I think we have a big problem with the discourse around CRT. The r/criticalracetheory subreddit recently opened, and it's a shithole of tribalism and virtue signaling by stupidpol types, far right conspirators, bored liberals who just walked in to wave their red or blue MAGAs like it's jury duty, and a noticeable complete absence of leadership or actual CRT philosophers. When I checked, the mod who probably redditrequest'd it did not seem to be showing any power level or political affiliation. I could not determine if the agenda of the sub will be "epic WWF style CRT debates" or actual CRT academic discussion .

other hexbear threads:

I've got:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIZ_3-i5FY4 <- thoughtslime

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZWaJ5Nqz3M <- the serfs

and basically nothing else for resources. Any true CRT fans/enjoyers sharing information would be great. Also, IDK if hexbear is pro CRT or divided on CRT lol.

Search Terms: CRT, critical race theory, criticalracetheory

  • Diestar [he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    I'll be real with you. I do not give a single shit about critical race theory. It's like arguing about merry Christmas on Starbucks cups as far as I can tell

    • MarxMadness [comrade/them]
      ·
      3 years ago

      I can see the similarities, but one big difference is that anti-CRT hysteria is being used to fuck with school curricula. Shutting discussions of structural racism out of schools is how you get the whole "it's not racist unless they're wearing a white hood and yelling the n-word" mentality on a mass scale. I don't think the War on Christmas bullshit ever had the potential to make that big of impact.

      • Diestar [he/him]
        ·
        3 years ago

        Right thats what we have now though. So what's the other side. How big of a change do you think crt is actually going to have? I'm skeptical it's going to result in some huge change it's just spinning your wheels for minimal upside

        • MarxMadness [comrade/them]
          ·
          3 years ago

          Think of how many people understand concepts like structural racism and unconscious bias today compared to thirty years ago (or fifty years ago). Although tons of people still don't understand those concepts (or feel comfortable openly rejecting them), there's been significant progress. That can be rolled back.

          it’s just spinning your wheels for minimal upside

          Another way this is different from War on Christmas bullshit is that if you get into some big discussion about it there are substantive things to talk about. Pointing out the many ways racism permeates American society forces libs to confront a lot of contradictions they usually ignore, and there are still plenty of people out there who aren't ignoring this stuff so much as they're ignorant of it. You might be able to move some people on a topic that has a material effect on people's lives.

          • Diestar [he/him]
            ·
            3 years ago

            I mean people came up with all sorts of justifications to be mad one way or the other over merry Christmas and happy holidays. Could talk about white supremacy, being a Christian or secular nation, the power of corporations. I don't remember everything but people had reasons, a tree falls in the woods and people come up with takes.

            The similarity I see is just the most useless people in media and politics ecstatic to be arguing about this which makes me think it's a massive waste of time. Especially on the right, there is clearly an organized effort to turn this into something that it's not underway.

            But if you've got the bandwidth more power to you. I'm staying out of it and I don't think I'll miss much

              • MarxMadness [comrade/them]
                ·
                3 years ago

                I think it's particularly powerful because of past gains regarding more overt racism. If you're going to do racism in any sort of mainstream environment today, you have to at least dress it up with some plausible deniability. You don't hate people because they're black or brown, you're concerned about "crime" or "culture." And an increasing number of people are able to see through those dogwhistles, too.

                For your conscious, unrepentant racists, these are surmountable rhetorical obstacles. But for those who aren't consciously racist, maybe who just grew up in conservative households/areas, or who aren't too political to begin with? They're in an environment where racism is widely considered bad, they think of themselves as good, so they believe they should oppose racism. So when you show them how racism is baked into all sorts of American institutions, they have to square their comfort with those institutions with "I'm a good person and should oppose this." Not all of them are going to change their beliefs to resolve that contradiction, but some will.