Yes, you ARE a Racist!

Racism is so much a part of some cultures that even the people who are against it, reflexively define themselves by its erroneous core ideas.

An interesting Tumblr has gone viral. On it, different people hold up small placards complaining about their misunderstood appearances, accents and demeanour. Below is an example pulled from the series. Look at the caption this young woman is promoting to express her disdain at being typecast:

She has a beef with racism, but defines herself by racist categorization. Very ironic, and perplexing! She says she is not a “what” on one line, but then on another she says she is “bi-racial” which is most definitely a “what”; an artificial category she has placed herself in by the work of her own hand.

As you can see, this woman claims simultaneously to be a human, but also “Bi-Racial”.

It is not her fault.

America is a land that is steeped in racism; so much so, that the people there cannot even form private thoughts that do not use it as a guide to their self image.

These, for the record, are the facts. This woman is a human being. There is only one group of human beings, all of which are one species. There are no seperate races of human beings, there is only one type of human, comprised of males and females.

Anyone who says they are “Bi-Racial” is simply wrong; they might mean that their parents come from different cultures or that their parents come from different countries where people have a similar appearance thanks to generations of isolated breeding in a single population, but they are not “Bi-Racial”; they are human beings.

Kiyun, who calls herself a “Korean” , tags:“nsfw, blood, gore, rape, death, horror, body horror, suicide, kpop.” That is a heady mix.

The curator of this series, “ Kiyun” (pictured left) calls herself a “Korean”, without any irony. Does she even know what this means? It means that rather than identify herself as a human being, she identifies with a fictitious group of humans “Koreans”, as a “race”, whilst railing against people being spoken about by these very definitions. Think about it; she calls herself a Korean. Someone speaking to her might be interested in the culture of Korea, having never been there or ever meeting a “Korean” in real life. They would, quite naturally, ask her:

“What is it like to be a Korean?”

That question makes perfect sense doesn't it? You call yourself a Korean; why? What makes you Korean? Is it your eyes, your hair, your language, what you eat? Does the fact that you are “unmixed” (whatever that means) mean that you are a Korean? What exactly makes a Korean a Korean? Other people have eyes that look like yours, but they don't call themselves “Koreans” what is the difference between yu and them? If you don't live there, have never lived there, don't know anything about the people or culture there, why do you call yourself a “Korean”?

All of these questions are quite reasonable, and since you define yourself as a “Korean”, anyone speaking to you can be forgiven for asking you about how you define yourself. You cannot then complain when people ask you about what it is to be a “Korean”, when you yourself trumpet that you are one.

The same goes for people who outwardly or in writing identify with a national or “race group”. If you dress like people from a group, you will be identified with them, and then all the assumptions heaped upon that culture will apply to you instantly, since you have chosen to march in line with those people. The signals given off by styles of clothes, hair and speech are all keys to entering the psychology of a stranger. They are signals that can be interpreted fairly accurately; that is why people use these signals and rely on them as a shorthand.

Lest there be any doubt, bad thinking about man is everywhere, and is not a disease confined to the USA. In Ghana, the “Race Radar” of the people in Accra has a long range and high resolution. If they see a Man from Cote ‘d Ivoire in the street, they shout “OBRUNI!” which means “foreigner!”. They are as nuts as anyone else is about this business.

Finally, if we take the idea that culture is what separates people not what they look like, we come to the question that is asked over and over again, quite innocently, when a strange looking woman claims to be an American when she really, by dint of her eyes, must be an “Asian”,

“No, where are you REALLY from?”

This question is a coded enquiry where the asker wants to find out where your parents are from or where you are from, assuming from the start that you are not an American. Interestingly this question is never asked of the so called “blacks” since it is understood that they are Americans because they have been in America for so long. People with “Asian” features however have a different history in the USA, and so they are asked this perplexing and gauche question ad nauseam.

Note how this question is prefixed by “No”. It means that the questioner is rejecting the answer you have given and wants to be provided with the TRUE answer.

This question is mostly asked by people who do not have passports or any sort of education. They mostly do it completely innocently, in an attempt to be friendly. What they do not realise of course, is that this woman is asked this question constantly, so much so, that it becomes an absolute irritant. Note how she is rolling her eyes, as if to say, “Not that old chestnut, surely?” The interesting question here is why do the ignorant do this? In all the world there are, literally, almost an infinite number of topics to discuss and ways to break the ice.

You can find out about people by talking about anything. Quite why this woman has to be asked about her appearance is puzzling to anyone who can think, and certainly unthinkable to anyone with manners or breeding.

Looking at her picture, and imagining meeting her at a party, you might ask about her shocking blue fingernails, or the ring on her right hand, or perhaps the spiffy coat she is wearing. You could also ask her about her “slope eyes” or where she is “from”, but do you really want to ask this… to become her friend?

Something to think about you manner-less SWINES.