Imagine you are currently pregnant. You are not ‘a little bit pregnant’ or ‘partly pregnant’. You aren’t pregnant ‘sometimes, but only when other pregnant people are around’. You aren’t pregnant ‘in the comfort of your own home, but not at work or in public’. You aren’t pregnant ‘as a joke’. Now, replace the word pregnant with racist or
sexist.
If you can read that back to yourself and still disagree (you feel that maybe you can be partly racist/ sexist, you’ve been racist/ sexist only once or twice but you’re not really a racist or sexist) sorry to break it to you, but you are pregnant...I mean racist/ sexist.
The entire craze that racism and/ or sexism are opinions is something so widely accepted and promoted. Yes, the ‘isms’ are technically concatenations of opinions; feminism, sexism, racism, collectivism, individualism, ethnocentrism, prescriptivism, descriptivism, fascism, totalitarianism..et cetera. Each is a belief system, held by a group of like-minded people, creating a movement which, looking at it holistically, either creates a product of good or evil. But, who decides what is good and evil? If everything is an opinion, then to state that ‘racism exists in the United Kingdom’ can not be argued or disputed either way as right or wrong. To state that ‘sexism is sustained in contemporary society because of deeply ingrained patriarchal systems of oppression, which appear in all aspects of life; law, education, religion, employment, marriage’ is neither fact or fiction.
Continuing with this line of argument, it would be safe to say that no one can really prove what is racist or not; sexist or not. If you have a racist encounter, an experience that has disturbed and upset you, let’s say a superior colleague at your place of work denied you an opportunity due to your race or gender, then reporting this to a figure of higher authority and expecting a productive repercussion would be futile. Why? Because your experience of discrimination is your opinion. Your feelings of hurt and offence are untestable. While you voice your confusion and exasperation to your dissimilar minded colleagues, an avalanche entrains, the snow laced with ‘personally, I don’t find (said situation) racist/ sexist’ and ‘that’s your opinion’ comments. You are left disillusioned and jaded. You can’t fight the system when the system doesn’t exist to some people. If you feel frustrated by this, I’m with you.
While researching for this post, I came across a perfect exemplification of what I’m talking about. Aside from the unsurprising grammatical mistakes, and while this post is two years old, the ignorance and obtuseness is remarkably mundane, especially in today’s socio-political climate where the ‘everything is an opinion’ trend dominates.
Anonymous
Answered December 23, 2018 I am a white working class male from England. Racism is real yes, but it is used so wrongly by so many people. I for example dislike Islam. The quaran wants me and all other white people dead and under sharia law they would have all homosexuals killed also.
Now me pointing this out gets me in trouble with a lot of people, including someone on this post i bet, but thats not why i am here.
Factually racism is real, but i believe its all a bunch of shit.
Firstly, the paradox of “factually racism is real, but I believe its all a bunch of shit” is the equivalence of Kim Kardashian nonchalantly tweeting “Racism is real 💔” and then profiting off of appropriating black culture. (People are dying Kim) Anyway... while the desire for me to critically analyse every word in this post, highlighting the sciolism, underlining the ignorance, I will restrain myself and state plainly what I ‘think’.
Opinions are your preferred genre of literature or film. Opinions are not ‘I think muslims, black people and immigrants are sub-human’. Opinions are ‘I prefer coffee over tea’. Opinions are not ‘I believe racism is all a bunch of shit’ (to quote our archetype). The difficulty is much racism and sexism is subtle and those who engage in racist and sexist dialogues do not consider themselves as racist or sexist. Painfully, I regularly hear ‘personally, I think women belong in the kitchen’ and ‘a woman’s purpose is domestic.. in my opinion’ but such snide individuals aren’t overtly sexist. Denying a person to rent your property because ‘X people always mess the place up’ is perfectly justifiable because everything is a preference nowadays.
The #alllivesmatter brigade overindulge in this argument; that the urgency for black rights is gratuitous. But, when it comes to someone’s life, their revoked opportunities, their innate lack of privilege, their inherent under appreciation, it is worth considerably more than someone’s opinion. When both cis and trans women are underrepresented in government and executive positions, when cis and trans women enter male dominated sectors and their pay decreases, when the UK's gender pay gap stands at 8.9% , there is more at risk for us than your positive face. The 2019 Race report from Equality and Human Rights Commission outlined that “Black African women had a mortality rate four times higher than White women in the UK” along with other poignant statistics that show just how detrimental these ‘opinions’ are.
Discussions about race and gender are always hot-topics around the dinner table or over drinks with friends, but simply saying ‘let’s agree to disagree’ completely undermines the primary issues and leaves both parties in a state of limbo, both internally believing they are right and thus the vicious cycle of biases and prejudice continues comfortably within ourselves. When you are not the one facing these prejudices each and every day, shying away from difficult conversations is inviting but I urge you, don’t. I will not ‘agree to disagree’ with you about this, and that is my opinion.
{Note in reference to my last piece: Episode 8 entitled ‘The Anti-Racist Renaissance’ on About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge discusses similar points to the ones I made, as well as other interesting insights into white supremacy in the entertainment industry- a highly recommended listen!}
See link for 10 UK based BLM petitions <3
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