Let’s discuss the stupidity of “How can they be a racist if…” or “I’m not a racist because I…”

[Enzom21]

I see some variation of this idiocy pop up from time to time so let's discuss it.

We'll start with being in a relationship/friendship with someone of another race.

Michele Rodriguez and her stupidity:

"It's all fuckin' bullshit. Liam Neeson is not a racist," said Rodriguez at the amfAR Gala New York on Wednesday night. "Dude, have you watched Widows? His tongue was so far down Viola Davis's throat. You can't call him a racist ever. Racists don't make out with the race that they hate, especially in the way he does with his tongue—so deep down her throat. I don't care how good of an actor you are. It's all bullshit. Ignore it. He's not a racist. He's a loving man. It's all lies."

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The response to someone calling Glenn Greenwald a racist:

He's just another racist attention whore.

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Glenn Greenwald + Family

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John Wayne:

Before also most jump the gun here John Wanye was not all that Racist. He was married 3 times and all his wives were Hispanic. what does that tell about him ?

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Having sex, being in a relationship or being friends with someone outside of your race isn't some inoculation against racism.
Let's examine some examples:

Milo yiannopoulos is married to a black man but we all know his history and beliefs.

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Donald Trump dated Kara Young:

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This shitbird proudboy is married to a black woman and has black children:

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Let's not forget Dylann Roof and his black friend:

Being a "Liberal" or voting for a Democrat:

No, I'm just not stupid enough to believe that a county full of people woke up one day and said, "Hey lets be racist starting today despite our long history of supporting liberal candidates". Maybe, just maybe, there's another reason they voted the way they did. And maybe it's the actual reason they're telling you when you ask. But sure, let's just write them all off as a bunch of racists and Nazis. Hopefully the people running the DNC aren't that naive (spoiler, they're not).

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That's because you assume I'm a racist. I'm a liberal who votes Democrat in all election

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Being a liberal, voting for Obama or voting for someone outside of your race doesn't mean you're not a racist.

These people are absolutely racists:


So is this democrat:
https://www.resetera.com/threads/oh...-majority-black-county-a-n-r-district.102129/

Just for the hell of it, people defending the piece of shit Pewdiepie:

what sort of racist makes a charity for Indian children, that collects 250k in one day?

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Lol some of you act all so so righteous. I'm not backing up Pewd for what he did in the past but he acknowledged his massive fk up and has moved on from it. His charity works are amazing and his most recent one shows that he actually cares and maybe, just maybe hes not an actual racist despite the idiotic comments of some people from his community about Indians?

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Donating to a charity for Indian children somehow means he isn't a racist after he screamed "fucking niggers..." okay.

Are these people just being purposely obtuse or are they really this stupid?

 

[Alwayscrazybacon]

Becuse those minorities they are connected to are "one of the good ones".

 

[jph139]

Most white people understand racism to be active, intentional, and malicious. Anything not in that box is not racism.

It's not a conversation that will ever get anywhere because changing that definition is an uphill battle.

 

[sgtnosboss]

absolutely drives me mad OP. My wife's father is a racist crap hole who's been married to someone of a different race, but that doesn't change how much hate speech he spews out on the daily.

 

[Lundren]

I also want to add that doing or saying something racist doesn't automatically make you a racist if done out of ignorance.

The problem is when you are told by a minority that what you did or said is racist and you throw a fit and double down. Making up excuses to continue doing or saying racist things is not what people who aren't racist do.

 

[DigitalOp]

This is a great thread Enzom21

Lots of receipts

I think the worst congnative dissonance is when a racist is married to a minority. It makes me shudder to think someone could hold such terrible views yet be raising a young child of color in their household. I don't even know how the spouse could settle for someone so toxic.

 

[Deleted member 2254]

Yeah, the "I can't be a racist/homophobe because I have a black/gay friend/colleague/barber/etc." is ridiculously overused around here. It becomes worse when they try to rationalize it with shit like "well you're black but not really like the other blacks". Ugh.

 

[faceless]

Shout out to all of the self hating racists that hate their own subculture and people

Especially minority bad apples with badges

 

[Daniel Westlake]

That's what's so hard to get people to understand unless they're a f****** survivalist type deep in the Appalachians, racists have to do what everybody else does and compartmentalize to operate in some way, shape, or form in day-to-day society.
KKK members still watch football and basketball, my pops used to use some property that owed by a Klansman for running practice with no issues.

Racism doesn't have to make one to one, A to B, logical sense that's not how humans work.
Most white people don't want to accept that because then it opens up the possibility that it's not some distant unknowable thing, and that *gasp* maybe they could be racist too.

 

[Deleted member 6582]

Most white people understand racism to be active, intentional, and malicious. Anything not in that box is not racism.

It's not a conversation that will ever get anywhere because changing that definition is an uphill battle.

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This right here. But it's no so much changing the definition, it's just a different and parallel definition. In most case the accused want a narrowed definition to reject. It's a clarity of language problem partly brought on by the word being so loaded. Of course accusers do this too. You can substitute the word for a descriptive phrase that captures it "you support systems of black oppression." People don't say this because they also want that extra malicious sounding kick to it but they naturally want a broader definition so as to make it hard to reject. I wonder if it would be helpful to just explain it a different way (if indeed anyone is really trying to be helpful in these situations).

 

[StrangeRoboMemory]

OP should include that outrageous moment in the Michael Cohen testimony where a single black woman was brought out to prove that Trump can't be racist.

 

[Vic Damone Jr.]

OP is spot on but you gonna have yourself an empty thread buddy.

Shit is maddening how much white people try to downplay and ignore racism. It's why we'll never get anywhere as a species. Just call racists out, hold them accountable for their actions, remove them from positions of power and do right by other people, it ain't hard. But always with the fragility and as a result no progress is made.

 

[Mulciber]

I know we've talked about this before in other threads, but far too many people think racism is some kind of active hate. If someone isn't going out of their way to act hateful toward another race, then obviously they aren't racists. This, of course, couldn't be further from the truth.

Having grown up in small, conservative, and quite racist community, I've seen this too many times to count. Especially when I was in high school. I knew guys who were as nice as they could be to the black kids at my school in person, and behind closed doors, they spouted the same racist bullshit their parents had taught them.

I think some of it has to do with looking at individuals vs groups. The guy who sits next to you in chemistry, or is your work buddy, or goes to the same social events you do, or whatever, is just your buddy Darren. But the race as a group is "them." And "they" are not "us." As I've said before, them vs us mentality is perhaps the most poisonous, basic human thought process. And as far as we can tell, historically, it goes back to the dawn of civilization. You have to actively fight against it.

 

[Slayven]

usually when you are in a position to ahve to say shit like that, who you are is already beyond evident

 

[Crossing Eden]

This is a great thread Enzom21

Lots of receipts

I think the worst congnative dissonance is when a racist is married to a minority. It makes me shudder to think someone could hold such terrible views yet be raising a young child of color in their household. I don't even know how the spouse could settle for someone so toxic.

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Being told that "they're one of the good ones" goes a long way for some people.

 

[RDreamer]

Are these people just being purposely obtuse or are they really this stupid?

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A little from column A, a lot from column B.

People want to be obtuse because it wins arguments.

People are really fucking stupid about racism though. Like really stupid. Because they don't want to face the fact that they probably are a bit racist. They think racism is the KKK. They think it's your everything. Like you eat sleep and breath hatred for another race. In reality it's omnipresent. You can't fully escape it when you're a white person born into a racist society and raised by racist infrastructure. You can do your best to fight and help and go against those things but I truly don't think you can just escape that. You're not a perfect being. Yes this includes me, too. I'm a white man and I'd be one egotistical motherfucker to believe I have some racial biases and latent sexism. If someone points out something I did or said was racist though the thing to do is acknowledge their perspective, learn, and try to correct.

 

[Nishastra]

Most white people understand racism to be active, intentional, and malicious. Anything not in that box is not racism.

It's not a conversation that will ever get anywhere because changing that definition is an uphill battle.

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Yeah, getting people to understand that we all have internalized racism in us thanks to growing up in a world of normalized stereotypes and racist systems is beyond difficult.

Instead, they will declare themselves "not racist" and refuse to question their own preconceptions at all. Honestly, in our society it's kind of like declaring yourself humble. It's a thing that cannot be true. Not being racist is an action rather than a state of being, and thinking yourself beyond reproach means you're also not fit to judge yourself.

 

[Driggonny]

It's really not up to me if I'm being racist, so preempting a discussion by claiming I'm not racist is stupid.

People like to criticize others for not having nuance with regards to someone's racism, but then turn around and claim someone can't be racist because of one or two things with no irony.

 

[Rivenblade]

"Well, he's/she's one of the good ones" is what it boils down to, whether it's conscious or unconscious bias.

We could all use a little more self reflection and self awareness when it comes to this. Even people who don't think they're racist can have racist biases, conscious or unconscious. There has been a mountain of research on this topic. It sucks to realize that you yourself possess these biases even when you don't think you do.

 

[TerminusFox]

Also not a lot of white also don't want to use this definition because then they'd have to deal with the fact that their family and friends are low key racist too

 

[Omegasquash]

Yeah, getting people to understand that we all have internalized racism in us thanks to growing up in a world of normalized stereotypes and racist systems is beyond difficult.

Instead, they will declare themselves "not racist" and refuse to question their own preconceptions at all. Honestly, in our society it's kind of like declaring yourself humble. It's a thing that cannot be true. Not being racist is an action rather than a state of being, and thinking yourself beyond reproach means you're also not fit to judge yourself.

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I think this is better worded than I could ever put it. Thank you.

 

[shamanick]

what did Greenwald say that was racist?

 

[Enzom21]

I also want to add that doing or saying something racist doesn't automatically make you a racist if done out of ignorance.

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Depends on what that thing is. Can you give some examples of what is ignorance and not racism?

what did Greenwald say that was racist?

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That's not the point of that example. Posting a picture of him with his non-white family isn't proof that he isn't a racist. Did you really not understand that?

 

[Mona]

yea its dumb,

misogynists have been marrying women for thousands of years

 

[shamanick]

Depends on what that thing is. Can you give some examples of what is ignorance and not racism?

That's not the point of that example. Posting a picture of him with his non-white family isn't proof that he isn't a racist. Did you really not understand that?

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Easy, buddy. I was asking what the situation was. If my question was outside the scope of this thread, my sincerest apologies.

 

[Enzom21]

Easy, buddy. I was asking what the situation was. If my question was outside the scope of this thread, my sincerest apologies.

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"Easy, buddy"? Was there any unease in my response? I was simply explaining that it is irrelevant if he something racist or not when it comes to that example.
As far as him being a racist. All of the quotes are from posters on this board so you can search them and ask the poster why they called Greenwald a racist.

 

[Lundren]

Depends on what that thing is. Can you give some examples of what is ignorance and not racism?

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There are certain phrases or terms with unfortunate history that if you are exposed to at a young age you may miss how they are racist. A couple of recent examples have been the ricer thread and the cotton picking thread.

I can believe someone who says that they never realized how those things come from racial backgrounds. The people in those threads who doubled down and kept insisting that nobody should be hurt by those things are clearly racist.

Note that I am not saying that claiming ignorance should give people the benefit of the doubt, just trying to get across to people that making a mistake with a phrase or misspeaking can be rectified by admitting that you didn't realize how you sounded, apologizing, and dropping it from your vocabulary.

 

[Enzom21]

There are certain phrases or terms with unfortunate history that if you are exposed to at a young age you may miss how they are racist. A couple of recent examples have been the ricer thread and the cotton picking thread.

I can believe someone who says that they never realized how those things come from racial backgrounds. The people in those threads who doubled down and kept insisting that nobody should be hurt by those things are clearly racist.

Note that I am not saying that claiming ignorance should give people the benefit of the doubt, just trying to get across to people that making a mistake with a phrase or misspeaking can be rectified by admitting that you didn't realize how you sounded, apologizing, and dropping it from your vocabulary.

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Is ricer a good example though? Anyone claiming ignorance about that is either being dishonest or lacks critical thinking.
Rice has nothing to do with a car and it is only used when referring to Asian cars or people who drive Asian cars. How can anyone see it as anything other than racist.

 

[andymoogle]

Saying that you can't be racist because you have a SO who isn't white, is the same thing as saying that you can't be a misogynist because you are married to a woman.

EDIT: I see that it was already brought up.

 

[Deleted member 9135]

Great thread and posts. Thanks for the discussion.

 

[Spinluck]

People just don't want to do the work mentally speaking when it comes to understanding the depths of racism.

 

[CesareNorrez]

The my best friend is [blank] defense is so absurd. Racism isn't about 1 individual it's about a whole group of people. And saying that your 1 friend represents millions of other people is so fucked up. Like think for one second about how that defense sounds. It only works on other racists that don't think of themselves as racist.