My Grand Unifed Theory of Racism

[Admiral Yi]

The story about the black lady and old white lady at Buckingham Palace made me think. 

Racism is different treatment for different ethnic/racial groups.

People should be treated as people, regardless of skin color.  If you treat black people one way and white people another you're racist and you're wrong. 

That's why I said I didn't see the evidence of the white lady's racism. 

We need at least two data points to determine if someone treats groups differently.  We don't know if the white lady would have treated a white person differently in the same situation.

I don't feel any white guilt.

I'm not responsible for slavery, or Jim Crow, or lynchings.  I didn't do those things.  In my mind when I first meet a black person we both come in with clean slates.  If they start off telling me I'm responsible for this things we will not agree.  MLK said he had a dream of a world in which people were judged on the content of their character, not on the color of their skin.  That's a great dream, and it should go both ways.  Judge me for me, not for my yellowish-white skin.

Not all accusations of racism are true.

Both in real life and on the internet I've seen countless examples of people claiming to be the victim of racism when to my way of seeing things it has nothing whatsoever to do with racism.  If you get arrested for shoplifting or handcuffed and pulled off an airplane for being drunk and stupid, that has nothing to do with race.  It has to do with your actions and their repercussions.

Political Correctness disagrees with the preceding statement.

There are people, well-intentioned people, who either believe that any accusation of racism by a member of a protected class is true, or stay silent and change the subject when faced with a false accusation of racism, out of "solidarity" or sympathy. If these people were willing to call bullshit once in a while false accusations of racism might diminish.

Real harm is caused by false accusations of racism.

People can be cancelled, rendered persona non grata.  Expelled from polite society.  It's not fair to do this to non-racist people.  They are people too.

Individuals are not inferior but cultures and societies can be.

I dislike the way mainland Chinese jump lines and act noisy and vulgar when visiting foreign countries.  I dislike the way hillbilles roll coal and beat their wives and drink too much and smoke too much meth and get in bar fights and vote for Trump.  This doesn't mean that every single member of these groups acts in this way but there are negative tendencies that I find disfunctional which are perpetuated because their in groups find these behaviors acceptable or commendable.  Similarly with black urban/ghetto/hip hop culture.  "Keeping it real" can mean making babies and bailing, fighting, committing crime.  Littering for Hod's sake.  I want people to stop keeping it real.

Racial profiling is iffy.

I sympathize with members of high crime groups who don't commit crimes and object to disproportionate attention being focused on them.  Black shoppers being followed by store security is a prime example.  I would probably be offended if it were me.  The flip side is that focusing enforcement on high crime groups is the most efficient use of resources.  Most bang for the buck.  It's intuitively silly to randomize the people who are pulled out of the airport line for further screening.  This issue is not going to disappear. The rebirth of stop and frisk and the introduction of AI into crime prevention means that profiling will get more precise but will always involve false positives.

That's all for now.

[Tamas]

One possible thing you may be ignoring in the Buckingham Palace case (and what may contribute to your tone-deafness on it) is the lack of cultural context.

It may be normal in the US for strangers to be this inquisitive and insistent on learning personal stuff the other person is very obviously uncomfortable to divulge, but in the UK you just don't do that. If you do, especially in that style, you are already rude and condescending. And from the context of her questions it was trivially easy to deduct the source of that condescension (ie that in her mind the black lady was a third world immigrant on account of her skin colour)

Nobody is asking you to feel white guilt because of a rich cunt, but the lack of collective gullt does not excuse individual cases of racism.

[Josephus]

What's the backstory?

[Josquius]

The story about the black lady and old white lady at Buckingham Palace made me think. 

Racism is different treatment for different ethnic/racial groups.

Mostly yes.
There are exceptions where this isn't the case of course - medical conditions that afflict different ethnicities more or less, hair dressers etc...

That's why I said I didn't see the evidence of the white lady's racism. 

We need at least two data points to determine if someone treats groups differently.  We don't know if the white lady would have treated a white person differently in the same situation.

Surely we have a bunch of data points here with this woman meeting tonnes of white people and being a insulting cow not coming up as a problem?

Also a bit iffy here as its placing a huge burden of proof before one can call a spade a spade.

I don't feel any white guilt.
I'm not responsible for slavery, or Jim Crow, or lynchings.  I didn't do those things.  In my mind when I first meet a black person we both come in with clean slates.  If they start off telling me I'm responsible for this things we will not agree.  MLK said he had a dream of a world in which people were judged on the content of their character, not on the color of their skin.  That's a great dream, and it should go both ways.  Judge me for me, not for my yellowish-white skin.

1: I thought you were of Korean descent? You're mixed race?
2: white guilt is not a phrase I hear much at all.

More usually the problem phrase is white privelege. As someone who not too long ago didn't understand this myself but was able to grasp it, it's painful to see how completely misunderstood it is and how obtuse some people are when it comes to trying to figure it out.

3: yes. Ideal world in the future it won't matter what race someone is at all. Picking on someone for being black will be a bizzare thing to do that just won't factor into most people's thinking.
But it does need pointing out its often racists who push this pov with their own slant. Moaning about how blm is somehow the one causing division and how great they and the UK in general actually are on race.
It's all well and good to say just ignore a problem and it doesn't exist when one sits in the priveleged position but when you have black people all yelling at us "no. Its an actual problem." best not blancsplain.

Not all accusations of racism are true.

Yes. I've definitely been on the receiving end of this in reality.
Online too one often finds racists pre emptiviely throwing it around at others.

Political Correctness disagrees with the preceding statement.

Theres examples of people who think anything in the world.
I don't think people who believe racism is always true are particularly large in number.
In this case of the royal connected lady you have a respected professional in the sphere making the accusation and no denials the transcript was wrong.

Real harm is caused by false accusations of racism.

Ish. Sometimes. But again not a huge issue. Sure, if someone thinks you've said something racist and stabs you that's a bit issue. But it isn't a everyday thing.

Individuals are not inferior but cultures and societies can be.

Complex. What is a culture?
I'd argue those hillbillies are just examples of American culture at its worst. What happens if you apply it to certain shitty conditions and propeganda.

I'd say cultures aren't better and worse each other but they can certainly be at different levels of development. Any culture can reach a stage of being chill with diversity but it isn't a straight path and outside factors play a huge role in this.

Racial profiling is iffy.

I get why security guards follow black people sure. Its their job to fight crime in the here and now. Not to think of the big picture.
Do this however... And this kind of shit in itself serves as a big factor that leads to the factors that makes black people more likely to commit a crime.
It's all very complex interconnected stuff.

[HVC]

Garbons gonna be madddddd

[mongers]

Also a bit iffy here as its placing a huge burden of proof before one can call a spade a spade.

Jos, not the best choice of idiom given the thread topic, though I know it's not of a racist origin.

[garbon]

Garbons gonna be madddddd

Why? There's no need for me to do more than a cursory read of such a post.

[Josquius]

Also a bit iffy here as its placing a huge burden of proof before one can call a spade a spade.

Jos, not the best choice of idiom given the thread topic, though I know it's not of a racist origin.

.
Youve lost me here.

[mongers]

Also a bit iffy here as its placing a huge burden of proof before one can call a spade a spade.

Jos, not the best choice of idiom given the thread topic, though I know it's not of a racist origin.

.
Youve lost me here.

Spade is now a racist term of abuse, since probably before WW2.

Don't know if it's British or American term.

[Habbaku]

I don't know that I've ever heard anyone but the oldest of old geezers use 'spade' as a racial slur here in the US Deep South.

Keep fighting the power, Jos.

[Josquius]

Honestly I have no idea who it is racist against.
Since you say deep south I assume black people?

[garbon]

https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/09/19/224183763/is-it-racist-to-call-a-spade-a-spade

[Jacob]

Yi, your grand unified theory of racism doesn't seem to address structural racism.

[Admiral Yi]

Yi, your grand unified theory of racism doesn't seem to address structural racism.

Probably because I don't really know what it means.  Please educate me.

[Gups]

Honestly I have no idea who it is racist against.
Since you say deep south I assume black people?

Spade is a common insult against black people in England. Amazed you've not heard it.