IBARW: Two Reasons I Talk About Actions and Ideas, Not People

[kate_nepveu]

Really quick this time, but to put up-front something I mentioned in a few comments:

I am trying to talk about actions and ideas, not about people, when I'm talking about racism. Here are two reasons why.

gaudior, [IBARW] The “gotcha” game: How not to undermine your own anti-racism work.

[When anti-racism activists are educating/arguing the anti-racist position,] the purpose is to present anti-racist ideas to people as clearly and convincingly as possible. It has to be done smoothly, in such a way that it slips past defenses to present a point of view that people may not have thought of before, such that their first reaction is “Oh, interesting—I never thought of that before!” not, “Shut up! I am not!” The former lets the person think the idea over and decide whether or not s/he agrees with it—the latter cuts off that possibility before the conversation’s started.

jonquil, It's not who you are, it's what you do.

Racism, homophobia, and all the other sins are not adjectives: they are verbs. Each individual action counts. It's not whether you are racist, it's that you just said something racist that matters. So suck it up, consider the action, apologize, and don't do it again.

I see these as two sides of the same coin. And I'd take it as a courtesy if people would consider this when commenting in my posts.

Comments

[scifantasy.livejournal.com]

Racism, homophobia, and all the other sins are not adjectives: they are verbs.

Very true. If you say something racist, sexist, homophobic, or otherwise, then it doesn't matter whether you "are racist" or not, you're racist. (Or sexist, homophobic, et cetera.)

But that raises, for me at least, a question.

When I saw this post, I was going to comment that it works the other way, too. I was going to say that, as Bujold put it, "impure thoughts don't count. Only acts of will." (Paraphrased from A Civil Campaign.)

I stopped, because I realized I'm not sure if that's true. I'd like to think that any unconscious prejudice I have (the theme of my only IBARW post last year, "And Yet, or Race, Color, And Creed" (http://scifantasy.livejournal.com/203558.html)) doesn't make me racist if I recognize them for what they are and refuse to act on them. But...I don't know if that's correct. If actions make racism, then what do thoughts make if they aren't acted upon? Is it important to try to act specifically against those thoughts?

Recognizing and trying to squelch unconscious racism, when it reaches up into the conscious mind, is critical. But is it enough?

[kate_nepveu]

I struggle with this too. What I'm thinking (hah) at the moment is that I want to try and stop thinking in racist ways, because then I can be much more confident that I'm not _acting_ in racist ways. I mean, I'm not sure how good my control over my face and body language is, so maybe I _am_ showing my racist responses in dealing with people, even though I don't want to have those responses or to show them. Or I'll react in some racially-charged situation using the wrong instincts, before I can realize what I'm doing.

[calimac.livejournal.com]

It's not who you are, it's what you do.

Very true. And it applies to other things as well. For instance, I've seen it complained that smokers are discriminated against by being prohibited from various places.

But this is not true. Smokers are welcome ... so long as they are not smoking at the time.

(And if they're coming to my house, would they mind changing their clothes and washing their hair first?)

[kate_nepveu]

While I agree with you about smokers, the broader implication resonates with something I wanted to talk about later on. So watch this space.

[fledgist.livejournal.com]

I think you're right there.

[mdevnich.livejournal.com]

Thank you for writing these. My mind is coming up blank as I try to think of something to write myself, but I'm really glad to read other people's posts and be forced to think.

[kate_nepveu]

You're welcome, and thank you for commenting.