Argumentative Penguin
1 min readOct 8, 2021

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Bryan has highlighted a good point and it's one that's worth repeating. 'Whiteness' as with all poorly defined terms has come to mean 'any behaviour done by a white person that disagrees with the way I see the world' - it can apply to absolutely anything at all and therefore is rendered meaningless - 'whiteness', I've been reliably informed by an angry white woman on some sort of ideological rollercoaster in my comments section, also applies to black people whom she disagrees with.

The nuances of racism as you've outlined them are a little complex. How does it work when a wealthy African American visits India? What happens when an impoverished Mexican gets into a tete-a-tete with a third generation Korean. What happens if a straight mixed race person meets a persecuted white homosexual from Russia. The whole thing is a confusing stack of cards that comes crashing down all over the place because identity politics is a zero sum game pissing contest.

I agree that humanity should be able to see it's own privilege and be better - but that has to happen at an individual level, by understanding our individual psychological biases, not mitigating against our own self-development by aligning with groups that either appeal to our political sensibilities - or grant us the promise of power by policing the language and behaviour of others.

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Argumentative Penguin
Argumentative Penguin

Written by Argumentative Penguin

Playwright. Screenwriter. Penguin. Fan of rationalism and polite discourse. Find me causing chaos in the comments. Contact: argumentativepenguin@outlook.com

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