Trying to discuss race with white people is like talking to a brick wall. I just tried to talk about racism and got fucking ganged up on by white people swearing that you can only be racist if you intend to be so they aren’t racist as long as they mean well. It’s so fucking entitled when white people start lecturing poc about what’s really racist. God.
accepting the social institution of race is what makes one racist. we live in a racist society. our grandchildren will look back on us in shame for stubbornly clinging to our chains
The guy that called me a slur exploding outwards into little bits as soon as I tell him I don’t “accept the social institution of race”
obviously it would be goofy at best to point out the way race is a social construct in the face of a bigot hurling slurs. that’s clearly not the point being made here? don’t be intentionally obtuse.
race isn’t real the same way gender isn’t real. these things, despite their unreality, have massive confluence on the lives of people across the world.
it is our belief in these things that power them, like false gods. it isn’t some “gotcha” moment to point out the thing i’ve literally already clarified. like, yes? believing in race makes you a racist. no, it isn’t some magical cant that will make the bad men go away.
doesn’t mean it isn’t important to recognize.
this isn’t some enlightened centrist shit. recognizing the true nature of these social constructs is the basis of affectual change in society.
starting anywhere else is arrogant and folly
No it doesn’t, not at all. Racism is built into the very foundations of society, it’s not an individual problem, it’s a societal one often intentionally ignored by individuals for whom it benefits.
in what way are your further points contrary to what i have said?
racism certainly can be an individual problem. the OP is literally an example of racism manifesting as an individual problem.
it is also a societal problem at the same time.
we call such problems systemic.
why is racism a systemic problem? because it is a social construct. it does not exist in reality, it exists in the collective consciousness of society.
obviously it isn’t feasible to just cast a spell and make the social construct of race go away in an instant.
but it is a pertinent fact that without the belief in race itself, one would be incapable of racism. note, not incapable of bigotry, just incapable of being racist.
arguing anything otherwise is going to quickly become self-contradictory.
racism is not built into the foundations of society, it is race as a social construct that is, and then further inherently lends itself to racism, both individually and societally.
it is an important distinction.
we mustn’t need to divide ourselves unless we choose to do so. i’ll take the L on having strewn myself off topic compared to the OP, however. this definitely is unfounded under a post just looking to vent.
i just get upset seeing how ingrained social constructs are for people. nothing has to be this way. it isn’t a solution, it’s a hope for a better tomorrow. the way people are so hot to ridicule is shameful