White Friend on Twitter Using Emotional Blackmail Over BLM

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KT67
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11 Jun 2020, 3:55 pm

I'm following this guy on twitter. He's white, I'm white too, we're not Americans.

He keeps tweeting about BLM in a really unhelpful way.

Black people have told him to stop and it isn't helping.

But it just makes me feel really sh***y and guilty.

He's crying about how everyone he knows is a racist and how white people should 'know their place'. And he's saying things like if you tell a half Belgian they're not fully English it's 'racist'. But apparently Belgians are the only white people who you can be racist against? With their history? I don't get that.

I feel like I could never live up to his standards but then am I racist if I just give up? It's really playing on my social anxiety. And if I block him then he'll just tweet about how I'm racist and people will believe him.

I just wish people would use nuance and sources on this stuff cos it doesn't challenge the racists and it just makes decent white people's social anxiety and mental health decrease.

Tbh it's really putting me on the defensive.


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fluffysaurus
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11 Jun 2020, 4:33 pm

Block him. He may accuse you of racism but he seems to be accusing all white people and people are going to judge his criticism of you by all the other things he's saying so I don't think they will think badly of you.

I assume the Belgium thing is because of Leopold and I don't want to dismiss what a true shitperson he was but racism is not ok against any race including Belgies. Though it's nearly always ok to take the piss out of people a bit when they are in the majority.

I do feel sometimes people want me to feel bad or guilty and I don't, the feeling that they want me to feel guilty or they are annoyed makes me angry not guilty. I think that is prob true for most white people at the moment who don't feel that they are racist. This feeling stops me and I expect others from wanting to have the sort of discussions that prob need to happen because of that dread that I'm just going to get accused of racism and told I don't understand (as if that is my fault).

The people who make me think the most about my attitudes ect are comedians. I don't feel they are accusing me or at least not in an unpleasant way. They are very good at getting people to see things from a different perspective, which is what we all, whatever our race, need to do.

I do believe that there is racism, and surely everyone on this site knows the further you are from the norm in any society then the harder things are because things are set up for whatever is the norm within that society. Mr average gets an easy ride. But I resent being told I'm racist just because I'm white; racist is a very unpleasant word.

I also think some people have deluded ideas on history if they think their ancestors were all nice people. We all have millions of ancestors therefore we all have ancestors who were murdering, raping, nut job bastards and lots of them.



fluffysaurus
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11 Jun 2020, 4:42 pm

I think I misunderstood what you put about the Belgium's. Did someone say he wasn't fully English because he's half Belgium? if this is the case I make it a point to never disagree with how someone else identifies themselves, even if their judgement seems illogical and I don't mean it in any way as an insult. It will almost certainly upset them.



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11 Jun 2020, 4:51 pm

I just wanted to add that I do think some interesting things have come out of all this. I don't want the statues of famous people taken down even if they were also racist, because they are part of our history their flaws should be taught with everything else, but I don't mind the ones who were just slave traders and aren't famous for anything else. I'm really surprised they are still there.

Also I saw an explanation on the 'defund the police' argument (in America) which was helpful. It seems to be more of a 'stop funding the police at the expense of everything else' which makes more sense but doesn't fit as well on a placard.



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11 Jun 2020, 5:08 pm

KT67 wrote:
White Friend on Twitter Using Emotional Blackmail Over BLM.
Block the racist troll.

No "What-Ifs".  No "Yeah-Buts".  No lame excuses.  No worthless guilt.

Just block his sorry self right now and forget you ever heard of him!!


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KT67
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11 Jun 2020, 8:27 pm

fluffysaurus wrote:
Block him. He may accuse you of racism but he seems to be accusing all white people and people are going to judge his criticism of you by all the other things he's saying so I don't think they will think badly of you.

I assume the Belgium thing is because of Leopold and I don't want to dismiss what a true shitperson he was but racism is not ok against any race including Belgies. Though it's nearly always ok to take the piss out of people a bit when they are in the majority.

I do feel sometimes people want me to feel bad or guilty and I don't, the feeling that they want me to feel guilty or they are annoyed makes me angry not guilty. I think that is prob true for most white people at the moment who don't feel that they are racist. This feeling stops me and I expect others from wanting to have the sort of discussions that prob need to happen because of that dread that I'm just going to get accused of racism and told I don't understand (as if that is my fault).

The people who make me think the most about my attitudes ect are comedians. I don't feel they are accusing me or at least not in an unpleasant way. They are very good at getting people to see things from a different perspective, which is what we all, whatever our race, need to do.

I do believe that there is racism, and surely everyone on this site knows the further you are from the norm in any society then the harder things are because things are set up for whatever is the norm within that society. Mr average gets an easy ride. But I resent being told I'm racist just because I'm white; racist is a very unpleasant word.

I also think some people have deluded ideas on history if they think their ancestors were all nice people. We all have millions of ancestors therefore we all have ancestors who were murdering, raping, nut job bastards and lots of them.


No, see that would make sense. Belgium has a really racist past re Leopold...

He thinks you can't be racist against Eastern Europeans or Travellers or the Irish in general or Jewish people cos 'white people haven't been oppressed/aren't currently oppressed'.

But you can against white Belgians?

He thinks it's racist cos his granddad told his mum she's not fully British. I think his mum told him it to calm him down lol. My cousins know they're half German and only denied it once (we were in Greece & one of them was worried she'd be spoken to in German and she didn't speak German, sadly).

It really annoys me cos the only people I've seen really bad racism aimed at Travellers, experienced it aimed at those with Irish roots, seen headline after headline calling for 'send back the Poles' and well... y'know the holocaust of Jewish people was racist. He comes across as badly educated.

Yeah, I'm listening to black people eg on YouTube. Just gonna stop listening to him.

Part of the issue is I've always lived in very white areas, mostly not posh ones. People always find a 'foreign' scapegoat in my experience. What I've learned about anti-black racism is, there's no escaping it around the world and if they do (eg in Africa) they still have to contend with colourism :(


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Wolfram87
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12 Jun 2020, 2:13 am

When people like that say "racist", they essentially mean the same thing as when religious fanatics say "sinner". Treat accordingly.


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fluffysaurus
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12 Jun 2020, 7:12 am

If he thinks you can't be racist about white people this might be down to the different interpretations of the word race. I think it has a definition in America that is (for want of a better way of putting it) black and white where as here and most places it covers a wider ground. My race is English, my nationality is English, they mean two different though connected things. Most of the English race is white (not all) but most white people are not part of the English race. English race is a hybrid of Germanic and Celtic (and some other bits) it also makes up one of the ingredients of some other races such as Anglo-Indian, West Indian, Anglo-Nigerian. I don't belong to a race called white people.

I also live in an area that is not well off and most people are white, most racism I've heard is against eastern Europeans and travellers too. I've certainly heard things said about non white people though.



fluffysaurus
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12 Jun 2020, 7:16 am

I'm quite curious as to which white people he thinks haven't been oppressed.



KT67
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12 Jun 2020, 7:22 am

Exactly. I think it's cos he's from an urban area? He's English. That or he has watched way too many Youtube videos.

And yes absolutely, I've come across racism against non-white people. My nephew's been called the N word.

He thinks everyone except Belgians haven't been oppressed :roll: Needs to read a history book or just look around him, pretty sure there's Eastern Europeans in Leeds. :roll:


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KT67
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13 Jun 2020, 4:29 am

KT67 wrote:
Exactly. I think it's cos he's from an urban area? He's English. That or he has watched way too many Youtube videos.

And yes absolutely, I've come across racism against non-white people. My nephew's been called the N word.

He thinks everyone white except Belgians haven't been oppressed :roll: Needs to read a history book or just look around him, pretty sure there's Eastern Europeans in Leeds. :roll:


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CockneyRebel
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15 Jun 2020, 4:47 am

Block him. He's not worth it.


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