You know how sometimes people say something and there’s a meaning beyond the literal
interpretation of their words?
Like if there’s context or history or tone or something else behind their words?
Like, if I come up to you and say, “Hmph, that’s a nice shirt,” you can probably
detect that I didn’t actually mean that that’s a nice shirt.
Or maybe you and I are on a mission where we have given someone the codename of hawk.
When I say, “The hawk is in the nest,” you probably know I’m not talking about
a literal hawk -- I’m saying that the person has arrived.
When we use language, we very often mean stuff beyond the literal interpretation of our words.
When I say it’s raining cats and dogs, I don’t actually mean that pets are falling from the sky.
So, with all of that in mind, it’s important to know that the phrase “it’s okay to
be white” is racist as shit.
I know it may sound innocent to some of you, but it’s a dog whistle.
It’s a phrase that would fly under most people’s radar, but that would signal to
a certain group of people -- in this case, White Supremacists -- that the person saying
this phrase is one of them.
The phrase “it’s okay to be white” recently gained notoriety thanks to the garbage can
of the internet, 4chan.
White Nationalists and Neo-Nazis on that site designed the phrase specifically to try and
piss off people on the left and make white people look like victims.
They wanted a phrase that could embolden White Nationalists
while appearing innocent to the average person.
They wanted to make the public sympathetic to their imaginary cause of white people as
a group being oppressed.
They desperately wanted to be victims.
And frustratingly, they’ve kind of succeeded.
Flyers with the phrase have been plastered around colleges in the US, some asshole was
actually paid money to give an “it’s okay to be white” speech at the University of
Connecticut, and White Nationalist Tucker Carlson cried about it during his segment on Fox News.
But this phrase actually has an even deeper history than just racist asshats gathering on 4chan.
The Anti-Defamation League has found much earlier usages of the phrase, including in
a 2001 song by a white power band, in White Supremacist flyers from 2005, and a KKK member
tweeted the phrase in 2012.
If this is your first time coming across the phrase, just know that it isn’t the first
time for Nazis and White Nationalists.
For them, it’s somewhat of a slogan.
It’s a way for them to make themselves politically correct in a world that rightfully wants them to fuck off.
It’s just like -- if you consider yourself to be against racism, then you should probably
want to distance yourself from a phrase that has deep roots in White Supremacy and Neo-Nazism.
Like, okay, literally, word for word, with no context, “it’s okay to be white” is true.
But knowing that it has more meaning behind it, knowing that it’s a racist dog whistle,
that should be enough for you to say, “No, fuck this, fuck that phrase, it’s racist,
and I don’t want to have anything to do with it.”
It’s really not that hard.
Don’t give these people the time of day.
Don’t get into an argument about whether or not it’s okay to be white, because that’s
not the discussion.
Literally nobody is saying that it’s not okay to be white.
We’re only saying that the phrase “it’s okay to be white” is racist as shit.
And what’s frustrating about this is that the racists who hide behind this phrase know
that context matters.
They know exactly what bullshit they’re pulling.
Because when they see the phrase “Black Lives Matter” they infer a whole lot of
context about that phrase.
Because taken literally, Black Lives Matter literally cannot be offensive.
It’s just a statement of fact, and if you disagree with it, you’re saying that Black
lives don’t matter, which would be a really shitty thing to argue.
But, conservatives and White Nationalists are offended by the phrase Black Lives Matter,
because the context they take from that phrase is “And therefore white lives don’t matter.”
That’s why people get so offended over the phrase Black Lives Matter, because they infer
context from it.
But, important indistinction here, the actual context behind Black Lives Matter is “Black
lives should matter, but currently, they are not valued as much as other lives.”
So there’s just no equivalency between the two phrases -- but I think this can demonstrate
how people infer meaning from phrases that otherwise don’t have a whole lot of meaning
behind them, because of context.
For an example of how important context is, let’s run through a hypothetical situation.
Let’s say you get coffee with your friend, and they say they’ll pay for your drink
in exchange for you paying for their drink next time.
So you agree, and they pay for your drink.
Now, a few days later, you both go to get coffee again.
When you go up to pay, your friend is waiting for you to pay for their drink, but you don’t.
When they ask why you’re not paying for their drink, you say, “Look, I only think
it’s fair that when we get coffee, we both pay for our own drinks.
You shouldn’t expect me to pay for your drink.”
You’re ignoring all of the context that led up to that interaction!
Because yeah, it would be weird if your friend just randomly expected you to pay for them,
but there’s history and context there.
The people today who are saying “it’s okay to be white” are the ones who ignore
history and context and pretend that the phrase has no deeper meaning.
They’re the ones who don’t give a shit that you paid for their coffee because that
was in the past and has no bearing on what’s happening now.
They believe everyone should pay for their own coffee, don’t you?
And don’t try to muddy their argument by bringing in context.
Or like, imagine how annoying it would be to have a friend who just constantly says
it’s okay for them to do stuff that is obviously okay.
Like you sit down to play Mario Kart and they go, “It’s okay for me to play as Mario.”
Like, okay, who said you couldn’t?
Or you’re going on a walk with them and they say, “It’s okay for me to be wearing shoes.”
Like, again, no one said you couldn’t!
At some point, it would get really fucking annoying and you would tell them to shut up.
Not because it’s wrong to play as Mario or wear shoes, but because they literally
do not need to say it!
It’s that simple.
People who tell you that it’s okay to play as Mario or wear shoes or be white -- they
already know that all those things are okay, and they know you know it too.
They just want to provoke a reaction out of you.
They want to start conflict where none exists.
They want to be victims and to have all the attention on them and how hard life is for
them because they’re not allowed to just state facts.
The truth is you’re allowed to constantly declare that shit everyone knows is okay is
okay, but don’t be surprised when everyone thinks you’re an annoying piece of shit
because of it.
And one of the most ironic parts of this for me, just on a personal level, is that people
constantly accuse me of always wanting to be a victim.
But like, I benefit from white privilege.
I’m not anywhere near being oppressed in terms of race.
So when talking about race, I do anything but “play the victim”.
I admit that I am afforded benefits because of the color of my skin that people of color are not.
That’s an easy reality for me to except.
But for tons of conservatives and White Nationalists and Neo-Nazis, they really just want to be
the victim here.
They want to manufacture outrage against white people so they can get sympathy.
They want people to feel bad for them just because they’re white.
Well, the time has finally come, and this gonna be fun to say: Suck it up, snowflakes.
No one cares about your “it’s okay to be white” flyers.
Your desire to be a victim in a country that systemically favors you in every way possible
is hilarious and saddening.
It’s time you accept the fact that you’re not a victim.
No one is saying it’s not okay to be white, so stop acting like it.
Anyway, that’s all I have for you today.
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