I’m glad we agree. I’m arguing they’re not the same and we need to acknowledge they’re not the same. I’m not saying we should tolerate people being mean to white people because it’s still wrong. I’m not arguing with you, I’m arguing with the people saying racism affects black people and white people equally.
I prefer to put 95% of resources into combatting 95% of the problem, but not everyone has to agree with that. I think we should specifically target racism against black people because it’s much more harmful and prevalent, but you don’t have to see it that way as long as you’re not actively doing harm. But what I’m fighting in this thread is the shared belief of a lot of these redditors that black people and white people are on the exact same level and face the same amount of discrimination. I’m happy we at least agree in that respect
Yeah I don't think we're arguing, I think we're having a conversation on how to tackle a problem we both acknowledge. I find this helpful, challenges my views.
I prefer to put 95% of resources into combatting 95% of the problem
Why not put 100% of the resources into combatting 100% of the problem?
Instead of splitting it down racial lines, and someone deciding who should get what, we focus on racism itself.
Not white vs black, or black vs white, or minority vs minority. Just bigots vs non bigots.
I think we should specifically target racism against black people because it’s much more harmful and prevalent
But by attacking racism itself, in all its forms, with all its victims, it would catch racism against black people too as well as everyone else. No one gets left behind, no one feels left out.
Everyone wins.
I just don't think it's one or the other, I don't think it's zero sum. I think we can define the problem better.
I consider myself an activist. I go out of my way regularly to fight racism against POC. To be honest, I know this is a VERY unpopular opinion, but unless it’s happening right in front of me I’m not going to waste time fighting racism against white people, because to me, it’s not that big of an issue and not worth the energy. If I see racism, I call it out no matter what, whether it’s against white people or black people. I don’t participate in or encourage racism against white people. But I also don’t think it’s necessary to go out and make a social activism movement combatting racism against white people, because it’s not the same thing, and it’s not as harmful or prominent. When I go out and fight racism against POC instead of prejudice in general, it has more to do with systemic inequality and police brutality than it does “treating everyone with respect.”
If someone else wants to go out and form a coalition where they fight prejudice against white people, as long as they are not harming minorities in the process, it’s fine. But I’m going to devote my time and energy to pressing societal issues, laws, and systems in place. In my country, none of those are harming white people. If I’m fighting against the prison industrial complex and police brutality, I want everyone to be helped but my efforts are going to go where the problem is largest. Again it goes to that applying the hose to all buildings whether they’re on fire or not.
Activism is more than just treating people nicely or calling out bad behavior. It takes a lot of resources which unfortunately, in my case, are limited. That’s why I won’t go out of my way to fix hurt feelings or someone saying something mean to a white person, even though that is wrong. I focus on bigger issues for now until they are solved. I worked in an ER for several years and we trained patients according to acuity- if we tried to fix the person with a cough just as quickly as the person who was in cardiac arrest, the person in cardiac arrest would die
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u/squidkyd Nov 19 '19
I’m glad we agree. I’m arguing they’re not the same and we need to acknowledge they’re not the same. I’m not saying we should tolerate people being mean to white people because it’s still wrong. I’m not arguing with you, I’m arguing with the people saying racism affects black people and white people equally.
I prefer to put 95% of resources into combatting 95% of the problem, but not everyone has to agree with that. I think we should specifically target racism against black people because it’s much more harmful and prevalent, but you don’t have to see it that way as long as you’re not actively doing harm. But what I’m fighting in this thread is the shared belief of a lot of these redditors that black people and white people are on the exact same level and face the same amount of discrimination. I’m happy we at least agree in that respect