134
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
this post was submitted on 29 Jul 2026
134 points (100.0% liked)
Political Memes
12270 readers
1966 users here now
Welcome to politcal memes!
These are our rules:
1) Be civil
Jokes are okay, but don’t intentionally harass or disturb any member of our community. Sexism, racism and bigotry are not allowed. Good faith argumentation only. No posts discouraging people to vote or shaming people for voting.
2) No misinformation
Don’t post any intentional misinformation. When asked by mods, provide sources for any claims you make.
3) Posts should be memes
Random pictures do not qualify as memes. Relevance to politics is required.
4) No bots, spam or self-promotion
Follow instance rules, ask for your bot to be allowed on this community.
5) No AI generated content.
Content posted must not be created by AI with the intent to mimic the style of existing images
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
racism noun
lanzybear is an idiot
Because what they really want to say is "it's okay and even just to be maligned to white people" without having the stones to actually say that.
No, just that there's a subtle difference between anti-white bigotry (which is real) and reverse-racism (which isn't). You can pull out dictionaries all you like but to put it in terms of a cute nursery rhyme, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but socioeconomic bias by the ruling class can kill me and everyone I love."
Sorry, that doesn't rhyme very well.
No, this is over-complicating a very simple concept all over again.
Reverse-racism doesn't exist because it's just regular old racism. White people can be the target of racism just like anyone else, but this is distinct from the fact that as a privileged social identity they may not be nearly as harmed or affected by that racism as a minority would. The fact that social power modulates our experiences of racism does not mean that some people cannot experience racial targeting.
What is the purpose of making the distinction if it's not "I want to be maligned to white people and not be called racist?"
Harm, friend. I take all kinds of shit for being white, and you know how much it affects my real lived experience? Not at all, because you can talk shit to me all you want, if you can't back it up, it doesn't matter. My Jamaican cousin, my indigenous friend growing up, or the Indian girl I dated in High School on the other hand by definition has to deal with the fact that those words can and often are backed up by petty people who absolutely can get away with that.
You're now talking in circles. I did just explain why the amount of perceived or real harm caused by racist treatment does nothing to qualify or disqualify it as racism.
Because you said so?
Piping in here:
The redefinition of "racism" to mean only "racially-motivated oppression" appears to have had two major negative effects.
Arguing that racial animus towards whites doesn't count as racism helped Trump get elected!
I'd be very interested in any information about the positive effects it's had to offset either of the above. From my perspective I don't see them.
That's pretty damning in itself isn't it. A few minor semantic differences and half of America is ready to vote for the living embodiment of the 7 deadly sins? A convicted felon, a rapist, a monster. A hateful, incompetent, malignant joke of a human being. Perhaps this is what we needed. Someone to cut open the thin veneer of civilization and show all of us just how unfit America is. To break the illusion that our neighbours are good people.
You can always disagree, but I'm quite certain you'd be going against the consensus of most people familiar with this topic.
Just end it with: "...with loans." Then it rhymes. <3
This argument has been going on for 60 years, by historians and educators, black and white, who are much smarter than us... Here's a reddit comment I found that detailed the argument well (paraphrasing)
the purpose of "power + prejudice" was to move discourse away from the idea of being racist as a personal failing, and instead focus on structural oppression and the material reality of minority groups.
Basically liberal society largely seems to have conceived racism as 'being irrationally mean', but for people with a materialist anti-racist perspective, that definition isn't productive or insightful and the lack of material, tangible progress for black people post-civil rights made it clear that there needed to be more focus on power dynamics and historical context to combat racism.
Beverly Tatum's work offers an informed and compelling perspective on the matter
I reject the idea that a sixty year old redefinition that was followed by a rise in white resentment was done by people "smarter" than any of us.
The sooner you accept that racism is about power, the better you will understand it. The dictionary definition is not adequate for defining racism.
The majority of people agree with how the dictionary defines racism and that’s how it is used in common language and legal contexts.
It is a vocal minority of absolute fools who insist it’s about systems and power and not the discrimination that everyone else so clearly recognises it as.
You people throw the word "majority" around a lot. I'm whiter than you are and I can acknowledge that there's a dimension of subtext in the word racism related to power structures. "Me and my drinking buddies" does not constitute a majority.
If you’re trying to talk to people don’t define the word to inherently include systemic power structures, then you’re never going to get anywhere by refusing to use language in a way that they understand. There’s no harm in specifying “systemic racism“ if the people you’re talking don’t include “systemic“ in their idiolectic baseline definition of racism. But just telling a person they can’t experience racism when their definition of “racism“ is simply analogous to prejudice will only make them defensive and hostile
And why exactly is it my responsibility to adapt to their idiolectic preferences? They understand the concept, or they wouldn't get so damn angry about it.
They don’t understand the concept. And using language in a way they don’t understand doesn’t help.
They absolutely understand the concept and it's ignorant to treat them like children that don't understand.
What say the great grumbling masses? Any of you not understand what I mean when I use the word that way? Or does this guy who thinks you're too dumb to understand have a point?
What they're annoyed by is the feeling that they got rug-pulled by the fact that the specific meaning of the word is different to different people. Always has been, we just didn't need to address it when we were discussing the more obvious gross misconduct of yesterday; it was close enough both ways. And now it's not.
Because you're the one trying to convince someone you're correct. If you can't even properly use the words defining the concept you're discussing, why would they listen to you?
There's already a term for what you're describing, systemic racism, that will communicate your point in a way that doesn't end with you arguing semantics and not getting anywhere in the actual conversation. Redefining terms to mean something the other person doesn't agree with just turns your debate about a concept into a meta debate about what words mean.
Your double-standard with regards to who gets permission to revise the language is duly noted.
By all means, don't change your behavior and keep wasting your breath on arguments you participate in where you can't agree on terms.
"As a white person"
Without referring to the dictionary, explain why it's foolish to ascribe a dimension of power to racism.
It's not foolish, there's just another term for it, it's called "systemic racism". Not all racism is systemic
How about you explain in depth what you mean by that instead of being really vague and condescending. Can you do that? Can you explain in depth and with precise language what you mean by that? If you actually have knowledge you want other to also have, how about you share it?
I didn't think I was being condescending, but I apologize if I came off that way. I'm happy to explain what I mean. Why don't you associate racism with power?
Because it's not powerism, it's racism.
Let's look at some of the most well known historic instances of racism:
lets look at some more.
Rohingya genocide
a series of ongoing persecutions and killings of the Muslim Rohingya people by the military of Myanmar. (not white people)
Persecution of Uyghurs in China
Widespread human rights violations by the Chinese Communist Party against the Uyghur people (not white people)
Yazidi genocide
The Yazidi genocide was perpetrated by the Islamic State throughout Iraq and Syria between 2014 and 2017. It was characterized by massacres, genocidal rape, and forced conversions to Islam. (not white people)
Darfur genocide
The Darfur genocide is the systematic killing of ethnic Darfuri people which has occurred during the war in Darfur. (not white people)
Effacer le tableau
Effacer le tableau ("erasing the board") was the operational name given to the systematic extermination of the Bambuti pygmies by rebel forces in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. (not white people)
Massacres of Hutus
During the First Congo War, troops of the Rwanda-backed Alliance des Forces Démocratiques pour la Libération du Congo-Zaïre (AFDL) conducted mass killings of Rwandan, Congolese, and Burundian Hutu men, women, and children in villages and refugee camps in eastern Zaire. (not white people)
and on and on and on.
A certain skin color is not a requirement for being shitty to your fellow humans.
I appreciate your input. However, this entire conversation was in the context of specifically the US. The dimension of power exists in all of those cases as well.
Moving the goal posts seems to be a hobby of yours
You expect me to take this seriously as a rebuttal?
I'd like a list of interpersonal racism that has the same historical impact, then. I'll help you get started:
I don’t think you can make sense of the Emmett Till lynching and its aftermath without the social context. It’s an expression of (systemic) racism.
I agree with you, however I'd argue that it was the aftermath of his death that displays how racism is about power, rather than his murder. The reason I'm calling it interpersonal is because most accounts accused him (falsely) of catcalling/whistling at a white woman
You just love moving those goalposts so you can keep having a leg to stand on.
I don't love you doing it. Ta-ta.
Me: racism is about power. Lists a bunch of racism
Me: ok, then list some famous historical instances of interpersonal racism.
Whiteness itself is proximity to power.
That's why it can change, like for Italians and Irish
The discrimination is on the basis of race. That doesn't make it right, that doesn't mean that's the actual reason they're doing it in their minds. You're adding unnecessary context to the base word instead of adding the appropriate expansions to the base word to make it fit the desired context.
No it's just that words can sometimes mean different things depending on context. It's not "unnecessary" when you're actually trying to understand the long term effects of 400+ years of slavery, oppression, and atrocities.
The only kind of people who find it "unnecessary" are the kind of people with no actual genuine interest in grappling with our horrific racist past which is the only way we could ever possibly begin to repair that shit. They'd rather just ignore it and pretend it never happened. Or immediately get weirdly defensive because "they didn't personally do slavery".
I have no idea why you're trying so hard to talk about anything except the literal actual thing we're talking about. This conversation is over.
If racism is about power then why can't I call Obama the n word
Because of the institution of slavery, which still affects the lives of black people to this day. A black person in power does not erase history.
If you (the reader) don't upvote the above comment you hate diverse perspectives which is basically the same thing as being racist. Checkmate lemmy
If you don't upvote the above comment I will hunt you down and tickle your feet when you least expect it.
Hee hee hoo hoo