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cat_mcdougall
2009-09-14 11:11 pm UTC (link)

Actually it was a misspeak (because uhh... brain dead? Whatever.) I made a verbal/textual booboo and and am now trying to make up for it by supplying boobies. I cannot supply chocolate or alcohol; boobies are the best I can do.

Would you prefer self-flagellation? I'm not into that sorta thing, but I can maybe find it for you if you'd like.

Do I think Kanye might be racist? Yes. I do. It's a personal opinion. Should I have said "reverse racism"? No. So, I supply boobies.

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	microclimate 2009-09-14 11:14 pm UTC (link)
	Usually when people make verbal boo-boos they say I'm sorry I screwed up rather than derailing with boobies. Or they make capslock posts on their visually terrifying blog posts and then get called racist for being r00d to poor white people. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	cat_mcdougall 2009-09-14 11:25 pm UTC (link)
	Okay, here it is: I'm sorry I mis-wrote. I will not apologise for my opinion (ie, Kanye possibly being a racist), but will agree to disagree on the point. This isn't about "poor white people". If you were offended, I apologise. ... Now can we have a boobie train? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	eleutheria 2009-09-14 11:45 pm UTC (link)
	What's the "verbal/textual boo-boo"? That you believe that "reverse racism" actually freaking exists, but you think it's wrong to call it that because it offends people? I'm confused about what you're apologizing about vs. what you actually believe. (Reply to this)(Parent)

haunted
2009-09-15 03:32 am UTC (link)

Oh, for fucks sake. An act of prejudice against a white person by someone from a racial minority is bigotry, not racism. Kanye West does not hold racial privileges or institutional or systemic power over Taylor Swift, or any other white person. If you're going to be stupid, at least be sociologically correct.

Plus your fascination with faceless, practically disembodied breasts is creepy.

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xturtle
2009-09-15 04:16 am UTC (link)

I actually think (lj user="haunted">, above, has a good point, and wanted to support it in a less-heated manner, because I think it's an important distinction that often causes discussions like this to work at cross-purposes.

"Racism" in social science/activism/politics/whatever is academically defined as prejudice and/or bigotry that is supported by an imbalance of power, frequently resulting in reinforcement of that imbalance. Prejudice is something that can happen in two directions: both black and white people may develop assumptions on how a member of the "other" group is likely to act based on race that are completely unfair to individuals who do not fit this stereotype. But in the US, at least, black people are highly unlikely to have enough power to perpetuate widespread power imbalance based on this prejudice.

I think you might find this article interesting, as it talks about much (though not all) of what tends to get referred to as "reverse racism." The "racism radar" concept is fairly new to me, so I've been trying to look at recent events through this lens: how sensitive was Kanye's "radar" at that moment vis a vis that of a non-drunk, white woman (me)? Something happened to make him think he needed to stand up for Beyonce, and having heard his rants in the past I suspect something blipped on his screen last night that the majority of the audience would never have seen as worth being an ass over.

I am officially tl;dr, I know, but wanted to try to stop the pile-on in favor of thoughtful discourse and a possible chance to dialog on a difficult topic.

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