occasional reflections on culture & politics
Ever since Ibram X. Kendi published his book How to be an Anti-Racist, resistance against his message has been very vocal. The main point of criticism is Kendi’s central assertion, as follows: “The opposite of racist isn’t ‘not racist.’ It is ‘anti-racist.’ What's the difference? One endorses either the idea of a racial hierarchy as… Continue reading #203: The Puzzling Resistance Against Anti-Racism
We live in a world where it has become embarrassing to admit adherence to racial or ethnic discrimination. That does not mean that racism is gone, far from it, but people who harbor xenophobic or racist thoughts have learned how to hide them behind something possibly more justifiable. Anti-immigrant sentiment and racism can be hidden… Continue reading #198: LGBTQ Rights are Human Rights
Whoopi Goldberg said something incredibly and shockingly ignorant about the Holocaust. She revealed, in fact, how a very peculiar and narrow understanding of race in America prevents a more thorough and global discussion of difference, discrimination, ethnicity, racism and genocide in the world. It is a wide-spread problem, and it was unfortunate to see it… Continue reading #134: If People Apologize for Their Mistake, They Should Not Be Cancelled
The category of race as we know it today, especially in the American context, was established historically in order to denigrate other groups of people based on otherwise meaningless criteria for the purpose of domination and colonialism. As an ideology, it emerged as a reaction to Columbus’ arrival in America. It served the effective othering… Continue reading #127: We Cannot Overcome Racism If We Talk About “Race” all the Time
As Democrats are (hopefully) reflecting on their election loss in Virginia, they should understand that it is not about Trump, it has never been about Trump – and that even Trump has not been about Trump (well, maybe a little bit). It is about the issues. First, Bill Clinton knew that it is about the… Continue reading #117: It’s Not About Trump. It’s About the Issues
Hatred against people who may be identified as “Asian” has come into the focus in the recent days. Sadly, this is not a new phenomenon, but the attacks seem to have increased in the recent years. This surely may be influenced by the role China’s government has played in enabling the pandemic. But we need… Continue reading #85: Anti-Asian Hate and the Human Capacity for Divisiveness
Human beings are tribal. As described poignantly by Aristotle, we are animals that form political units, societies, towns, or in the Greek understanding, poleis. We are political animals in the sense that we are animals creating political structures – polis is the political aspect of the city, not the physical one (which would be (ástu).… Continue reading #56: Disentangling Race and Ethnicity
This is not a time of extremes. This is not a time of extreme crisis. The world is not ending. We are not at the end of goodness. We are not at the end of democracy. We are not living in the most racist / sexist / ageist / classist / divisive / time ever.… Continue reading #48: Moderation is Strength; Radicality is Weakness
When we promote diversity, what does that mean? As laid out previously, the support for diversity is a matter of equity, of justice. We are already a diverse society qua populace and history, but how this maps onto some domains of life can be seen as not as equitable as it should. If some individuals… Continue reading #36: Diversity Is Democracy, and It Is Not a Zero-Sum Game
The key to understanding the idea that there may be no such thing as human “races,” but that there is racism, is the concept of social constructivism. Human beings do not access reality directly, but through mental concepts about what we perceive. These concepts are usually transmitted through various means of communication. There is a… Continue reading #35: What Is Social Constructivism?
Erratic Attempts 