Race is a social construct in the same way that dog breeds are a social construct. They're fuzzy and often overlap, but they do correspond to some underlying biological reality. They're not an artificial political creation.
But why are you removing prejudice from the equation? In my experience, in Sweden, that is often used by people who really want to say what I define as racist shit but they see themselves as anti-racists so that is a problem.
Take something pretty harmless like "white men are such shitty fucking drivers". That is an example from a young very left wing politician in Sweden on twitter. She would of course never say "arab men are such shitty fucking drivers" even if they are statistically involved in more accidents in Sweden because she would see that as racist. Same as if a guy had written "women are such shitty fucking drivers" he would probably be seen as bigoted.
I think a lot of these discussions of what is racist and not and systems of oppression comes down to that it is nice to have a group of people you can generalize over. So that is why people are redefining concepts.
If a Black American hates and think Native Americans are worthless. Is he racist then? Who wins on the oppression competition?
>All these statements, are prejudiced, yes. The reason the 2nd two are seen as bigoted is because of the power dynamic there, and the systems of oppression. "white men are such shitty fucking drivers" is punching up, whereas the other two are punching down. I personally think it's fine to punch up and challenge those in power.
It was said by a pretty (yes, that matters) well educated white woman living in Stockholm. She is probably more privileged than 99% of white men in the world. I would say that the reason that the two others are seen bigoted is because it is people who wants to say bad things about white men who has defined it like that. Because they see themselves as good and racism is not good, i.e. it is not racism.
>IMO, to be racist is to support or erect the systems that continue to oppress people on the basis of race. Prejudice is probably one of the lesser ways racism happens, and even isn't always racist. Slavoj Zizek, for example, often talks about how he and others in the past have bonded by telling "racist" jokes about eachother's race. Maybe that's racist in the prejudice sense, but in the definition I'm using (and is the definition used by people that hate on white people or "whiteness") that wouldn't really be racism.
Are Asian Americans oppressed? Are women in Sweden oppressed? For example in the example of women in Sweden sure they are under-represented in some areas like board of directors and pay but they also don't work as much, they don't die as much at work or otherwise, they don't kill themselves as much, they do better in school, they are not as many homeless women etc.
And will they always be seen as oppressed if it turns out that fewer women wanted to put in the sacrifice at work to reach that far as a board of directors because they are more likely to value other things in life higher? How can you ever know what is oppression or just choice?
> Are Asian Americans oppressed? Are women in Sweden oppressed? For example in the example of women in Sweden sure they are under-represented in some areas like board of directors and pay but they also don't work as much, they don't die as much at work or otherwise, they don't kill themselves as much, they do better in school, they are not as many homeless women etc.
The fact is, most people are oppressed, and most in different ways. I'm against all systems of oppression. I think it's mostly pointless to compare individuals and how oppressed one person is to another. I do think it's good to attack systems of oppression, and criticize (and maybe even attack) the people that support those systems. To criticize the idea of "whiteness" is to attack racism. To criticize how a lot of men treat women is to criticize sexism, etc. I see nothing wrong with challenging power like that.
>To criticize the idea of "whiteness" is to attack racism.
Sure, if you at the same time criticize the idea of people identifying themselves as black.
>To criticize how a lot of men treat women is to criticize sexism, etc. I see nothing wrong with challenging power like that.
But how do you know that you are challenging power. Just like it is racism when people generalize about a single black man based on their perceived idea on how all black men act the same is true for a white man. If you think it is ok to give attributes to large groups of people based on skin color or sex you cannot say it is bigoted when others do it as well.
If you think it ok for you to generalize about men because you perceive that they hold a position of power then it must be equally correct for the incel community to generalize about women because they see women in a position of power. You just value different things but nothing is objectively correct.
Nazis believe the Jews contribute to a system of oppression. Does that make it ok for them to say prejudiced things about Jews?
