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ZorbaTHut  1yr ago (text post)   44982 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of September 5, 2022

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Can you elaborate then on what you see as the difference between not-racist and anti-racist?

If Kendi's definition is more prevalent in academic, scientific and governmental discourse, would you at least acknowledge that your usage is nonstandard?

There are at least four categories: Racist, not racist, opposed to racism, and Kendi-approved.

Tolkien was in the third. Lots of Americans are. Telling your drunk uncle not to use the n-word is in this category, as is arguing with racists on the Internet. It would make sense, in a vacuum, to call this “anti-racist.”

Kendi is attempting to apply that legitimacy to his own category. As pointed out across this thread, Tolkien would likely not meet his seal of approval. It is rhetorically useful to call his category “anti-racist” precisely because many people would like to be in it.

Getting upset at the normal, sensible meaning of the word is ceding the battle.

Getting upset at the normal, sensible meaning of the word is ceding the battle.

At the same time, though, you don't get to write the dictionary, or at least, what goes into the dictionary.

Prior to the last several years, I would have interpreted "not racist" to mean "not discriminating or holding prejudice against persons or peoples on account of race" and "anti-racist" as meaning "making efforts to counter or thwart racism, or at the very least, opposed to the toleration of racism and racists". I haven't read Kendi's book, but I interpreted the title How to be an Antiracist as gesturing straightforwardly at the latter: "Yes, and here is how racism can be thwarted, and these are the efforts you need to make".

I'd agree though that edits to Tolkien's wikipedia page are made with the new sense in mind. I doubt the person meant it in ideological sense, though. They were just aware that in the new world Critical Social Justice has made, racism is a black and white struggle and you are either with the racists or you are "Anti-Racist". This bugs me about as much as it seems to bug you, ie, a lot.

They were just aware that in the new world Critical Social Justice has made, racism is a black and white struggle and you are either with the racists or you are "Anti-Racist".

Yeah, exactly. The ideologues have triumphed to that extent, that if you don't make Wiki edits in line with the New Orthodoxy, you get crushed or even the page gets deleted because it's full of wrongthink. The loud online minority of activists may only be a minority, but they are very loud and will go around claiming "So-and-so is bad because we say so!" and they get their way by being screeching nuisances.

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