Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. denied allegations of racism and anti-Semitism Saturday after he reportedly suggested Covid-19 could have been genetically engineered to reduce risks to Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people.

  • Savaran@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    49
    arrow-down
    3
    ·
    1 year ago

    Racist tries to explain why they’re not racist by doubling down on racism

        • YoBuckStopsHere@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          arrow-down
          26
          ·
          1 year ago

          Oh, so the artist Drake is the same race as Bernie Sanders. Interesting conclusion. Do you think they see themselves as the same race?

                • YoBuckStopsHere@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  4
                  arrow-down
                  13
                  ·
                  1 year ago

                  Two different terms. A bigot is a person who is generally intolerant and hateful toward people they consider different (in terms of race, religion, sexuality, or in other ways). A racist is a specific type of bigot—one who’s bigoted based on race. The word racism often also refers to a system of oppression (systemic racism) of people of color, and the word racist can refer to a person who upholds or participates in such a system.

                  Thus in this case Bigot would be the correct usage.

                  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
                    link
                    fedilink
                    English
                    arrow-up
                    5
                    arrow-down
                    1
                    ·
                    1 year ago

                    Yes, I know. I just don’t know what difference it makes in this case. Does it excuse anything RFK Jr. says? Does it make it worse one way or the other? Because otherwise, I don’t see how this is relevant.

          • wtvr@sh.itjust.works
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            7
            arrow-down
            2
            ·
            1 year ago

            I’ll give you my perspective as a jew. I can’t speak for either Drake or Bernie but I see them both as members of the Jewish race. People can be multiethnic.

            • YoBuckStopsHere@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              2
              arrow-down
              16
              ·
              1 year ago

              So in your opinion, you can change your race to Jewish if you join the religion? Interesting perspective. I’ve generally viewed race as more rigid but that is a different take. If that is the case my race is American.

              • be_excellent_to_each_other@kbin.social
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                6
                ·
                edit-2
                1 year ago

                I’ve generally viewed race as more rigid

                Now having reached the third or fourth comment of yours I’ve seen in this discussion, I’m very sure this is an accurate statement. It’s good that you are able to be forthright about the importance you place on a rigid view of race.

                Edit: Well I just want to admit how wrong I was. Aside from these comments which certainly have sounded like a string of leading questions from a right-winger looking for opportunities for bigoted dogwhistles, you don’t actually seem to be one. Which makes the hill you’ve decided to die on here all the more confusing.

                • YoBuckStopsHere@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  1
                  arrow-down
                  4
                  ·
                  1 year ago

                  Race to me isn’t as important as the person you are. If I was in Europe I’d likely fall right of center but in the United States, I fall left of center if that helps. Pretty much in the middle. Socially Liberal, Fiscally Conservative. Both major political parties in the United States have no place for me.

          • kalanthil@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            5
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            edit-2
            1 year ago

            There are common alleles in ethnically Jewish people. These alleles cross not only countries, but also regions around the world.

            I don’t know if they consider one another the same race. Whether they do or not doesn’t matter to me.

            Also, TIL Drake is Jewish.

            Edit: You can learn more about the allele here.

            • YoBuckStopsHere@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              2
              arrow-down
              9
              ·
              1 year ago

              I’ve viewed the Jewish people as an ethnic culture but not a race of people. I have friends who are atheists and still Jewish who follow the customs, they just don’t follow the religion. Any race can be Jewish, join the culture, and participate in it. I have a lot of friends from various races (military veteran) but never would I think I could just join another race.

              As I said above, I put more value in being part of the American cohort than being part of a race. I could go on about what it is to be an American, but that’s for another time.

          • S_204@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            4
            ·
            1 year ago

            You’re looking at race in an American way, not a scientific way. Drake and Bernie would share a enough DNA that if you just looked on paper you would be able to see they have a shared genetic history at one point. Drake is partially Ashkenazi Jew like Bernie is.

            • YoBuckStopsHere@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              1
              arrow-down
              4
              ·
              1 year ago

              The scientific way would be to admit we are all humans and race is made up as a means to create divisions.

          • Cruxifux@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            1 year ago

            Do you think because drake is black and sanders isn’t that they can’t have the same ancestries? Because that’s hilarious and I’d love to hear more stuff like that please.

      • TechyDad@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        As a Jew, I’d go with “bigoted” over “racist” to describe antisemites.

        That being said, white supremacists see Jews like me as a different “race.” Despite my very white skin and Polish/Russian ancestry, a white supremacist wouldn’t say that my race is white/Caucasian. Instead, they’d say that my race is “Jewish.” So an antisemite could, in a way, be employing racism against Jews by their own definitions.