Vaingloriously Not in the Same Vein

dumbthingswhitepplsay:

zorascreation:

It is a Diasporic ethnic group and nationality. 

It is a PC description of a complex series of cultures. 

It is a name for a humongous amassing of various different West African ethnic groups (Vai, Mende, Kpelle, Ewe, Ga, Hausa, Fon, Igbo, Senegambian, Temne, Bambara, Asante, Fulani, Yoruba, Fante, Soninke, Aja, etc.) brought to the continental United States over a period of nearly seven centuries which were then mixed in with Anglo, Scottish, Irish and French (“White”) bloodlines as well as Indigenous bloodlines (Tsalagi, Kiowa, Seminole, Creek, etc.) at varying intervals. 

That is all. 

seriouslyyyyyyyy

dumbthingswhitepplsay:

lightspeedsound:

dumbthingswhitepplsay:

better take away my black card my nose is too pointy and my lips too small

I second this shit, because my mama is 100% chinese and she has brown hair. And I got the brown hair AND the freckles to shut up all them Cho Chang ain’t asian haters.

Also: my sister has rather large boobs, I have a huge ass, and my mother and my sister have HUGE eyes with the fold that asians “aren’t supposed to have.” 

Most common question we get: “are you guys part white or something?”

someone tried to whitewash queen zahira to “prove” she had “caucasian (A LOL BY ITSELF) features”

sadly dat nigga still wouldn’t pass

yeah, on damn lay off the bleach? Fo’ real, yo, I still don’t understand what “caucasian features” means, and why that would matter if a character is…you know…BLACK. 

you ever read “Come A Stranger’ By Cynthia Voigt? It’s about a Black girl who basically gets screwed over in Ballet (among other things)…and one of the things her teacher says to her is, “your people grow up so fast.” 

Like it’s just because she’s Black that she has a different body type. Like she can’t be a ballerina, because her body is WRONG BECAUSE IT’S BLACK. 

Also, this: http://www.amazon.com/Dancer-Lorri-Hewett/dp/0141310855

(in other words, white people ALWAYS be trippin’ about how wrong black bodies are because of some weird perfect caucasian features that are impossible for black people to have) 

pink-vomit:

✂: post photo of yourself
æ: tell 5 things about your best friend
✌: share 5 things that you really want
♡: share 5 favourite songs
❁: share 5 favourite blogs
✓: tell 5 facts about yourself
♧: share 5 facts about your appearance
☆: share your current mood
✖: something you hate
☼: something you love
ϟ: ask anything

dumbthingswhitepplsay:

better take away my black card my nose is too pointy and my lips too small

I second this shit, because my mama is 100% chinese and she has brown hair. And I got the brown hair AND the freckles to shut up all them Cho Chang ain’t asian haters.

Also: my sister has rather large boobs, I have a huge ass, and my mother and my sister have HUGE eyes with the fold that asians “aren’t supposed to have.” 

Most common question we get: “are you guys part white or something?”

iamawug:

lightspeedsound:

iamawug:

lightspeedsound:

iamawug:

lightspeedsound:

iamawug replied to your post: lesserjoke: lightspeedsound asked: fluidity of…

“people use “racism” universally to point out that white people are targeted in the same way POCs are.” However, Joe is not one of these people, and he shouldn’t be blamed for the idiocy of others.

No, but validating the usage of “racism” to apply to white people in any way is a form of oppression.  If you are discussing the definition of a societal concept, there is no way you can say “purely linguistically, this is valid” without inherently condoning the reasoning behind said usage. You can’t say “oh I’m just saying usage makes this valid in a linguistic sense” without that argument implying (in this situation), “POCs, you are incorrect and if white people want to use it this way, they should be able to.”

I feel like you are presenting a false dichotomy here.  You’re saying that in order to validate a white person using the word “racism” to refer to, “acts of prejudice based on skin color” one must deny the definition of, “Prejudice + power.”  I don’t think so; I think it is very possible for two people to agree that they have different definitions of a word.  

In a discussion regarding racism between a white person and a PoC do I think that a white person should defer to the definition of racism as dictated by the PoC?  Yes, because asking a PoC to defer to a white person’s definition of racism can certainly be viewed as oppressive.  However, if the white person refuses to do so, I don’t think that makes their definition wrong, it just makes them a douchebag who cares more about being right than actually discussing the issues that marginalized groups face.

OK, I’m going to say that as a POC, the working definition isn’t simply “Prejudice + Power,” it’s “INSTITUTIONALIZED OPPRESSION + prejudice based on skin color.”

That being said, yes. It is a dichotomy. Because i have never met a white person who would say “no I can be a victim of racism because omg it just means people discriminating based on race” that DID agree with me.

(and, incidentally, I’ve never met a white person who maintained this point of view without vehemently referring to me as a “stupid  bitch” or “racist” so…there you).

Again, I’m not sure what the difference is between being “wrong” and being a “douchebag” in this sense.

And I think it’s a form of academic evasion to separate the linguistic validity of something that has traditionally been perpetuated through academic discourse on grammar.

(and another good example of this: gender neutral pronouns for gender queer people).

Sorry, I once saw the definition constructed as simply “prejudice + power” on a PoC’s tumblr, hence the usage.

The difference between being “wrong” and being a “douchebag” is that saying someone is wrong presents the idea that something in this world is objective.  I am a subjectivist; in the extreme sense of the word where I honestly cannot say whether or not I am “actually” on a computer typing this to you right now.  I can’t say that existence is objective fact, even though all of my senses tell me otherwise.  I recognize that this is an extreme perspective of life in general, so I don’t necessarily expect you and I to agree on much unless you, too, share this perspective.

I do, however, concede that the specific post Joe originally commented on, was not linguistic in nature.  It was specifically targeted to “SJA” bloggers, and thus obviously was not created solely for the purpose of linguistic musings but intended to be a discourse with regards to societal factors.  As such, removing the societal factors to make it a discussion on linguistic analysis (which is what Joe did) may be construed as a derail, though I have highly doubt Joe would have meant to do so in a vicious manner.

Personally, as a fellow linguist who also sees the obvious discrimination of marginalized groups in society, it can be very exasperating to see beautifully constructed discourses on tumblr regarding institutionalized oppression….and then see 20 notes attached to it and they’re all about what an -ism is or is not.  I feel like that takes a lot of focus from the issues at hand; this is how I feel as a linguist.  As a white person, I feel like I have absolutely no say in what PoC decide to argue about with other white people.  Unfortunately, sometimes these two sides conflict (as I am sure they do in Joe as well) and it can be frustrating.

I’m ok with most of this, but I’m going to point out just a few problematic things:

1. It’s problematic to say “omg it was a derailment, but he wasn’t meaning to do that” in terms of racism, because most racism today was not committed with the “intent” to be racist. Actually, very few racists actually “mean” to be vicious in any way…which makes racism all the more dangerous.

2.  As I’ve mentioned again and again, definitions matter. Legally, they are what drives what is permissible and what is not in society.  Socially, definitions are key in what we teach future generations in terms of “right” or “wrong.” To say “people should just stop debating this and get down into what is right and wrong” discounts the basic logistical need to categorize things as racist or not. Unfortunately, that means getting people realize how problematic general usage can be, and people rarely are convinced on THAT without a lot of kicking and screaming. So for a linguistics discussion to crop up in the middle of that, saying, “oh my god, definitions don’t matter and we just need to talk about what we can and cannot do!” lends validity to the point of view that “white people should do whatever they want and it’s valid.”

3. Obviously, it’s a corruption of linguistic theory…but if anything, it also showcases the inherent racism in our society.

I think that is where we differ, I do not feel that definitions matter because they are subject to personal interpretation.  To me, no one’s definition of a word can be more “right” than the other.  Here is how I see it:

• “discrimination based on skin color” and “institutionalized oppression + prejudice based on skin color” are both things that occur in society today.  
• The latter is more prevalent in society and more detrimental to a specific group than the former.

Those are facts that I have deduced from my subjective perception of the world around me.  Regardless of the terminology used, these facts remain true to me; as such, I find arguing about the terminology being used to be arbitrary and contrary to meaningful dialogue.  I don’t deny the possibility that I may be speaking from a position of privilege, but this is just what I find to be most logical.  Words do not have inherent meaning, they are given meaning by the individual; I can’t make concessions to that statement without having to agree to an objective reality, which I do not.

…wait, so you’re saying because you don’t believe in an objective reality, you cannot believe in the suffering of others at the hands of an oppressive system? 

Because you don’t think you can prove anything exists at all? 

To be honest, it’s not an issue of “what is more prevalent.”  It’s an issue of “what has history done to these people, and why is there backlash against whites.”

…BUT OH MY GOD YOU CAN FINALLY BREATHE. 

…this is probs TMI but seriously, this is the only good thing about having a nosebleed during allergy season. 

Also, pro tip: you should probably refrain from spitting the blood clot into something so that you can poke at it.  Blood clots are very gross and disgruntled and do not appreciate poking.