Is Apu from the Simpsons racist?

White privilege is a divisive lie invented by academic racists

 

I believe that the US has a racism problem, but I also believe that ''social justice warrioring'' is also a real thing. I've been wondering to what level, if at all, does SJW go on in other countries other than the US?

 

^keywords, "may not recognize they have"
As illustrated in a few posts above

 

Actually slavery only existed in this country for about 80 years. The founders were against it but couldn't just pull the plug on it or several states/colonies threatened to form their own coalitions and forego joining the United States. Slavery was a relic leftover from British rule and until the British were tossed out, nobody could even vote on the issue.

I often hear naive claims about how slavery was part of this country's heritage for 400 years or 600 years or what have you. This is not true. The nation was finally incorporated after many compromises (including the 3/5ths which is also grossly misinterpreted these days) in the late 18th century.

Another aspect of slavery is that it existed in nations around the planet for far longer than it did in the US. But somehow, the overall bill for humanity's misbegotten history with slave keeping lands at the footsteps of the Americans. Somehow it is modern day Americans who must pay a bill that's as old as humanity. THIS is why the discussion on the subject is going nowhere.

Again privilege is a class issue, not a race issue. Making it a race issue literally protects the class of people who benefit the most from it by keeping the people in the trenches at each other's throats. People who spout on about "white privilege" are being played by those who have real privilege. The very term "white privilege" is racist to its core. Unless we're to adopt the idea that just being white is an act of racism. And it's not.

 

If you consider George's point here to be accurate...

How can you consider those examples to be defensible? Do you honestly think in the vast majority of instances a suited up African American driving a nice car through a wealthy neighborhood is going to be profiled more than a poor white person driving a beat up car?

Maybe it's just the brevity of the examples you gave but those would seem to lead to a slippery slope where mere stereotypes are the basis of the "privilege", which can easily be re-imagined to provide instances of other groups being the "privileged" and thus rendering the concept meaningless. While I don't necessarily agree with all their positions in this thread, I do think it's examples like those where the likes of GeorgeJetStoned and 6-Eyed Shaman make arguments that at times resonate with me.

I think where the concept of "white privilege" might carry more weight, at least for me, is on what I'll call likelihood of opportunities. For instance, if there is a large city where whites comprise the majority of a particular area and blacks comprise the majority of a particular area of the city, It is fair to say there is "white privilege" if the predominantly white 'area' receives a disproportionate amount of funding for their schools and infrastructure compared to the predominantly black 'area'. We might infer with such disproportionate funding that blacks growing up in this system, likely have worse off education, living conditions, and thus making the likelihood of opportunities available to them less so than their white counterparts.

 

I suppose my example essentially echoed MeAgain's quotes in post #123 but hopefully the distinction is noted in contrast to this stereotyping facet that is being attached to "white privilege".

 

This is still an example of a class issue. Upper class people have far more privilege than the throngs of "lowlifes" beneath them.

I get to hear this sort of crap at the gym I use. It's half way to work, but it's in an upper class neighborhood. So I get the sideways glances as I ease the vintage Jetstoned hooptee into a front parking space and waltz in with my "everyday is casual Friday" outfit on a hanger. Jane, my wife, insists I use the beat to fook old towels in case I lose one, forget one or, laugh of all laughs, it gets stolen.

I've been entertained regularly by some of the most arrogant, clique-ish wealthy elitist assholes in this part of Atlanta. Sometimes I shut my antique iPod off just to hear them whine about lowlifes like me using their gym when I live 2 counties over. And, shock of all shocks, these arrogant sons and daughters of bitches come in ALL colors. And they get along with each other swimmingly. Amazing!

I also get followed around Wal-Mart, Costco and Publix routinely by store security jerks. I suspect it's because I dress way down in such places to glide past the panhandlers with ease. But they also know that if they can find a way to bust me, I won't be pulling "The Card". Nope, it stays in the deck for me. Back when I actually was a criminal I dress up for shoplifting, even wearing a tie. I snagged a $65 bottle of scotch by looking like a corporate dork once. But I was usually after food and the expensive health & beauty aids that came in smaller packages.

The only time I ever got caught was in the 80s when I tried to walk out with way too many inhalers (I had a nasty bathtub meth habit). Off to jail I went!

 

There is likely an aspect of class as well, but i don't think it's strictly a class issue. To me it's probably nuanced and kind of a chicken or the egg situation, I think the phrase "white privilege" paints a distorted picture, especially if it's being used in the context of soulcompromise's examples but I also don't think a bunch of people got together and one day conjured up affirmative action out of thin air.

 

My point was that the Americans didn't hang on to it. They ended it at a substantial cost of human life on both sides of the civil war. Up to that point the US was in a precarious position and the union of states was fragile. There was always a concern that the established European nations might make another try for the resource-rich Americas. The War of 1812 is a prime example of this threat. With all of that going on it's really no wonder it took as long as it did to deal with entrenched domestic issues like slavery.

What's really incredible is how the slaves were freed. They could have easily (and profitably) been shipped to Caribbean islands to work sugar cane fields. But the Americans didn't do that. Instead, they did the right thing. Too often this aspect of our history is shoved aside to make room for today's problems.

 

I can see you may have been victim to some type of profiling. And the people at the gym you're talking about, I used to work out at a pricey gym too. And it was a little bit like that. And I hated it so I went my separate way.

I don't get the same sort of thing shopping anymore. I used to when I was young be looked at as a liability or potential shrinkage/loss prevention issue, but I think it was just because young people probably steal more.

George, social stratification comes in all shapes and sizes. I think it's probable, and I don't know because I'm not you, that those people may be prejudiced as well as a bit stuffy. Sometimes it doesn't take much to get me thinking a little bit paranoid about it, like anyone who is the slightest bit arrogant or ignorant must automatically be racist. And while I realize that not everyone is racist, I do recognize too that there is such a thing as white privilege.

 

I Loved the movie:: My Big Fat Greek Wedding, where Nina Vardakas dug up every stereotype in the book to portray an immigrant family upbringing.

 

And I do not. I think the term itself is designed to foment hatred of an entire race of people for simply being a different color. Therefore, I see the term as pure racism.

 

I think you've got to see it from another angle. The people who are the victims of hatred are not white. They are people of color. You should try to understand this. I'm finishing up a college course that is sociology of race and ethnic group relations, and it's really made a distinct impression on me that there are people who are truly are disadvantaged.

Now of course, as you have pointed out, there are a multitude of poor people and the vast majority of them are white people. The number is astonishing, and it's sad. But what is far too often ignored is that for the number of African-Americans that reside in this country, a much much higher percentage of those people are in poverty. That's the truth.

 

It's interesting how percentages are OK when used to describe some things and are evil when used to describe others (like crime rates, bastard birth rates and school grades).

One very interesting thing you're saying here is "The people who are the victims of hatred are not white." First of all it makes me wonder what scale you measure victim-hood, but it also makes me wonder if you really think everyone else just loves all those white people out there. It sure doesn't seem like it. Has your college presented you with a "the problem of whiteness" class yet? They're out there.

I also hear people spouting on and on about "white supremacy" but what's interesting is that the only ones doing it are hard left activists and communists. I don't see any pro-white groups forming and the relics of the past like the KKK are a pitiful example to hold up these days. Those losers can assemble a dozen fellow losers for a protest.

We had one recently in Georgia and they were pathetic, old, fat and as usual wearing costumes that looked like they came right out of the box. I realize it's fashionable to see racial strife in everything these days from band-aids to biscuits, but look at whose doing all the griping. Look into their agenda.

I think it's all rather sad. When I worked in the Caribbean or North Africa teaching water treatment I saw none of this. It seems to be largely an American phenomenon. I can't help but wonder what good is expected to come from all of this. The stated goals are either lofty or fail to take in all of the issues and instead cherry pick the ones that are "popular".

As for Apu, I wonder what he'd think of the 16 year old girl who was raped in India and then burned to death for complaining about it.

 

It's part of the current curriculum on racial and ethnic group relations. The term "whiteness" refers to the way that certain racist things can be undetected in plain sight because they're being done the way that we've always done them more or less.

 

Nope, I'm convinced the failures and flaws are entirely cultural.

 

Still sounds more like seeds of divisiveness than productive dialog.