Sunday, June 15, 2008

Dear White People Everywhere

If a bunch of people of color have just agreed that something you're saying/doing/owning is racist, it probably is. Saying "No, it isn't!" is not a convincing argument otherwise.

(See the comment thread to this post.)

3 comments:

Daisy said...

Am I allowed to tag you when the topic is so serious? Oh well, gonna do it anyway before I follow your links.

Daisy's Dead Air: Seven songs meme

~*~

PS: I was called "nasty as mammy" (?) (whatever the fuck that means) over at Pharyngula, by one of their regulars, and nobody in that liberal enclave said SHIT! So, not surprised at the cluelessness.

Vanessa said...

Oh, it's fine. I love memes! I'll do it later.

belledame222 said...

Mammy is "nasty," now??!

eh, stupid eejits is stupid eejits. alas. can't live with 'em, can't eat 'em, etc.

anyway, as I said over at Ilyka's, yeah, doesn't all of this just boil down to not being an Asshole? I mean, would they understand it any better in this context:

You’re wearing hobnailed boots and, hurrying down the street to wherever you’re going, you don’t pay attention and kick or step on someone. They go, “ow! That really hurts!” Do you

a) explain how you’re a really good person and you never do that and why are they picking on you when Annie Wilkes kidnapped a guy and -deliberately cut his foot off with a rusty axe and no anesthetic,” now THAT”s painful

b) just say, “oh, I’m terribly sorry, do you need help walking over to wherever, should I call a doctor, etc.” and listen to the answer, and if it’s “no,” but they’re still pissed, just say, again, “I’m really sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going, I’ll be more careful from now on. Take care” and get on with it, feeling like schmo, but realizing you’ll -get over it- at least as much as the injured person.

?

More to the point, if you're the one with the half circle of bruises to your angle, which response would YOU prefer?