Hey y'all. I hope you've been doing well. Sorry to say hi on kind of a sour note.
woodmouse wrote:Cimeries wrote:"Nope" sums up my initial reaction adequately. Not "disowning" him/her or anything, I'm just disappointed that he became part of a regressive subculture.
Yeah, the regressiveness is the worst part. Him/her/them/???? intentionally disregarding history and implying that I'm as much to blame for slavery as any white American is actually worrying; he/she/they/???? didn't explicitly say anything about slavery AFAICR but linked to some video or article or something that explained how white people having dreads is oppressive because of slavery. Even if that wasn't total bullshit by common sense, it wouldn't make sense because, like, I'm Finnish so my ancestors probably
were slaves to Swedes and/or Russians. Obviously, blaming people for the things their ancestors did is pointless and stupid, but it's one of the two sides to nationalism (although ironically people who oppose nationalism tend to take it much farther...) and unfortunately people are like "yo momma so fat" by nature, so disagreements often can't be resolved without the intervention of a third party, and if that third party is a condescending shit without any actual understanding of what the conflict is all about... well...
And I mean, if "you're white, so you're evil" was a religiopolitical argument (original sin, predestination and inheritance of the sins of a father to his son or whatever combined with a politicalised americentric concept of race), it would be at least partially excusable as not being a personal choice to be ignorant as much as it would be the result of indoctrination. Even though it would still be ignorant, at least it would be part of a bigger picture of ignorance, but for someone that has abandoned organised religion for exactly the reason that it's ignorant, it's really hypocritical, backwards and ignorant to throw around accusations like that even if they're disguised in the form of education and correction of social injustices; I mean, I'd actually say it's somewhat worse because, you know, it's regressive...
I'm probably likely representing that "regressive subculture" too, depending on what you mean. Hi.
"You're personally to blame for slavery" is a nonsensical distortion, and I'm sure that the nonsense came from a misunderstanding rather something that Purple believes. I know she's cooler than that.
I'm getting familiar with the attitudes of people who take it personally when someone criticizes racism, so i think I see where you're coming from. A lot of anti-discriminatory discourse seems to be preaching to the choir, and upsetting to people who aren't familiar with the arguments yet.
Cultural appropriation isn't a problem because you're personally responsible for slavery.
It's a problem because there's a messed up power dynamic caused by stuff that came before you. Things from black cultures, native cultures etc, etc aren't as respected and well-known in white eurocentric society as things from that white, eurocentric mainstream.
So the original context of those things tends to be forgotten as they're used by white people who're not actually drawing on that context, appropriating stuff doesn't increase the acceptance of its original owners, and sometimes the use as a fashion accessory completely contradicts the traditional purpose.
If you wear dreadlocks in a country where black people are discriminated against for wearing dreadlocks, that's a display of missing solidarity. I don't know if that's happening in Finland, but Europe tends to be pretty damn racist and treat immigrants like shit, so my bet is yes.
In the US case, it's pretty infuriating if some white californian student gets congratulated for her dreadlocks while black people get denied employment for looking "unprofessional" and kids get suspended from school for not getting their hair chemically treated or shaved.
(from what I know, dreadlocks on white people are kind of tacky too because the actual way of making them relies on a hair type that's specific to black people, and is actually kind of utilitarian.)
In my world view, being contrarian just for the sake of it is selfish. It's satisfying, you may feel like you're being a cool iconoclast, but it can be just as complacent and habitual as blind traditionalism. "Not edgy enough" isn't a great reason to completely disregard someone's world view.
Context makes things good or bad, and saying you should heed that context isn't a personal accusation.
Pushing someone off a cliff is worse than jostling someone on flat terrain. Metaphors like this are awkward because they stand in for much more complex situations, but I think you get the point.
Being white doesn't make you or me evil, it just makes it harder for us to understand the problems black people face and avoid stepping on toes. And it gives us opportunities to take advantage of racism, and it's our responsibility to reject those.
I understand wanting to be free and not restricted by arbitrary norms. But I believe that knowing larger-scale ramifications is essential to making informed decisions and those are essential to freedom.
(sorry for responding to an old-ish controversial post, but I didn't see this earlier, 2 months don't seem like that much to me in a dead forum, and I care about the topic because it's sad to me that that bridge got burned.
I'm kind of busy and I don't tend to be comprehensive in my statements, but I wanted to try my best at clearing this up.)
woodmouse wrote:...and I actually apologised for joking on twitter that I'd get dreads and wear a shirt that says "I'm trans-fat", after which Purple continued to educate me on why it's racist for white people to have dreads. What the fuck, right? If I could do so without having to fear the consequences, I'd take back every apology and tell him/her/them/???? to sit on a garden gnome, but the risk of becoming the target of an internationally organised movement that has demonstrated the will and capability to ruin people's lives... well...
There's no "SJW conspiracy", and I know Purple wouldn't publicly humiliate and dogpile you. There's a lot of misguided, scary shit going on, there's immature, overzealous kids who don't know what's constructive and randomly lash out at what they see as bad. The structure of social media encourages some awful patterns, but I'm pretty sure you weren't at risk of that happening to you.