I reiterate, I believe that the responses you've received are proportionate and not oversensitive, I'd like to use this as an example of the high stakes I'm talking about.
Black people are the authors of their own misfortune? Check!
In recent times, yes.
The belief you hold here, according to what you wrote, is that black people are the authors of their own misfortune in recent times. If your belief is otherwise then I can only apologise, as I can only go by what is written.
One of the things I do most days is take emergency calls for the police, and most days I deal with at least one report of racism from a person or people in a minority ethnicity, usually reported to me by a member of the public. Many of the reports are really awful. It's not uncommon for families to feel afraid to leave their home, or to be the target of damages against their home or car, or to be stared at and shouted at in the street.
If I were to adopt the belief that, as they are reporting the incidents in recent times, they are by default the authors of their misfortune in some way, I would be ignoring the fact that in the context of the situation they are reporting they are innocent aggrieved parties. In the overwhelming majority of cases there are no counter allegations against them, certainly not ones that can be evidenced. If I were to adopt the stance that they were the authors of their own misfortune they would be denied a peaceful home life without abuse and damage, they would be denied access to a justice system that will listen to them, and the behaviour of the people targeting them would be tacitly approved because they bought it on themselves.
It has been my experience that at least a significant majority of people belonging to ethnic groups that are in a minority in my country (England) have been targeted for crime and racist language because of their ethnicity. I was flabbergasted when my then wife told me that she experienced it most days and that she had never told me because it was normal to her. The baseline of her experience was that she would be groundlessly abused throughout her life. That was normal to her.
That's why I take issue with that belief as it is stated in that way, because if I chose to act as though it were true I would be partly responsible for one of the major problems effecting people who live in England right now. That's also why I do my best to challenge those beliefs when I can, and that's why I say the stakes are high. I genuinely believe that the more people who hold that belief the worse the world is, and I think that's a proportionate response that's backed up with sound reasoning.
I have never advocated or endorsed violence or hatred against anyone, but specifically women and non-white people as people seem to assume. I am at a loss as to why expressing my opinion, though while different from most of Barbelith apparently is not hateful or inciteful, will bring about harm in any way.
The above is why I believe some of what you have posted is endorsing a world in which people are harmed. It is my contention that the rest of the people who have responded to things you've posted here will have similar cases they could construct if they were to pick out beliefs that you appear to hold from your posts and follow out the logical consequences of those beliefs. |
