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> But that's what racists are, people who think the race of a person has predictive power with regard to their nature, culture etc.

I didn't think that's how the term racist is normally used. A definition:

a person who is prejudiced against or antagonistic toward people on the basis of their membership in a particular racial or ethnic group

Big difference.




To be fair, how the term is normally used depends entirely on the group within which the term is being used. For many, racism is strictly “prejudice + power”, which logically concludes in the [in my opinion rather warped] idea that some groups are incapable of racism, which is at odds with the definition you’re citing


> the idea that some groups are incapable of racism, which is at odds with the definition you’re citing

I disagree, because one can powerless while simultaneously being prejudiced and antagonistic to others. Which means that anyone can be racist.


You're right, but in practice I don't really consider it as being too fundamentally different because it's the logical conclusion from strong enough predictive power.


There is nothing "logical" about the progression from my appearance and ancestry is something I'm entitled to be proud of; also there might actually be such a thing as Black American culture to racial epithets and Jim Crow laws. Or indeed using "predictive power" to assess people's intellectual ability or criminal propensity from their melanin content.

I mean, do you believe that people should expect to be subjected to the weirdest and most hostile takes on gender relations and treated as potential rapists or sluts unless and until everyone uses gender neutral pronouns (even silly bots mostly identify as male and female at the moment)? If not, what is it about racism that obliges victims not to affirm their identity if they wish to cease to become victims?




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