Power as in “Systemic power”. The Irish, Bosnians, German Jews in ww2; these people all had systems of oppression using their power to oppress them in their countries. It’s not as simple as “LawlSkinColour”.
In a majority of situations, the word racism does not apply if you are the dominant socioeconomic ethnic group in the world, which white people are. You have to take context into account though, because life does not exist as a binary. In North America, Jewish and Irish folks can experience Racism. In spite of being largely white presenting, they are ethnicities that have been historically discriminated against.
White people as a blanket “race” though, cannot. Saying “Bill pisses me off because he’s Jewish.” is racist. Saying “Bill pisses me off because he’s white.” is an entirely different conversation. Jewish folks are one of the most historically discriminated against groups in the world. White folks have been the most dominant socioeconomic racial group in the world perpetuating oppression. To treat those two groups as if they are the same can only be done if you ignore all historical contexts. That is a wildly intellectually dishonest way to define the world.
Black, brown, Asian, and indigenous folks can, have, and continue to experience racism. The socioeconomic racial group that we call “white people” cannot experience Racism. The individual ethnic groups within said racial group can experience Racism.
Fair enough, I still believe that it’s wrong to add power to the mix because it makes it extremely subjective if a message or an attitude are racist or not, whereas the definition I provided is clear, a blanket opinion of a group based on their skin colour or ethnicity is racism.
Saying “Bill pisses me off because he’s white.” is an entirely different conversation.
It’s super fucking not, friend. If you define racism as something that doesn’t apply to white people specifically, then you have a point, but “racism is when one is prejudiced against someone because of their race” is a much more usable definition than anything that involves socioeconomics, and I struggle to think of a better word to describe hating Bill for his race.
Prejudice + power describes institutional racism very well, but interpersonal racism doesn’t necessarily involve power dynamics.
Remember the definition I provided:
Prejudice + Power
Power as in “Systemic power”. The Irish, Bosnians, German Jews in ww2; these people all had systems of oppression using their power to oppress them in their countries. It’s not as simple as “LawlSkinColour”.
In a majority of situations, the word racism does not apply if you are the dominant socioeconomic ethnic group in the world, which white people are. You have to take context into account though, because life does not exist as a binary. In North America, Jewish and Irish folks can experience Racism. In spite of being largely white presenting, they are ethnicities that have been historically discriminated against.
White people as a blanket “race” though, cannot. Saying “Bill pisses me off because he’s Jewish.” is racist. Saying “Bill pisses me off because he’s white.” is an entirely different conversation. Jewish folks are one of the most historically discriminated against groups in the world. White folks have been the most dominant socioeconomic racial group in the world perpetuating oppression. To treat those two groups as if they are the same can only be done if you ignore all historical contexts. That is a wildly intellectually dishonest way to define the world.
Black, brown, Asian, and indigenous folks can, have, and continue to experience racism. The socioeconomic racial group that we call “white people” cannot experience Racism. The individual ethnic groups within said racial group can experience Racism.
Fair enough, I still believe that it’s wrong to add power to the mix because it makes it extremely subjective if a message or an attitude are racist or not, whereas the definition I provided is clear, a blanket opinion of a group based on their skin colour or ethnicity is racism.
It’s super fucking not, friend. If you define racism as something that doesn’t apply to white people specifically, then you have a point, but “racism is when one is prejudiced against someone because of their race” is a much more usable definition than anything that involves socioeconomics, and I struggle to think of a better word to describe hating Bill for his race.
Prejudice + power describes institutional racism very well, but interpersonal racism doesn’t necessarily involve power dynamics.