One of the problems with anti-racism today is it’s made it more or less illegal to criticize any ethnic or racial group. Well, at least Whites can’t criticize any non-White ethnic or racial groups. This is ridiculous. Criticism isn’t racism. Not necessarily anyway.
On the other hand, racists do spend most of their time bashing away at the groups that they don’t like. It often looks a lot like criticism.
So how do you tell the difference? There’s no hard and fast way to define racism or to tell the difference between racism and legitimate criticism. I would say that I don’t even know the definition of racism, but “I know it when I see it,” as the Supreme Court justice once said about obscenity. There’s a real hostility and hatred to racist criticism that is not there in non-racist criticism. So it’s really more of an attitude thing, racism is an attitude. It’s not what you say but how you say it.
Most of the attacks against criticism of a race or ethnicity is based on the slippery-slope fallacy. They feel that if they condone criticism, it will follow a chain reaction that culminates into a genocide.
I am no pro-white, however I do find it rather distasteful the way whites are generalised against in most non-white societies (as opposed to whites who are often open minded and pragmatic when it comes to non-white people). I think this comes from an inferiority complex, if people feel that some ethnicity or race is more powerful than they are, they are bound to feel antagonised if the criticism comes from that ‘powerful race’.
I absolutely agree that criticism is not racism.
The danger with the ” I know it when I see it” standard, is that it is self evidently subjective. And any negative response, especially a legal one involving punishment, based on the power of the one “seeing” it, can be manifestly unfair.
I have mentioned before on the comments forum that Americans don’t always fully appreciate the freedom their First Amendment rights provide.
Other societies are not so fortunate; and I am not talking about autocratic dictatorships. Even European countries – actually ESPECIALLY European countries- have become so obsessed with political correctness that it is unquestionably damaging free speech.
I posted some recent examples on my own blog and I would be interested to hear some other reactions on the subject of how free is free.
“One of the problems with anti-racism today is it’s made it more or less illegal to criticize any ethnic or racial group. Well, at least Whites can’t criticize any non-White ethnic or racial groups. This is ridiculous. Criticism isn’t racism. Not necessarily anyway.”
Unless you are ethnic Chinese, Serb, ethnic Russian, Serb and Russian Orthodox Christian and any ethnic group with strong cultural affiliations with Russia then it is open season.
I can’t even talk about how Chechens drank my antifreeze fluid without people saying I’m racist.
“Playing nice” puts a damper on everything mainstream. I’ve become so accustomed to thinking and writing certain things about race that they have become ingrained in my mentality and it’s easy to forget most people I deal with daily are “offended” by some ideas I take for granted. This when you realize the disconnect .
White people are some of the most defensive when it comes to criticizing minorities. It’s like they play the role of cultural censor. Most ethnic minorities (myself included) that I know can take criticism. Just about every criticism I’ve heard of Mexicans absolutely has some truth and has some humor in it. It’s the public figures in the spotlight who play the part of Offended Little Girls who whine and fuss the most.
Pingback: “RACISM” – The New ‘Witchcraft’ Hysteria « ELLIOT LAKE News & Views
Pingback: Andrew Breitbart: Champion of Right Wing Hollywood. Cross Burning Victims? Not So Much. | The League of Aggressive Progressives