Thread by @l78lancer

Race and racism are artificial constructs that we're always intended to divide. And no matter how you cut it, racism always cuts to the advantage of the racist.

Here's at least part of the reason:

I just listened to someone explain how under the European conceptualization of racism, while Nazism treated - treats Jews as an inhuman sub-race and themselves as a superior race - some Jews consider themselves to be white.

Whereas, the same individual explained that the Americanized version of racism is somewhat different, despite the fact that white supremacists still perpetuate hate against Jews. Therefore, racism may be perceived and applied depending on where you are and who applies it.

What people who emphasize the European version of racism tend to do is ignore or minimize Europe's use and role in mass racism and egregious crimes by the British, French, Dutch, Belgians, Germans against Africans, Indians, Chinese and others from colonialism and empire building.

So in parsing the distinctions of racism, it seems to convolute the conversation and insulate groups and cultures who benefit from the propagation and perpetuation of racism. It's too "complex "or "divisive" are the common refrain for avoidance.

The reality is when you set aside - not minimize - the issue of race when it comes to genocide, isn't that a fundamental question about man's inhumanity against man?

When you examine genocide in Rwanda, Sudan, western China, Armenia, Myanmar, or anywhere on earth at any point in history, even if race was the issue, isn't the problem man's inhumanity against other men?

And if that's the case, now bringing racism back onto the conversation frame, isn't that exactly what racists and white supremacists want so as to divide, conquer and proliferate their beliefs?

To get people talking about everything but their inhumanity to perpetuate their false racists beliefs often in plain sight?

Racism has never been as simple or clear cut as many people have wanted to believe. But in no way does that make it any less real or pernicious.

This is exactly why the definition and understanding of racism needed to be revised, and kudos to Merriam Webster for being open to updating the definition.

So then from that perspective, other than offending some people's understanding about whiteness and Jewishness, what exactly was the problem with what Whoopi said?

The landmine that Whoopi stepped on maked the need to flush out, discuss, and resolve racism more relevant and important than ever. It shouldn't fall into the realm of the thin-skinned reactionaries who would rather cancel individuals and suffocate the conversation.

And why was The View removed from under ABC Entertainment and ABC News? To increase viewership and profits. That's why more political guests and fewer entertainment people showed up over the past 7 or 8 years.

That's why Meghan McCain and her bigoted shenanigans were tolerated. Smells like they were attempting to take a page from Fox's playbook until someone got offended.

Meanwhile, ABC News is being intellectually and otherwise dishonest in their responsible punitive measures to appease their sponsors. They should not be permitted to get off hook for their own actions.

People complain that not everything should be about race, and that it's discussed too much. On the contrary, everything isn't about race, but just with the problems and issues we've encountered in the past week alone, we don't discuss it nearly enough.

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