- Joined
- Aug 17, 2020
Oooh is this the "Lets discuss our feelings on black people" thread now?
Basically it's highly situational and regional. Some people grow up in towns with almost no black people and if they have a negative interaction with one it drastically skews their viewpoint. Others grow up in places with a high density of black people and if they get othered by them that also colors their view. It's hella complicated really. Racism, for better or for worse, exists as some kind of weird survival mechanism or something and can't really be "defeated". You notice a specific group of people acting in a certain way, you notice a pattern, you expect a pattern. Do remember that this pattern can also be "positive", like noticing Asians are better with money or Black people are physically stronger. In quotes because these "positive" racisms can still have negative effects but...you get the idea. Racism is kinda just pattern recognition so you "defeat" it by trying to contribute to a positive pattern.
And again, it's so regional. I live in a mostly black suburb and have no beef with the black people here because they've almost all been pretty swell to me. But I did once jokingly complain on a messageboard about there being too many Black History Months because my school had like...5 of them? Black History Month, Black Women's History Month, and Black Inventor's Month are the only 3 I remember. The other two might have been "Black History Month is coming up" and "Black History Month is too short". I got dogpiled pretty hard for that because I didn't realize how different things are in other states. We'll call it a learning experience.
Speaking of patterns, every time I meet someone online who has the same dumb interests as me I just assume they're a black nerd at this point. I'm usually right. Most of them don't talk about it much but when they do they'd agree that black culture is kind of a fucking dumpster fire.
Basically it's highly situational and regional. Some people grow up in towns with almost no black people and if they have a negative interaction with one it drastically skews their viewpoint. Others grow up in places with a high density of black people and if they get othered by them that also colors their view. It's hella complicated really. Racism, for better or for worse, exists as some kind of weird survival mechanism or something and can't really be "defeated". You notice a specific group of people acting in a certain way, you notice a pattern, you expect a pattern. Do remember that this pattern can also be "positive", like noticing Asians are better with money or Black people are physically stronger. In quotes because these "positive" racisms can still have negative effects but...you get the idea. Racism is kinda just pattern recognition so you "defeat" it by trying to contribute to a positive pattern.
And again, it's so regional. I live in a mostly black suburb and have no beef with the black people here because they've almost all been pretty swell to me. But I did once jokingly complain on a messageboard about there being too many Black History Months because my school had like...5 of them? Black History Month, Black Women's History Month, and Black Inventor's Month are the only 3 I remember. The other two might have been "Black History Month is coming up" and "Black History Month is too short". I got dogpiled pretty hard for that because I didn't realize how different things are in other states. We'll call it a learning experience.
Speaking of patterns, every time I meet someone online who has the same dumb interests as me I just assume they're a black nerd at this point. I'm usually right. Most of them don't talk about it much but when they do they'd agree that black culture is kind of a fucking dumpster fire.