"White Pride"

[flames]

I was introduced to this piece of misformation on the 'book via friend's profile (Yes, I must be an easily offended fat feminist with green hair, before anyone tries to miss the point.). What do you think? My arguments below:

"White people aren't killed for being white, segregated; or denied careers, rights, etc.

...

The difference is that all the other groups in that photo NEED to be loud and proud. Sure, white people can still be proud of who they are, but it's not something they need to do be equal to something wrongly considered better.

I agree it doesn't make someone a "Nazi", though [post-actual-comment-edit-right-now: unless that's what they really are...]. That's ridiculous.

...

It's not putting people higher than other because it's mostly the suppressed people themselves trying to speak up and because things like institutional racism exist. Why would someone privileged need equality when they already have privilege? The point of equality is to get those that aren't equal equal first. That might seem unfair to the already privileged but it's not because... they're privileged.

Also, there are white people in the comments talking about how they're receiving racism from minorities and... They don't realize that racism is bigger than just insults.

...

The reason the Wikipedia article says what is says is because the white pride movement was first started by Neo-Nazis, etc., who used it as a backlash against black pride. If you go around posting shit with #WhitePride, yes, people will think you're part of the KKK. It's a justified judgement and I'll get to why in a moment.

...

It's just important to look at all the pride movements as from just a political perspective, because they're political. People get offended because they take it personally, like they aren't allowed to like themselves, but they are. It's just that's body positivity and body positivity is for personal reasons, not political. Like, liking your eyes: you aren't being oppressed because of your eyes so you don't need a pride movement for it. You just like them. It's just body positivity.

...

Yeah, I'm passionate about this shit."

Discuss.

[ouronis]

Honestly the problem with any sort of racial pride is that it's tangled up with uses which include justifications for militancy on the basis of race or a race's oppression(white people are not oppressed uniformly).

So if White pride wasn't associated with militancy and didn't tend toward it, it would probably be relatively harmless, as befitting its, as you noted, relatively low need.

[Pookie]

Pride is a sin.

Really though, having Pride over something that doesn't require any action or effort on your part is ridiculous.

[MisterNi]

For the brevity of the ridiculousness of this "problem"; literally every nation on Earth that has enough minorities to be considered a racially non-homogeneous of a society has problems where being part of the majority means it's very distasteful to say you have pride in being the majority and thus insulting all the minorities that you're glad you hold privileges over them. Saying such things does nothing but create discontent and civil unrest. Since the US is a majority white person's country is why it's considered distasteful for a white person to say they have White Pride. Also, because it started off as a Neo-Nazi response to the more violent aspects of the Black Pride movement. Black people saying they have violent Black Pride and White people simply saying they have White Pride can only exacerbate the racial tensions between the two groups, often forcing the other minority groups to choose sides. We Asian-Americans were the only one to handle the problem permanently. Which is why it's not offensive when I say something like: KP4EVER BITCHEZ!!!!!

[Exodus]

As for black pride: If someone is constantly subjected to messages that they're no good because of their race or ethnicity, I think it's perfectly reasonable to try to counteract that by telling them to be proud of themselves instead of hating themselves and wanting to look different. It's much more powerful than saying "well, everybody is the same and can do good things if they work hard." - which doesn't really solve the psychological problem. So yes, I agree this is the whole point of it and white pride is mostly a tool of nationalists and racists.

However, it is very easy to take this too far, as you can see with Black Supremacist movements, or certain strands of present-day feminism, which make it more about hating the other guy (white men) than taking pride in who you are. Most people probably realize that this isn't actually going to solve their problems, but the minority that don't can and should be fought against.

[yifflord]

First, I'm a minority in a few respects and knowing that these movements exist, that people around me openly celebrated these constructs that had disempowered me my whole life, was integral to my development as a person. Pride provides the atmosphere for interest in aspects of your identity you may have been previously ashamed of, engagement with people who are like you, organisation and action.

Second, pride is a reaction to institutional disempowerment. Saying things like "why can't we have pride for [aspect of identity that has never been oppressed within the context we live in and has no flow-on effect on current day]" is, imo, disrespectful and ignorant of the historical and cultural context of pride.

[Exodus]

First, I'm a minority in a few respects and knowing that these movements exist, that people around me openly celebrated these constructs that had disempowered me my whole life, was integral to my development as a person. Pride provides the atmosphere for interest in aspects of your identity you may have been previously ashamed of, engagement with people who are like you, organisation and action.

That's cool I think part of the problem is that majority(white) people don't really get to hear first-hand accounts like this, so it's hard to identify with the motivation. Like you always hear about how racism is common, but it's totally different when you hear about a real-life example first-hand from one of your friends. That's a good way to help bridge the gap.

[yifflord]

That's cool I think part of the problem is that majority(white) people don't really get to hear first-hand accounts like this, so it's hard to identify with the motivation. Like you always hear about how racism is common, but it's totally different when you hear about a real-life example first-hand from one of your friends. That's a good way to help bridge the gap.

It's definitely helpful hearing examples! There are lots of avenues out there for doing your homework - plenty of people who are part of one minority or another who talk about their experiences, plenty of journal articles that tackle issues like racism or sexism on a statistical or experimental level.