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PaperclipPerfector  4mo ago (text post)   29098 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of December 18, 2023

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I think you're severely overestimating the popularity of the Coatesian 'white supremacy' anti-racist paradigm versus normie lib 'don't be a dick' anti-racist paradigm.

(I suspect you also underestimate the prevalence of racism, which leads to further confusion)

I kept thinking to myself who are these white supremacists that they think run the country? If this country was run by white supremacists, they would be doing a terrible job.

Your confusion arises from semantic differences. When someone like Coates or Kendi talks about "white supremacy", they don't (just) mean mask-off segregationists or white nationalists. They don't even mean closeted white racists. They mean the whole accumulation of things which collectively acts to keep white people at the top of the socio-economic heap*. You can probably find a direct quote from one of the above that articulates this without my paraphrasing, but it's late and I'm on my phone, so I'm leaving that as an exercise for the reader.

Crucially, in this paradigm, it is entirely possible for society to be white supremacist despite the fact that everyone including racist white people profess to oppose racism and look at efforts to form explicitly white organizations with intense suspicion. Disparate impact and outcomes are the key indicators.

*though they'll also be quick to note that the US also has a pretty long history of explicitly giving preferential treatment to whites.

Your confusion arises from semantic differences. When someone like Coates or Kendi talks about "white supremacy", they don't (just) mean mask-off segregationists or white nationalists. They don't even mean closeted white racists. They mean the whole accumulation of things which collectively acts to keep white people at the top of the socio-economic heap*.

Which begs the question: if white supremacy isn't a tangible ideology or movement, only a nebulous feeling permeating pie charts about household incomes and crime rates, then why would "white supremacists" be a threat to the status quo? A status quo that, supposedly, they benefit greatly from?

They mean the whole accumulation of things which collectively acts to keep white people at the top of the socio-economic heap

This is, mostly, the predictable consequences of people’s own actions.

Your confusion arises from semantic differences. When someone like Coates or Kendi talks about "white supremacy", they don't (just) mean mask-off segregationists or white nationalists.

This is the kind of thing the motte and bailey phrase was designed for.

Except that they're more than willing to defend the supposed bailey. This is more like referring to refugees and asylum seekers as 'illegals'.

acts to keep white people at the top of the socio-economic heap

The awkward part is that Asians have higher income and homeownership rates (among other outcomes) than white people.

Yes, but only because they live in places with high cost of living.

When you compare them to white people living in the same location, they're not actually doing better.

They just cluster in coastal cities for historical reasons (which have their own White Supremacist aspects, but I'm not an expert on that).

I don't buy it. Asian homeownership rates are also higher than whites. If Asians are also living in higher COL areas, that should raise estimates of their true "adjusted" wealth/income even further.

There's a contingent of Asians who want to minimize Asian success for various reasons (obvious contradictions with woke orthodoxy, visibly successful groups are less likely to get handouts and resources). I've met some of them in the past and you basically cannot believe what they say.

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