Post Punk Kitchen Forum

No worries! Thanks for clarifying.

As a pale-skinned heterosexual man who defends his right to have opinions (is that ok?), I have a hunch that abolishing the idea of race is the only way to get past race, and that *any* reference to the idea (including my own here) perpetuates a tragically destructive myth. Race is a social fiction, and it always has been. Do your best to forget it, and you'll make a meaningful contribution. Unfortunately, I do still see race, but I'm working on it.

Despite my complexion and gender (sic), there's blood pumping to my brain, so I don't say that women have more rights than men.

I don't think anyone here has suggested that white heterosexual men shouldn't have their own opinions. The fact that race is a social construct does not make it any less real, because people are still horribly oppressed for their race. It is real because humans make it real. To choose not to "see race" is to choose to ignore people's lived experiences of racism and privilege. Gender is also a social construct, but I'm guessing that you don't think it's important to not see it.

That race is a social construct may or may not make it less "real"...that's a question for philosophers, and I'm not one. But if it is a social construct, then getting rid of it means one thing, that we need to stop constructing it. The word "race" is the main building supply in this social construct, and you don't knock down constructs with building supplies. While there are cases of ambiguous gender where it can be useful to recognize that aspects of gender are social constructs, it is not the case that all of what we call gender is determined by social constructs. In any case, I'd like to rid people of race, but I certainly don't want to rid them of gender. Denying gender won't make it go away (thankfully), but in my opinion, denying race is the *only* thing that will make it go away, precisely because it's a social construct.

Ugh, someone should just close this thread.

Saying you want to look past race or gender is saying you wish to willfully ignore a large part of peoples identity.

I'm new here so I might be a bit tone-deaf. Apologies to anyone offended or put off.

Wow, this thread went way way off topic and I'm really not liking this trend of saying super offensive stuff and then apologizing later. Happened a lot lately, so I'm going to lock this thread for now and bring it to the other mods to discuss.

P.S. if you're new, and you're only signing up to argue in a thread in the parlor, then this probably isn't the board for you. We're a community and we like to discuss all sorts of things here, so if you're interested in signing up for the boards, try introducing yourself and then talking about food or kitties or something and get to know us. Being a community and knowing a bit about other's personalities and interests really helps keep political discussions from ending in bloodshed and tears.