Hello everyone.
I haven't made a video in a while, because my computer died on me and I had to buy a
new one.
By the way, big shoutouts to everyone who donated, bought merch, or became a patron
to help me out with that.
You the bess.
But now I've got a computer, so let's make a video about racism.
Hi I'm T1J.
[WEIRD VOICE:] Follow me!
By the way, the video file for my normal intro is on my other hard drive, which doesn't
fit into my computer right now, but I'll try to get it back soon.
Or maybe I'll just make another one.
I should really back up my files, huh?
So anyway, If I had to guess, I would say that probably nobody thinks they're racist.
Even people who are unambiguously racist.
[TAYLOR:] Racist..gimme a break.
Because of this, it's always difficult to point out that someone has said or done something
racist.
Because the response to such an accusation is usually one of two extremes; exaggerated
guilt or hyper-defensiveness, especially if we're talking about white people.
This, I believe, is because a lot of people, especially white people, seem to think that
human beings can be cleanly separated into categories of "racist" and "not racist."
And "not racist" people are apparently incapable of racism, or at least they apparently
should be, so when they're accused of being racist, there must be some kind of mistake.
On one extreme, you have people accusing you of race-baiting, or misusing the word "racist."
"The SJWs call everything racist, so now the word racist has lost all meaning…except,
of course, when someone is racist against white people!"
Or alternatively the white guilt kicks in and they have a crisis of conscience.
"Am I racist?!
I can't be racist.
I give Jamal a high five every morning at work.
Is that racist?
Is his name really Jamal or did I make that up because he's black?"
Some things are obvious examples of racism, that I assume even the most shitlordish among
you can agree is pretty bad.
Like threatening to call ICE on random people just because they were speaking Spanish, and
doing this on camera.
Or screaming the N word at a black person, while the name and phone number of your company
is fully displayed, on camera.
I feel like the racists of the world need to rewrite their textbook if "don't say
racist shit on camera in 2018" isn't written in bold letters on the first page.
Some forms of racism, however, are more subtle, and if you're not part of a racially marginalized
group, they may be less obvious to you.
Like commenting on how a black person "speaks so well"
[CHRIS ROCK:] 'He speaks so well!'
Like that's a compliment.
'Speaks so well' is not a compliment, ok?
or asking an Asian-American where they are "really" from.
[DAVID SO:] But sometimes, even though the intent is good, it still comes off culturally
insensitive, right?
Now many of you may hear those examples and feel a little puzzled.
In fact I've used examples like this in other videos, and gotten many comments and
emails, ranging from honest confusion, like "I don't really understand how that's
racist, can you explain?"
To resentful douchebaggery, like "You just call everything racist!
The SJWs love being victims!
The word racist has lost all meaning!
This is why everybody hates the left!"
But this just sort of exemplifies the lack of perspective a lot of people have.
Now if any honest person takes like twelve seconds to think about it, it should be easy
to understand why treating someone as an outsider to your country, or implying lower standards
for them because of their race is insensitive.
But even acknowledging that, you still get people who say things like, "Well yeah,
but is it racist?
Racist is such a strong word.
If you misuse it, then it loses its impact."
There was an illuminating segment from an April episode of CNN Tonight with Don Lemon,
where Lemon speaks with political commentators Angela Rye, Amanda Carpenter, and Scott Jennings.
Carpenter and Jennings both admitted that Trump routinely expresses bigoted and racially
insensitive sentiments.
But neither would go so far as to call him racist.
And in fact they essentially admonished Don and Angela against using the word racist.
[JENNINGS:] I don't believe the man is a racist.
I believe the man has said insensitive things about race.
I think to label someone a racist in this country is one of the harshest things you
can say, and I personally do not want to label Donald Trump--
[LEMON:] What about when it's true, Scott?
This is enlightening, as it shows that for some people, being called racist is worse
than actually being racist.
And I think that's, at least in part, why there's been this huge pushback to the racist
label, and the rise of this idea that the 'left just calls everything racist.'
I've said before that the whole anti-PC free-speech movement has been hijacked by
people who just want to say and do awful and bigoted things without any consequences.
And I think this is no different.
Because ironically, preventing us from calling obviously racist behavior racist is far more
likely to render the word meaningless, than overuse of it.
Now of course Donald Trump is very good at giving himself and his supporters deniability.
I've talked about this before.
If Trump was, for example, openly a Neo Nazi, maybe his apologists would back off a little
bit.
Maybe he wouldn't even be the President.
Right?
So you might argue that being overtly racist is worse than being subtly racist.
Or that actively disparaging groups of people is a bigger problem than well-meaning insensitivity.
And you might be right in some cases, but the thing I want you to internalize is that
it's all still racism.
Racism is not a binary.
You can't separate people and behaviors into distinct categories of obviously racist
and obviously not racist.
I mean clearly calling someone the N word right before you deny them a bank loan is
definitely worse than grabbing someone's hair without their permission.
By the way, White Girls, stop touching people's hair.
That's so weird.
But both are things that contribute to and reinforce marginalization and undermining
of people of color.
To different degrees obviously, but they both do it.
I think for us to move forward on this issue we have to start calling things what they
are.
If someone gets slashed across the stomach with a machete, you might say, "Dude you're
bleeding!"
If someone cuts the tip of their finger chopping onions, like I did a few days ago, it would
still be correct to say, "Dude, you're bleeding!"
We don't use euphemisms just because it's a lesser degree.
We don't say, 'Yo your fingers drippin' the red stuff bro!'
So maybe if we stopped tiptoeing around these situations with terms like 'racially charged,'
'controversial,' or 'racially insensitive.'
And just started calling racist shit racist, people might begin to take these things more
seriously.
Now I understand, people don't like to be called racist, they say that "Racist"
is the N Word for White People, which I don't even want to get into how obnoxious that is--but
also people don't like to be the target of racism, even casual racism, and I think
you should care about that more.
I think the problem is too many people use "Racist" as a noun instead of an adjective.
Hey, that's a reference to the title of the video, whaddya know?!
Now obviously I understand that grammatically, you can correctly use "racist" as a noun.
In fact I did this myself in not too long ago.
In fact I think one good definition of a 'racist' is a person who consistently says and does
racist shit.
So hopefully my subscribers are roasting all you people in the comments section who didn't
watch the video.
But a "racist" as in a person who believes themselves to be superior because of their
race, or that some racial group is inferior to the others in one way or another—is a
thing that is either very uncommon in developed society, or so socially unacceptable that
only these weirdos are brave enough to talk about it in public.
And some people seem to think that that's the only kind of racism there is.
But here's the thing that's gonna make a lot of y'all uncomfortable:
Racist behavior can be committed by a person who isn't a racist.
And in fact, I'd wager that most racist behavior is.
The implicit bias that causes people to disproportionately mistrust, fear, disrespect, and marginalize
people of color is not usually a result of conscious feelings of racial superiority.
But these behaviors, nevertheless, contribute to the perpetuation of white supremacy.
Sometimes these acts are conscious assholery, but sometimes they are ignorant mistakes.
And I'm not arguing for diminishing the impact of the word 'racist', nor am I
arguing that intent doesn't matter, but when you've done something that harms people,
you need to own up to it, whether you meant to or not.
The key thing here is that these are not just edgy jerks or minor faux pas.
These are actions that contribute to racial oppression, by specifically marginalizing
certain groups.
And I know that many of you won't be convinced, there's that idea that 'people all of
a sudden are super sensitive, and you can't say anything anymore without someone calling
you racist—everyone's so PC,' 'why don't you focus on real problems?'
Which further indicates a lack of perspective.
It doesn't seem like much from a non-Asian's person's perspective, to ask an Asian person
where they're really from.
But when that person, as well as every other Asian person has to hear that over and over
again for essentially their whole life, it begins to have a significant impact.
These kinds of things have always been a problem, the difference now is not that people are
more sensitive, but that we're living in an era where regular people of different backgrounds
have more of an opportunity than ever to speak about their experiences.
POC voices have historically been marginalized and silenced, so of course we haven't heard
their point of view as often.
A lot of people say, "I wanna go back to before everyone was so PC about everything."
And essentially what this means is, 'I wanna go back to the time where straight white men
could say and do whatever they wanted without any consequences.'
You're essentially romanticizing an age of unbridled white supremacy.
Incidentally, it should be no surprise how often actual white supremacists say shit like
this.
Now look, of course sometimes people go too far.
Whether they are young, inexperienced people on social media who are trying to figure out
who they are and what they believe.
Or maybe they're just trolls with the sole purpose of antagonizing people.
Sometimes things that aren't racist are called racist.
It happens.
In my experience though, whenever I hear someone complain about an accusation of racism, it
is almost always something that is actually racist, but the person lacks the perspective
to fully appreciate why.
And I think this is because of the fictional racism binary that a lot of folks have internalized.
They think to themselves, "I'm not racist.
Therefore the thing that I did, can't be racist."
In actuality, and this is probably where I'm gonna lose people, it is almost inevitable
for white people to have contributed to the marginalization of people of color, often
through racist behavior.
And the same goes for any other example of group dynamics where there is a power disparity.
As a straight man I have certainly in the past said and done sexist and homophobic things,
even though I am and never have been a sexist or a homophobe.
This is due to a natural lack of perspective.
It doesn't make you a terrible person, so stop being so fucking defensive.
I'm only going to call you an asshole if you refuse to acknowledge these social disparities
and refuse to grow or try to be a thoughtful person.
But at the same time, I think I'm done sugar coating the language we use when we talk about
racism.
Not because I'm trying to be a dick, but because I don't think people will fully
understand until we start calling things what they really are.
DAS JUS ME DOE.
What do you think?
Thank for watching my video.
Again sorry for the long wait.
Shoutouts to all the new subscribers, there are a lot of new ones, I hope you enjoy your
stay.
If you'd like to support this channel, and help it become bigger and better, becoming
a Patron is the best way to do that.
So please check out patreon.com/the1janitor – even 1 dollar a month goes a long way.
See you guys for the next video.
Bye.
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