Steve Hayes
2016-05-07 10:46:37 UTC
I've noticed a curious phenomenon recently.
A few recent instances of racist abuse on social media got the
chattering classes all a-twitter (if you'll excuse the pun).
There were many words of condemnation (and some in defence), and the
choice of words came in for the strongest condemnation.
Before this had died down someone posted something that was far more
insidiously racist, and nobody said a word. Well, not strictly
accurate, I said some words about it, and eventually put up a blog
post about it here:
https://ondermynende.wordpress.com/2016/05/06/naked-racism/
But still very few people commented.
The difference was that it didn't use any insulting words, but the
assumptions that lay behind the picture and its caption were as racist
as hell.
The basic assumption behind the post was a sense of white entitlement
-- that white people ought be entitled to pay tax at a lower rate than
everyone else.
And the thing that bothers me is that even people who objected to the
racial insults in the other posts said nothing about this one. Some
even shared it on Facebook, with apparent approval.
One commented that it wasn't racist, just honest.
The mind boggles.
Firstly that the person who said that thinks that demanding that white
people be taxed at lower rates than everyone else is not racist. And
surely saying that it is not racist is pretty dishonest.
It seems to me that the racism is so deeply ingrained in the person
who made that comment that it is quite invisible to him.
We get handwringing editorials in the media, about how we can educate
people to stop them being racist, yet very few of my "antiracist"
friends "liked" or "shared" my blog post on Facebook, though if it was
a graphic with a text soundbite saying very little, they would be much
more incluned to do so.
Are we so obsessed with symptoms that we can't be bothered to look at
the underlying causes?
Do people really think that racism is nothing more than insulting
language and taboo words?
A few recent instances of racist abuse on social media got the
chattering classes all a-twitter (if you'll excuse the pun).
There were many words of condemnation (and some in defence), and the
choice of words came in for the strongest condemnation.
Before this had died down someone posted something that was far more
insidiously racist, and nobody said a word. Well, not strictly
accurate, I said some words about it, and eventually put up a blog
post about it here:
https://ondermynende.wordpress.com/2016/05/06/naked-racism/
But still very few people commented.
The difference was that it didn't use any insulting words, but the
assumptions that lay behind the picture and its caption were as racist
as hell.
The basic assumption behind the post was a sense of white entitlement
-- that white people ought be entitled to pay tax at a lower rate than
everyone else.
And the thing that bothers me is that even people who objected to the
racial insults in the other posts said nothing about this one. Some
even shared it on Facebook, with apparent approval.
One commented that it wasn't racist, just honest.
The mind boggles.
Firstly that the person who said that thinks that demanding that white
people be taxed at lower rates than everyone else is not racist. And
surely saying that it is not racist is pretty dishonest.
It seems to me that the racism is so deeply ingrained in the person
who made that comment that it is quite invisible to him.
We get handwringing editorials in the media, about how we can educate
people to stop them being racist, yet very few of my "antiracist"
friends "liked" or "shared" my blog post on Facebook, though if it was
a graphic with a text soundbite saying very little, they would be much
more incluned to do so.
Are we so obsessed with symptoms that we can't be bothered to look at
the underlying causes?
Do people really think that racism is nothing more than insulting
language and taboo words?
--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
Blog: http://khanya.wordpress.com
For information about why crossposting is (usually) good, and multiposting (nearly always) bad, see:
http://oakroadsystems.com/genl/unice.htm#xpost
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
Blog: http://khanya.wordpress.com
For information about why crossposting is (usually) good, and multiposting (nearly always) bad, see:
http://oakroadsystems.com/genl/unice.htm#xpost