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White People and the "Diversity Olympics"

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Talby Since: Jun, 2009
#51: Feb 25th 2011 at 10:05:12 PM

Never did get that "white guilt" thing, either. Expecting people to take responsibility for what other people did because they're of the same race is a kind of racism itself.

SpainSun Laugh it off, everybody from Somewhere Beyond Here Since: Jan, 2010
Laugh it off, everybody
#52: Feb 25th 2011 at 10:05:48 PM

Don't be stubborn and refuse to understand that minorities typically see the world in a different way from the majority; try to be understanding and see things from their perspective.

I see.

I do wonder how to deal with some stuff though. What about people (and they do exist, but I've fortunately never met one in person) who think all white people are essentially Nazis? That doesn't strike me as excusable.

I spread my wings and I learn how to fly....
zoulza WHARRGARBL Since: Dec, 2010
WHARRGARBL
#53: Feb 25th 2011 at 10:06:14 PM

KCK, sorry if I misunderstood, it just sounded an awful lot like you were saying "no white person has ever faced discrimination, so they have no idea what it's like!"

LoniJay from Australia Since: Dec, 2009 Relationship Status: Pining for the fjords
#54: Feb 25th 2011 at 10:07:52 PM

Out of curiosity, are there any other Aussies hanging around the thread?

If I feel guilty about anything to do with 'being white', it's not so much because of what my ancestors did (because everybody's ancestors were pretty unpleasant, really) it's more the way things still are and the way we ought to be better by now.

Be not afraid...
Barkey Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
#55: Feb 25th 2011 at 10:10:13 PM

@Barkey Again, you're special and every other white person does not share your experience.

No, I'm not "special". I don't think it should matter at all. Someone shouldn't be required to be in the sort of lineage and situation that I'm in to be proud of being white, I can't control that my family are newcomers, just like someone can't control that their family owned slaves.

Thus it is no goddamn different, and nobody should be compelled to feel guilty. Spain has the right to feel guilty if he wants to over things his ancestors did, but nobody, including other white people, should compel him or others to feel guilty or privileged. People are just people, and behaving any differently towards white people is a racism all its own, just like you shouldn't treat blacks, hispanics, asians, pacific islanders, native americans, indians, or anybody else differently.

I think that just gets in the way of everyone being equal and racism being thrown out the window for being the silly thing it is. Ideas like white guilt and white privilege are essentially part of what creates psychotic radicalist white supremacists, they feel under attack and threatened, and perhaps a little threatened. Doesn't mean what they do is ok, they are still crazed jerkoffs, but I can sort of see where they come from in motivation.

edited 25th Feb '11 10:11:46 PM by Barkey

KCK Can I KCK it? from In your closet Since: Jul, 2010
Can I KCK it?
#56: Feb 25th 2011 at 10:12:06 PM

@zoulza Most white people will never know what it's like to be a racial minority and have to deal with all the negativity that's apart of that, whether people want to believe it or not.

@Barkey If you can't see the difference, I can't force you.

@Spain Sun Pay them no mind.

edited 25th Feb '11 10:13:33 PM by KCK

There's no justice in the world and there never was~
SpainSun Laugh it off, everybody from Somewhere Beyond Here Since: Jan, 2010
Laugh it off, everybody
#57: Feb 25th 2011 at 10:13:15 PM

What if they're migrants to some other country?

There's a sizeable (sizeable for it, anyway) white minority in parts of urban Japan.

I spread my wings and I learn how to fly....
Talby Since: Jun, 2009
#58: Feb 25th 2011 at 10:14:25 PM

^^ You sound like you think being discriminated against is some kind of mark of honour. Besides, someone already mentioned that white people DO suffer discrimination for reasons other than their race. Just because it's not racially motivated discrimination doesn't make it any less wrong.

edited 25th Feb '11 10:14:37 PM by Talby

KCK Can I KCK it? from In your closet Since: Jul, 2010
Can I KCK it?
#59: Feb 25th 2011 at 10:14:43 PM

@Spain Sun You know, this sort of racial climate can only exist in countries where whites are the majority, thus whites who are minorities in other countries are exempt.

@Talby Did I say it wasn't wrong? I am saying that they are not comparable.

edited 25th Feb '11 10:15:32 PM by KCK

There's no justice in the world and there never was~
zoulza WHARRGARBL Since: Dec, 2010
WHARRGARBL
#60: Feb 25th 2011 at 10:15:48 PM

KCK, I will agree with you on that, but I disagree that discrimination based on race is somehow fundamentally different from discrimination based on sex, or orientation, or religion, or nationality, or anything else. Sure, most white people will never know what it's like to be discriminated based on their race, but a typical Christian, heterosexual black man will never know what it feels like to be discriminated based on sex or sexual orientation or religion (at least in the US, with its Christian majority). Discrimination is discrimination.

SpainSun Laugh it off, everybody from Somewhere Beyond Here Since: Jan, 2010
Laugh it off, everybody
#61: Feb 25th 2011 at 10:16:48 PM

You know, this sort of racial climate can only exist in countries where whites are the majority, thus whites who are minorities in other countries are exempt.

I'm sorry, but that's absurd, and extremely racist in of itself.

Have you ever been to Japan? I like the place's pop culture, but it has extremely strong Nativist tendencies, and they're not just Nativist, they're radical. Harassment, and even slayings of migrants from the United States, Africa, South America, and Europe are pretty common.

edited 25th Feb '11 10:17:45 PM by SpainSun

I spread my wings and I learn how to fly....
Pykrete NOT THE BEES from Viridian Forest Since: Sep, 2009
NOT THE BEES
#62: Feb 25th 2011 at 10:20:01 PM

I'm not sure how accurate it is to say few white people will ever know what it's like to be in a racial minority. This is probably one of the most whitewashed and homogeneous places you'll ever see, and yet I have family in the Midwest near a heavily Hispanic enclave, my sister teaches in a black neighborhood in Washington, my best friend took a trip to Africa as part of his pre-med studies, most of my congregation went to Mexico on mission, another friend went to Jerusalem, another on his hajj, etc.

edited 25th Feb '11 10:27:01 PM by Pykrete

KCK Can I KCK it? from In your closet Since: Jul, 2010
Can I KCK it?
#63: Feb 25th 2011 at 10:20:46 PM

@zoulza And you just proved my point; such is the power of privilege.

@Spain Sun Perhaps I didn't explain myself properly; whites who are minorities in other countries are exempt from the "white privilege/white guilt" scenario because they don't have the privilege of being in the majority.

There's no justice in the world and there never was~
SpainSun Laugh it off, everybody from Somewhere Beyond Here Since: Jan, 2010
Laugh it off, everybody
#64: Feb 25th 2011 at 10:21:43 PM

Oh.

That really doesn't make a lot of sense in response to the question I asked, but ok.

I spread my wings and I learn how to fly....
KCK Can I KCK it? from In your closet Since: Jul, 2010
Can I KCK it?
#65: Feb 25th 2011 at 10:23:45 PM

Let's get one thing straight here: I am only talking about places where whites are in the majority, and the USA in particular because racial history differs from place to place.

@Spain Sun What did you ask?

There's no justice in the world and there never was~
SpainSun Laugh it off, everybody from Somewhere Beyond Here Since: Jan, 2010
Laugh it off, everybody
#66: Feb 25th 2011 at 10:24:52 PM

that.

The way you worded it seemed to imply you thought that racism only existed in places where whites were/are a majority. Which is untrue.

I spread my wings and I learn how to fly....
KCK Can I KCK it? from In your closet Since: Jul, 2010
Can I KCK it?
#67: Feb 25th 2011 at 10:26:38 PM

@Spain Sun Ah. Well, I didn't mean racism in general, I meant whites-vs-minority racism which can only exist in places where whites are in the majority.

There's no justice in the world and there never was~
Barkey Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
#68: Feb 25th 2011 at 10:27:49 PM

KCK, how does being a majority somewhere mean that they should be guilty? Should Mexicans in California feel "Hispanic Guilt" for being the majority? No? Of course, that'd be absurd.

That's a horrible basis for someone feeling guilty about something they have no control over, for actions they had no part in or contribution to.

SpainSun Laugh it off, everybody from Somewhere Beyond Here Since: Jan, 2010
Laugh it off, everybody
#69: Feb 25th 2011 at 10:28:04 PM

Well. Absurd as it sounds, despite being a small minority, Whites long oppressed blacks in certain African countries. Which again, is both absurd, and.....honestly, just plain weird.

Would they be exempt from white guilt (keep in mind most of these people are still alive)?

edited 25th Feb '11 10:28:48 PM by SpainSun

I spread my wings and I learn how to fly....
KCK Can I KCK it? from In your closet Since: Jul, 2010
Can I KCK it?
#70: Feb 25th 2011 at 10:31:44 PM

@Barkey If a person is not aware of how racial discrimination works, they are contributing to the problem. Even so, as I said to Spain Sun, guilt is pointless if it doesn't inspire change.

What good is it going to do me and other racial minorities for whites to sit around and feel bad about their history all day?

@Spain Sun No, because they held the majority of the power.

edited 25th Feb '11 10:32:25 PM by KCK

There's no justice in the world and there never was~
Barkey Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
#71: Feb 25th 2011 at 10:32:22 PM

If they took part in said oppression, they should feel guilty, they oppressed someone on the basis of race, and were actively.. well, racist.

^

None, which is why the whole concept is stupid, and should be done away with. And the irony of all this is that minorities don't perpetuate white guilt, whites do, and for some reason it's usually liberal whites.

edited 25th Feb '11 10:33:19 PM by Barkey

CommandoDude They see me troll'n from Cauhlefohrnia Since: Jun, 2010
They see me troll'n
#72: Feb 25th 2011 at 10:41:03 PM

It's not like race is the only minority out there :/

My other signature is a Gundam.
SpainSun Laugh it off, everybody from Somewhere Beyond Here Since: Jan, 2010
Laugh it off, everybody
#73: Feb 25th 2011 at 10:46:06 PM

No, because they held the majority of the power.

Okay, well, what do you propose we do about it?

After all, I don't exactly like these people who are giving my skin color a bad name, so what's your idea of a solution here?

edited 25th Feb '11 10:47:38 PM by SpainSun

I spread my wings and I learn how to fly....
MarkVonLewis Since: Jun, 2010
#74: Feb 25th 2011 at 10:56:48 PM

Honestly, I've never felt any guilt about being white, as my family didn't even come over from Scotland until about 1913. Sure, I feel kind of bad that blacks got a raw deal in the past, but hell I feel the same about ANY group that gets a raw deal, no matter the skin color. But do I feel guilty? Fuck no, and I never will because neither me nor my family have done anything.

KCK Can I KCK it? from In your closet Since: Jul, 2010
Can I KCK it?
#75: Feb 25th 2011 at 10:59:20 PM

@Commando I'm aware of that, but that is not what we're discussing here.

@Spain Sun What I suggested previously.

@Mark Don't feel guilty? Good!

edited 25th Feb '11 11:00:48 PM by KCK

There's no justice in the world and there never was~

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