Critical Race Theory (CRT) and the proponents of anti-racism say that despite the anti-discrimination laws that all people in our western democratic countries have enjoyed the protection of for decades, the system is racist.
How can our system be racist today if there are no longer any racist laws? It is true that decades ago there were laws that discriminated based on race, but these laws are long gone. It was 1964 when the Civil Rights Act was passed in the United States outlawing discrimination based on race, colour, religion, or sex. This same protection was later extended to sexual orientation and gender identity. Similar legislation was introduced in the United Kingdom in 1965 and in Australia in 1975.
In recent decades people of all colours, creeds, and cultures, in our western democratic countries, have experienced more equality and freedom to be themselves than has ever existed on our planet. Sadly, this is still not the case in most of the rest of the world today.
According to CRT however, the question is not whether racism exists, but how does it manifest in this situation. So, the basic tenant is, everything is racist, and we should be looking for racism everywhere.
Furthermore, CRT and anti-racism say not only is the law and our entire system racist, but so too are all white people, regardless of whether they exhibit or harbour any actual racism. In White Fragility, Robin DeAngelo, one of the main proponents of anti-racism states “If you don’t see race as the single most defining feature of the human experience you are racist and in denial”. This idea is ridiculous for the truth is exactly the opposite. Seeing something as superficial as race as so important is what makes you a racist.
Racism will never be completely eradicated. That is an unattainable ideal, as there will always be some ignorant people in the world. But the fact is that there is so little racism left in our societies that there is an attempt by the race hucksters to change what the term means so that they can then point to it being everywhere, enabling them to sell their five and six figure anti-racism, diversity, and inclusion corporate training programs.
The meaning of this word matters, and the new framing needs to be resisted, for if you repeat a lie often enough it will be taken as truth, and this is what we are seeing more and more of around western democratic countries.
According to Ibram X Kende in ‘How to be an Anti-Racist’, another leading proponent of anti-racism, there are only two categories of people, racists and anti-racists. If you’re an anti-racist, then you look for racism everywhere. In addition, silence is violence they say, so you must get to it and go find those racists, lest we label you one. And by the way, speech is also violence, if it is speech we don’t agree with, so don’t argue, parrot us, and fall in line.
If you try to resist these regressive and ridiculous ideas, that is evidence that you are racist and if you defend yourself against such claims, it is evidence of your white supremacy. Heads you are a racist, tails you are a white supremacist. This is known as a Kafka Trap, where denial is proof of the statement, and is a common strategy used by anti-racists and so-called social justice warriors to create fear and compliance. And it works. These days you’re guaranteed that any outward expression not aligning with the woke agenda will see you called out and cancelled quicker than you can say, Salem Witch Trials.
Being called a racist is one of the worst things you could be labelled in a western democratic country in 2021. As a result of this fear, many choose to comply with the demands of this new ideology by virtue signalling, posting their black squares on social media and doing whatever else is necessary in the hope that they will be left alone and that the mob will find someone else to take down.
This is a completely understandable reaction. The need for social approval is deeply ingrained in human beings. It’s a biological imperative. In generations past, being cast out of the group meant almost certain death.
But going along with this ideology will no longer do. If we are to overcome these bad ideas, we need people to have the courage to resist and say no, I won’t go along with this. Gladly, breaking away from the herd in 2021 will not mean almost certain death, but you may have to withstand a few insults from the woke zealots, but hey, remember the old saying sticks and stones…?
CRT and anti-racism now say that we should focus on superficial identity markers such as the colour of a person’s skin. They say that we should not aim to be colour blind, as that is a naïve and impossible notion.
Yes, you heard that right. And yes, I hear you say, I thought we have spent the last 60 years since the Civil Rights movement in the United States with a view to creating societies where people look beyond superficial markers such as race, sex, ethnicity and the like. Remember that old-fashioned naïve guy who said we should treat people based on the content of their character rather than the colour of their skin? Anyone?
I do not agree with CRT’s new definition of racism. Racism is treating people differently based on their skin colour, period. And we are each capable of transcending that way of being and we’ve made steady progress in that direction for decades.
I also reject the idea that we cannot become a colour- or race-blind society, for we have made great progress in that direction in our societies already. The approach we have employed over the previous decades has been working and we should continue to deploy it going forward.
According to Kende in How to be an Anti-Racist, “…. if racial discrimination is defined as treating, considering, or making a distinction in favour or against an individual based on that person’s race, then racial discrimination is not inherently racist”. Yes, you heard that right!
He goes on to say; “The defining question is whether the discrimination is creating equity or inequity. If discrimination is creating inequity, then it is racist… if discrimination is creating equity, then it is anti-racist.
Equity, in the new woke lingo, is not equal opportunity, which we should strive unendingly for, it means equal outcomes, which is unattainable.
So according to Kende, discrimination against a so-called dominant race is not discrimination at all and racism can only go one way; from white to black, not the other way around.
If you’re pulling your hair out and feeling like you’re going insane, you’re not alone. This is insane. For one, equal outcomes are not possible (communism attempts this but in practice everyone, except the ruling elite, end up at the bottom struggling to survive), and two; discrimination is discrimination. The idea that discrimination can only go one way, from white’s outward is plainly ridiculous and untrue.
The problem is this backward idea is gaining traction. In California in November 2020, a vote was held on whether to abolish the anti-discrimination laws so that it would be legal to discriminate once again based on race. WT actual F? Thankfully, it was voted down. However, we should be very worried that an incredible 42.77% of people in that state voted for this proposal. That means there were only 57.23% of people who still believe we should not discriminate based on identity markers. It is extremely concerning how far this ideology has progressed. And to me, it highlights the importance of actively resisting this divisive ideology now, before it spreads further and is too late.
The reaction of the lawmakers in California to the failure of their pro-discrimination proposal is most extraordinary of all. This was labelled as a failure in the population to oppose Trumpism. Wait, what? So, the fact that 57% of the population don’t want to discriminate based on race is a result of Trump? I thought Trump was the king of the white supremacists and bigots? So, the Californian’s who voted to keep the anti-discrimination laws are Trumpers?! They weren’t. Most of California voted for Biden. This demonstrates how deranged the public debate has become and how damaged our collective sense making apparatus is.
What happened in California is not a deficiency in the population, it is a deficiency in leadership. California is the most blue (Democratic) State in the U.S. It is the most progressive and most woke. Yet thankfully most of the people in the state still had more sense left than their leaders who have demonstrated that they are thoroughly captured by the woke ideology and still suffering from Trump derangement syndrome.
The same flawed thinking and concerning trend is on display in the following example. In the last 10-15 years many Orchestras around the world instituted blind auditions to ensure that there can be no chance of discrimination in selecting the members. This sounds like a fair idea for something like this, for what does it matter what a person looks like when we are seeking musicians for an orchestra?
Fast forward to 2020 and now many of those same orchestras are re-instituting visual auditions so that they can take the race of the person into account. Never mind finding the best musicians, let’s make sure they look the ‘right’ way. Seriously? Is this the world we want to create?
In ‘How to be an Anti-Racist’, Kende says that any disparity in outcomes between races must be the result of discrimination. This is so obviously untrue that it beggars’ belief. It leaves us wondering, how an educated person like Kende could say it.
There are disparate outcomes between children in the same family who have had the same upbringing and same opportunities let alone between people across society. The reason for disparity in the outcomes of people’s lives has many contributing factors, including but not limited to, intelligence, education, interest, desire, drive, discipline, and hard work, all of which have nothing to do with discrimination.
According to Kende, as Blacks on average in the U.S. earn less than whites, this is evidence of a racist system and white supremacy. The inconvenient truth however is that whites do not sit at the top of this list. Asians and Indians in the U.S., on average, earn significantly more than whites do. If America is so racist and oppressive to non-whites, how is this possible?
There is no doubt that the circumstances we are born into impact our life significantly. But the truth is that outcomes between people differ because people are different. They have different interests, abilities, and levels of motivation, and this is what, more than anything, dictates where people end up.
In closing I would say that anti-racism is an extremely clever label with great marketing potential as we have seen, for after all, what reasonable person isn’t anti-racism?
The problem is, anti-racism is just reimagined, re-packaged and recycled, old-fashioned racism. Only this time, its target is white people. It labels a whole segment of the population as evil oppressors based their forebears and immutable characteristics. It is the antithesis of the vision and message of Martin Luther King and all we have been striving for.
Reversing the tables of oppression isn’t the answer. It will not balance the scales of past injustices. It will, in fact be the cause of more injustice and division, sowing seeds of intolerance and resentment.
The chaos and division these ideas will cause is already evident in the United States. Whether they can find a way out of the mess this ideology has generated is looking doubtful.
In Australia and other western democratic countries however, there is still hope to stop the spread of these infectious ideas, but we must act now. We cannot comply, bury our heads in the sand and hope it will all just blow over anymore. It’s not going to blow over. Unchecked this ideology will take over like it has in the U.S.
Our universities are already largely captured by these ideas, and they are beginning to seep into our schooling. We must stop these ideas being taught to our children, spreading through society and undoing the great progress we have made.
Focussing on identity markers is not progressive, it is regressive. It creates tribalism and tribalism leads to conflict. These are bad ideas that instead of bringing people together are dividing us along old lines. They must be resisted and resisted now.
I stand for treating all people equally, with love and respect simply for the very fact that they are human beings. And if we must judge one another, then let it be based on the way they live and act, not upon characteristics we cannot change.
I believe in the MLK way of love and unity, not hate, blame and division for in the words of the great man himself; “Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that”.
“I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality”. Martin Luther King
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Recommended Reading on the New Woke Ideology
The Madness of Crowds: Gender Race and Identity by Douglas Murray
The Parasitic Mind: How Infectious Ideas Are Killing Common Sense by Gad Saad
Cynical Theories: How Activist Scholarship Made Everything About Race, Gender and Identity by Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsay