Not at all. I’ll grant you that I could’ve worded it differently (like “you’re claiming people of color are treated differently when they say racist things and objecting to that treatment”), but either way, it’s a daft way of reading what I wrote.
Perhaps you could have figured out if your claims was true before posting it. Good luck finding a cite for it.
To begin with, there’s the matter of priorities. And perhaps more importantly, this is a theme that recurs in discussions of racism: the idea that we must never offend anyone who is not being as hateful as humanly possible. Why is that so important?
We’re not talking about what people have inside their heads. We’re discussing what they say and do.
And in your opinion, that kind of judgment and fear shouldn’t be called racist? Think about the consequences that kind of fear has: it sure explains a lot about the state of our legal system and Stand Your Ground shootings, for instance.
There can be differences in behavior and there could be different motivations. But they’re both racist. You can’t tell me that someone who is irrationally fearful of people of another race just because they’re another race isn’t a racist.
Again: I am still not talking about pushing anyone anywhere.
“Racist” isn’t an insult. Sometimes it’s an entirely appropriate description of a person or their behavior or a system.* Again, this is what you get when people insist we have to make nice with bigots (the feelings of the people they’re hurting be damned).
… wait, I thought you were saying we have to be nice to these people so we don’t alienate them and have a chance at changing their minds. This is closer to what I was saying a few posts ago: these people usually won’t change their minds anyway, so why do we have to coddle them? Now you’re saying they’re probably going to stick to their prejudices, but we still need to be nicey-nice because their children and grandchildren might be offended? The goal here is becoming more and more elusive.
Given the choice, I would really rather stick up for someone who is being stereotyped or discriminated against than spare the feelings of a bigot. Part of my objection here is that you’re treating the bigot’s feelings as if they are more important. People who think in stereotypes and lack the curiosity to try to see past them do not deserve to be spared offense.
Pretty sure I didn’t say “fuck Granny.” We’re all products of our time, and there’s nothing wrong with pointing out that we all reflect the prejudices of the times and places we come from. If you meet someone who sticks to a prejudice because that’s what their parents or grandparents believe, they’re extremely closed-minded. And if they refuse to be tolerant because they think that criticizing an outdated point of view is an insult to an elderly relative, that person is an oversensitive twit. My grandparents were good people but they did sometimes say things that were a little racist. I had no problem calling them on it, and I think that’s the right thing to do.
*I want to emphasize that I’m speaking as a poster and not a mod here; my reasons for sometimes modding the word “racist” as applied to a poster are separate.
