"Whitesplaining"

[Shiranu]

http://everydayfeminism.com/2016/02/how-people-whitesplain-racism/

I would quote from it, but ever since the last update I now have to manually go in and erase  or from every other line, if not two or three times within each sentence, which makes it the biggest pain in the ass. The short of it...


1. Addresses being "emotional" about issues affecting minority groups.
2. Addresses this way over used line of, "Not ALL white people!" or "Not ALL men!".
3. Addresses, "But I'M not racist!" or the thought that pointing out a problem in a community means that entire community is therefor guilty.
4. Addresses why it might feel like it's somehow racist against you because being uncomfortable sucks but being uncomfortable or doing something racist does not mean you are being called racist.
5. Addresses "All Lives Matter" and "BLM hates white people!".



Edit: Shit, didn't even quote and still had to deal with it. This is how it looked when I posted...

I would quote [/size]from it, but ever since the last update I now have to manually go in and erase  or [/font]from every other line, if not two or three times within each sentence, which makes it the biggest pain in the ass. The short of it...1. Addresses being "emotional" about issues af[/font]fecting minority groups.2. Addresses this way over used line of, "Not ALL white people!" or "Not ALL men!".[/font]3. Addresses, "But I'M not racist!" or the thought that pointing out a problem in a community means that entire community is therefor guilty.[/font]4. Addresses why it might feel like it's somehow racist against you because being uncom[/font]fortable sucks but being uncomfortable or doing something racist does not mean you are being called racist.5. Addresses "All Lives Matter" and "BLM hates white people!".[/font]

[Cavebear]

http://everydayfeminism.com/2016/02/how-people-whitesplain-racism/

I would quote from it, but ever since the last update I now have to manually go in and erase  or from every other line, if not two or three times within each sentence, which makes it the biggest pain in the ass. The short of it...


1. Addresses being "emotional" about issues affecting minority groups.
2. Addresses this way over used line of, "Not ALL white people!" or "Not ALL men!".
3. Addresses, "But I'M not racist!" or the thought that pointing out a problem in a community means that entire community is therefor guilty.
4. Addresses why it might feel like it's somehow racist against you because being uncomfortable sucks but being uncomfortable or doing something racist does not mean you are being called racist.
5. Addresses "All Lives Matter" and "BLM hates white people!".



Edit: Shit, didn't even quote and still had to deal with it. This is how it looked when I posted...

Well, not all "white men" think that way. ;)

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Hey! Some of my best friends are white.

[Duncle]

Lots of people on the Left are worried about the Trump presidency right now. I'm worried about it too, but theres something else that worries me a lot more: the emergence of White identity politics as a substantial political force in the US.

One of the few things that Hilary got right during the campaign was her 'basket of deplorables' comment. Roughly speaking, half of Trump's supporters- the half who turned up to his rallies and got him the nomination- are/were unpleasant bigots. Those unpleasant bigots are now well and truly out of the proverbial woodwork, increasingly organized, and increasingly aware of their own power. If Trump disappoints them, they'll turn to people with stronger ideological committments. At which point things start getting very dangerous.

If you wanted to design a recruiting tool for the White Identity bigots, then the article linked above would be it.

[Cavebear]

Lots of people on the Left are worried about the Trump presidency right now. I'm worried about it too, but theres something else that worries me a lot more: the emergence of White identity politics as a substantial political force in the US.

One of the few things that Hilary got right during the campaign was her 'basket of deplorables' comment. Roughly speaking, half of Trump's supporters- the half who turned up to his rallies and got him the nomination- are/were unpleasant bigots. Those unpleasant bigots are now well and truly out of the proverbial woodwork, increasingly organized, and increasingly aware of their own power. If Trump disappoints them, they'll turn to people with stronger ideological committments. At which point things start getting very dangerous.

If you wanted to design a recruiting tool for the White Identity bigots, then the article linked above would be it.

The "deplorables" comment was, of course, completely accurate and completely twisted. Clinton said that "some" of Trumps supporters were deplorable and that was accurate.   KKK, and Alt-right types...

[Duncle]

The "deplorables" comment was, of course, completely accurate and completely twisted. Clinton said that "some" of Trumps supporters were deplorable and that was accurate.   KKK, and Alt-right types...

Yep.

And now the deplorables know that they have numbers, and with the numbers, political power.

The key to stopping bad things from happening seems to me to be this: engaging with the Trump supporters who aren't deplorable. And the way to do that is to stop telling them that they're racists, priveleged etc etc and instead focus on their economic greivances. In my view, the Left took a historic wrong turn when it decided to forget about economic inequality and focus on race and culture-wars issues. Reviving the politics of racial identity was especially ill-advised, and now the consequences of that are unfortunately very apparent.

[Baruch]

Neither the Left nor the Right have ever worked for the common good.  They only work for THEIR good.  Both sides are completely committed to their own self-righteousness and bigotries ... enough to fantasize about killing each other.  The turn to identity politics was deliberate, the rich don't want people thinking about class.

[GSOgymrat]

http://everydayfeminism.com/2016/02/how-people-whitesplain-racism/

I would quote from it, but ever since the last update I now have to manually go in and erase  or from every other line, if not two or three times within each sentence, which makes it the biggest pain in the ass. The short of it...


1. Addresses being "emotional" about issues affecting minority groups.
2. Addresses this way over used line of, "Not ALL white people!" or "Not ALL men!".
3. Addresses, "But I'M not racist!" or the thought that pointing out a problem in a community means that entire community is therefor guilty.
4. Addresses why it might feel like it's somehow racist against you because being uncomfortable sucks but being uncomfortable or doing something racist does not mean you are being called racist.
5. Addresses "All Lives Matter" and "BLM hates white people!".

"All those problems can be solved by black and white people not interacting with one another. Why would I want to be around people where I have to walk on egg shells and worry that I am going to inadvertently say the wrong thing? Black people don't like being stereotyped for the color of their skin and neither do I. How come as a white person I have to listen to blacks but they don't have to listen to me? This whole 'privilege" thing is bullshit; I wasn't born with everything handed to me, I WORKED for it. Also, if I have this amazing privilege as a white person, why exactly would I want to give that up? If I'm going to be called a racist for just EXISTING then I guess I'll just be a racist."

I completely understand what Maisha Z Johnson is saying but what I described above is how many whites are reacting. The Left makes an assumption that people are "well-intentioned" and then complains that even the "well-intentioned" screw it up. This approach can have the unintended consequence of feeding into the Alt-Right. Racism is a huge problem that needs to be addressed but some of these strategies contribute to defensiveness and polarization.

Research says there are ways to reduce racial bias. Calling people racist isn’t one of them.

http://www.vox.com/identities/2016/11/15/13595508/racism-trump-research-study

... Robin DiAngelo, who studies race at Westfield State University, described this phenomenon as “white fragility” in a groundbreaking 2011 paper:

White people in North America live in a social environment that protects and insulates them from race-based stress. This insulated environment of racial protection builds white expectations for racial comfort while at the same time lowering the ability to tolerate racial stress, leading to what I refer to as White Fragility. White Fragility is a state in which even a minimum amount of racial stress becomes intolerable, triggering a range of defensive moves. These moves include the outward display of emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt, and behaviors such as argumentation, silence, and leaving the stress-inducing situation. These behaviors, in turn, function to reinstate white racial equilibrium.

Most Americans, white people included, want to think that they’re not capable of racism â€" particularly after the civil rights movement, overt racism is widely viewed as unacceptable in American society. Yet racism, obviously, still exists. And when some white people are confronted with that reality, whether it’s accusations of racism against them personally or more broadly, they immediately become very defensive â€" even hostile.

“Most of us live in racial segregation,” DiAngelo told me. “Our teachers are white. Our role models are white. Our heroes and heroines are white. That insulation is very rarely challenged.” She added, “So when that reality is questioned, we don’t tend to handle it very well.”

DiAngelo’s paper explained that white Americans have a range of “triggers” that make them defensive about race, from suggestions that a person’s viewpoint is racialized to the rise of people of color into prominent leadership positions. All the triggers that she listed were present in 2016 â€" through President Barack Obama’s elections and Black Lives Matter protests against the dominance of white privilege.

Consider how often throughout the 2016 election people would respond to even the slightest suggestion of racism, whether in media or everyday life, with immediate vitriol, disdain, or dismissal. This, DiAngelo argued, is a defense mechanism to confronting questions about privilege. And it makes it difficult to have a reasonable conversation about race.

DiAngelo offered a telling example, from an anti-racism training session she facilitated:

One of the white participants left the session and went back to her desk, upset at receiving (what appeared to the training team as) sensitive and diplomatic feedback on how some of her statements had impacted several people of color in the room. At break, several other white participants approached us (the trainers) and reported that they had talked to the woman at her desk, and she was very upset that her statements had been challenged. They wanted to alert us to the fact that she literally “might be having a heart-attack.” Upon questioning from us, they clarified that they meant this literally. These co-workers were sincere in their fear that the young woman might actually physically die as a result of the feedback. Of course, when news of the woman’s potentially fatal condition reached the rest of the participant group, all attention was immediately focused back onto her and away from the impact she had had on the people of color.

This illustrates just how defensive people can get in the face of accusations of racism: Not only did the woman who faced the criticisms genuinely feel like she was having a heart attack, but the white people around her believed it was totally possible she was. This is the reality of trying to have a conversation about race in America. ...

[AllPurposeAtheist]

It's almost impossible if not completely impossibble to shame people into changing how they view things at the emotional level. There are certain issues I feel about, not necessarily race, but many other things I can't really specify that just never change regardless of how many times someone else tries to tell me I'm wrong. I might verbally acknowledge them, but somewhere deep in my mind I know that I won't change how i feel. Yes, it's one of my many flaws as a human being, but I'm certainly not alone in how i process information. It's inherent to all of us.
I grew up in a very white part of town where there were very few people of color and it wasn't until the latter part of my teen years that I was even exposed to black culture so there was a fear that wasn't overcome simply because someone sat me down to explain any of it. I had to live it up close and personal. My first real exposure to other cultures was in a job corps center in of all places Derby Montana,  hardly a hotbed of black culture, but it was an isolated place in the mountains where it was pretty much 50/50 white/black with a smattering of Hispanic guys in the mix. The option of only hanging out with just white guys didn't exist. The few openly racist guys there quickly became known and had to drop their views or at least keep them to themselves. There were a few fights here and there, but I found myself fighting more with other white guys than with anyone else.
Anyway, as an adult I didn't have the money nor opportunity to move out to the white suburban areas so I lived in the city where quite often i was in the minority which forced me to have to realize that just being white was not necessarily in my favor nor was it anything to fear. I found out my neighbors had the same fears and goals and we were all in the same predicament, broke and raising families when jobs were in short supply. The fears I once had of black culture slowly vanished, but it was because I had to live with people from many different backgrounds and cultures.
And so here we are with so many people living lives nearly completely isolated from having to have to interact with any other race or point of view. Now people can watch only the news and tv shows that confirm their worse fears, that all black people are to be feared and every Muslim is out to get them.. It's as if there is the option to have your own personalized reality where your own emotional comfort is far more important than anything that might advance the world into a livable place of peace and harmony.

[Atheon]

The "deplorables" comment was, of course, completely accurate and completely twisted. Clinton said that "some" of Trumps supporters were deplorable and that was accurate.   KKK, and Alt-right types...

She was being charitable when she made that statement.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

I give up on the English language..when just about any issue can be shortened by tacking on 'splain' the language has stopped to be of much use.. Someday soon we'll have one word to splain everything.. gblhgdfbrafe..  gblhgdfbrafe will soon be the last word anyone needs to know..
Wait, make that gblhgdfbrafesplain.

[Shiranu]

I have to admit, I don't particularly get this line of thought...

"Don't talk about an issue, because white people might get offended and not listen."

Since when did that ever matter? Hasn't a very recurring theme here been, "It doesn't matter if you are offended by the truth, the truth has no obligation to not offend?". So why is talking about the truth of racial inequality or that white people (and minorities) exhibit behaviour of unconscious or cultural racism a topic of, "talk about anything offensive but that because it might hurt white people's feelings?".

Racism is not going to disappear by not talking about it, just like we aren't going to fix the economy by pretending it's okay or get socialized medical care by just hoping it will magically come to us one day. It takes work to deal with it, and it takes it being addressed.

Basically anything to do with racial injustice, "white people" (as a group and not so much as individuals) either instantly assume that everyone is racist against them, that it is "too extreme" to have to hear about it or some other reason why it's too inconvenient to hear, so just don't talk about it and everything will be fine. It's easy to say that when you are on the side not having issues... it's telling a starving person to just shut up about being hungry when you hold all the food supply, because it's making you feel bad and that he is being too "radical" by being upset.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

Well I for one am not looking forward to the genocide of the white race..hasn't anyone noticed the roving gangs of white people killers out every day to murder us all off? Just go to any grocery store and you'll find white meat for sale.. They kill white chickens by the billions!   

[Draconic Aiur]

I have to admit, I don't particularly get this line of thought...

"Don't talk about an issue, because white people might get offended and not listen."

Since when did that ever matter? Hasn't a very recurring theme here been, "It doesn't matter if you are offended by the truth, the truth has no obligation to not offend?". So why is talking about the truth of racial inequality or that white people (and minorities) exhibit behaviour of unconscious or cultural racism a topic of, "talk about anything offensive but that because it might hurt white people's feelings?".

Racism is not going to disappear by not talking about it, just like we aren't going to fix the economy by pretending it's okay or get socialized medical care by just hoping it will magically come to us one day. It takes work to deal with it, and it takes it being addressed.

Basically anything to do with racial injustice, "white people" (as a group and not so much as individuals) either instantly assume that everyone is racist against them, that it is "too extreme" to have to hear about it or some other reason why it's too inconvenient to hear, so just don't talk about it and everything will be fine. It's easy to say that when you are on the side not having issues... it's telling a starving person to just shut up about being hungry when you hold all the food supply, because it's making you feel bad and that he is being too "radical" by being upset.

As a white man to another white man I say STFU

[Shiranu]

Just going to ignore the blatant racism there and say sorry cupcake, that isn't how it works. #Triggered