RE: The Suppression Paradox - why banning hatred/racist speech doesn't work and may make things worse
Great article, thanks! In the unlikely event you don't know it yet, here is my favourite quote on the subject:
"Racism is simply an ugly form of collectivism, the mindset that views humans only as members of groups and never as individuals. Racists believe that all individuals who share superficial physical characteristics are alike; as collectivists, racists think only in terms of groups. By encouraging Americans to adopt a group mentality, the advocates of so-called 'diversity' actually perpetuate racism. Their intense focus on race is inherently racist, because it views individuals only as members of racial groups. Conservatives and libertarians should fight back and challenge the myth that collectivist liberals care more about racism. Modern liberalism, however, well-intentioned, is a byproduct of the same collectivist thinking that characterizes racism. The continued insistence on group thinking only inflames racial tensions. The true antidote to racism is liberty. Liberty means having a limited, constitutional government devoted to the protection of individual rights rather than group claims. Liberty means free-market capitalism, which rewards individual achievement and competence, not skin color, gender, or ethnicity. In a free market, businesses that discriminate lose customers, goodwill, and valuable employees- while rational businesses flourish by choosing the most qualified employees and selling to all willing buyers. More importantly, in a free society every citizen gains a sense of himself as an individual, rather than developing a group or victim mentality. This leads to a sense of individual responsibility and personal pride, making skin color irrelevant. Rather than looking to government to correct what is essentially a sin of the heart, we should understand that reducing racism requires a shift from group thinking to an emphasis on individualism."
What Really Divides Us (23 December 2002).
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ron_Paul
Awesome quote thank you. I believe there is a good point that some of the crusaders against racism may actually have latent racist tendencies.
You are welcome! I would rather emphasize collectivist approach, the group think. Wether you call it racism or sexism or whatever -ism is rather secondary. It is often a weird mix, for instance when a friend tells me that I have to check my privilges as a white male. Apparently this is rather common in todays America, but it happened to me recently in Germany and I was flabbergasted, because that friend had no idea of my INDIVIDUAL experiences. For instance, I grew up as a German kid in France and I experienced...well...nationalist "racism"? Nothing as bad as your experiences, I was only made fun of, but I was really shocked by the assumption that I am supposed to not even be able to know what "racism" feels like, just because of the colour of my skin.
Yes I think it is a fundamental misunderstanding that some people have which in itself comes form ignorance. People can also "find" the smallest difference on which to separate each other and become polarised. Looking at it rationally it seems really silly sometimes.