It's always interesting to see the way race hustlers twist the definition of racism to suit them.
To normal people, racism is hostility or hatred of another race or other races based largely on a perceived superiority of one's own race.
But to the race hustlers, this definition is too straight forward and doesn't deal with people who are racist to white people. Instead, they like to use a definition of racism that includes some reference to historical "power structures," which condones or excuses behaviors or words that would otherwise be clearly considered racist.
Why do I bring this up? I read this post by Stephen Bainbridge on a recent incident at Washington State University (via The Moderate Voice):
My friend and UCLA colleague Eugene Volokh has a typically thoughtful post on a troubling incident at Washington State University:The College Republicans organized an anti-illegal-immigration event, featuring a "24-foot, chain-link, cyclone fence, later established as a representation of a 'Wall of Immigration.'" Professor John Streamas showed up, got into an argument with Dan Ryder, a College Republicans member, and in the process called him a "white shitbag."
The WSU's Center for Human Rights' report on the incident makes interesting reading. Streamas' attitude, in particular, is a fascinating example of the academic left's attitude towards race. As Eugene points out, Steamas claims:that a person of color cannot be racist, by definition, because racism also defines a power differential that is not usually present when a person or color is speaking." Yeah, right. He and others are redefining the term "racism" in a way that's pretty far removed from its normal meaning -- which is racial hostility -- so as to give themselves a rhetorical break from the rules they're imposing on others. And on top of that, he's applying even his revised definition in a disingenuous way: Whatever may be "usually" so, there surely is a "power differential" between a professor of whatever race and a student of whatever race.
This "power differential" nonsense is a convenient cover for racism against white people. One has the uncomfortable feeling that had the situation been reversed, WSU would have been swift in setting punishment for the offense.
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