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A comment on David Shor’s Unified Theory of American Politics. Parent comment

Re:David Shor’s Unified Theory of American Politics by AYBABTME on Monday November 02, 2020 @01:33AM (#24965297)
It depends how you define racism! According to "Defining Racism" by Beverly Daniel Tatum, it isn't. But in other interpretations of the word, it would be. I don't think it's far fetched to assume it might rightfully feel like a racist slur to the grand-parent.

Whether racism or not, it's probably an -ism of some sort. Despite disagreeing with the GP, at least their painting of "Karen" as an -ism gave me pause and made me consider that usage again. In truth, it's probably not a great and useful practice in discourse. e.g; do you believe calling someone a Karen will increase your chances of reconciling with them or coming to a favorable outcome with that person?

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Re:David Shor’s Unified Theory of American Politics by weakfish on Monday November 02, 2020 @09:03AM (#24968198)
No, I'm personally not a fan of the term because I generally don't like reducing people to caricatures - but IMO equating it to a slur is just... wrong. It's ignorant of what actually has been happening to the oppressed people in this country since... forever? And is trying to equate someone, who is generally in a position of power (a middle class white woman) to minority groups who have experienced racism since this country's founding.

Food for thought: In the (rough) words of John Mulaney, if you equate something to another word, but you won't even say the other word, then one is clearly worse than the other.

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