Racism has weird expressions. I think that there is a sister to white guilt: white paranoia. Specifically the paranoia that we white people might unknowingly be racist or say some racist thing.
That comes with a feeling that every minority is looking at you like you are the enemy. "I have might have White Privilege! Oh no, that makes me a Bad Person(tm)! Get it off! Get it off!"
So it's overcompensation. "If I talk about cool black people, I can show that I'm not racist! I've got to prove that I'm not a Bad Person(tm)!"
It's really not all that dissimilar to, whenever a feminist argument comes up, a bunch of men respond with "Hey, some of us are nice guys!" There are a lot of people who just want to prove that they are not jerks. And, unfortunately, awkwardness leads them to doing racist things.
It seems to me there are two types of racism - one based in hatred and one based in ignorance. I think the latter is more common.
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branchandroot
(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-22 11:11 pm (UTC)That comes with a feeling that every minority is looking at you like you are the enemy. "I have might have White Privilege! Oh no, that makes me a Bad Person(tm)! Get it off! Get it off!"
So it's overcompensation. "If I talk about cool black people, I can show that I'm not racist! I've got to prove that I'm not a Bad Person(tm)!"
It's really not all that dissimilar to, whenever a feminist argument comes up, a bunch of men respond with "Hey, some of us are nice guys!" There are a lot of people who just want to prove that they are not jerks. And, unfortunately, awkwardness leads them to doing racist things.
It seems to me there are two types of racism - one based in hatred and one based in ignorance. I think the latter is more common.