On Discrimination

So much discourse surrounding interpersonal discrimination, wherever it may be found, seems to always come back to the problem of morality. To give an example, the bigot is synonymous with the evil, slur-slinging asshole who wishes to inflict harm onto their victims. Calling someone a racist is a serious accusation, to the point that just suggesting that one is acting in a discriminatory way must be fiercely defended against, lest they risk getting lumped with the white hood-wearing gangs over there.

This naive view of discrimination ignores how it arises as a social phenomenon. Yes, discrimination often occurs in that shocking and self-evidently violent manner, but it also more commonly arises in stereotypes masked as jokes, unconscious decision making, and just plain ignorance. These tamer instances of this phenomenon can hardly be described as malicious, but due to this dichotomy of how we think about discrimination (i.e. You are either on the good, non-bigot side, or on the malicious bigot side) no one is actually willing to admit when they are being discriminatory.

A good example of this line of thinking is the phrase: “Asians are naturally smart”. This is a racist phrase ¹. Yet those who say such things would laugh at you for even suggesting that fact. To them, discrimination is not about actual prejudice or systemic injustice, it is about being a nice or mean person.

Do not get me wrong: discrimination is a social ill that ought to be stopped. Racism, Sexism, Homophobia, Transphobia, and whatever else, are real phenomenon that cause great harm to real people. However, until there is a shift in how discrimination is taught, we cannot hope to actually get anywhere with actual change. This dichotomy only serves to create annoying moralist slop where people pat themselves on the back for not being part of the racist hordes over there so they can preclude themselves from actually learning more of the world or how they could change for the better.