“I know you are, but what am I?”

How to lose the “I’m not racist!” argument.



This meme has been appearing on Facebook of late...

I don’t know who made it, or who originally posted it, but there’s a serious flaw in their argument.

Let’s define “racist” first. Quoth dictionary.com:

“1. a person who believes in racism, the doctrine that one's own racial group is superior or that a particular racial group is inferior to the others.

“2. of or like racists or racism.”

If you’re the one making the argument as stated in the meme, then your point only makes any sense if you accept the Confederate flag as a banner that represents the white race. (At least, I assume you mean the white race...I seriously doubt that Eskimos or Australian Aborigines are lining up to claim Confederate sympathies.)

Think about it...you’re calling me racist, but how can I be racist against a symbol that does not represent a particular race?

If you’re not claiming that the flag represents the white race, then I would ask you this: Just which race is it representing? Because if you’re not claiming that the Confederate flag represents a particular race, then you cannot claim that opposing the display of that flag is at all racist.

The argument then falls apart. You cannot claim that opposition to the Confederate flag is racist unless you assert that the Confederate flag itself asserts a racist ideal, that said flag represents one race to the exclusion of others. In other words, you can’t use this argument to call me a racist and say that the Confederate flag isn’t racist without exposing yourself as a racist and admitting that the flag represents a racist ideal.

Or, to put it more simply, you cannot claim that the flag isn’t racist without asserting that the flag is racist.

Obviously, making such a claim is self-defeating. The sad truth is that this sort of argument is defeated just by the effort of making that argument.

The Blues Viking
The opinions expressed here are mine and if you don’t like them you can get your own damn blog.