Weve all been seeing accusations of racism flying around for the last month or so. Well heres my take on the situation. I think that in general, what more conservative and more liberal Americans view as racism is fundamentally different. In conservatism, what is emphasized when discussing social justice is equality of opportunity, normally as it relates to the laws governing society. That is, because there is no law directly prohibiting minorities from becoming CEOs, no restriction on minorities attending college, etc., people in society are essentially treated as equal. Of course there will be racist individuals, and of course some people will be better off than others, but the role of race in determining someones situation is largely ignored. Racism in conservatism is any treatment (positive or negative) of one person differently than another because of his/her race. In liberalism, what is emphasized is equality of outcome. That is, because a larger percent of minorities are in prison, in poverty, or the victims of brutality/crimes, etc., people in society are not essentially treated as equal. Of course the laws of segregation from a half century ago are largely gone, the justice system isnt deliberately set up to imprison minorities at a higher rate, and in most cases there arent official rules telling minorities they cant succeed, but there is clearly something wrong with a society with such obvious differences in outcome between races. Racism in liberalism is allowing inequalities in outcome between races at a societal level continue to exist, or to ignore or deny the existence of inequality. The result of all this is that both sides view the other sides solution to racism as racist. By liberal logic, if a particular minority is experiencing different outcomes than another, then help must be given to that minority to bring a more equal outcome for them. But by conservative logic, giving help to only one group of people based on their race is pretty much the definition of racism. If the legal equality of opportunity is there, then race cant be the reason for the inequality. Any attempt at reforms that focus on race must be opposed. But this, in a society with such obvious differences in outcome between races, is precisely the liberal definition of racism. So in the end, the reforms that liberals propose to end racism will always themselves be viewed as racist by conservatives. And conservatives attempts to end racism by moving away from any recognition of race (i.e. being color-blind) will always be viewed as racist by liberals. I dont know what the solution is, but I do know this. Most every American doesnt want to be racist. With the exception of very few bigoted nut-jobs, were all out for the same result here. And the best way to AVOID achieving that result is to repeatedly call the 50% of Americans who disagree with your methods racists. You can think someone is wrong without thinking theyre mean-spirited. And now Im going to go back to pinning moths. Peace!
Posted on: Sun, 28 Dec 2014 23:38:08 +0000
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