[rmc]

There are several definitions of racist talk, one is essentially "making references to someone's race and implying everyone in that group is the same (in some attribute)". Lots of people like this definition because it's nice and simple and it means black people in the USA can be racist to white people if they say things like "Dumbwhite".

There's another definition, which is talk that's designed to maintain & reinforce the institutionalised power structure among races. Right now, if modern USA life was a video game, "white male" would be an easier difficulty level than "black male". There are statistically less problems for the "white male" group. Racist talk is talk that re-enforced that imbalance. This definition is harder for some people to accept because it means that you need to look at yourself and think about what power imbalances you might be benefiting from, and it means you can't just do s/white/black/g and make it just as racist.

So no, it's more racist to say "dumbblack" than "dumbwhite"

[tsahyt]

> it's more racist to say "dumbblack" than "dumbwhite"

There are degrees of racism? Wasn't that a binary thing? I understand that racists aren't created equal since some are filled with more prejudices than others but I think the same doesn't apply to racism itself. I'm not arguing that life is harder for people who are (or so we are told, I've got no data) the majority of victims but a victim being racist isn't being "less racist" after all. He's contributing to a vicious circle. Whilst I understand such behaviour from an emotional point of view, it's definitely not wise.

[RivieraKid]

"Racism" does not have exact definition. It's just a label that means slightly different things in different contexts. It's an abstraction over a specific type of offensive / hateful behavior. In more in-depth discussions, I think it's better to operate beneath this abstraction, on a lower level: i.e. how much harm saying or doing something does.

In most situations, saying "dumbblack" would be more offensive for black person than "dumbwhite" for white person. Especially in this case. It's like if you had a couple of bad experiences with the police, you could start saying offensive things about police officers in general. You could be accused of "policism" but in fact, it would be quite understandable reaction. When he said "dumbwhite", he was kind of "revenging" their racism, which is very different from saying "dumbwhite" just because he disrespects white people.

[shardling]

>There's another definition, which is talk that's designed to maintain & reinforce the institutionalised power structure among races.

I generally think it's safer to frame in terms of the effect (which you mostly do) than motivation. Even if someone has no ill intent, and simply talks a certain way because they haven't really thought about the issues, their speech still does harm.

[rmc]

Agreed. Some things can be a joke (ie they are funny, they make people laugh, they are told with intent to entertain, not hurt) and can be racist. This is why "but it's just a joke" does not mean the thing isn't racist. Sometimes when someone says a racist joke, the discussion then turns into whether it's funny or not, and if it passes the funny test, it's not racist.

But it doesnt matter if its funny! It matters if its racist!

[chojeen]

> So no, it's more racist to say "dumbblack" than "dumbwhite"

That's like saying that steak is food, but ramen isn't. Clearly, steak is considered a higher-quality food, but that doesn't negate the fact that ramen is food as well.

Due to the historical mistreatment of black people in America, it is more socially unacceptable to say something like "dumbblack"; however, "dumbwhite" is no less accurately described by 'a hatred or intolerance of another race'.

[scarmig]

It's not clear that it is more socially unacceptable to say something like "dumbblack"... the workplace he was at essentially said that to him repeatedly for months, while he had a single rant on a webpage. But if you look at the breakdown of Hacker News comments, it's pretty clear where most people's sympathies lie.