Jump to content

It's okay to be white (campaign)


Yatogami

Recommended Posts

wptv-ok-white-signs_1510238336367_711038

 

As many of you may have seen, 4chan launched a "It's okay to be white" campaign, to prove to the world that the main stream media, and many other outlets are secretly racist against white people. They had assumed any person who had picked this story up, as somehow "racist", where indeed secretly racist. It had worked like a charm, and media sources have picked it up, claiming it to be racist. When in fact, it was intended to be the opposite by its creators. 4chan intentionally designed the signs to be as inoffensive as possible, said as inoffensively as possible. 

 

As someone who witness the birth of this movement, I have to agree. There is some racism against white people, as they are scapegoated as the main source of any discrepancy between races constantly. Many will call it reverse racism, but that is silly. There is racism, and there is not. If you judge making decisions based on the color of someone's skin, you are being racist. End of story. 4chan has proven once again, that it exists very clearly on both sides. 

 

Thoughts?

Link to post
Share on other sites
stuartmcgrath

i thought it was funny at first at how everyone reacted to it but then it got sad when politicians started saying this was racist

Link to post
Share on other sites

I hadn't heard of this, but it is an amusing little test since the sign is very simple and says nothing negative. It's made several news outlets? I'll have to look for it.

 

I agree that there isn't really a "reverse racism"; it's either racist or it's not, but I do think it's sad that the term had to come about in the first place for there to even be an actual discussion about other forms of racism instead of an outright dismissal of the topic.

Link to post
Share on other sites
3 minutes ago, Cimmerian said:

I hadn't heard of this, but it is an amusing little test since the sign is very simple and says nothing negative. It's made several news outlets? I'll have to look for it.

 

I agree that there isn't really a "reverse racism"; it's either racist or it's not, but I do think it's sad that the term had to come about in the first place for there to even be an actual discussion about other forms of racism instead of an outright dismissal of the topic.

Yeah it has been reported at at least 20 campuses, in places across the USA, and even the EU area. 

Link to post
Share on other sites

This is funny, say that it’s ok to have white skin and people act crazy, black skin, and the reaction is mostly fine, people have gotten so used to one thing that when people say another thing people react crazy.

Link to post
Share on other sites
Just now, CaptainYesterday said:

How have SJWs taken over the entire Left if they are this gullible?

For the same reason they fall for every  4chan campaign. 

Link to post
Share on other sites
Just now, Zenzencat104 said:

This is funny, say that it’s ok to have white skin and people act crazy, black skin, and the reaction is mostly fine, people have gotten so used to one thing that when people say another thing people react crazy.

If the reaction is, "mostly fine" why do people have such a bad reaction to the phrase, "black lives matter"? 

Link to post
Share on other sites
3 minutes ago, CaptainYesterday said:

How have SJWs taken over the entire Left if they are this gullible?

I find the Left more sensible than the former, which is probably how this happened. I've seen SJW's freak out over the most mundane and inoffensive comments in the past.

Link to post
Share on other sites
stuartmcgrath
2 minutes ago, m4rble said:

If the reaction is, "mostly fine" why do people have such a bad reaction to the phrase, "black lives matter"? 

because of the organization with the same name, isn't BLM seen as a terrorist organization by the US government?

Link to post
Share on other sites
5 minutes ago, m4rble said:

If the reaction is, "mostly fine" why do people have such a bad reaction to the phrase, "black lives matter"? 

Maybe the same reason, IDK, but I think that the mostly fine reaction is just where I live.

Link to post
Share on other sites

The message something sends is not just what's written. I don't think there's anything wrong with the signs, but it is disingenuous to say all people would interpret from them is, "it's okay to be white". They imply that whether or not it's okay to be white is seriously contested by society and it is this implication that most people who would take issue with the signs would take issue with.  

Link to post
Share on other sites

Racism against whites is as obvious as racism against any other race, in that it exists and is a problem. I personally think all of the race baiting going on in society as of late is doing nothing but already furthering a divide that shouldn't be there in the first place. Shit like this shines a good light on something that isn't addressed enough; that our media constantly tries to pit us against each other, and doesn't do anything to close the divide between Americans, and we've never been more divided. Now I could go into how this is technically race baiting, and that 4chan engages in the same stuff they're accusing the mainstream media of, but I'll refrain for now because as an attack on the media, I like this.

 

7 minutes ago, m4rble said:

The message something sends is not just what's written. I don't think there's anything wrong with the signs, but it is disingenuous to say all people would interpret from them is, "it's okay to be white". They imply that whether or not it's okay to be white is seriously contested by society and it is this implication that most people who would take issue with the signs would take issue with.  

This, however, I agree with as well.

Link to post
Share on other sites
18 minutes ago, m4rble said:

The message something sends is not just what's written. I don't think there's anything wrong with the signs, but it is disingenuous to say all people would interpret from them is, "it's okay to be white". They imply that whether or not it's okay to be white is seriously contested by society and it is this implication that most people who would take issue with the signs would take issue with.  

Agreed, they do imply that being white might not be considered okay by society (or parts of society). It's what makes this interesting; you get to hear how those who read or report on it choose to interpret it.  You can take it either as that "all" of society would contest the idea it's "okay to be white" or that only part of it would, or that the entire concept of this sign is racist because 'who'd need to be reassured of this?'. All groups have been attacked or made to feel less than because of their skin color at one point or another, so it's not completely irrelevant either.

 

11 minutes ago, Groobly said:

Racism against whites is as obvious as racism against any other race, in that it exists and is a problem. I personally think all of the race baiting going on in society as of late is doing nothing but already furthering a divide that shouldn't be there in the first place. Shit like this shines a good light on something that isn't addressed enough; that our media constantly tries to pit us against each other, and doesn't do anything to close the divide between Americans, and we've never been more divided. Now I could go into how this is technically race baiting, and that 4chan engages in the same stuff they're accusing the mainstream media of, but I'll refrain for now because as an attack on the media, I like this.

Yes to all of the bold. There's been a lot of encouraging divides that don't need to be there and it's become more and more popular to see how much you can twist a story to be only about race and pit us against each other. (Which completely disgusts me.)

Link to post
Share on other sites
Eureka. Immense.

I think that it's silly that a group of people set out to prove that mainstream media is somehow "racist" against white people. I'm not familiar with the campaign so I don't know exactly what the thought process behind it was... just going on what I read here. It sounds like 4chan was trying to provoke a negative reaction with the signs. A bunch of trolls<_< 

 

While on the surface the signs seem fairly innocuous, it's just a really turbulent time with a lot of white nationalist groups coming out of the woodwork to intimidate people around the world and so signs like "it's okay to be white" may cause people to believe that it's a form a propaganda from the alt-right.

 

Yeah, sure, of course it's "okay to be white." But whether it's an unpopular opinion or not... being white comes with certain privileges. Littering spaces with signs like that--especially public spaces where white people have had a certain entitlement or dominance over (historically in the USA for example) is in bad taste.

 

But what about #blacklivesmatter signs? Well, there is an actual movement behind that which seeks to bring positive change for people of color who are disproportionately killed by law enforcement across the states as well as trans murder and violence, and women of color who are missing (insane numbers of missing women of color in the USA) "Its okay to be white" is a farce and I think you're free to post these signs but it's in bad taste. 

 

I think because racism involves a belief in a superiority of one race over another--- in most cases, white people may experience prejudice from people of color but in my humble opinion, not racism.

 

Yeah, racism is bad... all racists suck...doesn't matter what their skin color is.   

Link to post
Share on other sites
Eureka. Immense.
8 minutes ago, Cimmerian said:

the entire concept of this sign is racist because 'who'd need to be reassured of this?'. All groups have been attacked or made to feel less than because of their skin color at one point or another, so it's not completely irrelevant either.

 

On what occasions have white people been attacked or made to feel less because of their skin color? 

 

Do you mean like individuals who were not befriended by groups of people of color? Or made fun of because they were white? Or do you mean Caucasian people in general have had to endure racism and prejudice throughout history?

 

I'm in the minority here who asks the question "who'd need to be reassured of this?" Are universities peppered with signs saying "it's okay to be black" "it's okay to be brown"? There'd be a lot of outrage of signs like that showed up too...

 

There was a lot of outrage about blacklivesmatter--- people going on to state impassioned that no, it's really alllivesmatter.... but they totally didn't get the point behind the movement and campaign that it wasn't until we acknowledged institutional racism and inequality that we can truly state that alllivesmatter but until then, people felt that the world should be reminded that blacklivesmatter (which became a campaign for people of color in general)  

Link to post
Share on other sites
Just now, Eureka. Immense. said:

On what occasions have white people been attacked or made to feel less because of their skin color? 

What is affirmative action? What is "white privilage"? 

Link to post
Share on other sites
stuartmcgrath
9 minutes ago, Eureka. Immense. said:

what occasions have white people been attacked or made to feel less because of their skin color? 

the irish? or the armenians

Link to post
Share on other sites
Eureka. Immense.
3 minutes ago, Yato said:

What is affirmative action? What is "white privilage"? 

White privilege is something I encourage you to explore at the library and in scholarly articles about critical race theory. I'm not interested in offending anyone further. 

In a gist it's an advantage in access to quality education, housing, justice, having your history and culture considered the "norm", represented in all forms of media across the world in a generally positive light, and socio-economic inequality. It's a long and complicated history in injustice and inequality not just in the states but across the world. 

 

affirmative action is always brought up as a reason why people of color somehow have "gained the upper-hand" but when it is implemented it is only to grant qualified candidates regardless of race, creed, color, or national origin employment and access to education. We have a problem, especially down south and at universities here in america with "legacy" hires and acceptances to universities.... because of a historical disadvantage, there are disproportionately more white men who would benefit from it...

Link to post
Share on other sites
30 minutes ago, Eureka. Immense. said:

I think that it's silly that a group of people set out to prove that mainstream media is somehow "racist" against white people. I'm not familiar with the campaign so I don't know exactly what the thought process behind it was... just going on what I read here. It sounds like 4chan was trying to provoke a negative reaction with the signs. A bunch of trolls<_< 

Yeah, which made me really hesitant to make a post agreeing with it. I do agree with their message of the media trying to pit people against each other under racist pretenses, but at the same time...this is 4chan, who have horribly racist posts all over the place on their most popular boards every day. If a bunch of signs had been posted everywhere saying "It's okay to be black", there'd be endless racist screeds all over the website. It being from there just kinda muddies the message a bit.

Also, I wouldn't use the word "racist" to describe the media and the way it treats white people. I don't exactly agree with you that racism against whites doesn't exist, but commenting about "white privilege", which I'm sure they consider racist, isn't racist at all.

Link to post
Share on other sites
Eureka. Immense.
10 minutes ago, stuartmcgrath said:

the irish? or the armenians

again because of their skin color? No, they were prejudiced against because of national origin. 

The idea that Irish people were slaves in America is a myth and nothing endured by the Irish in America (while it was terrible) is comparable to the slave trade. 

 

are groups of people (of color) rallying against the Irish and Armenians? No. It is not comparable to groups of white people (Irish, German, Dutch...whathaveyou) forming racist groups against "people of color"

Link to post
Share on other sites
29 minutes ago, Eureka. Immense. said:

But what about #blacklivesmatter signs? Well, there is an actual movement behind that which seeks to bring positive change for people of color who are disproportionately killed by law enforcement across the states as well as trans murder and violence, and women of color who are missing (insane numbers of missing women of color in the USA) "Its okay to be white" is a farce and I think you're free to post these signs but it's in bad taste. 

Yeah, it's an actual movement.  If you want to make a movement that accomplishes something in society, that's great. These posters were only designed to provoke people. 

Link to post
Share on other sites
Eureka. Immense.
2 minutes ago, Groobly said:

commenting about "white privilege", which I'm sure they consider racist, isn't racist at all.

It isn't racist and it's not my intentions to pit anyone against each other by pointing it out. 

 

I agree with everyone about the media sensationalizing a racial divide. It's wrong and what we need is to repair our relationships... but to say that nothing is broken in America for example, I cannot agree with that. There are racial inequalities and we should acknowledge them without it being a blame game... without people arguing about who has suffered more.... we all have our opinions about that...but in the end, the past is the past, and it's more important how we go forward.

Link to post
Share on other sites
Ruru+Saphhy=Garnet
Just now, Eureka. Immense. said:

It isn't racist and it's not my intentions to pit anyone against each other by pointing it out. 

 

I agree with everyone about the media sensationalizing a racial divide. It's wrong and what we need is to repair our relationships... but to say that nothing is broken in America for example, I cannot agree with that. There are racial inequalities and we should acknowledge them without it being a blame game... without people arguing about who has suffered more.... we all have our opinions about that...but in the end, the past is the past, and it's more important how we go forward.

I agree!

Link to post
Share on other sites
stuartmcgrath

@Eureka. Immense. what about zimbabwe's killing of white farmers? or the fact that the leader of Zimbabwe said that anyone who killed any white people would not be punished for there crimes?

Link to post
Share on other sites
1 minute ago, stuartmcgrath said:

@Eureka. Immense. what about zimbabwe's killing of white farmers? or the fact that the leader of Zimbabwe said that anyone who killed any white people would not be punished for there crimes?

If you are really concerned about that you should try to work to fix it instead of using it to try to argue against a completely separate problem. 

Link to post
Share on other sites
7 minutes ago, stuartmcgrath said:

@Eureka. Immense. what about zimbabwe's killing of white farmers? or the fact that the leader of Zimbabwe said that anyone who killed any white people would not be punished for there crimes?

It's worth pointing out that when people talk about white privilege, it's always in the context of western society predominantly and historically inhabited by white people. Obviously horrible shit can happen to anyone regardless of skin color.

Link to post
Share on other sites
Eureka. Immense.

Yeah, I'm not sure that is has anything to do with anything I have stated. Several families were killed in the forced displacement of white farmers... I'm not an expert in the social dynamics of living in an African country  and the racial divide caused by colonization by the British... i can only assume that it's incredibly tense and I'm sorry people lost their lives and livelihoods and the reaction of the leaders there may seem callous but I liken it to the outrage felt by natives in my country and how their Turtle Island was colonized and plundered-- and say, in some fantastical future they were to gain an independence from that and establish a government and we were all now in a predicament where we could be displaced (like they had for generations and generations).... you get where I'm going with this? 

 

Horrible things happen around the world to all races and genders and ages.... and the reaction you speak of is routed in a complicated history of genocide.   

Link to post
Share on other sites
21 minutes ago, stuartmcgrath said:

@Eureka. Immense. what about zimbabwe's killing of white farmers? or the fact that the leader of Zimbabwe said that anyone who killed any white people would not be punished for there crimes?

So why would white farmers being killed in Zimbabwe show a need for signs saying 'It's okay to be white' in America? That argument might work in Zimbabwe, but in the Western world, white privilege is well and alive. It's not that white people cannot be discriminated against because it's inherently impossible to do so, but because they are the majority in America and Europe and will therefore not be discriminated against in these areas.

Link to post
Share on other sites
2 minutes ago, Eureka. Immense. said:

On what occasions have white people been attacked or made to feel less because of their skin color? 

 

Do you mean like individuals who were not befriended by groups of people of color? Or made fun of because they were white? Or do you mean Caucasian people in general have had to endure racism and prejudice throughout history?

 

I'm in the minority here who asks the question "who'd need to be reassured of this?" Are universities peppered with signs saying "it's okay to be black" "it's okay to be brown"? There'd be a lot of outrage of signs like that showed up too...

 

There was a lot of outrage about blacklivesmatter--- people going on to state impassioned that no, it's really alllivesmatter.... but they totally didn't get the point behind the movement and campaign that it wasn't until we acknowledged institutional racism and inequality that we can truly state that alllivesmatter but until then, people felt that the world should be reminded that blacklivesmatter (which became a campaign for people of color in general)  

Really, that was what you wanted to argue with? :huh: I get the impression you think I'm trying to belittle other people's strife just because I can see that all groups face their own issues and that issues change over time. (I'm going to concentrate on how people are currently treated because we could spend all year on institutional or historical views and the OP seemed to be more about how people- rather than institutions like the justice system- treat each other.)

 

I'm sorry if you don't think other people can actually be attacked because things are presumed about them because of their color if they're not a minority (or at least, that's the impression I'm getting from some of your posts). Someone who is white isn't exempt from being targeted or having their skin color held against them, but acknowledging that doesn't lessen any other group's issues or suffering either. But since you asked, I do know people who have been attacked (physically) because they were white because of current political or racial tensions, and have dealt with a hell of a lot of verbal abuse that'd be abhorred if it was said to a minority group but has been played off as okay because they're "just white" and therefore deserve it. And yes, I have heard people say that.

I don't see why you don't think another group could be targeted for their race. As you said, there's no point in anyone playing the "who has it worse game," because it doesn't help anyone and we'd all prefer to see problems addressed so we can move forward.

 

And no where did I say I'm justifying the signs or that people do need to be reassured of this, I just think it was an interesting experiment in a time when racial tensions have been irrationally aggravated and an attempt to point out exactly that focusing on a single race at all does come across as weird in some of these sort of messages.

 

As for BLM, this isn't a topic about institutional racism-- well, the rest of the thread wasn't at least-- so I'm not going to touch that topic and derail the thread beyond saying that I'd think any good in their message gets degraded by their methods or behavior at some of the rallies they've had.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...