There is no such thing as reverse racism!

The BBQ Pit
1

Racism is racism!

racism: The notion that one’s own ethnic stock is superior. Discrimination or prejudice based on racism. (Paraphrase, The American Heritage Dictionary)

I know I’m being picky but there are a lot of race threads around the board lately and this particular term keeps popping up and it’s driving me mad! If you really want to get technical “reverse racism” would be the belief that one’s own ethnic stock was inferior!

Okay, I’m gonna take a deep breath and go read my mail now. Thanks for reading.

2

hee hee hee. Someone’s getting all hung up on words. s’ok. I tend to do it from time to time myself.

3

What about “mass exodus”–completely redundant. Even some professional writers I know use this one.

It’s already a movement of the masses.

4

Byz, when I saw the title to this thread, my first impression was that someone must have stolen your password.

After reading the thread, however, I am happy to say that I agree with you. Now, this makes you no less anal about words than I am, so please do take that complement the backhanded one it probably wound up being! :wink:

Yer pal,
Satan

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5

My beef with this word: It suggests that there’s something exceptional about a black person being racist. That white on black racism is the standard. But racism isn’t about who’s being oppressed, that’s a class issue. Racism is about arrogance and hate. And you don’t have to be cultured to be arrogant. Just like you don’t have to be black to be oppressed. There’s a little bit of this shit on everybody’s plate, it’s just a matter of who has to eat it.

6

I agree with Byz, racism is racism. It doesn’t matter what the ethnic background is, it is still racism.

7

Perhaps anyone who has used the term “reverse racism” could pop in here and tell everyone just what they meant when they said it. I am sure we could find more appropriate language for them to use and thus avoid Byz going completely mad.

8

For the most part, I’ve only heard it to mean “black on white bigotry”. The people I heard use it said that only people in power can be racist, otherwise it’s ‘reverse discrimination’.

Believe it or not, calling it reverse racism isn’t as bad as it could be. At least it’s admitting it’s racism.

9

Wait, wait wait, are you all implying that black people are racist?! Does that carry over to Hispanic people, or Asian people?! Are you honestly saying that white people aren’t the only people who are racist? What world are you living in?!***

***This of course was sarcastic, for those of who, who are like my dumb sister and can’t hear sarcasm when she reads it.

10

As long as your not one of those out-of-touch freaks who believes racism, by definition, can only be perpetrated by caucasians against people of color, I have no problems with the strive for semantic specificity in the OP.

11

Just to play devil’s advocate here- in some of the contexts in which I have heard the term used it wasn’t referring so much to black bigotry against whites as to white institutions, managers, etc. discrimating against other whites, and in favor of minorities, whether out of political expediency, guilt feelings, beliefs on social justice, or whatever.

Wouldn’t the term be appropriate if restricted to that specific usage?

12

No. Reverse racism is a stupid term that has no valid meaning.
If someone doesn’t get hired because of their race, for any reason, it is racism.
Reverse racism just doesn’t make any sense.

13

Okay, I found an example where “reverse racism” was used and then explained as blacks demonstrating a racist attitude towards whites. That is just racism plain and simple.

Other words that don’t need a reverse gear are discrimination and prejudice.

I get the feeling that when you add reverse to these words it is like saying that it is okay to be a racist or to discriminate or to be prejudiced.

We shouldn’t treat each other this way, ever.

14

Ok, as one of the people who’ve recently used the term (In the "homeless activists=jerks thread) I’ll weigh in.

First of all, Byzantine is basically correct. In a technical sense all racism is just that: racism. To be honest, when I used the term I wasn’t even thinking about it.

However, It provides for clarity when dealing with ambiguous situations. I think when a lot of people see the word “racism,” they automatically think of whites dissing blacks. Using the phrase “reverse racism” may help clarify the situation. For instance, in my posts in the aforementioned thread I said the neighbors reaction to the activists seemed to be motivated by reverse racism. If I had just said “racism” It might have seemed that I was talking about racist attitudes on the part of the activists. The phrase “reverse racism” helped to make clear that I was talking about the attitudes of the neighbors themselves.

Thus while Byz is right that reverse racism is logically unsound, the phrase can make ambiguous situations clear and prevent misunderstanding. What’s wrong with that?

Also FreakFreely, oppression is not just a class issue. In the south in the '50’s If you were a black Doctor or proffessor making a good salary, you still couldn’t play at the local golf course, send your kids to good schools, drink out of certain water fountains, eat at certain lunch counters, and you still had to sit at the back of the Bus.

15

That’s not oppression, that’s segregation. And while segregation often becomes oppression, it doesn’t stand alone as oppression.

16

The term you may be grasping for is reverse discrimination, ie hiring a ‘minority’ for the purpose of filling a quota, even if a more qualified ‘majority?’ exists.

17

I disagree Larry.

While it may be true that many people think “white on color” when they hear/read the word racism, it certainly doesn’t help matters any to propagate the situation by using an assinine term.
Reverse racism seems to imply that whites are immune to regular ol’ racism, and that they need their own special brand name of racism, called Reverse Racism.

I don’t know how to put it any more plainly. If someone is discriminated against on the basis of their race, then that is racism.

18

And Satan lobs a left-handed complement that smacks Byz in the face so hard she falls to the floor! Thanks, bud. I’m glad you read before you jumped my butt!

FreakFreely – about racism being “shit on everybody’s plate, it’s just a matter of who has to eat it.” is true enough. It’s a very open club and I think, at one time or another, all of us have participated in it or been the recipient of it.

Archer – thank you. That is my point. It doesn’t matter WHAT color you are if you hate someone else for their color, you are practicing racism.

Feynn – I’d love them to do so! I’d like to read some explanations for this particular phrase. And yes, you should try to save me from going mad; I’m a massive bitch when I’m in “going mad” mode and NO ONE wants to see that!

Surgoshan – well, okay, admitting you have a problem is the first step but racism isn’t a “white only” club. That’s a side line to my bitch. And by calling a situation of another race against a white as “reverse racism” is actually defeating the purpose.

pepperlandgirl – AH! We meet again in my thread! YOU, the woman I’ve been simulposting with in another thread! So… I see you are basically a Nazi twit and you hate your own sex! Well, we will have much to discuss at the next “I’m an opinionated bitch” meeting! :wink:

Milossarian – you are so formal I feel I must return in kind. (Your in this case should have been you’re) but anyway… “strive for semantic specificity in the OP” is just a wonderful phrase. Really. But racism isn’t specifically semantic, that’s the issue. Anyone of any race, color or creed can be racist.

nebuli –Hmmm. Interesting idea as that would truly be the reverse of racism. But I think you are getting very close to the idea of affirmative action and I don’t think we should debate that issue here. Start another thread on that issue.

Lexicon – oh, now wait a minute! You sandwich this “If someone doesn’t get hired because of their race, for any reason, it is racism.” between two other valid points. What do you mean by this comment?

Larry Borgia – the problem with that is that I think the opposite. I don’t see black/white/Hispanic when someone uses the very word “racism”. What I see is someone thinking that they are superior because of their race identity. If you see “white” against all comers than that is you. It isn’t me. I look white but I’m not. And I guess, for the most part, I resent how “racism” has come to mean “white looking people” against “anyone not white looking”. It just chaffs my ass.

Sneevil – let me make this very clear you galoot (please, go look this up!) I’m not “grasping” for anything. Reverse discrimination has the exact same problem. But hey, why don’t you go talk to God and let us know what He thinks? And FWIW, I would suggest you stay away from me, in this and other threads, because I’ll be frank: I don’t like you. You are an ass who thinks you can just run in with your God stuff nine times out of ten. Just stay the hell away from me and I won’t crucify you. JFYI.

19

I may not go to the next meeting, you never, EVER have decent food there. I’m not asking for a steak, or lobster, but come one…what was that vegetable platter shit you tried to feed us last time? :wink:

20

Byz, to Sneevil’s credit, he doesn’t just get his political opinions from God, he also gets them from Rush Limbaugh. Otherwise known by people like him as “God 2”.

No wait, why is that to his credit? Lemme try that again…

Byz, another reason to hate Sneevil is, he doesn’t just get his political opinions from God, he also gets them from Rush Limbaugh. Otherwise known by people like him as “God 2”.