The whole article smacks keenly of US-centric identity politics, so I'd say you're probably right. Everywhere in the world has the same racial dynamic America does, and the same history of ethnic segregation! Everywhere.
Or didn't you know that. I'm surprised you didn't know that. You really should educate yourself as to how everywhere in the world is exactly the same as it is in North America and Western Europe.
/sarcasm
Seriously, though, it's a meaningless statement. By the author's own logic, people of colour can never know how it feels to be a white person. They can try to empathize, but they can never know how it feels. Er.... so? Should be belittle and browbeat and shame any person of colour who attempts to empathize with a white person's perspective? I'd say no, but it logically follows from this argument.
It also seems as if the author is attacking a strawman. S/he doesn't link to any concrete examples of this, but merely relies on hypothetical anecdotes. I've never seen "I know how it feels" unless the speaker has a very good reason for making that claim (e.g. they have been a discriminated minority where they've lived, either because of their ethnic background or their religion or even their race). Either that or what they were actually saying was "I can empathize", which the author agrees is entirely possible. Wasn't exactly this covered in the "how to supress discussions of racism" article - don't attack what your opponent is actually saying, invent a strawman and attack that? This would indeed be a fine way to shut down down any discussion about empathy or understanding. Our hypothetic white person is reduced to a caricature: "she" (and I notice that it is often a she in these discussions, preying on prejudices regarding the feminine as overly-empathetic, flighty, and vapid) assumes that she "knows what it's like" to be Asian because she eats dim sum. An imaginary, ludicrous strawman constructed to immediately silence arguments on the parts of white people about empathy and shared experiences of discrimination.
no subject
Or didn't you know that. I'm surprised you didn't know that. You really should educate yourself as to how everywhere in the world is exactly the same as it is in North America and Western Europe.
/sarcasm
Seriously, though, it's a meaningless statement. By the author's own logic, people of colour can never know how it feels to be a white person. They can try to empathize, but they can never know how it feels. Er.... so? Should be belittle and browbeat and shame any person of colour who attempts to empathize with a white person's perspective? I'd say no, but it logically follows from this argument.
It also seems as if the author is attacking a strawman. S/he doesn't link to any concrete examples of this, but merely relies on hypothetical anecdotes. I've never seen "I know how it feels" unless the speaker has a very good reason for making that claim (e.g. they have been a discriminated minority where they've lived, either because of their ethnic background or their religion or even their race). Either that or what they were actually saying was "I can empathize", which the author agrees is entirely possible. Wasn't exactly this covered in the "how to supress discussions of racism" article - don't attack what your opponent is actually saying, invent a strawman and attack that? This would indeed be a fine way to shut down down any discussion about empathy or understanding. Our hypothetic white person is reduced to a caricature: "she" (and I notice that it is often a she in these discussions, preying on prejudices regarding the feminine as overly-empathetic, flighty, and vapid) assumes that she "knows what it's like" to be Asian because she eats dim sum. An imaginary, ludicrous strawman constructed to immediately silence arguments on the parts of white people about empathy and shared experiences of discrimination.
Or, as you put it, bull fucking shit.