this post was submitted on 09 Apr 2024
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Interesting Global News

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An Australian museum excluded men from an exhibit to highlight misogyny. A man sued for access and won.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/mkwF8

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago (2 children)

That's easy.
For starters: Go to China. Go to the middle east. Go to Zimbabwe. Go to the wrong parts of Brazil or South Africa.

Hell, go to Northern Ireland.

It's an idiotic thing to state that white people are not and have never been oppressed.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Plenty of down-votes but strangely no responses.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I mean, overwhelmingly people aren't racially discriminated against for being white so I'm not sure what it is you're trying to back up.

Sure it happens. The one that's closest to home for me in that list is Northern Ireland. White Catholics here were abused, but it was by white people so nothing to do with the colour of their skin. Honestly such a terrible example with absolutely no understanding for historical context.

I've spent non-trivial time in the Middle East. Sure I'm not at the same social class as Arabs there but I was sure fucking glad I wasn't brown.

China, wot? Yeah people stare at me but nobody was nasty. If anything I was a novelty.

White people in South Africa were gonna get what they were gonna get in a post apartheid world where they pillaged and oppressed until quite recently. That doesn't make it right but it makes it inevitable.

They're all very poorly thought out, edge case examples with the exception of Zimbabwe unless I'm missing others that I'm not aware of.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

The Irish have been abused and degrqded by the British for Centuries. Still are, not nearly like they used to be, but its still there.

China. You know they officially call white people a racist slur right?

Middle East: Not as bad as Middle eastern women or anyone from southeast Asia. Still racist.

South Africa: yup, cant say they didnt deserve it, but its still racism, also not inevitable.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

The Irish have been abused and degrqded by the British for Centuries. Still are, not nearly like they used to be, but its still there.

I know very well. I'm Irish. Pretty sure still have our own "and the Irish" section in British airports as a holdover from the troubles. The point I'm making is that it had nothing to do with being white and I haven't met any British people trying to abuse or degrade me for being Irish. My sister lives there and is married to an English man so I visit frequently.

China: I didn't experience any overt racism there because of the colour of my skin. We have derogatory words for basically everyone in English but it doesn't mean people use them. Hell, we call the British "Tans" if we're feeling belligerent towards them. "Paddy" has lost all meaning as a slur against the Irish.

Middle east: Sure. There I did experience it but it was incredibly mild and as I said I was very glad I wasn't brown.

Anyway, my main point was this:

overwhelmingly people aren’t racially discriminated against for being white

And I feel that it stands and yes there are exceptions but the historical weight of racism hasn't fallen on white people because of the colour of their skin.

[–] [email protected] -5 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Go to the wrong parts of Brazil or South Africa.

What do you you mean "wrong parts"? 🤨

It's an idiotic thing to state that white people are not and have never been oppressed.

White (an invented and morphose social category predicated on anti-Blackness) people have never been oppressed for being white.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (2 children)

White (an invented and morphose social category predicated on anti-Blackness) people have never been oppressed for being white.

Imagine actually believing this.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago (2 children)

The concept of "white" as a race dates back to WW2, at most. Before then, being from France was as ethnically important a distinction as being from England, Spain, Germany, Ireland, or China. Due to the long history of conflict amongst European nations, there was no unified sense of race due to something as simple as skin color.

When the Irish immigrated to the US, they were considered equivalent to black people by Americans and competed for the same jobs.

The British, inspired by the American ethnic cleansings of the Native American tribes, attempted to ethnically cleanse the Irish from Ireland for their land. That's what the famine in Ireland actually was. There was a scarcity of potatoes, but otherwise there was plenty of food - so long as you were British. In fact, there's a statue of a Native American in northern Ireland commemorating the Native tribes' aid during the famine, because they recognized what the British were doing and were one of the few groups to send supplies to the Irish. Nobody else cared, because they were Irish, not (insert country here).

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago (1 children)

The concept of “white” as a race dates back to WW2, at most.

It goes back farther than that, but it is a social and legal category people have sued in attempt to be considered as.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

Appreciate the correction, the first time I could think of as "white" being a unified thing was the white supremacists of the "Aryan master race" era.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (2 children)

The concept of “white” as a race dates back to WW2, at most.

Wow I'll make sure to tell all my black friends, I'm sure that'll endear me to them.

When the Irish immigrated to the US, they were considered equivalent to black people by Americans and competed for the same jobs.

Well, this is just completely false, you're completely disconnected from reality. Irish were never blocked from whites-only schools were they? Irish people were never subject to interracial marriage laws afaik. Were any Irish ever entirely excluded from being able to immigrate to the U.S.? I know it's popular among certain groups to pretend certain Europeans faced the same disadvantages as formerly enslaved African-Americans but frankly it's incredibly insulting and tone deaf as fuck.

Theory is fine you guys but you need to actually go out into the world and interact with people sometimes.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

my black friends

I was wondering when—not if—you were going to pull "I have Black friends".

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Cool thought-terminating cliche too bad you didn't actually address anything I said.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] -2 points 8 months ago

Like your mom when we run a train on her?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I am...unclear on what you're actually arguing about. You went from arguing that white people are oppressed for being white and/or that white as a unified race wasn't the invention of racism to separate the white European ethnicities from black people, to straw-manning me to argue that white people were never oppressed the same way black people have been (and continue to be).

Both me and the OP are saying that the idea of a single "white" race was the invention of racists. To separate white Europeans from other people. Before the white supremacists coined the term white as a race, your race was French, Swedish, Irish, British, Russian, etc. White is just a label to lump all these Europeans from disparate cultural backgrounds who hated each other's guts together to form a unified front against "the savage black man" and "the Asian menace."

And nobody has ever been oppressed for being white. When was the last time you heard of somebody being passed over for a job because they were too white, or the cops going around arresting all the white people off the streets. White people probably suffer the same treatment as other foreigners in xenophobic countries, but they're not singled out for being white.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I'm not arguing anything, just pointing out some bullshit.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago

What bullshit? Do you think that white people are oppressed? Or that the idea of white as a race wasn't the product of a bunch of racists who wanted to prove the superiority of white people over black people?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Barbary slave trade?

Read through that entire article and didn't read one word about anyone being oppressed for being white.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

While Barbary corsairs looted the cargo of ships they captured, their primary goal was to capture non-Muslim people for sale as slaves or for ransom.

it seems kind of obvious what their test for "non-muslim" likely was

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

it seems kind of obvious what their test for "non-muslim" likely was

White people can't say
أَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا ٱللَّٰهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا رَسُولُ ٱللَّٰهِ

In front of two witnesses?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

i really don't imagine it would've made much difference, kind of like how an african that was also albino still would've ended up enslaved

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Again you're trying to conflate things which are not the same (war captives and society-wide anti-Blackness actualizing in dehumanization and chattel enslavement. )

and using weak "seems obvious" "can't imagine" arguments to do it.

If a captured ship had white and non-white non-muslims on it, do you imagine only the white non-muslims would be enslaved and everyone else let go?
No, because being oppressed while being white is not being oppressed for being white.

Further, your comment about albinism proves you understand race to be a social construct.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

war captives and society-wide anti-Blackness actualizing in dehumanization and chattel enslavement

where are you getting "war captives"?

If a captured ship had white and non-white non-muslims on it, do you imagine only the white non-muslims would be enslaved and everyone else let go?

i imagine instances probably occurred both ways

do you think a captured ship with only black non-muslims on it would've been captured in the first place?

do you think a coastal settlement with a population of only black non-muslims would've been raided for slaves?

Further, your comment about albinism proves you understand race to be a social construct.

if race didn't exist, american chattel slavery still would've done, because the social construct is invented afterwards to justify the act

the same appears to be true here, just with "non-muslim" being the back-engineered justification

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

where are you getting "war captives"?

You don't consider Barbary raids an act of war?

do you think a captured ship with only black non-muslims on it would've been captured in the first place?

do you think a coastal settlement with a population of only black non-muslims would've been raided for slaves?

Capitalize Black. And "Yes." on both counts.

the same appears to be true here, just with "non-muslim" being the back-engineered justification

You can't change race by reciting The Shahada.

And irrespective anything you have said white people have never been oppressed for being white; the original assertion which started this discussion that is only tangentially related to an OP about women excluding men from an art exhibit (they didn't want to go to anyway) as performance art.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

You don't consider Barbary raids an act of war?

assuming i did, declaring war just so you can capture whites to sell as slaves seems kind of oppress-y to me

given that the point of contention here is whether or not it was ultimately because they were white or because they were non-muslim, i'm not sure what point you're trying to make by re-classifying piracy as an act of war?

Capitalize Black.

i didn't use any capital letters in my response, including on "muslim" which you'd capitalize for the same reasons you're arguing to capitalize "black"

also, your linked source says to capitalize "white", which you've done at no point so far

And "Yes." on both counts.

i feel like we've hit bedrock then

i'm not sure how to convince you that pirate raids that went all the way to iceland just to avoid "muslims" probably wouldn't raid a settlement consisting of black non-muslims

You can't change race by reciting The Shahada.

i feel like you're intentionally missing my point here

And irrespective anything you have said white people have never been oppressed for being white

you restating a thing doesn't make that thing true though...?

not really sure there's much point in going on further with this since it seems like we have pretty different reads on the topic at hand that aren't going to be brought into alignment through further discussion

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

assuming i did, declaring war just so you can capture whites to sell as slaves seems kind of oppress-y to me

Where are you getting the were targeted for being white and not for being targets of opportunity?

you restating a thing doesn't make that thing true though...?

It remains true whether or not I restate it, Was restated for you benefit since you seem to be willfully ignoring it.

I'm not sure how to convince you ... probably wouldn't raid a settlement consisting of black non-muslims

Where are you getting that? You seem to be working backwards from wanting white people to have been oppressed.

Arabs absolutely enslaved Black Africans. Any Europeans who found themselves enslaved by Barbary pirates were not targeted or oppressed for being white (as has never happened to anyone, ever); some of the Barbary pirates were European.