Doesn’t Matter Who Wins the K Race; We’re All the Same

[sebastian_dangerfield]

While it's fun to talk about Adder like he's not here, I'm going to make this the last post about it from me.

I think Adder is in a place where many people of color have found themselves. When you constantly see people of color being treated differently, it's hard not to see. If I were Adder, I would have pointed out that you may not be seeing what others can from their perspective. I'm not sure I think that stating that the Chinese make crap is based on race and not the fact that government oversight and regulation for businesses isn't what ours is. And I'm not sure the focus on the negatives (hell, lead-laced baby formula is what sticks out for me) means you're racist. But here's the difference:

When Adder said that you tend to focus on the worst stuff when it comes to Chinese goods when they make amazing things as well, I didn't automatically throw up my hands, walk away from the conversation and call him a naïf. I thought about the way I was thinking about it and tried to reconcile my thought process with the possibility that I was overgeneralizing. You should do that to. Being forced to go through that thought process shouldn't elicit immediate disdain and dismissal.

I agree I was overgeneralizing. He could have said that. He didn't.

The NYT has devoted a large amount of resources this past week to showing how race permeates everything. Adder talks about how it permeates everything and actually applies that thought process to our conversations. The point I'm making is that as we all learn more about the extent of the impact of race in everything we have done and continue to do, Adder isn't as out there as you make him to be.

I agree that thinking about how race is omnipresent is the best course.

Cool enough. But there's no such thing as a fiscal conservative/social liberal. The support required to implement social policies requires resources. So anyone who calls themselves that is surely full of shit.

There are a lot of people who call themselves that. This person wasn't full of shit. If he were full of shit, he'd have dismissed 1619 out of hand, as many conservatives are doing.

I think you would actually do better to discuss this stuff instead of throwing up your hands and talking about how people like him who focus on this stuff and talk about it a lot are the reason why we have a racist moron in office. Because that's absolutely fucking ridiculous.

I am open to discussing the stuff. I think a discussion of the myriad ways race impacts our society is worthwhile. It's also fascinating. Bluntly asserting "that's racist" to everything, however, is dumb. I don't like dumb.

Talking requires thinking. Developing a doctrinaire and purist approach to this topic, or any other, as Adder has, precludes useful conversation.

TM[/QUOTE]