to be less important to those whom are a part of the ruling ethnic majority, because you haven’t experienced what it’s like to be a minority. You don’t understand what it’s like when your ethnicity is how you are judged.
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I did specify people, not person. I very much doubt there’s going to be several members of the public that would be disturbed by the pony tail scenario.
My point was that the person doing the actions that may be interpreted as racist, aren’t the person who gets to decide if their actions were racist or not. That is up to the group of people interpreting the actions.
Also, I don’t mention prison at all?
You don’t have to have awareness or intent to participate in racism. I don’t know why you are interpreting this as if it was a legal issue rather than pertaining to human decency?
If you somehow “accidentally” wore enough makeup to look like you were casted in a minstrel show, I’m sure someone would question your actions. If you somehow actually had no idea about the racism implicit in your actions…once informed, any decent person would change their behavior.
I think you are giving a bit too much benefit of doubt to this idea that it’s easy to accidentally get mistaken for a racist.
There’s a difference between integrating with a community and claiming that you are a different ethnicity. I don’t think that has much to do with cultural appropriation.
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I think that’s quite pedantic, there are very few countries where racism alone will land you in legal troubles, let alone in jail.
Even if we examine the countries where it is punishable by prison time, I doubt the citizens of those countries would “accidentally” dress in black face, and I doubt you could provide me with one incident of someone ending up in jail for “accidental” racism.
Unquestionably untrue. Legality has no historic basis in morality or ethics, it’s simply a means to control/organize social hierarchy.
Your argument is semantic in nature. What’s the difference between being a racist and participating in racism? If you are against desegregation because it would negatively your property value, are you a racist? Well what would you typically call someone who is vehemently opposing desegregation?
Because culture and ethnicity is not just about the color of your skin, It’s a shared history of lived experiences. Even if you could genetically change the melanin content of your skin, you did not grow up being treated as a Black American, you did not experience the same institutional systemic racism as the minority group you are aping.
Again, this is falsely conflating gender identity with ethnic identity. Women of different cultures have vastly different shared experiences than women of the same culture.
While race is a human construct, so is law, economics, and government. The implementation of these social constructs creates very real shared experiences that bond a community together in a unique way.
More like, you aren’t a part of my culture because my culture is in large part a result of systemic abuse over the color of my skin, and you have never shared that experience.
Again, gender is not a culture, it’s part of of every culture.
I think defining a culture down to pigmentation while ignoring the hundreds of years of systemic abuse is quite upsetting to most minority groups. It really sounds like youre supplementing your idea of your own ethnic identity onto others. Ethnicity tends to be less important to those whom are a part of the ruling ethnic majority, because you haven’t experienced what it’s like to be a minority. You don’t understand what it’s like when your ethnicity is how you are judged.