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Conservatives and Obama, Us and Twilight: A Further Follow-Up - The Watchtower of Destruction: The Ferrett's Journal
April 6th, 2012
02:22 am

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Conservatives and Obama, Us and Twilight: A Further Follow-Up

(85 shouts of denial | Tell me I'm full of it)

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From:celandine13
Date:April 6th, 2012 11:56 am (UTC)
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I think, with racism and sexism and 'isms' generally, there's a sort of confusion of terminology.

A "Racist1" is someone, who, like a majority of people in this society, has subconsciously internalized some negative attitudes about minority racial groups. If a Racist1 takes the Implicit Association Test, her score shows she's biased against black people, like the majority of people (of all races) who took the test. Chances are, whether you know it or not, you're a Racist1.

A "Racist2" is someone who's kind of an insensitive jerk about race. The kind of guy who calls Obama the "Food Stamp President." Someone you wouldn't want your sister dating.

A "Racist3" is a neo-Nazi. You can never be quite sure that one day he won't snap and kill someone. He's clearly a social deviant.

People use the word "Racist" for all three things, and I think that's the source of a lot of arguments. When people get accused of being racists, they evade responsibility by saying, "Hey, I'm not a Racist3!" when in fact you were only saying they were Racist1 or Racist2. But some of the responsibility is on the accusers too -- if you say "That Republican's a racist" with the implication of "a jerk" and then backtrack and change the meaning to "vulnerable to unconscious bias", then you're arguing in bad faith. Never mind that some laws and rules which were meant to protect people from Racist3's are in fact deployed against Racist2's.

I think the backlash against Twilight is mostly Sexist1. Heck, I think Twilight's problems are mostly Sexist1. Doesn't mean they're not worth calling out. But people are getting offended at being called Sexist2s or Sexist3s when none of this debate is on that level.
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From:denyer
Date:April 6th, 2012 12:40 pm (UTC)
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Well put.
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From:theferrett
Date:April 6th, 2012 04:43 pm (UTC)
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Well said, I think.
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From:skipperdee
Date:April 6th, 2012 08:25 pm (UTC)
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I like this distinction. A lot.
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