When did I say that I got terrified? When I hear that someone is German, the reflexive thought in my head is "Holocaust". That's my association with Germany. I don't automatically assume every German I meet is a ****ing Nazi, nor do I assume anything about most people that I meet. In fact, when I find myself making those reflexive judgments, I call myself out on it because I try very hard not to be a racist *******.
That's so strange, because by asking me that question you were trying to imply (and project) that I should have a similar reaction. What's weird, is people have idiosyncrasies.
All I am trying to say is that "white" is associated with a LOT of oppression, even as recently as the 1960s (as far as explicit and very visible oppression and discrimination goes) here in the US. That's just how it is; that's how it's going to be. The biggest impact your ethnicity or race or nationality or WHATEVER has had on other people is what they are going to think of FIRST, and it takes getting to know individuals or educating yourself on others or other aspects of their history, or at least being open-minded and realizing that not everyone fits the stereotype or association you have before people can see past those things.
Ah ok. So because people have negative associations with my race, I must internalize and apologize for those associations? At what point is the fact that somebody is white taken out of their hands and not seen as a memetic reproduction of prejudice?
I don't fault anyone for being cautious to trust or listen to people who have systematically been the oppressors.
I as an individual know what I advocate for and who I advocate for, but that doesn't mean I can't recognize and acknowledge that people like me have been responsible for some pretty reprehensible things done to other people, and that we create these quick-judgment walls as a way of protecting ourselves from the possible "bad apples". But yeah, absolutely, we have to be open-minded enough to know that "not all _____" are the same, and to judge individuals individually.
You don't fault someone for not being able to pick out the poisonous M&M in a jar though.
"People like you"?
Ok, all bull**** arguments aside, you need to seriously consider that statement. I feel incredibly sorry for you if you think there is any similarity or unseen link between you and whites who have persecuted other races purely because you share a skin color.
There is no difference between you believing that about yourself or you believing any other negative stereotype about another race. The sooner you stop thinking of all white people as a hegemonic and many-headed "we" the better. You share no traits with historical racists, and the sooner you stop insinuating you or other whites do or feel any link to them whatsoever, the better.
I've been to America, I lived there for 4 years. Race is still taboo there, and the discussions are hushed and shied away from. Come here for a few weeks, see how it compares.
I think it's so hilarious that you think this is what's happening to white people, because this is exactly what happens to black people when they are represented by blackface. Unintentially the cosplayer took everything that was interesting about that character (I don't even know who the character is!) and reduced her down to 1 pound of bad makeup, a ratty wig and an offensive looking nose. It was a bad imitation of blackness and this is why blackface/yellowface/whiteface is never a good idea.
It just comes down to that some white people want to treat the discrimination of not so long ago like it's such old news, we should forget it. And those racist monsters of the past - not their relatives, so they're wiping their hands of it. But when a minority person wants to express deep connections about something related to that same racism, the white people feel their opinion should be counted as just as equal as the black person's even though the white person said "it's just the past" to them. Wait, you don't think this kind of racism is a big deal, you think the major discrimination is purely in the past, yet you have strong opinions on how people of color whose still feel the oppression should not have an opinion on it??? Educate yourself or listen to the people who have actually researched and cared about the issue.
So now we're going to play a game of "Who's suffered more?" to see whose opinion is more legitimate? Further solidifying the trend in here that people are nothing more than the ideological categories that they embody. Gotcha.
At no point did I say anyone's opinion is more important, just that everybody should legitimately be able to express it without having their race disqualify them from participating. "Educate myself"? Gosh...I'll try. I also like your insinuation that I don't "actually care about the issue". Thanks man, it's nice when people don't assume I'm a racist ***hole that doesn't have sympathy and understanding for people outside my own race
