It’s Not Racist to Have Opinions About Your Culture
Stop silencing everyone with the “R” word
Move over Abracadabra, there’s a new magic in town!
In the past, if you said someone was being a racist, everyone would tell you to stop being so sensitive. Nowadays you can whisper racist on the softest breeze and the seas part.
You don’t need proof, you don’t need personal responsibility, you don’t even need to think about other people’s viewpoints because, well, who gives a shite? Not you! lol
We’re Minorities and it’s our time now. If anyone looks at us wrong, if we don’t like the cut of their jib, we can get them cancelled!
Yay!
Let’s get some definitions in first
All good writing starts with orientating the reader.
It’s not enough to say, halal meat involves saying a blessing while cutting an animal’s throat and letting the blood drain out while it’s still alive.
You’d say “Duh, obvious!”
Add the word, barbaric and things get interesting.
Now a statement of fact has turned into a judgement and the game can commence.
Here are the four players in the room:
1) FACT:
A fact is something that is known and can be proven to be true. It can’t be interpreted in two different ways.
2) OPINION:
Opinions are our views and judgments and while they’re not necessarily based on fact or knowledge, they affect our decisions and behaviours.
Opinions come from beliefs and values, which in turn come from Nature, Nurture and Environment: people, events, places, situations and circumstances have taken the qualities you were born with and shaped them into the views you hold today.
Beliefs and values are not fixed in stone. When you debate an opinion with someone, you’re really debating your beliefs and values. If the other person convinces you, your beliefs can change. Sometimes incentives help bring about a change in beliefs and values. Like changing your religion to marry someone rich.
Beliefs and values can be hard to change too. Wars have started when nobody wanted to compromise. And we all know people who don’t listen to sense.
3) CULTURE
Culture is the ideas, customs and social behaviour of a particular people or society.
Easter, Diwali, Trick or Treat, the Sunday roast and strawberries at Wimbledon are examples of cultural activities. Some cultural activities spring from religion, others don’t.
4) RACISM
Racism is the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics, abilities or qualities specific to that race, and some races are superior to others.
Because racism is a belief, it’s hard to pin down exactly how to be a racist. Take any two racists, they’ll give you different rules. Some racists limit themselves to skin colour, others throw in religion too. Some do skin colour of approved nationalities only. Some consider caste and socio-economic aspects within their own race too.
Racists come in all shades. The only thing all racists have in common is their indifference to treating another human being like an inconsequential piece of scum.
Calling someone a racist is the path of least resistance
Racism is just one of many ugly behaviours. Jealousy and the pursuit of power and status has a lot to answer for. So does ignorance, laziness, entitlement and the “it’s-all-about-me-sod-you” attitude.
Making accusations of racism in today’s world is an ARSON attack if you don’t think first. The word has the power to ruin lives and destroy communities. In the long-run, it undermines real acts of racism too.
Fact sits on the sidelines when people make racism their default excuse for feeling offended. They don’t want to engage their brain to work out if racism was actually involved or not.
It’s the path of least resistance to the prestige of immediate validation. There’s no glamour in saying someone was just ignorant or jealous.
Here’s a true story that unfolded last weekend:
A restaurant displayed their latest offers in an online group. People were enthusiastic and making plans to order.
One guy, I’ll call him Kev, piped up, “I’m shocked how many of you are into this halal. Personally I find the method of killing animals barbaric.”
The Restaurant Owner, called RO for obvious reasons, complained to admin that Kev is disparaging his religion.
Someone else, Ars (short for arsonist) says, and I quote, “This is racist, why not discuss about all the meat eaten for all religions/McDonald’s! Racism is alive!”
The moderators see that Kev’s opinion about a cultural activity is now being called racist and terror grips their marshmallow hearts. Not only do they delete his comment, they ban him from the group. Kev has been cancelled.
I’ll say it upfront. Kev set himself up for failure.
- A halal restaurant by definition serves halal meat to a customer base that eats halal meat
- Hungry happy customers aren’t receptive to people bitching about their food
- Hijacking a restaurant’s menu thread is not the smartest way to raise animal welfare concerns
Kev wanted to talk about the animals and the halal method of slaughter. It happens everywhere else on the internet. Someone starts talking about their delicious KFC bucket and someone else always brings up animal welfare. It’s NORMAL.
Halal butchering methods are not immune to comment.
Kev shared his opinion about a halal butchery method on a thread where everyone’s into halal food. Dumb time and place… but racist? NO!
RO’s complaint was a business decision
RO’s happy restaurant thread was going well before Kev barged in with a cheap shot that had the potential to cause a fight.
People are tired of having to defend aspects of their culture at every turn and Kev had no business intruding on people looking to eat. He could have started his own thread and drawn useful engagement.
While researching if it’s true that Kev was disparaging RO’s religion, I came across something I’ve not heard before. According to this source, the term “halal meat” has no Quranic support. I’m not a Muslim and this is the first time I’ve heard this viewpoint. Is it true? If you’re a Muslim, let me know in the comments.
According to the ‘halal meat’ concept, an animal’s meat is halal only if it is slaughtered according to the Islamic way by a Muslim butcher … These requirements are [not] mentioned in the Quran… The Quranic rule… is to utter God’s name before eating any food, and not before slaughtering the animal. Source
Ars is the one who should have been banned
Kev made an animal welfare comment. RO said it’s disparaging his religion.
Ars went a step further and turned it into a fight about race and got Kev cancelled with one lazy-arse throwaway comment:
This is racist… Racism is alive!
There are Muslims of every colour and nationality across the world. Some of them are even anti-slaughter vegans. Are they racist too?
What about criticizing something like FGM —is that racist too or is that acceptable because it’s someone else’s culture? Are we racist for being disgusted that the age of consent in the Philippines is 12 or that bestiality is legal in Hungary.
Ars is typical of the dangerous self-absorbed lazy thinking that’s spreading like wildfire. People have learned hurling the word RACISM around gives everyone a marshmallow heart and stops rational thinking.
You know what the irony is. People who fling the R-word around willy-nilly are exhibiting the exact behaviour of racists.
They don’t think. They don’t question. They don’t seek to understand. They’re totally indifferent to treating their victim like an inconsequential piece of scum.
We can do better than this.
More to read: It’s Not Racist To Have Opinions About Your Competence
It’s Not Racist To Want A Better Job
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