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Since this thread is all speculation (save for the big swinging dick who took it to insta) I’ve occasionally found myself wondering how some people know so much about racist stuff. For instance, the poster eraserheadfuckers. He posted some racist memes to show us examples. At the same time, the guy hates fascists and racists so much he makes songs about it. Poster Armin Tamzarian explained that people were upset about the pizza graphic with the naked black woman because it appeared influenced by hottentot art, or a word that sounded similar that I cannot remember. I had never even heard that word before. It makes me wonder how people even learn about this stuff. If you’re opposed to these things, it must be uncomfortable to learn about. Is it like when I read editorials I don’t agree with because I hate myself?
For me it was coming up in in punk rock and the adjacent skinheads. There’s obviously a few racists that claim skinhead and there’s even more that will dip their toes in white power music even if they’re not into racism.
It’s true. The early Skrewdriver stuff was sick. But it’s still true that you can’t buy it without financially supporting racists so you better not have it.
But that led lots of people to discover the sketchiest parts of the internet. Rabbit holes about which punk bands were quietly tied to British Nazis and shit. Eternally stupid conversations about the origin of skinhead and dumb shit like that. Questions about symbols you see on a website or somebody’s jacket or something.
It’s all stupid, but that’s how I know more about racists than I ever wanted to.
For real. When I started grad school for social work, first day talk was about doing everything in our power to stop white supremacy, and my mind went to the punk scene and 1%ers I've known- hardline, active, aware white supremacists. No one else in the cohort had any idea what I was talking about when I said something to the effect of "I can't fight white supremacists when it's 4 on 1. You ever accidentally end up in a house full of white boys?" As a tattooed white dude, I'm self trained to notice the symbols. At one point I was ready to smash out some car windows with 88 stickers before learning they're Dale Earnhardt decals.
@Janus
As a white guy, settler colonialist involved in anti-oppression work and who has, as noted above, been keen to and viewed overt racist shit, symbols, groups as views inimical to enemies, I've had a few different places from which to learn. Really, it began when I was like 12 and heard Nazi Punks Fuck Off, and I think that was the case for a lot of punk kids. As an adult I present in a way where, depending on where I'm living, people just assume I'm one of them, so without realizing what I was getting into after a night of shooting pool and doing lines, ended up in a few clubhouses and spots with swazis and nazi portraits on the wall. Shit was wack and scary as fuck because I was just some sort of hippy with a pocket full of nugs. But being around those fools, I learned what to look out for. It would probably blow your mind how many seemingly regular white guys have a swastika or something similar surreptitiously tattooed somewhere on their body.
Then there's the educational piece on a formal level. I studied with a very gifted Indigenous scholar who taught about racism and oppression not only by using words and phrases, but by sharing stories of their life, that of their people, their history and what settler colonialism has done. I am fortunate on that level, because it's not the job of the oppressed to educate everyone else. We can learn about it by reading books and watching films done by marginalized people, maybe gaining some empathy or insight. Volunteering and asking what you can do to help, then doing that, is a great way to learn as well.
It's hard too because there's a whole generation of folks (often educated white kids) online who are into being woke af, and come at people hard if they're not in the know of the currently appropriate and ever changing landscape of social justice culture/media.
Good luck in learning. Sometimes it's kind of painful and confusing to unlearn
Topic: Lance Mountain on Racism? (Read 25876 times)