Is This An Example Of Racism Or Not?

orubiru

Is this racism?

The question is "when you see the word "white", what comes to mind?"

I'm not really sure. What's the purpose of such a video?

A lot of the answers seem kind of awful to be honest.

BUT a lot of people will argue that People Of Colour cannot be racist so maybe this video is making a lot of valid points and I'm just missing them?

I am white but when I listen to their answers I don't really feel like they are talking about me.

So what am I missing here?

Little CuChulainn

orubiru wrote: »

BUT a lot of people will argue that People Of Colour cannot be racist

These people are technically known as morons.

Tigger

This reminds me of that film where Anthony Hopkins was a person of colour

Squall Leonhart

orubiru wrote: »

BUT a lot of people will argue that People Of Colour cannot be racist so maybe this video is making a lot of valid points and I'm just missing them?

I am white but when I listen to their answers I don't really feel like they are talking about me.

"People of colour" can be as racist as anybody else - why can they not be?

Regarding feeling white but not feel like they're talking about you, it's probably because you're (presumably) Irish, and the Irish didn't enslave any people or nations, hence your disconnect. Unfortunately those racist against white people don't take into account that not all white people (or their ancestors) had a part in slavery/abuse/discrimination etc.

jimgoose

"White is a way of Being." How true that is, how very true. We sort of waft around the place, like giant Soviet icebreakers of Privilege, crushing the despairing brown, red, even pinkish and occasionally kind of off-white, masses beneath our mighty cracker-ass bows. And while we do so, we cackle "Diplometic Immuniteeehhh!!" in that caricature villain South Efrican eccent, you know the one. :cool:

Custardpi

Racism is a term which can be overused, employed as a weapon to attack those with different opinions &/or experiences. I certainly wouldn't regard any of the people in this video as racist & got no impression that they viewed white people as automatically inferior. I'm not a huge fan of the concept of "privilege" used by a couple of them as it tends to be an enormously simplistic lens through which to view the world, ignoring other differences such as class. However, most seemed to understand that people's identities, particularly in a colonially constructed society such as the US or Australia can be extremely complex things.

SEPT 23 1989

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_supremacy

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

This video just proves that ignorance has no color preference.

"People from around the world", no, people from NYC, L.A. and Sydney.
"People with different ethnic backgrounds" would be more accurate imo.

strelok

that's one of the most buzzfeedy things buzzfeed have ever produced.

Nodin

....am old and don't know of this "buzzfeed"....

Custardpi

strelok wrote: »

that's one of the most buzzfeedy things buzzfeed have ever produced.

Naah, this is ultra high brow stuff compared to the sh1te they usually put out.

LDN_Irish

Squall Leonhart wrote: »

"People of colour" can be as racist as anybody else - why can they not be?

There are many people promoting a redefinition of racism (they often don't acknowledge that it's a redefinition in my experience) that racism is "discrimination/prejudice plus power" so "people of colour" cannot be racist because they are disadvantaged due to their demographic and don't wield the power to make their discrimination harmful. I think this is stupid for a variety of reasons.

1: most people (guess, but I'm sure it's accurate) do no agree with this definition. If you randomly asked people if non white people can be racist the vast majority would say yes. Redefining a word so that people don't agree on the definition is just making language less useful.

2: it excuses or minimises bad behaviour on the part of ethnic minorities for no good reason. If an Asian (for example) is discriminating based on race, using the redefinition you couldn't say "stop being a racist ****" because they can't be racist. Racism is obviously massively negative for society and victims of it. This has been recognised in recent decades so why give a get out clause to anyone who isn't white? There's no benefit.

3: ethnic minorities being racist towards other minorities or the ethnic majority can be very harmful independent of historical or demographically power structures and ethnic minorities can have more economic power than the ethnic majority in certain areas or industries. The ethnically Pakistani rape gangs operating in Britain engaged in racist behaviour and had more economic power than their white victims. Why not call their racist behaviour racist? Again, there's no benefit to that.

4: it's divisive. It's promoting a "one rule for us and another for them" mentality which is never going to be a good thing. I think is actually likely to lead to more racist attitudes among white people.

5: I know this was contained in a few of my points but: there's no benefit to it! There's no logical reason to redefine a word away from its accepted definition that everyone except some sociology students already agree on. If it's at odds with the definition contained in the most used dictionaries, and it's because the redefinition is out of step with general use rather than the dictionary being out of step, then it's not the definition!

Bio Mech

I think of that guy from breaking bad. Now as for black ... ugh Jack Black.

One eyed Jack

orubiru wrote: »

So what am I missing here?

You're missing the "white guilt" complex that videos like this are trying to promote.

It's not racist, it's just incredibly stupid.

entropi

Typical buzzfeed fare. Most people when asked would probably think of the colour, and not go too far into that. Were they prompted to think further about it, maybe steer it towards race? These are very obviously the people on video that gave the "correct" answers they wanted anyway.

darkpagandeath

Saying black people can be Racist is problematic and causes micro aggression.

Custardpi

darkpagandeath wrote: »

Saying black people can be Racist is problematic and causes micro aggression.

This post is toxic. :eek: Stop triggering me!

darkpagandeath

Custardpi wrote: »

This post is toxic. :eek: Stop triggering me!

Stop Toxic shaming !!

Huntergonzo

Oh I say, I nearly choked on my crab claws looking at that ridiculous video, I'm out of breath, might have to put down this bottle of Veuve Clicqout champagne and get my butler to make up my Egyptian linen sheets so I can go upstairs to take a long nap, it's all just too much sometimes.

Duggy747

I think the bigger problem is that I just clicked on a video and gave Buzzfeed 1 extra view.

Eurgh, feel so dirty!!

As for the video, I don't care about these carefully edited click-baiting pieces of cynical garbage, especially from Buzzfeed. It's only ever in these kinds of videos or the likes of The Guardian that I hear about my supposed privilege as a white male.

If someone was to say how privileged I was to my face they'd be told to fúck right off for making assumptions about someone they know absolutely zero about.

beach_walker

darkpagandeath wrote: »

Saying black people can be Racist is problematic and causes micro aggression.

"Can be" really? So you feel as though you're entitled to grant them permission to have such feelings? What other things are you generously going to allow marginalised groups to do?? Check your privilege man :pac:

darkpagandeath

Huntergonzo wrote: »

Oh I say, I nearly choked on my crab claws looking at that ridiculous video, I'm out of breath, might have to put down this bottle of Veuve Clicqout champagne and get my butler to make up my Egyptian linen sheets so I can go upstairs to take a long nap, it's all just too much sometimes.

Ha, I'm a white male I have all the privilege it's all mine it tell you ... All mine I'm not sharing it.

jimgoose

darkpagandeath wrote: »

Ha, I'm a white male I have all the privilege it's all mine it tell you ... All mine I'm not sharing it.

If there's anyone or anything running around with more privilege than me I want it caught and shot now. With a rather elegant old Purdey. :cool:

recylingbin

General rule of thumb: if you have to wonder whether it's racism, or not...its probably not.

darkpagandeath

recylingbin wrote: »

General rule of thumb: if you have to wonder whether it's racism, or not...its probably not.

No no, It's the other way around according to SJW's.

allibastor

Does remind me of the Limerick professor who came out with the whole Islamic phobia thing a few days back. Sayiing the government should make it a law to not fear Islam.

I know some Islamic guys who are dead sound and all that, I know others who think everyone not them is dirt.

I think stupidity and discrimination is in every race, religion color or creed.

darkpagandeath

allibastor wrote: »

Does remind me of the Limerick professor who came out with the whole Islamic phobia thing a few days back. Sayiing the government should make it a law to not fear Islam.

I know some Islamic guys who are dead sound and all that, I know others who think everyone not them is dirt.

I think stupidity and discrimination is in every race, religion color or creed.

hahaha, Laws for phobias. I have a phobia of murder should that be illegal ?

andrew

I feel like unless you're in the USA, this sort of video lacks any context and appears more insane than it actually is. In the USA, seeing as racism against black people is far, far, far more of a thing than it is here, saying black people can't be racist basically means "the kind of racism a white person might experience from a black person is so completely different from the racism black people experience from white people that even calling them the same thing is a bit inaccurate."

Squall Leonhart

^This

I'd agree 100% with this, viewing it from an Irish perspective just doesn't work.

strelok

andrew wrote: »

I feel like unless you're in the USA, this sort of video lacks any context and appears more insane than it actually is. In the USA, seeing as racism against black people is far, far, far more of a thing than it is here, saying black people can't be racist basically means "the kind of racism a white person might experience from a black person is so completely different from the racism black people experience from white people that even calling them the same thing is a bit inaccurate."

the video was produced by buzzfeed australia

they don't mean it to be taken in an american context. if you're white, anywhere in the world, they're talking about you.

andrew

strelok wrote: »

the video was produced by buzzfeed australia

they don't mean it to be taken in an american context. if you're white, anywhere in the world, they're talking about you.

Ah, can't watch the video atm, you see. In any case, I don't think it make any sense unless it's in the context of a country with a lot of institutionalized racism (which would probably include Australians, given the whole Aboriginal thing). I don't really see how it could possibly apply to a white person living in Japan, for example.

lawlolawl

I'm triggered, perhaps fatally this time.

DEFTLEFTHAND

andrew wrote: »

Ah, can't watch the video atm, you see. In any case, I don't think it make any sense unless it's in the context of a country with a lot of institutionalized racism (which would probably include Australians, given the whole Aboriginal thing). I don't really see how it could possibly apply to a white person living in Japan, for example.

Caucasians get treated very well in Japan. Black people don't but that's never mentioned by anyone for some reason.

darkpagandeath

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

Caucasians get treated very well in Japan. Black people don't but that's never mentioned by anyone for some reason.

Because Japanese are not Caucasian and therefore cannot be racist.

andrew

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

Caucasians get treated very well in Japan. Black people don't but that's never mentioned by anyone for some reason.

I was going off some story I heard about Caucasians not being able to get jobs.


Hmm. I'm finding it hard to think of a country in which Caucasians aren't treated very well.....

darkpagandeath

andrew wrote: »

I was going off some story I heard about Caucasians not being able to get jobs.


Hmm. I'm finding it hard to think of a country in which Caucasians aren't treated very well.....

True, But I know of no country that I can play the race card in either.

Little CuChulainn

I think it was in Baltimore where the police were accused of being racist and it turned out that a majority in the force, the police chief, the prosecutor, the mayor, senator and POTUS where all black. Even under the new definition of racism (prejudice plus power) people were claiming black people could not be racist.

ScumLord

Every race, nation and culture has done terrible things in the past. The Japanese murdered millions of Chinese in their go at ethnic cleansing. Africa had its fair share of empires that enslaved people, we only really know of the Egyptians, but there were other empires in the south (most of the evidence of their existence was wiped out by early white archeologists sure that there'd be evidence of an original white empire underneath all the black history).

Even Ireland has a history of being slave traders.

If it wasn't for the industrial revolution making slave labour ineffective we may well have ongoing slavery today.

Go back to sometime around 1000ce and you'd probably have white europeans complaining that privileged Muslim countries treat poor white people like mucksavages.

Go back to 30,000BC and you'd probably have neanderthals complaining of privileged Africans showing up taking all the good hunting grounds from them with their fancy flying sticks.

Swings and roundabouts. Hopefully in the future if black people end up being in a privileged position they remember these times and act better than humans have tended to act in the past.

Junkyard Tom

Whitey's on the Moon.

mackerski

Squall Leonhart wrote: »

the Irish didn't enslave any people or nations

St. Patrick and anybody who knows where the name "Scotland" comes from would probably disagree.

ScumLord

mackerski wrote: »

St. Patrick and anybody who knows where the name "Scotland" comes from would probably disagree.

Ya, but we were so sorry for that one time we did slavery that we made him a saint as an apology.

moc moc a moc

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

Caucasians get treated very well in Japan.

Try renting an apartment in Japan. Or applying for a job that isn't a typical 'foreigner' job (e.g. teaching English).

riffmongous

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

Caucasians get treated very well in Japan. Black people don't but that's never mentioned by anyone for some reason.

I met a Nigerian guy at a scientific course in Germany who had spent the last few years working in Japan and he was shocked at how normally everyone at the course treated him, he was just so used to life in japan as a black person

colossus-x

Turn down the volume and you would think it was an advertisement for an iPhone.

rab!dmonkey

Squall Leonhart wrote: »

…the Irish didn't enslave any people or nations…

Aside from the bustling pre-Norman slave trade, there was that spell as part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Plenty of the King's Shillings landed on these shores during that time, and it wasn't a time of isolationist policy either.

andrew wrote: »

Hmm. I'm finding it hard to think of a country in which Caucasians aren't treated very well.....

Let me help: Zimbabwe and South Africa.

ScumLord wrote: »

…we only really know of the Egyptians, but there were other empires in the south (most of the evidence of their existence was wiped out by early white archeologists sure that there'd be evidence of an original white empire underneath all the black history).
…

Extraordinary claim. Where can I read more about this?

vetinari

The video definitely makes more sense if you live somewhere like the US or any country with a history of racial issues.
Doesn't really apply to Ireland.

I thought it was decent video personally.

Being white and living in Boston, it's definitely a benefit, you're the same skin color as the "majority" who also have most of the money and power.
It's always interesting to see videos that offer a different perspective.

Adorable

darkpagandeath wrote: »

Saying black people can be Racist is problematic and causes micro aggression.

Triggered.

Eugene Norman

The problem I have with American identity politics is that it uses "white" rather than euro-American. If it was the latter we probably wouldn't care over here.

But it's odd to have people from the world's dominant empire tell the Albanians how privileged they are.

Eugene Norman

andrew wrote: »

I feel like unless you're in the USA, this sort of video lacks any context and appears more insane than it actually is. In the USA, seeing as racism against black people is far, far, far more of a thing than it is here, saying black people can't be racist basically means "the kind of racism a white person might experience from a black person is so completely different from the racism black people experience from white people that even calling them the same thing is a bit inaccurate."

The Irish sociology professors write and talk about white privilege as if the US, Ireland, Albania or Finland had the same history. White history is often generalised as European history, as if all Europeans were colonisers.

inforfun

Little CuChulainn wrote: »

I think it was in Baltimore where the police were accused of being racist and it turned out that a majority in the force, the police chief, the prosecutor, the mayor, senator and POTUS where all black. Even under the new definition of racism (prejudice plus power) people were claiming black people could not be racist.

Are you sure you are not thinking of The Wire now?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1dnqKGuezo

keeponhurling

setting up a group based on skin colour sounds racist to me