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[–] 30 points 4 days ago (2 children)

it's the same issue as the "black lives matter" / "all lives matter" distinction. On the surface, sure, "all lives matter" sounds more appealing because all lives do matter. But the point is that most people support white people, it's the people of colour that you need to voice your support for, because they're the ones being targeted with constant discrimination and racism.

I think back to the post about liking pancakes not meaning hating waffles. It sounds ridiculous but it's very easy to fall into that mindset, especially in scenarios like this. "I stand with people of colour" doesn't mean "I don't stand with white people", it just means "people of colour need my support more than white people do right now".

If that sounds weird to you still, and you'd still rather say "I support everyone" that's totally fair, but if you're going to do that you need to be aware of the cultural meaning given to those kinds of phrases beyond what the literal words mean, as the type of people who say that sort of thing are usually saying it to delegitimize messages of support for marginalized groups, and so by saying it yourself you may end up being associated with those people as well.

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  • [–] 13 points 4 days ago (2 children)

    Black Lives Matter is a bit like Save The Whales. It should be a given that you don’t want dolphins to be killed…

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  • [–] 1 point 4 days ago (2 children)

    Is it not a given you don’t want the whales killed or do you have to call them out specifically?

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  • [–] 5 points 4 days ago

    Sadly, yes. Some whale populations were dangerously close to collapse partly/mainly (it’s debatable) due to human actions. A lot of other maritime species weren’t thriving but with whales it was dangerously different.

    For the record we did also have “dolphin friendly tuna” so perhaps my analogy needs some work…

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  • [–] -2 points 4 days ago (1 child)

    We're assuming this is in the US or a western country? Racism isn't the same everywhere. For instance in Kenya Somalians are treated very poorly and there's a lot of racism towards them by Kenyan natives but both are people of colour. Similarly there's a lot of hate and resentment between Kikuyu and Luo and they will know one another easily by how they look aka their ethnicity and it's essentially racism again but both are people of colour. Similarly a Chinese person in Japan will likely face tremendous racism yet both are people of colour. Who exactly are we standing with?

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  • [–] 5 points 4 days ago (1 child)

    Yes sorry, I did assume a western context, that's my bad. I've only ever lived in Canada so I'm not too knowledgeable on progressive movements outside of the west. I would imagine though that the best course of action would be to state your alliance with those marginalized ethnicities in those cultures. For example, if you live in Kenya and want to see Somalians treated equally there then you should express your support for the Somalians, because not expressing that support will cause others to assume you hold the culturally "default" position, which in the case of widespread discrimination would likely mean they would assume you are anti-Somalian.

    Basically all I mean is that if you want to show that you don't care about race or ethnicity then show support for whatever group needs it the most in your community. By doing so you're showing that you're willing to accept those groups even though they aren't identical to you. Sure that might seem like you absolutely do care about race, since you're supporting those groups on basis of who they are, but a truly "neutral" position doesn't exist in situations like this, as choosing not to say anything at all is showing that you're okay with whatever the current dominant ideology is.

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  • [–] 0 points 3 days ago

    I think I tend to take more of an interpersonal approach than a group approach towards life. Group theory is a perception of society but it isn't the only one. Generally speaking i want equitable treatment for all people regardless of the groups they happen to belong to. That's to say I'm more individual focused than group focused. Just because someone is in a group doesn't mean they specifically have faced any hardships in relationships to that group. In many and arguably in any country the determining factor is wealth and the power of one's social networks. Like an individual in Kenya can most definitely avoid any issues whatsoever with their race if they are wealthy and powerful enough. I couldn't say just because they are Somalian that they suffered the same prejudice that a poor Somalian in Kenya has. Group theory though does have a place when one is talking about statistics aka large amounts of people who share a group more so than an individual. Both perception are right and neither is wrong for the other being right.

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