Helping out people who still suffer from that oppression today would help a lot. (I'm not advocating reparations because poor white people are also suffering from the long history of classism in this county. Rather, I'm advocating welfare.)
Would this welfare be distributed in part on racial criteria, or would it be distributed on the basis of individual need? And from where is the money to originate?
Both the oppressors and the victims are mostly dead: we in the West live today in the most racially and sexually equal society the world has ever known.
And yet we're still very very far away from having true racial and sexual equality.
What would "true racial and sexual equality" look like? How would people treat other people in such a system? Would they take their race and sex into consideration in situations not biologically determined (such as the shape of urinals)? If so, then how is this "equality?" If not, then how is this different from what I am advocating?
Crimes require specific perpetrators and victims. Whom, specifically, have I victimized?
It's not about you. Stop thinking about this in terms of individual people; sexism and racism has never been about this.
Oh, I'm glad it's not about me. If it's not about me, I don't have to feel guilty for it -- I only feel guilty for choices I have made. Again, this is "sanity."
The deal is this: Our current society is set up to favor whites over blacks and men over women. No one is personally at fault for this--there's no evil cabal of white men running the world. It's the result of centuries of oppression. The finger of blame can only be pointed at the society as a whole, not at any actual individual person.
How convenient for you. This means you don't actually have to do anything about it. Except pontificate about how enlightened you are by "realizing" this.
I am not saying that you are personally at fault for racism and sexism. I am not saying that you are personally a racist or sexist (although you probably are, as am I, because we grew up in a racist and sexist society and it's damn hard to get away from that). I am saying that you, me, and every other white male benefits from living in the society that we do, and just because we did not ourselves cause this state of affairs does not mean we have no responsibility to try to end it.
I try to end it for MYSELF by judging others on their own merits, rather than giving or taking points to or from them based on their group membership. You claim that this is "racism" -- if so then it is a very odd kind of "racism."
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Re: Victims
Date: 2012-04-10 02:15 am (UTC)Helping out people who still suffer from that oppression today would help a lot. (I'm not advocating reparations because poor white people are also suffering from the long history of classism in this county. Rather, I'm advocating welfare.)
Would this welfare be distributed in part on racial criteria, or would it be distributed on the basis of individual need? And from where is the money to originate?
Both the oppressors and the victims are mostly dead: we in the West live today in the most racially and sexually equal society the world has ever known.
And yet we're still very very far away from having true racial and sexual equality.
What would "true racial and sexual equality" look like? How would people treat other people in such a system? Would they take their race and sex into consideration in situations not biologically determined (such as the shape of urinals)? If so, then how is this "equality?" If not, then how is this different from what I am advocating?
Crimes require specific perpetrators and victims. Whom, specifically, have I victimized?
It's not about you. Stop thinking about this in terms of individual people; sexism and racism has never been about this.
Oh, I'm glad it's not about me. If it's not about me, I don't have to feel guilty for it -- I only feel guilty for choices I have made. Again, this is "sanity."
The deal is this: Our current society is set up to favor whites over blacks and men over women. No one is personally at fault for this--there's no evil cabal of white men running the world. It's the result of centuries of oppression. The finger of blame can only be pointed at the society as a whole, not at any actual individual person.
How convenient for you. This means you don't actually have to do anything about it. Except pontificate about how enlightened you are by "realizing" this.
I am not saying that you are personally at fault for racism and sexism. I am not saying that you are personally a racist or sexist (although you probably are, as am I, because we grew up in a racist and sexist society and it's damn hard to get away from that). I am saying that you, me, and every other white male benefits from living in the society that we do, and just because we did not ourselves cause this state of affairs does not mean we have no responsibility to try to end it.
I try to end it for MYSELF by judging others on their own merits, rather than giving or taking points to or from them based on their group membership. You claim that this is "racism" -- if so then it is a very odd kind of "racism."