Read on Twitter
I'm happy to present, with @HPluckrose, a long definitive guide on how to be not-racist. https://newdiscourses.com/2020/10/how-to-be-not-racist/
Step 1: Get to know yourself.
Find out who you are. Learn where you are in your principles and person. Ask yourself seriously if you hold racist beliefs, and, if you do, start changing that. If you don't, feel more confidently not-racist.
Find out who you are. Learn where you are in your principles and person. Ask yourself seriously if you hold racist beliefs, and, if you do, start changing that. If you don't, feel more confidently not-racist.
Step 2: Identify consistent principles.
Being not-racist requires being consistently not-racist, and it requires holding these views in a principled way. Explore your own principles around the issue. Are you colorblind? Individualist? Why do these matter?
Being not-racist requires being consistently not-racist, and it requires holding these views in a principled way. Explore your own principles around the issue. Are you colorblind? Individualist? Why do these matter?
Step 3. Now Be Consistently Principled—and Treat People as Individuals Who Share a Common Humanity.
Think of Step 1 like finding "you are here" on a map and Step 2 like finding your destination. Now walk the walk. Go from A to B. Treat people as individual human beings.
Think of Step 1 like finding "you are here" on a map and Step 2 like finding your destination. Now walk the walk. Go from A to B. Treat people as individual human beings.
Step 4. Understand “Racism” as a Matter of Belief and Action and Reject It.
If you want to be not-racist, you have to understand racism correctly and put it within the sphere of agency. That means understanding it as a matter of belief and action, not overarching systems.
If you want to be not-racist, you have to understand racism correctly and put it within the sphere of agency. That means understanding it as a matter of belief and action, not overarching systems.
Step 5: Defer to the Most Objective Standards.
Objective standards are ones that do as much as possible to remove bias and partiality. Racism is a form of bias and partiality. To be not-racist, prefer and defer to the most objective standards you can find, consistently.
Objective standards are ones that do as much as possible to remove bias and partiality. Racism is a form of bias and partiality. To be not-racist, prefer and defer to the most objective standards you can find, consistently.
Step 6: Don’t Assume Racism Then Go Looking for It.
When you assume racism must be present in interactions, you are very likely to be writing racism in that's rooted in your own assumptions, not reality. Those assumptions are by definition racist. Don't do this.
When you assume racism must be present in interactions, you are very likely to be writing racism in that's rooted in your own assumptions, not reality. Those assumptions are by definition racist. Don't do this.
Step 7: Reject Standpoint Epistemology.
Believing that different people have different and superior insights because of their racial identities, either directly or through "lived experience," requires making racist assumptions. Reject this. Treat individuals as individuals.
Believing that different people have different and superior insights because of their racial identities, either directly or through "lived experience," requires making racist assumptions. Reject this. Treat individuals as individuals.
Step 8: Curb Your Compassion.
We should all be compassionate people, but we should not be led around by the nose by our compassion. Check your emotional empathy and increase your intellectual empathy to get results and avoid being seduced into racism.
We should all be compassionate people, but we should not be led around by the nose by our compassion. Check your emotional empathy and increase your intellectual empathy to get results and avoid being seduced into racism.
Step 9: Learn Enough Critical Race Theory to Reject It.
Critical Race Theory is a form of systematized racism, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have utility in your goal to be not-racist. Learn enough about how CRT thinks *to reject it in real time*, and you'll be less racist.
Critical Race Theory is a form of systematized racism, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have utility in your goal to be not-racist. Learn enough about how CRT thinks *to reject it in real time*, and you'll be less racist.
Step 10: Steal the Kernel of “the Work” without “Doing” It.
Critical Race Theory demands you "do the work" that it recommends. That work is based in a few points of reality that you can learn from and do better with than CRT does. This can help you be not-racist.
Critical Race Theory demands you "do the work" that it recommends. That work is based in a few points of reality that you can learn from and do better with than CRT does. This can help you be not-racist.
Step 11: Be Colorblind, Even in Your Criticism.
Colorblindness, properly understood, is the key to being not-racist. You must be colorblind to be not-racist. The last hurdle in this process is being willing to give feedback, criticisms, and humor in a colorblind fashion.
Colorblindness, properly understood, is the key to being not-racist. You must be colorblind to be not-racist. The last hurdle in this process is being willing to give feedback, criticisms, and humor in a colorblind fashion.
Step 12: Don’t Put Actionable Social Significance into Racial Categories.
This, putting actionable social significance into racial categories, is the true seed and heart of racism. If you want to be not-racist, you have to stop doing this. This is the whole point of the guide.
This, putting actionable social significance into racial categories, is the true seed and heart of racism. If you want to be not-racist, you have to stop doing this. This is the whole point of the guide.
