Lets stop Asian hate - what can we do?

[kemuri07]

Jeez we really going to try to pin this on “ the extreme left” and ignore the decades of right wing propaganda that deliberately exploits white grievances for their own political agenda. Both sides does not work here when only one side has and continued to engage in conspiracy theories and “the big lie.” Whatever issues with left wing media is nothing compared to an attempt to overthrow our government. Any argument against this is disengenuous at best.

I hate to break it to you but the ideals of freedom of speech has already been underminded because there’s no restraint. Restraint is a political belief that boundaries are a way to preserve our freedoms. That’s why our government (supposedly) has checks and balances in order to ensure that political actors cannot abuse their powers. We moved away from that when the Supreme Court made a bunch of decisions that removed those restraints, allowing people with big pockets to take control of our politicians.

Restraint also has to be applied to social behaviors. That’s why we have morals, religion, empathy, education: these are all things that put constraints on what we can or don’t. That’s what the market place of ideas is “supposed” to do: filter out bad idea that have aged poorly. That’s why you rarely would see anyone make an essay about the positives of slavers or racial genocide. The problem is what I’ve mentioned before: the advant of social media, and the hyper partisan echo chambers that followed. Who cares if someone like Candace Owens (who absolutely is an Uncle Tom who makes her money by being every white racist’s black friend) is objectively wrong when she has her own corner of the internet to spread and profit off of her disinformation. Logical discourse cannot function in an environment that does not allow good faith arguments to happen. People like Owens and Ben Shapiro are not financially incentivized to actually engage in any argument. Knowledge and information has become just another commodity to be sold to anyone who wants to believe what they want. We have to deal with that before we even talk about free speech.

Finally, that story about the KKK member becoming besties with a black person is the kind of nauseating Hollywood style story we used to get on a yearly basis that makes everyone feel good as they leave the theater. It also simplifies the effect of racism while also putting the onus entirely on poc to act as “mystical negroes” to help racist whites who are blameless idiots. It’s a nonsense narrative that’s entirely made to blame the left for making white people racist. Because it’s the angry woke brigade that’s are bad, and not the people who fell into disinformation traps and thought walking into a church and shoot multiple black people was a way to save the white race.

[Planetnamek]

[(although it is inevitable that could attract some guys with juvenile attitudes)

To be fair you can find people with obnoxious attitudes on any forum even for stuff aimed at adults.

Back in the IMDB forum days the Orange is the new Black forum made me want to claw my eyes out.

Pretty much all of the IMDB forums were toxic, especially the ones for certain celebrities(Mainly the non-white and LGBTQ ones, gee what a shocker ) can't blame Amazon for getting rid of the forums once they acquired IMDB as there was no saving them. Sometimes I had good discussions there but they had by far the most toxic users i'd ever seen outside of gossip sites like Radaronline and TMZ.

Jeez we really going to try to pin this on “ the extreme left” and ignore the decades of right wing propaganda that deliberately exploits white grievances for their own political agenda. Both sides does not work here when only one side has and continued to engage in conspiracy theories and “the big lie.” Whatever issues with left wing media is nothing compared to an attempt to overthrow our government. Any argument against this is disengenuous at best.

I hate to break it to you but the ideals of freedom of speech has already been underminded because there’s no restraint. Restraint is a political belief that boundaries are a way to preserve our freedoms. That’s why our government (supposedly) has checks and balances in order to ensure that political actors cannot abuse their powers. We moved away from that when the Supreme Court made a bunch of decisions that removed those restraints, allowing people with big pockets to take control of our politicians.

Restraint also has to be applied to social behaviors. That’s why we have morals, religion, empathy, education: these are all things that put constraints on what we can or don’t. That’s what the market place of ideas is “supposed” to do: filter out bad idea that have aged poorly. That’s why you rarely would see anyone make an essay about the positives of slavers or racial genocide. The problem is what I’ve mentioned before: the advant of social media, and the hyper partisan echo chambers that followed. Who cares if someone like Candace Owens (who absolutely is an Uncle Tom who makes her money by being every white racist’s black friend) is objectively wrong when she has her own corner of the internet to spread and profit off of her disinformation. Logical discourse cannot function in an environment that does not allow good faith arguments to happen. People like Owens and Ben Shapiro are not financially incentivized to actually engage in any argument. Knowledge and information has become just another commodity to be sold to anyone who wants to believe what they want. We have to deal with that before we even talk about free speech.

Finally, that story about the KKK member becoming besties with a black person is the kind of nauseating Hollywood style story we used to get on a yearly basis that makes everyone feel good as they leave the theater. It also simplifies the effect of racism while also putting the onus entirely on poc to act as “mystical negroes” to help racist whites who are blameless idiots. It’s a nonsense narrative that’s entirely made to blame the left for making white people racist. Because it’s the angry woke brigade that’s are bad, and not the people who fell into disinformation traps and thought walking into a church and shoot multiple black people was a way to save the white race.

Couldn't have said it better myself, anyone that tries to argue that "both sides are just as bad" these days is either not paying attention or willfully ignorant. Only one side tried to commit an insurrection and override the will of the people.

[jjgp1112]

Jeez we really going to try to pin this on “ the extreme left” and ignore the decades of right wing propaganda that deliberately exploits white grievances for their own political agenda. Both sides does not work here when only one side has and continued to engage in conspiracy theories and “the big lie.” Whatever issues with left wing media is nothing compared to an attempt to overthrow our government. Any argument against this is disengenuous at best.

I hate to break it to you but the ideals of freedom of speech has already been underminded because there’s no restraint. Restraint is a political belief that boundaries are a way to preserve our freedoms. That’s why our government (supposedly) has checks and balances in order to ensure that political actors cannot abuse their powers. We moved away from that when the Supreme Court made a bunch of decisions that removed those restraints, allowing people with big pockets to take control of our politicians.

Restraint also has to be applied to social behaviors. That’s why we have morals, religion, empathy, education: these are all things that put constraints on what we can or don’t. That’s what the market place of ideas is “supposed” to do: filter out bad idea that have aged poorly. That’s why you rarely would see anyone make an essay about the positives of slavers or racial genocide. The problem is what I’ve mentioned before: the advant of social media, and the hyper partisan echo chambers that followed. Who cares if someone like Candace Owens (who absolutely is an Uncle Tom who makes her money by being every white racist’s black friend) is objectively wrong when she has her own corner of the internet to spread and profit off of her disinformation. Logical discourse cannot function in an environment that does not allow good faith arguments to happen. People like Owens and Ben Shapiro are not financially incentivized to actually engage in any argument. Knowledge and information has become just another commodity to be sold to anyone who wants to believe what they want. We have to deal with that before we even talk about free speech.

Finally, that story about the KKK member becoming besties with a black person is the kind of nauseating Hollywood style story we used to get on a yearly basis that makes everyone feel good as they leave the theater. It also simplifies the effect of racism while also putting the onus entirely on poc to act as “mystical negroes” to help racist whites who are blameless idiots. It’s a nonsense narrative that’s entirely made to blame the left for making white people racist. Because it’s the angry woke brigade that’s are bad, and not the people who fell into disinformation traps and thought walking into a church and shoot multiple black people was a way to save the white race.

[Melee_Sovereign]

Whatever issues with left wing media is nothing compared to an attempt to overthrow our government.

When you undermine Freedom of Speech, and the Constitution, you begin to set the stages of overthrowing the government.

That’s why our government (supposedly) has checks and balances in order to ensure that political actors cannot abuse their powers. We moved away from that when the Supreme Court made a bunch of decisions that removed those restraints, allowing people with big pockets to take control of our politicians.

Whoa whoa whoa, slow down. The checks and balances you speak of refer to the three branches of government and their differentiated power. That hasn't in anyway shape or form, been removed, not by the Supreme Court, or anyone. If that happened, we'd basically be a dictatorship (or a monarchy), and I in all likelihood wouldn't even have the freedom to be posting about politics on some mundane anime forum.

Logical discourse cannot function in an environment that does not allow good faith arguments to happen.

You also can't have logical discourse if you assume someone of speaking in bad faith because they happen to disagree with you.

People like Owens and Ben Shapiro are not financially incentivized to actually engage in any argument. Knowledge and information has become just another commodity to be sold to anyone who wants to believe what they want. We have to deal with that before we even talk about free speech.

You should probably apply this train of thought to mass media. Outlets like Fox News make far more money than the likes of Ben Shapiro and Candace Owens. They make billions of dollars, so it's rather worrisome that you don't have the same skepticism towards their altruistic motives (if they have any) verses their financial incentives.

Finally, that story about the KKK member becoming besties with a black person is the kind of nauseating Hollywood style story we used to get on a yearly basis that makes everyone feel good as they leave the theater.

Wow. Like, I dunno. I'm literally bewildered right now. Everything is a bloody negative, isn't it?

It's not a Hollywood story! It's a real story that actually happened! And a very positive one at that, where someone made real actual progress towards solving racial issues! But some how to you, it's a "nauseating Hollywood story".

I don't get it. Do you not want racism to be solved? Are you like an agent of big media where you want racial issues to persist indefinitely so you can continue to sell stories? Or do you just want to continue to have something to be angry about, and solving racial issues would be an inconvenience to that?

[UltraInstinctRorikon]

If you call something the China Virus, Kung Flu, etc and you are the president and are constantly blaming a race of people for the deaths and isolation across the world... of course those messages by republicans and Donald Trump invigored hate crimes on asian people.

Really "extreme left"? Is there like a pocket of conservatives on this site? How concerning.

[Planetnamek]

If you call something the China Virus, Kung Flu, etc and you are the president and are constantly blaming a race of people for the deaths and isolation across the world... of course those messages by republicans and Donald Trump invigored hate crimes on asian people.

Really "extreme left"? Is there like a pocket of conservatives on this site? How concerning.

Yeah there was one dude on here that randomly outed himself as a Trump supporter one day right around the time of the election last year, he basically burned all of his bridges on here. Pretty silly to willingly self-immolate yourself over a racist bigoted con artist who's failed at everything he's ever done.

[Hellspawn28]

Extreme leftist people don't exist. People like Antifa are not terrorist or a cult like Fox News makes them out to be. People are so brain wash to believe in anything from the right that they refuse to like anything that is progressive. That's why we can't have equality, universal health care, solar power, human cloning, and genome editing. People believe that fighting in the Middle East, digging up oil, and caring about the middle class people are more important. You still have people today that think communism is still a real threat.

[kemuri07]

When you undermine Freedom of Speech, and the Constitution, you begin to set the stages of overthrowing the government.

As opposed to actually making active attempts to overthrow the government like what President Trump and his cronies did? I swear it often feels like there’s an active effort among certain people to dismiss or outright pretend the capital riots never happened so they can “own da libs”

Whoa whoa whoa, slow down. The checks and balances you speak of refer to the three branches of government and their differentiated power. That hasn't in anyway shape or form, been removed, not by the Supreme Court, or anyone.

Not my point. Yes we still have the three branches of government; the problem is active attempts by various actors to attempt to work around these limitations. No the Supreme Court can’t strike down our three branches of government, but it can make choices like dismissing laws meant to limit the amount of money that political groups can accept from third party groups, ushering an increase of dark money being used by organizations who don’t have to reveal their identification. You don’t need to be a political scientist to understand why that’s problematic in a supposed democracy.

Democracy doesn’t just work on its own; it’s reliant on the men and woman who repesent the citizens to follow the rule of the law in good faith. That cannot happen if you have politicians who are more focused on gaining power and money than actual people. And that’s what we’re seeing, especially with Republicans.

The constitution should be treated as a living document that we update to meet the needs of the American people throughout the years. Our founding fathers were not infallible; they have no way of knowing how advance technology would
Get when they made that document. It’s not about undermining anything: it’s about ensuring that it can be modernize to actually help people.

They make billions of dollars, so it's rather worrisome that you don't have the same skepticism towards their altruistic motives (if they have any) verses their financial incentives.

I’m pretty sure it’s implied based on my position, but if I have to say it: yes same rules apply to the right wing media machine as a whole

It's not a Hollywood story! It's a real story that actually happened! And a very positive one at that, where someone made real actual progress towards solving racial issues! But some how to you, it's a "nauseating Hollywood story".

Again, not the point. I’m sure it’s real, though probably nowhere near as simple and neat as the story you claim. I call it a “nauseating Hollywood crap” because it has nice, Hollywood style ending that’s happy and congratulations you solved racism. Except *motions at the current state of the world*. There’s no way you can apply that story to every instance of racism or race relationship at large because racism itself is extremely complex. It’s not simply a “misunderstanding.” Racism happens due to a number of political and social reasons that are caused by society. My point that life isn’t a movie; it’s messy and chaotic and we need to accept that rather than embrace Hollywood fantasy.

Rather than accuse me of “not wanting to solve racism,” maybe it would help more if you actually did your own research on the things being talked about here. That might actually help.

[JewyB]

Again, not the point. I’m sure it’s real, though probably nowhere near as simple and neat as the story you claim. I call it a “nauseating Hollywood crap” because it has nice, Hollywood style ending that’s happy and congratulations you solved racism...

...Rather than accuse me of “not wanting to solve racism,” maybe it would help more if you actually did your own research on the things being talked about here. That might actually help.

This seems a little contradictory on your end, you should look into the Daryl Davis story. Its an ongoing story spanning 4 decades, which doesn't have an ending. You're dismissing a key point of your "opponents argument" that you havent researched(a 4 decade fight against racism which hasnt ended with a congratulatory pat on the back), then saying "do your research!".

Not got a horse in this race, and gonna dip back out, but just wanted to recommend you follow your own advice and engage with the same good faith attitude you call for. Also i love Daryl Davis, gotta back up my guy.

[kemuri07]

Extreme leftist people don't exist. People like Antifa are not terrorist or a cult like Fox News makes them out to be. People are so brain wash to believe in anything from the right that they refuse to like anything that is progressive. That's why we can't have equality, universal health care, solar power, human cloning, and genome editing. People believe that fighting in the Middle East, digging up oil, and caring about the middle class people are more important. You still have people today that think communism is still a real threat.

I mean, they exist. It’s just they are no where near the threat that right wing media attempts to make them. If you listen to Tucker Carlson, apparently Antifa is some dark organization with its reach surrounding the world when in reality they’re a fringe group with no real leadership. Are they problematic? Sure and I don’t agree with all of their methods. However contrast that with right wing militias that are increasingly growing and are backed by Republican politicians; several members of congress won their offices by appealing to QANON. Whatever issues on the left is far more dire and scary on the right. Right wing politicians have no interest in governing anymore: it’s all about the grift and the evils of Cancel Culture.

[WittyUsername]

At the risk of getting into “both sides” territory, left wing extremism does exist. Virtually any ideology is bound to have its extremists. That’s human nature. We’re a flawed species. We’re going to need to accept that before we can improve the world. Making it illegal for a person to say racist things is not the way to go about it. That’s not going to stop people from being racists, in the same way that making cocaine illegal doesn’t stop people from doing it.

With that said, I think it’s fair to say that right wing extremism is the bigger problem at the moment.

[Polyphase Avatron]

Politics are a form of warfare, bullets aren't being shot but ideals are discussed that could affect a person's well being, so it's always a sensitive subject.

That being said, I don't hate anybody who i've been going back and forth with in the mysogyny thread, if we all met at Kamehacon or something I'd be open to grab some wings and shoot the shit.

Yeah i'd be happy to meet most people from this forum in real life.

Only after the pandemic.

[Melee_Sovereign]

Not my point. Yes we still have the three branches of government; the problem is active attempts by various actors to attempt to work around these limitations.

Welcome to human society. There's always actors somewhere working to bypass the rules in place. It's a practice as old as time.

Everything has a loop hole. Every rule can be bent. Every structure has an impurity. Every computer can be hacked. You can't make a perfect system.

but it can make choices like dismissing laws

????

A court can't just dismiss laws it simply doesn't like. Not legally anyway. That's absurd.

meant to limit the amount of money that political groups can accept from third party groups

Yeah, that would have to be done through legislation. The Supreme Court can't do that.

The constitution should be treated as a living document that we update to meet the needs of the American people throughout the years. Our founding fathers were not infallible; they have no way of knowing how advance technology would
Get when they made that document. It’s not about undermining anything: it’s about ensuring that it can be modernize to actually help people.

The constitution can and has been updated. But the prerequisites to have it updated are far more strict and thorough than ordinary legislation.

https://www.lexisnexis.com/constitution ... tsdone.asp

I’m sure it’s real, though probably nowhere near as simple and neat as the story you claim. I call it a “nauseating Hollywood crap” because it has nice, Hollywood style ending that’s happy and congratulations you solved racism.

I never claimed it was simple or neat. I'm merely pointing out that it's something that happened.

You literally know nothing about the story.

My point that life isn’t a movie; it’s messy and chaotic and we need to accept that rather than embrace Hollywood fantasy.

Again, I didn't cite a movie with a tear-jerk plot. I cited an actual story that actually happened.

Rather than accuse me of “not wanting to solve racism,” maybe it would help more if you actually did your own research on the things being talked about here. That might actually help.

I have. And you're actively and explicitly dismissing a real story that I have researched. You know literally nothing about it and you still have an opinion on it.

For that reason, yes, I am gonna accuse you of not wanting to solve racism. Not necessarily because you're racist (you're probably not). But you come across as someone who actively seeks to have something to be angry about, and any progress against racism would be directly inconvenient of that.

No one in their right mind who actually cares about solving racism, would dismiss a real story where real progress was done as "nauseating Hollywood crap." And don't give me the "but it can't apply to all racism".

"Your mom beat cancer? What nauseating Hollywood crap. The doctor's operation can't apply to all cancer!" That's your logic.

[Hellspawn28]

If we start arresting people for thought crimes, then where exactly would it end? That would be a very dangerous slippery slope. There’s nothing wrong with the First Amendment. The whole reason it exists is so America wouldn’t be a totalitarian regime. In a free country, people should be allowed to express their views without fear of government retaliation, even if their views are absolutely vile.

How are we going to end racism without doing anything about it? Imagine if your house is on fire, but you refuse to do anything about it. Being a white supremacy is not the same as being a Christian, Muslim, Jewish person, etc. People who are white supremacist want to kill or hurt anyone who is not a CIS White Christian Heterosexual. We have over a century of racist white people that hurt or kill people. If Germany (Who is listed in the top 5 best countries on Earth) can ban racism, why can't we? Our constitution is old and outdated because it allows hate crimes to happen. We have the biggest gun violence on Earth because of our constitution meanwhile other countries don't. If you ask me, white supremacist should be banned just like we do with child porn.

[PurestEvil]

If you ask me, white supremacist should be banned just like we do with child porn.

I would agree for white supremacist organizations (they should be classified as terrorists) and people who verbally abuse random people, but it would still be irrational to "ban" white supremacist individuals. That sort of shit will be met with MAJOR blowback. IMO the most feasible way to fix this sort of issue is with educating children of the dangers of racial (ie white) supremacism.

[WittyUsername]

If we start arresting people for thought crimes, then where exactly would it end? That would be a very dangerous slippery slope. There’s nothing wrong with the First Amendment. The whole reason it exists is so America wouldn’t be a totalitarian regime. In a free country, people should be allowed to express their views without fear of government retaliation, even if their views are absolutely vile.

How are we going to end racism without doing anything about it? Imagine if your house is on fire, but you refuse to do anything about it. Being a white supremacy is not the same as being a Christian, Muslim, Jewish person, etc. People who are white supremacist want to kill or hurt anyone who is not a CIS White Christian Heterosexual. We have over a century of racist white people that hurt or kill people. If Germany (Who is listed in the top 5 best countries on Earth) can ban racism, why can't we? Our constitution is old and outdated because it allows hate crimes to happen. We have the biggest gun violence on Earth because of our constitution meanwhile other countries don't. If you ask me, white supremacist should be banned just like we do with child porn.

The constitution does not protect people who commit hate crimes. I’m not even saying there aren’t flaws with the constitution, but repealing the First Amendment of all things is not the way to go about stopping people from being racists. There needs to be discussions about these things. Making it all illegal is the cowardly way of going about it.

[jjgp1112]

Not my point. Yes we still have the three branches of government; the problem is active attempts by various actors to attempt to work around these limitations.

Welcome to human society. There's always actors somewhere working to bypass the rules in place. It's a practice as old as time.

Everything has a loop hole. Every rule can be bent. Every structure has an impurity. Every computer can be hacked. You can't make a perfect system.

but it can make choices like dismissing laws

????

A court can't just dismiss laws it simply doesn't like. Not legally anyway. That's absurd.

meant to limit the amount of money that political groups can accept from third party groups

Yeah, that would have to be done through legislation. The Supreme Court can't do that.

The constitution should be treated as a living document that we update to meet the needs of the American people throughout the years. Our founding fathers were not infallible; they have no way of knowing how advance technology would
Get when they made that document. It’s not about undermining anything: it’s about ensuring that it can be modernize to actually help people.

The constitution can and has been updated. But the prerequisites to have it updated are far more strict and thorough than ordinary legislation.

https://www.lexisnexis.com/constitution ... tsdone.asp

I’m sure it’s real, though probably nowhere near as simple and neat as the story you claim. I call it a “nauseating Hollywood crap” because it has nice, Hollywood style ending that’s happy and congratulations you solved racism.

I never claimed it was simple or neat. I'm merely pointing out that it's something that happened.

You literally know nothing about the story.

My point that life isn’t a movie; it’s messy and chaotic and we need to accept that rather than embrace Hollywood fantasy.

Again, I didn't cite a movie with a tear-jerk plot. I cited an actual story that actually happened.

Rather than accuse me of “not wanting to solve racism,” maybe it would help more if you actually did your own research on the things being talked about here. That might actually help.

I have. And you're actively and explicitly dismissing a real story that I have researched. You know literally nothing about it and you still have an opinion on it.

For that reason, yes, I am gonna accuse you of not wanting to solve racism. Not necessarily because you're racist (you're probably not). But you come across as someone who actively seeks to have something to be angry about, and any progress against racism would be directly inconvenient of that.

No one in their right mind who actually cares about solving racism, would dismiss a real story where real progress was done as "nauseating Hollywood crap." And don't give me the "but it can't apply to all racism".

"Your mom beat cancer? What nauseating Hollywood crap. The doctor's operation can't apply to all cancer!" That's your logic.

The reason why you're getting flak for pushing this story is because not everybody is Daryl Davis. People have varying levels of interpersonal skills, tolerance, and racial trauma - somebody trying to play nice with a violent racist is just as likely to go horribly for them as it is to go well with the next man. You're looking at this from a myopic, micro level. Reaching out to racists isn't some one-size fits all method.

And not only that, but isn't Daryl Davis a musician? So he already has an advantage of exceptionalism, since even racist white people find us entertaining and will prop certain figures as the "good ones." He's more approachable to racists than the average black person to begin with!

Institutional change is what really ends racism, not deradicalizing people from a fringe group that has already been declining for over a century, anyway. It's easy to tell the average person that maybe they shouldn't associate with a group that rounds up and murders people. The type of racism the KKK partakes in is easy to condemn. But what about all of the little behaviors and micro-aggressions? Even well-meaning folks don't realize how racist they can be at times.

We also don't know what these people are doing in their everyday lives after being plucked away from the more cartoonishly vile racist groups. I mean look at America period: the country is past slavery, segregation and Jim Crow, where over-the-top racism was accepted, and yet institutional racism still exists. Public policy changes are still the ABSOLUTE importance. Things like 13th Amendment, Civil Rights Act, and other bills that force bigots to keep their racist thoughts out of public policy make the biggest impact, not a few uniquely safe negroes talking people out of the most extreme behaviors.

[Melee_Sovereign]

The reason why you're getting flak for pushing this story is because not everybody is Daryl Davis. People have varying levels of interpersonal skills, tolerance, and racial trauma - somebody trying to play nice with a violent racist is just as likely to go horribly for them as it is to go well with the next man. You're looking at this from a myopic, micro level. Reaching out to racists isn't some one-size fits all method.

Never said it was a one-size fits all method.

And not only that, but isn't Daryl Davis a musician? So he already has an advantage of exceptionalism, since even racist white people find us entertaining and will prop certain figures as the "good ones." He's more approachable to racists than the average black person to begin with!

This is why you should look into the story before having an opinion on it. Several of the klansman didn't even know he was a musician. If you're gonna call someone myopic, at least don't be myopic yourself.

Institutional change is what really ends racism, not deradicalizing people from a fringe group that has already been declining for over a century, anyway. It's easy to tell the average person that maybe they shouldn't associate with a group that rounds up and murders people. The type of racism the KKK partakes in is easy to condemn. But what about all of the little behaviors and micro-aggressions? Even well-meaning folks don't realize how racist they can be at times.

We also don't know what these people are doing in their everyday lives after being plucked away from the more cartoonishly vile racist groups. I mean look at America period: the country is past slavery, segregation and Jim Crow, where over-the-top racism was accepted, and yet institutional racism still exists. Public policy changes are still the ABSOLUTE importance. Things like 13th Amendment, Civil Rights Act, and other bills that force bigots to keep their racist thoughts out of public policy make the biggest impact, not a few uniquely safe negroes talking people out of the most extreme behaviors.

The problem with the idea of "institutional" racism is, for one, these days, it has a very murky and loose definition. It can mean racist policies (which is illegal). Or it can mean the more murky and rather unfalsifiable things you describe (all the little behaviors and micro-aggressions) which is difficult to prove, and often conflated with issues that have nothing to do with race. Basically, you can accuse any society of being institutionally racist regardless of what it really is. And you can accuse anyone of having "little behaviors and micro-aggressions" regardless of what they do. Everybody is guilty. And because the accusations are unfalsifiable, everybody is guilty always until the end of time.

[jjgp1112]

Micro-aggressions are pretty dang easy to identify if you don't have your head in the sand. You seem to have this idea that racism only exists in the most extreme, Jim Crow-esque nature. It's also things like the well-qualified man getting his job application skipped over because his name is Jamal, white women clutching their purse as soon as they see you, traditionally ethnic hairstyles being viewed at as unprofessional until a white person adopts it, stereotypes casually flung around etc.

Blatant in-your-face racism is "illegal" but cultural biases and prejudices still exist and influence people's decision making. Studies and testimonies from people on either side confirm a lot of this stuff.

And yes, I've read extensively into the Daryl Davis story. It's hardly my first time hearing about it.

[Melee_Sovereign]

The aggression it self, sure. The reason behind the micro-aggression, not really. There's a million possible reasons why someone is being micro-aggressive.