Disclaimer: Some postings contain other author's material. All such material is used here for fair use and discussion purposes.

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

"If a white man wants to lynch me, that's his problem..." FB meme, Stokely Carmichael

This quote makes one or two marginally true assertions, then takes a crazy leap.



There are several assertions here:
  1. If a white man wants to lynch me, that's his problem. 
  2. If he's got the power to lynch me, that's my problem. 
  3. Racism is not a question of attitude; it's a question of power. 
  4. Racism gets its power from capitalism. 
  5. Thus, if you're anti-racist, whether you know it or not you're anti-capitalist. 
  6. The power for racism, the power for sexism, comes from capitalism, not an attitude.
Item one: A white man who wants to lynch someone isn't the only one with a problem. The law has a problem, among others.

Item two: "Having power" is not a prerequisite to wanting to lynch someone. A person intent on murder is not expressing systemic power, he's expressing his own rage and bigotry.

Item three: Racism is an attitude, a toxic one. It's not about exercising power any more than theft or greed is.

Item four: Racism is a personal expression of hate and bigotry. It is not related in any way to a financial process. If capitalism is really to blame, then how does one account for the racism in Russia, a communist society? Cuba? North Korea? Africa? Argentina? Nazi Germany? Stalinist Russia? The Pol Pot regime?

Item five: The conclusion therefore is a non sequitur.

Item six: Again a non sequitur.

Capitalism is simply the willing, legal exchange of value between parties. There is no feature of racism in the practice of voluntary exchange. The absence of capitalism does not reduce racism. The absence of racism does not correlate to any economic system.

No comments:

Post a Comment