The Question
Eternal
I can see using it as an exhibition of resistance against speech fascism. The idea of "you can't say that word because you're the wrong color" is racist in and of itself, and should be smashed wherever it's encountered. That, I totally get.
And not everything one might criticize about a particular culture -- glorification of violence, say, or brutalizing other groups on the same logic by which racism operates (looking at Islamic fundies and neo-Nazis here) -- is racist. Criticizing an ideology or a culture has nothing to do with the race of its adherents or its members. Destructive behavior is fair game for criticism, and skin color is not an acceptable shield against that criticism.
But lately, over the past few days, I've seen some fairly disgusting actual racism here. Un-ironic racism that serves no purpose except apparently loathesomeness purely for the sake of loathesomeness.
I'm not suggesting a course of action on the part of the one I'm seeing it from. Do what you do. I'm just speaking up to explain where the difference is that makes me shake my head in disgust at it. It's dirty and lazy and low. There are times when it's a statement against the herd mentality, and when it's used that way it's a necessary dirtying of hands. But what I've been seeing over the past few days is not funny, not for a purpose, just shitting-on-the-sidewalk stuff.
And not everything one might criticize about a particular culture -- glorification of violence, say, or brutalizing other groups on the same logic by which racism operates (looking at Islamic fundies and neo-Nazis here) -- is racist. Criticizing an ideology or a culture has nothing to do with the race of its adherents or its members. Destructive behavior is fair game for criticism, and skin color is not an acceptable shield against that criticism.
But lately, over the past few days, I've seen some fairly disgusting actual racism here. Un-ironic racism that serves no purpose except apparently loathesomeness purely for the sake of loathesomeness.
I'm not suggesting a course of action on the part of the one I'm seeing it from. Do what you do. I'm just speaking up to explain where the difference is that makes me shake my head in disgust at it. It's dirty and lazy and low. There are times when it's a statement against the herd mentality, and when it's used that way it's a necessary dirtying of hands. But what I've been seeing over the past few days is not funny, not for a purpose, just shitting-on-the-sidewalk stuff.