Current mood:

*thud*

Addendum to the Faux-Cred Card Ordinance.
I need to add a corollary to The Faux-Cred Card Ordinance, courtesy of a rant my GF had about some people in her college classes. In a stunning instance of the stars coming into alignment, this exact situation just cropped up on otf_wank. Go figure. Therefore, I humbly present to the assembled of jurisimprudence for their consideration:

WAC 375.1.45.1. Faux-Authority Card Statute.

Anyone claiming to be an authority on the discrimination leveled towards a societal group by virtue of associating with/being descended from members of said group -- without actually being a member of the group themselves, or experiencing said discrimination firsthand -- will automatically lose the argument and be transported back to the 1800s for a crash course on segregation and racism.

Examples:

"I know all about homophobia. I have gay friends."
"I know all about racism. My boyfriend is half-black." (This was an actual argument point.)
"I know all about slavery! My ancestors were slaves!" (This was an actual argument point as well, by a girl with some Irish in her background.)
"I know all about discrimination! I'm descended from Pocahontas and a black slave!" (See wank mentioned.)

I consider it very eerie that I wrote this up in my JF a couple days ago and it suddenly became oh so apt.

(Post a new comment)

	ladylance 2007-04-27 07:18 pm UTC (link)
	While I agree that to make those claims is silly, I do give some credit to the Irish chick--before the African slave trade really got going, many Irish were packed up on ships and hauled off to the Carribean to work on the English sugar plantations. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	tez 2007-04-27 07:48 pm UTC (link)
	I know. She was apparently speaking as though she personally had done the backbreaking work of harvesting sugarcane in the punishing Caribbean sun, tortured by her whip-wielding English oppressors. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	ladylance 2007-04-27 11:08 pm UTC (link)
	Okay, that is stupid And I love your icon. XD (Reply to this)(Parent)

	(Anonymous) 2007-05-05 09:46 pm UTC (link)
	Which is different from when black people do that how? (Reply to this)(Parent)

kannaophelia
2007-04-28 11:54 am UTC (link)

Agreed. Children and adults dying because they were shipped overseas, starved, beaten and worked to death by their owners transcends skin colour, yes. It's neither more nor less silly than a middle-class American woman making the same claim on behalf of African slave ancestors, and the girl being "lily-white" has fuck all to do with the matter in hand. Either being descended from slaves is basis for a cred claim of understanding slavery, or it's not.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	ladylance 2007-04-28 12:10 pm UTC (link)
	Weyoun! Icon love <3 (Reply to this)(Parent)

	tez 2007-04-28 02:22 pm UTC (link)
	I was quoting someone else's description when I wrote that. Edited accordingly. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	sisterelwood 2007-04-27 10:27 pm UTC (link)
	I approve of this. (Reply to this)