Writer's Block: Yes, offense taken

[almostwitty]

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The trouble with being non-white is that someone would have to be INCREDIBLY stupid to make a racist remark against me.

The most recent time I can recall is when a workmate said that I'd only got the job because I was non-white. But really, I had to let it slide because:

1. I'm not a violent man.
2. I'm not very good at defending myself, verbally or physically.
3. Punch-ups in the workplace are not a good thing.

I'm more likely to find people say things, and then not realise the connotation of what they mean, if you extend the thought forward.

Personally, I kinda think (alas) that white heterosexual people have to fight these battles. Because if a bunch of black, Asian or gay people march around saying this or that is wrong, most ignorant people would just think "Well, they would say that". If it was someone in *their* peer group, that's a different story.

Comments

[bart-calendar.livejournal.com]

It really has to be white heterosexual males who do it. If girls stand up for gay boys they get called fag hags and if they stand up for black guys most white racist shitbirds just think it's because the girls want to fuck them.

[hellmutt.livejournal.com]

I'd like to think I'd have a firm word. I don't think it's ever come up, except with a friend of mine trying to piss me off by talking about "japs" and "spear chuckers". It is, I have to say, a horribly embarrassing situation to be in, but like I said, I hope I would lay some alpha down on whoever's arse was doing the talking.

[anivair.livejournal.com]

Sadly, that's true. to an extent, though, that is the fault of overzealousness.

Because some people like the conflict more than the equality and don't know when to stop.

So you get this sort of interplay:

Women: We demand equal wages!
world: Yeah!

Women: And we demand the right to vote!
World: yeah!

Women: And we demand legal rights for child rearing.
World: yeah!

Women: and we demand that you start spelling womyn with a Y and that we say a-womyn at church and what men have to wear skirts of thursdays!
World (and many women): ye ... wait, what?

And it's that last step that makes equality suffer. There's always a push to make things okay and then there's always a few members of any group who want to push past that into the realm of some dumb thing they thought up in an empowerment meeting that kills it.

And when you get into the realm of the lesser forms of racism (I certainly consider things like stereotypes and parody to be lesser racism when compared to, say, lynchings and segregation) it does get into that area where it seems like less of a big deal to people. And comparatively, it is (I don't think that anyone would argue that having to deal with a racial stereotype is way better than having to deal with the Klan). it's still an issue, of course, but one that is harder to push.

And of course, you get into the sticky area of people who know they didn't mean harm. the comments that are a bit racist, but that the speaker didn't mean any injury by. it's pretty hard to convince someone that they were being racist when they had no such intention.

[almostwitty]

You'll love how, in the middle of a televised debate featuring one of Britain's most notorious racists, an audience member briefly rebuked a senior government minister and defender of multi-culturalism for saying Afro-Caribbean instead of African-Caribbean.

Of course, that's more of a British vs American semantic than anything else. In the same way that Oriental is a generally accepted term in the UK, but not the US.

[anivair.livejournal.com]

Is it really? That's totally sweet! I had just assumed that oriental was considered backwards and uncool everywhere.

[almostwitty]

Well, it comes from the fact that the UK and the US are two different places. And that my US counterparts will have taken a lot of lessons from the civil rights movement - alas, my fellow British-Chinese tend to only get riled over business-related issues.

It's complicated.

I'm not saying that you can go around in America saying Oriental with gay abandon. I wouldn't necessarily use it in the UK either, when there are plenty of other word substitutes. But it's not that big a deal.