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WinstonC(1225) pic



Is it racist to say "white power"? If so, is it racist to say "black power"?

I'm curious as to what people think.
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5 points

It's not what you say or think that's important, but only what you DO that really counts.

Due to the achievements of white people in all the major areas of industry, commerce and finance ''white power'' is a living reality whereas ''black power'' is only fanciful notion of a world which doesn't exist.

So, the term white power is simply an accurate description of the world in which we all live.

Black power is no more than a myth which is aggressively bellowed by those who live in the dream world of 'cloud cuckoo land'.

Life's non achievers usually dream of their greatness as a way to alleviate their feelings of inadequacy and then actually begin to believe their fantasies.

Amarel(5669) Clarified
1 point

Many of the proponents of the use of the term "black power" would have once agreed with you, in part. Black activist groups understood that white culture was dominant, and commanded power. They blamed poverty and crime on black weakness in the face of white power. Shouting "black power" was like a call to their community to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and do better for themselves. The same call became a call to arms for one side of a race war that doesn't exist.

"White power" was shouted in response to "black power" by people who have nothing of substance to feel supreme about.

Mahollinder(900) Clarified
1 point

More specifically: Stokley Carmichael, the man who popularized the slogan, defined it pretty clearly in his speech at Berkeley. What Black Power ultimately represents is the capacity of blacks to act freely and of our own will within society, or to not require permission to perform x or y action.

marcusmoon(576) Clarified
1 point

Antrim,

I think you are conflating race (White) with culture (Western/Euro-American).

The achievements of White people in all the major areas of industry, commerce and finance had nothing to do with being White, but rather with aspects of Western culture.

Given the same sets of ethics, values, and philosophies, and methods in both the European and American cultural and economic environments, people of all races have achieved meaningfully. I think we can safely say race is irrelevant, but environment and culture, and the behavior that grows out of it, is the basis of achievement.

Racism is when an Asian American with higher scores than an African American is passed over because the schools have too many Asians. We've now tortured the definition of equality. Those screaming equality don't actually want equality. They simply want their race to become the new "supremacists".

1 point

Hello W:

Words are ink on paper, pixels on a screen, or sound waves in the air.. In and of themselves, WORDS are not racist..

It's the people who utter them who're racist, or not.

Therefore, we need to know what they intend to DO with "power" once they GET it.

In MY view, the people behind "white power" want to ELIMINATE people who aren't white from the country.. And, the people behind "black power" want to live PEACEFULLY in a country that PROMISES peace, but has yet to deliver..

Under that definition, people who chant white power are racist, and people who chant black power aren't.

excon

marcusmoon(576) Disputed
1 point

Excon,

You are killing me! I swear you intentionally led me down one path just to pull a logical and ideological U-turn at the end.

You start off, and I am right with you, agreeing with sensible statements worthy of any person who hopes for peace and justice and sound logic:

In and of themselves, WORDS are not racist.

It's people who are racist, or not.

Absolutely true.

Sure, I set myself up by assuming you meant individual people. I carried this assumption with me into your next statement.

Therefore, in order to determine if the people who say those words are racist, we need to know what they intend to DO with "power" once they GET it.

Because only individuals say things, I took this to mean we need to know if the individuals who say "xx-power" intend to categorize people by race and treat people differently based on the racial category. I also took this to be you saying that it is actions and the intentions that precede them that matter.

I buy that. We agreed twice! (Or so I thought) But there was more, and I was predicting a hat trick.

Then you made an about face into double standards based on race.

In MY view, the people behind "white power" want to ELIMINATE people who aren't white from the country.. And, the people behind "black power" want to live PEACEFULLY in a country that PROMISES peace, but has yet to deliver..

Under that definition, people who chant white power are racist, and people who chant black power aren't.

OH THE HUMANITY!!!

Here you plainly say that WHICH WORDS are used indicates the race-based category that implies good or bad intentions. This indicates an underlying assumption some words automatically imply racism, REGARDLESS of any actual demonstration of what the individuals actually intend.

This sounds like a contradiction of your earlier statements.

Moreover, it grants one racial category the assumption of having one set of intentions, yet imposes a completely different assumption on a different racial category for making essentially the same statement ("my category has power.")

If I misunderstood what you mean, I apologize.

Truthfully, I am disappointed any time people commit the logical fallacies that conflate racial category with individual intention, privilege, or entitlement.

I am also disgusted when people assume rights, intentions, actions, or experiences are the province of any but individuals, and that the incidental and innate category of one individual has any reasonable bearing on expectations of belief, behavior, circumstance, or entitlement of another individual of that category.

excon(18260) Clarified
1 point

Hello again, marcus:

Look.. We got two outta three.. That ain't bad.

I am allowed, partisan as it might be, to ascribe good motivations to those I support, and negative motives to those I don't.. I make no excuses for doing so..

I don't think all groups want power for the same reasons.

excon

1 point

Therefore, we need to know what they intend to DO with "power" once they GET it.

Okay con. They want sharia law and are a liberal. Vote em in or out?

excon(18260) Disputed
1 point

Hello bront:

Black people want Sharia law???? Dude.. You're not even TRYING any more..

DUDE!

excon

1 point

It is the depths of folly to think any categorization based on an incidental surface characteristic like race has any bearing on which individuals have or should have power.

In terms of logical fallacies:

- Race is a red herring, an irrelevant distraction from relevant factors.

- Assuming people in a category based solely on incidental characteristics share other characteristics is an overgeneralization.

Knowing people's race tells us nothing about intentions, actions, beliefs, values, education, socioeconomic circumstances, or even family history.

It does not tell us how hard they work, how others treat them, what jobs they do, or how they treat people.

It does not even tell us whether they can dance, like fried chicken, or listen to country music.

Certainly associating race, whether White or Black, with power is the sort of illogic termed racism.

-

Having a different standard for one race than for another is based on this racist concept, and it goes further. It is not merely the folly of racist thinking, but extends toward the injustice of applying different standards to people based on the racial category to which they are assigned or assign themselves.

-

Absolutely we should judge and be judged not on the color of our skin, but on the content of our characters.

Moreover, true power stems from our characters, and the actions that grow from our characters.

1 point

Knowing people's race tells us nothing about intentions, actions, beliefs, values, education, socioeconomic circumstances, or even family history.

Hello again, marcus:

How true that is! If your fellow conservatives had such a realistic viewpoint, everything would be hunky dory.. But, a quick glance around these very pages would tell you that they surly DON'T..

I'm here to counter THEM..

excon

marcusmoon(576) Clarified
1 point

Excon,

If your fellow conservatives had such a realistic viewpoint, everything would be hunky dory..

For that matter, if your fellow liberals had such a realistic viewpoint, everything would be hunky dory.

Actually, most conservatives DO have that viewpoint. It is just that the crazies on the fringe make the news. As for the "conservatives" on "these very pages," many of them are the crazies I am talking about. I have met very few people of any political stamp who would agree with some of them about anything.

Like you, I am here to counter THEM, and their analogs on the left.

Basic conservative thinking boils down to

-Individual responsibility,

-Personal accountability

-Law and order

-Self-reliance

-In general, government only doing things that individuals cannot do for ourselves (e.g., borders, military, disaster response, law enforcement, infrastructure)

1 point

How true that is! If your fellow conservatives had such a realistic viewpoint, everything would be hunky dory

Demonstrably false. Blacks in Compton don't particularly like whites or cops walking through their neighborhoods. Blacks in Somalia support genitile mutilation. Arabs/Persians in Iran support stoning adulterers. Chinese in China support Communism. North Koreans in North Korea support nuking the U.S. Arians in Nazi Germany kill Jews. Blah blah blah, etc etc etc. How do I know that and you can't? My darwinian survival instincts work because I've not brainwashed them away with progressivism. You've went anti science and decided that all tribes think alike. Really? So why don't more blacks vote Republican...

1 point

Ahh the racist term bandied about by those that really have no platform to run on which is the Democrats. Lacking a platform and reducing themselves to name calling is a tactic Democrats still believe will work for them.

First of all, I want to give a shout-out to my homies: Yo, White is outta sight, man. Muah!

That said, White power is just as valid and has equal footing with black power. If it's not racist to say the latter, it's not racist to say the former.

Remember: Once you go white, you'll be all right.