Critical Race Theory

[Sean Hayden]

Wait, Tucker said if we let in more non-whites we'll become like Rwanda?

It seemed to me that you were responding to a claim that we would become like Rwanda if CRT went unchecked, and your response was to point out--wrongly--that it wasn't non-whites doing the things he fears.

[JimC]

Systemic racism is certainly interconnected with unbalanced, coercive power structures, but not just white racism against blacks, although that is a major factor in the US. The Chinese government is dominated by the Han ethnic group, and their treatment of the Uyghur minority has a component of racism, as well as a fear that their muslim religion will interfere with the central importance of the Party, itself a secular religion.

And unbalanced, coercive power structures, basically via poorly controlled capitalism can operate without any racism at all.

[Hermit]

You focus on race too much.

Seabass does not. While power imbalances are a universal feature of societies everywhere, racism is more than that. It is the reason why a white worker can drive a fancy car to work unhindered while a black one will get stopped and checked out. It is the reason why black drivers get stopped and arrested in the course of a "routine check" at a much greater rate than white drivers. It is why white veterans returning from wars had no trouble applying for and receiving loans to buy a home while almost no black veterans succeeded in getting a loan approved.

I would like you to consider this analogy: In addition to universal power imbalance, blacks women are victims of a special one: racism sexism.

[Sean Hayden]

Yes he does.

--//--

I don't disagree with the rest, I would just say that it misses the point.

[Hermit]

Yes he does.

--//--

I don't disagree with the rest, I would just say that it misses the point.

What would you have Seabass do? Ignore racism in the US and focus on power imbalances generally?

[JimC]

Perhaps all that Sean is suggesting is that Seabass has a rather narrow focus, it being basically racism against blacks in the US, and that the Republican party of today is evil incarnate.

Seabass can be mainly correct there, but neither may he be showing a broader picture...

[Sean Hayden]

What would you have Seabass do? Ignore racism in the US and focus on power imbalances generally?

Perhaps. But I doubt that's the right answer. I think it is the right focus to counter Tucker's bullshit though, and certainly better than what Seabass offered.

--//--

Man, if white America is this afraid of black people, wait until they find out about white people. Sheeeit.

[Sean Hayden]

Is that a power imbalance?


--sorry bison...

[JimC]

To his audience, nothing anyone can say, and no rational argument, could ever counter "Tucker's bullshit"...

[Sean Hayden]

That motherfucker.

[Seabass]

What would you have Seabass do? Ignore racism in the US and focus on power imbalances generally?

Perhaps. But I doubt that's the right answer. I think it is the right focus to counter Tucker's bullshit though, and certainly better than what Seabass offered.

--//--

Man, if white America is this afraid of black people, wait until they find out about white people. Sheeeit.

Oh come on man, really?

That was mainly a joke, but the point was that it's absurd for white America to be so fearful of black people given the great violence that has been done by white America over the years.

And remember that this was a response to the insane comment by the racist far-right Michael Savage where he said that CRT was the road to deathcamps for white people. You seem to think I'm just randomly attacking white people for no reason.

[Seabass]

Wait, Tucker said if we let in more non-whites we'll become like Rwanda?

It seemed to me that you were responding to a claim that we would become like Rwanda if CRT went unchecked, and your response was to point out--wrongly--that it wasn't non-whites doing the things he fears.

Tucker is a white supremacist whose main schtick as of late is fearmongering the "Great Replacement" theory. In his fevered imagination, Democrats are bringing dark people from the third world to the US to replace "real Americans". Of course he's going to roll CRT into his nonsense because it's the latest scare word for racist right-wingers. Trying to make logical sense of such a mess is futile because it's all incoherent bullshit. It's only purpose is make his white (sorry) audience more afraid of scary dark people.

[Brian Peacock]

Thank goodness our friend from the frozen North isn't here eh? We'd never have got this far!

I like Hermit's comparison to sexism - a Critical Gender Theory anyone?

If we wanted to consider the ways in which society and the State, through the imposition of laws and the unquestionable authority embedded therein, has historically acted to facilitate and propagate sexism and sexist thinking we only have to remember the fights people undertook for women's suffrage, equal pay, employment rights, a woman's right to have control over their reproductive health, or the right of women to be educated, to open a bank account or to own property, or to even own their own being. It was not so long ago that none of that was assured and all of it was enforced by law and social norms - and still today much of it remains in a state of flux with a lot still left to achieve.

Here, a Critical Gender Theory would look to examining the social, political, economic and legal structures which maintained that kind of inequality, and then offer some analysis of what factors held back/are holding back the project to achieve full equality of the sexes. We could look to systematic ableism in a similar way, or ageism, or transphobia, or any other form of institutionalised bigotry.

The thing about a Critical Theory is that it looks at things like systems and structures; the bigger picture - the things that compel, enforce, or simply just allow bigotry, discrimination, hatred, and violence to occur.

Tucker Carlson is a racist Cunt. He should definitely be challenged on his bigotry. But challenging Tucker doesn't challenge the systems which facilitate and empower him or his ilk. Those systems (social, political, legal, economic etc) are things that we've built. They can be challenged, undermined and remade, just like those which kept women 'in their place' until relatively recently. Bankrupting that fundamental idea--that a society can understand itself enough to change itself for the better--is what the Right and the Powers that back it are currently railing against. The more worried they get the louder they squeal.

[Seabass]

Perhaps all that Sean is suggesting is that Seabass has a rather narrow focus, it being basically racism against blacks in the US, and that the Republican party of today is evil incarnate.

Seabass can be mainly correct there, but neither may he be showing a broader picture...

Given the resurgence of white nationalism that we've seen in the US since the Obama presidency, can you blame me for focusing on white supremacy? It's not like I don't recognize that there are other kinds of power imbalance in the world, but right now, at this point in history in the country that I live in, white supremacy seems to have particular relevance.

Moreover, I also believe that white supremacy is main source of dysfunction in the US. It's the rotten tree that all the other branches of social ill grow out of.

Why the obscene wealth inequality? Racism. Why the gun zealotry? Racism. Why so little spending on the public weal? Racism. Why no UHC? Racism.

Honestly, I can't even begin to fathom how to discuss the dysfunction in the US without mentioning white supremacy. It would be like trying to have a conversation about cooking without mentioning heat. It's nonsensical.

[Seabass]

What would you have Seabass do? Ignore racism in the US and focus on power imbalances generally?

Perhaps. But I doubt that's the right answer. I think it is the right focus to counter Tucker's bullshit though, and certainly better than what Seabass offered.

It seems to me that if one person implies that black people are more violent than white people, one possible and perfectly appropriate counter to that remark is to remind that person that white people are also capable of great violence, and give examples if necessary.

Honestly, I don't see anything wrong with what I said. Are white people not every bit as capable of violence as black people?

What would you have said to him?