The Complications of Discussing Prejudice

NOTE: Please do not use this post as a reason or excuse to go to the blog mentioned and derail comment threads, troll, or otherwise reflect poorly on me. I do not need an advocate or an ally, only to air my feelings in a venue I own. One reason this is on LJ instead of Ludus Novus is that I do not wish to be complicit in meanness or disruption of others' blogs. Another caveat: I'm speaking from a position of privilege here, and I realize that, but I will do my best to compensate.



I subscribe to a group blog called Border House, which is dedicated to discussing games from the perspective of marginalized groups (minorities and women) and their allies. There's usually interesting stuff in the posts, although it's often much more provocative than productive. By that I mean that it asks interesting questions and presents interesting viewpoints, but rarely offers solutions or plans of action. That's fine; the biggest step is recognizing and understanding privilege and prejudice.

They recently started a series on Resident Evil 5, an issue which I've addressed before. My opinions in short: Although I have not played it, I believe that RE5 is irresponsible at best with regard to racism, and perpetuates awful stereotypes, demonizes Africans, and utterly ignores the racial and privilege issues that arise.

However, in that post, Lake Desire of Border House states that prejudice against white people is not racism, because it is not supported by institutional oppression. I wasn't aware of this at the time, but this is a view shared by several prominent people. Others disagree.

I too disagree, and I commented to say so. (Again, please do not jump in to advocate for me or cause trouble.) To paraphrase, I said "Institutional racism is worse than non-institutional racism, but to call prejudice against whites 'not racism' muddies the waters and ignores fundamental issues involved. Not that this has anything to do with RE5." So far, three different people have responded to my comment telling me not to "derail this comment thread into a Racism 101 discussion on the definition of racism" or telling me to get "a primer on what racism is." The post was edited to add a note to focus discussion on the post.

The title of the post I commented on was "What is racism?"

Just as people of privilege feel a reflex to strike back when accused of racism, people who are deeply involved in discussions of prejudice feel a reflex to dismiss questioning of their definitions. A single curt response requesting that I keep the discussion off the topic of definitions would have been fine, but I was repeatedly urged to stop, with charged language (repetition of the word "please," "respectfully suggest," "educate yourself," "Racism 101"). Note that this was in response to a single comment, the first comment discussing definitions in the thread. I had already stopped, making it clear that I was done.

I can completely understand their response. These sorts of discussions are plagued by people derailing the focus of posts, being willfully ignorant, causing trouble because they're offended. I assume they saw me as one of those people, and anticipating continued belligerence, decided to cut me off at the bud. I can understand that.

But I feel personally... offended? Disappointed? Discussing my feelings here seems a bit silly, speaking as I am both from a position of privilege and as the outsider who commented apparently inappropriately on their blog.

But still. The title of their post was "What is racism?" One of their main points, 1 of 3, was this definition of racism. My comment wasn't that off-topic, and as I said, I think I was clear that I didn't want to continue the discussion further.

To have a blog dedicated in part to discussing racial issues, but to not want to discuss the premises... I don't know. I'm sure they've had the discussion a hundred times. But here's the thing: I've grown to believe that I have a responsibility to call out prejudice where I see it, when I think the audience is responsive. And to say that prejudice against whites is "not racism" is to implicitly say that it's not a problem. Which is, well, racist.

I'm a white, mostly cisgendered, only-slightly-queer, Christian-cultured, mostly-fully-abled man. I'm sitting in a place of privilege, where prejudice against me has little chance of causing actual harm. It's certainly not institutionalized, except where I am ever-so-slightly trans, queer, emotionally disabled, and pagan. But racism is a problem that stems from a common cause. White folks and black folks are racist for the same reasons. White folks ended up on top, so our racism is a much bigger problem. But addressing the root of racism is important too, and we don't need to ignore it in order to address the larger issues of oppression.

I think I'm just whining and rambling here, so I'll end the post. I just felt the need to vent and share my views in a forum I control.