Racism and Sexism Don’t Offend Me

Racism and sexism don’t offend me. Violence and assholery do (violence vastly more).

I believe the fear people have with bigotry is demonstrated when you imagine a bigoted dictator. The guy has vast amounts of power, and he will use it to oppress a certain type of people. Seems like a reasonable concern.

The problem with this outlook is that it ignores the much greater issue. A racist dictator might be just as bad as a non-racist dictator. They still oppress … but one focuses their oppression on a specific race. Is this uniquely bad? Is it better or worse if one dictator murders a million people at random, while the other one murders a million people who have the race of Puerto Rican? I am sure someone could cobble together an answer for why one is worse in either direction. However, if instead of focusing on the racism of this situation we focus on the political power and/or violence involved … we hit the core problem with both dictators.

Assholes who aren’t racist disperse their assholery by their own special biases that I don’t know. If an asshole disperses their assholery by their racial biases … does that make it better or worse?

I’ve known plenty of people who were racist or sexist but weren’t assholes and didn’t believe in employing violence. I disagree with these peoples’ evaluation … but without violence and assholery, their beliefs cause very little harm. This is why I try never to focus on racism or sexism … they are harmless. While violence and assholery are harmful whether the person is a racist or not.

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Aaron White, married to a swell girl, is a business owner and unschooling father of two, going on three. His hobbies are music and poker. He resides in Southern California.