“It’s not you who’s racist, it’s what you say.”
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I’ve been thinking a lot recently about what happens between people when someone levels an accusation of some “-ism,” like racism or sexism or homophobia (or even stupidity), against someone, or against what someone said, and whether the two can really be distinguished.
I don’t think they can.
Telling you that what you said is racist, without implying anything about you as a human being, doesn’t make that much sense to me. What someone says doesn’t arise from nowhere: if you say that there is a “racist” element in someone’s expression, opinion, observation, or view of the world, you’re implicitly saying that there’s a racist element in that person.
This is not the case with any position; if you want to test the objective merit of someone’s position, you can say that what she said is correct or incorrect, without necessarily implying that she as a person is correct or incorrect (since this is nonsensical). But once you make a value judgment about someone’s position, it looks to me like a whole different game, and what you think about what they say can’t be separated all that easily from what you think of what they are.
It’s an abstraction that I don’t think has a basis in reality. Let’s take another example. A white dude says to me that the environment should be everyone’s utmost concern. And I say to him, well, you have the luxury to worry about it since your family is rich and you have the freedom to do whatever you want. This is clearly an ad hominem comment on my part, or a comment on the person. But what if I abstracted it? What if I say I’m not commenting on him, but rather, on his position in life? Does that make sense? Or does my comment on his position in life also say something about him as a person?
Or, to bring it back, would my comment on someone’s racist or ignorant statement say something about him as a person?
This, I think, also explains why people respond so badly to accusations of racism or sexism or stupidity in their positions, and respond so positively to people who agree with or approve of them. This is also part of the reason I tend to avoid blanket “-ism” type value-judgments. Peoples’ thoughts and feelings and positions are part of who they are.
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Xian
7:33 am | Sep 24, 2008Actually, the inclination to take such comments personally IS the manifestation of privilege. If someone says that I’m bad at math or lack perspective on what it means to be poor, that could just be an appraisal. I can choose how to take it.
Those who went along with Jim Crow or filled the rank-and-file of Nazism made colossal, horrible, atrocious mistakes. They were complicit and in many cases, actively empowering horrific systems.
However, they were not evil. They really weren’t too different from you or I. The only way to prevent such stuff from happening is to empower critical thinking and speech, and move such speech away from being a judgmental pissing contest.
jaehwan
2:08 pm | Sep 24, 2008Xian,
I think you are right, but “taking such comments personally” is different from saying that it’s a personal attack. Since the accusation is aimed at the arguer rather than the argument, I hope we can agree that the “-ism” attack is still a personal, “ad-hominem” (”argument towards the person”) attack. When we’re debating issues, such attacks should not be employed, and if it’s mentioned as an aside, there needs to be critical thinking behind the statement. It can’t just be “you are racist/sexist/classist, and therefore I don’t have to listen, lalalala” or “I’ve been a victim of racism/sexism/classism, and I don’t need to explain anything to anyone.” Remember when Reappropriate Jenn accused you and me of sexism? She didn’t tell us why we were supposedly sexist, it was just an accusation. It doesn’t help anyone.
When people rely on personal accusations, it kills debate and prevents progress. If people want to be progressive, they need to attack arguments rather than people. Think of it as if you’re arguing before a jury and stick to the facts.
To illustrate what I mean by this, I once listened to a piece by a conservative radio guy who was complaining about Sharpton or something. He took in a caller, who said that he was a big fan of the radio guy and then said something along the lines of “If black people don’t like living in the U.S., the government should give them free one way air tickets to go back to Africa.”
The radio guy asked if the caller was American Indian. The caller said no, he was white. The radio guy then asked why he was asking people of another race to go back to Africa when he himself did not descend from original settlers. The caller said some meaningless “I’m not unhappy with the status quo,” etc.
The radio guy then said, “Black people are Americans just like you and me, and what you are saying as a white man whose race more or less controls the system, some might construe as racist since you’re talking from a position of the majority. I personally think we need to work with people of different races because that’s what makes America America. That’s my opinion. But thank you for calling.”
It was clear that the radio guy thought the caller was racist, but there was no accusation, plus there was a reasonable statement that the radio host saw things differently. It allowed the caller to present his own views without every being attacked. I don’t know if the conservative talk show guy convinced the caller to change his views, but I’m positive that the non-accusatory and respectful manner in which he treated the caller spoke volumes to those who heard the call.
Xian
8:48 am | Sep 25, 2008What color was the radio guy?
My experience is that I don’t call many ethnic majority people ‘racist’, I merely ask them their honest explanation for what they are saying. They immediately call it an accusation of racism and go into rant mode.
jaehwan
12:22 pm | Sep 25, 2008The radio guy was white. I think white is a prerequisite for becoming a radio guy. The only exception I know is Casey Kasem, but that’s just because he has a cool sounding name.
You do raise an interesting point. The radio host’s words “some might call racist” probably wouldn’t go so well if he were an ethnic minority. Tim Wise wouldn’t be famous if he were an ethnic minority. Even though we try to work outside racial preconceptions, we still work within them.
I think media is the way around this. Not just media as in, “look at his portrayal of Asian Americans,” but media as in books, BookTV, and spreading critical thinking. Plus, of course, education, which is what you guys are already doing.
Did we ever post the education podcast? Maybe we should…
jaehwan
2:27 am | Sep 27, 2008I blogged on the debate tonight, and so did someone else. Thought this was relevant to D’s blog post:
D’s blog post is not directly relevant since she’s not even pretending to attack the argument–she’s clearly calling McCain himself a racist. I understand the desire to win the election, but unfounded accusations like this only makes it that much harder to take her discussion seriously.
highschooldropout
7:12 pm | Oct 16, 2008Well, how about this: you should always be ready for an individual to follow through on their bad side, but don’t be surprised when they do something contradictory to their worst feelings. It happens.
Having said that, we don’t live in a monastery on Mars, and there is a definite pecking order in our society, so be skeptical and analyze everything accordingly.
It used to be ok to accuse women of witchcraft and burn them at the stake, so what women in her right mind wouldn’t read any and all men sideways and upside down? That’s not about accusations, that’s looking out for your own interest and self-preservation.
Senkeh
5:04 pm | Oct 22, 2008“Having said that, we don’t live in a monastery on Mars, and there is a definite pecking order in our society, so be skeptical and analyze everything accordingly.
It used to be ok to accuse women of witchcraft and burn them at the stake, so what women in her right mind wouldn’t read any and all men sideways and upside down? That’s not about accusations, that’s looking out for your own interest and self-preservation.”
I agree. I also think that after a person has made their analysis of a tense/awkward/whatever situation, they should ALWAYS respond to it diplomatically, particularly if the cause of the situation is an idiot.