My understanding of the more sophisticated construction of this argument

… oh, eff off, will you? That was really unnecessary.

And, to be sure, I’d rather converse with people who have an intuitive grasp of important concepts than people who can rationalize their bigotries with surface sophistication.

Yes, but the point is they’re progressives.

And at the same time as I’m being misread, I have guilt, because sometimes I cultivate a white, abled image for safety or comfort. […]

If I don’t need to know, I don’t need to know. Someone else’s comfort is more important that the satisfaction of my curiousity.

Yes. As much as it twinges to be thoughtlessly, instantly misread—I have been pried at, and it goes right to the core. For them, race or ability is not a big deal. For me, it is deeply personal and there is no simple answer.

It’s such a common tendency, to be uncomfortable with ambiguity—I know I am, often, and I’m ambiguous myself. It’s hard to get over.

As for the derailing:

Methinks the reason her comments hit a nerve is she problematized power theories of racism. Progressives often have trouble dealing with POC when they step outside the identity of victim.

Er. Many of the people objecting to Bonn’s comments are, in fact, POC.

My understanding of the more sophisticated construction of this argument is that its not so much that reverse racism doesn’t exist, but rather reverse systemic and/or intsituional racism doesn’t exist, since the latter types neccesitate power differences while the former, if it is recognized as racism at all, is merely individual prejudice.

The problem is, in the context in which Bonn is speaking, is the premise (power differentials) on which the theory “reverse racism doesn’t exist” even there? She is an ethnic minority in a largely homogeneous and patriarchal culture; one of the wealthiest nations on earth that at one time succumbed to fascism, brutally colonized other nations and attacked the US, which of course is a sign of a more than a little jingoism within the aforementioned culture; which in turn stereotypes white westerners as having a lower IQ, loose sexual mores, and value education less.

So forgive me for rolling my eyes at the notion that being seen as good English teachers amounts to a massive privilege, especially since we don’t even know if Bonn is a native English speaker.

Methinks the reason her comments hit a nerve is she problematized power theories of racism. Progressives often have trouble dealing with POC when they step outside the identity of victim.

@Bonn – your comments really come off as derailing and Oppression-Olympics-esque. This conversation isn’t about your problems as a white person in Unspecificied Country that People Claimed Has No Racism.

I think that’s incorrect. It seemed to me that Bonn was simply reminding us that White Male Etc Default is actually Something Else Entirely Default in different parts of the world.

Yes. Also, she fails to take into account that models and ideals of racism as we understand them in some countries (like US, Canada, Australia, and parts of Europe) do not apply the same way in other parts of the world (I am thinking, for example, Asia). I know she didn’t name a country specifically, but I can apply some of her examples to some of my own experiences in Korea, but it isn’t what I would call a result of racism, or reverse racism (because despite my appearance I am non-white, but I do garner a heap of white privilege because of assumptions) or whatever. Racism exists in this part of the world, believe me, but it doesn’t apply in the same way that it does to us in the West or Australia (from what I have heard, not living in Oz myself). It is far more nuanced than that.

Also, there are heaps of ways that being a Westerner has been a huge privilege. My English skills are in high demand so I am constantly being asked to tutor children (which is illegal under my status here), I feel that I am treated better than some other people just because of that status. I still feel the sexism… but that is a whole ‘nother comment… Another comment still would be accessibility for the disabled. Seoul knocks some stuff of the globe, and really falls behind in other areas. But, again, you have to look at that stuff from a different point of view. It isn’t always as easy as comparing it to our own understanding of how things work in our own country/culture.

I don’t think there’s exactly “no grounds” for it. Bonn seems to have set up a straw-antiracist to knock down. She also seems to think (mistakenly) that white privilege means that you’ll get an advantage every single time every single place everywhere. But that isn’t what that means, and it can get tiring explaining that to white people who insist that because of that, everything is super equal and PoC have nothing to complain about.

Moreover, being “public property” in that instance is also a function of her being a woman on top of her being white.