bethposting

beth (defunct)

@bethposting

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bethposting
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@bethposting
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@bethposting

i hate when white people say shit like "haha white people all suck amirite"

cuz 1. you're privileged as a white person to get away with saying that shit without people getting mad at you and 2. there's always this implication that they're "one of the good ones", as if dumping on other white people somehow makes them better

bethposting
@bethposting

the big problems of racism aren't that individual white people suck

the big problems are structures and behaviors that perpetuate existing inequality, such as nepotism and hiring people as "culture fits"; generational wealth; explicit attempts to disenfranchise people of color; etc.

bethposting
@bethposting

also thinking about how it seems like a lot of white people desperately don't want to be white

i think some liberals fantasize about not having white guilt, while some people further to the right just really really want to be allowed to say the n word

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in reply to @bethposting's post:

phantom-firefly
@phantom-firefly

this feels like it’s a weird mirror of how a lot of conservatives in the us view racism as something that only exists on an individual level, instead of a system of oppressive structures baked into the fabric of society.

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bobthebob
@bobthebob

i don't think it's really just us conservatives, this was honestly how i saw most discrimination until possibly a few years ago, and i did consider myself left wing at the time
being like, a vaguely sheltered british white person it was really not difficult to not quite understand what discrimination was outside of just the individual stuff, wouldn't be surprised at all if this is how lots of people still see it on some level regardless of how woke they are or whatever (i mean shit idk i probably still do so some extent)
hate to be an annoying school hater or whatever but god this really feels like something school should've taught lol, like the idea that oppression can be infinitely more complex than the individual level probably should've been obvious to me but it wasn't!!! and good lord it has affected the whole way i view shit!!! surely this should be taught to everyone as standard

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in reply to @bethposting's post:

gwenverbsnouns
@gwenverbsnouns

i think that's all pretty accurate. all things ive seen, and ive definitely been guilty of some of those things myself

there are also plenty of liberal white people who are entirely un-self-aware about using their cultural identities to avoid examining the ways they've benefited from white supremacy; ive seen it very often with my (white ashkenazi jewish) family members pointing to the historical oppression of jews to claim they don't benefit from white privilege, which they very obviously do

and similarly, people hear about the cultural erasure that comes with whiteness and seek to reclaim their own cultural roots, but forget that they still benefit from white privilege regardless

i think part of the impulse to individualize is that the systemic issues feel overwhelming and intractable in terms of personal agency; which isn't an excuse, but is insidious, and i appreciate the reminder to check my mental framing of these things periodically x)

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