In case you haven’t kept up, I’m here to tell you that you’re a racist. We all are. Here’s the update.
Bette Midler is racist for suggesting that blacks who support President Trump have been paid to say that.
Justin Beiber. Yes, he’s Canadian, but he’s a racist anyway.
President Trump, according to Joe Biden.
Joe Biden, according to Joe Biden
Trump supporters. Duh.
People who are tired of being called “racist” and people who don’t like being called a racist. (Query: What about the people who do like being called racist?)
Anyone who calls anyone else a “boy.” Happy parents to healthy newborns are apparently supposed to shriek, “It’s a male!” (Or does that violate a gender rule? Maybe just announce breathlessly, “It’s a human!”)
White yoga women, white evangelicals, white people who are not ashamed of bring white, white critics of the Internal Revenue Service, white gun owners, and all other white people.
An app to help people avoid dangerous neighborhoods.
The Confederate flag, the American flag, the Massachusetts flag and the Betsy Ross flag.
Anyone who thinks people should be judged on the content of their character, not the color of their skin.
People who dislike President Obama and people who think he sometimes gets angry.
People who think voters should have to produce identification.
Supporters of black GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain.
CNN, for calling black rap singer Kanye West “the token negro of the Trump administration.”
Chess, skiing and basketball.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson for calling the Scots “a verminous race.” (OK, buster, no more scotch for you.)
People who believe in national borders, even if they’re just Canadian ones.
Republicans and Democrats.
Corporations that own NBA teams.
Your wardrobe, your beard, your shoes, your pickup truck and your college.
The SAT test that got you into that college
Capitalism, socialism, communism and fascism.
Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism and Islam.
Opponents of affirmative action.
Proponents of affirmative action.
Diabetes, asthma, strokes, high blood pressure and cancer.
The commission of violent crime.
Punishment for the commission of violent crime.
Americans, British, Japanese, Norwegians, Mexicans, French and Africans.
Everyone else.
Well, not everyone. Some people are not racist, because it’s impossible for someone of their race to be racist. For example, blacks cannot be racist. Some Asians contend otherwise, but that just proves that Asians are racist and blacks aren’t.
Apart from those weird exceptions, it’s racism inflation all over the place. Even if you think you’re not a racist, and people around you think you’re not, you probably are, at least subconsciously. Your denial is proof of your guilt.
All this would be comical except that it carries a real risk. If everyone is racist, then nobody is. The term loses its opprobrium. It’s like accusing someone of masturbation. So what?
The net effect is that real racists get a pass. When someone calls them out for their racism, they can say, “The race card? Really? Is that all you got?”
But racism really is terrible. Judging people by the color of their skin and not the content of their character is destructive and unfair (notwithstanding that, as pointed out above, some believe today that it is racist to do otherwise).
In addition, overplaying the race card invariably plays it against people who don’t deserve it. Just because a person thinks America should have a secure border, plays chess, drives a pickup truck, believes in capitalism, socialism or Judaism, defends affirmative action, wears a beard or doesn’t like being called a racist, doesn’t make him a racist.
It’s fun to call people vile names when you disagree with them. But it’s not productive, persuasive, grown-up or honest. It’s just cheap insults and lazy thinking.
Now go ahead and prove my point in the comments by ignoring the issue and instead calling me names.
Next up: We’re all masturbating Nazi’s now.
(Published Sept 8, 2019 in the Aspen Times at https://www.aspentimes.com/opinion/glenn-k-beaton-were-all-racists-now/)
the Aspen beat 
The former definition of a “racist” that was widely accepted, was a person who believed that their particular “race” made them genetically superior to other people.
By that definition, I’m not a racist.
However, as a white American, I think that by many important objective measures — including political/economic freedom combined with political stability, average per capita income, minority rights, and life expectancy — European-American culture delivers better results than others.
In that regard, I have been particularly impressed by a book called “Migrations and Cultures,” by Thomas Sowell, an academic economist who happens to be black. He performed extensive research into the fate of various ethic groups — including Germans, Jews, Japanese, and Asian Indians — who migrated to other countries, and concluded that they succeeded by retaining their cultural habits. In recognizing the lack of advancement of a disproportionately large number of black people, he explicitly rejected the notion of racial inferiority. He attributed it instead to the fact that Africa was largely bypassed as people living on the Eurasian continent got a “head start” in developing advanced civilization, that essentially snowballed by interaction through trade and conquest. Jared Diamond explicitly reached a similar conclusion in his book “Guns, Germs, and Steel.”
Despite the abuses and even atrocities that have been committed in the past by white Americans against other groups — particularly Native people and blacks — our culture has evolved to become increasingly open to all people. However, there are still a disproportionately large fraction of some minority groups — particularly, blacks and unassimilated Hispanics — who reject key components of that culture, and do so with the active support of white “progressives” who could more appropriately be described as Marxists with overtones of guilt for the past abuses committed by white people.
Other than several east Asian countries that are approaching the standard of European-American culture (due largely to the influence of the United States following World War II) I am not aware of any country with a non-white majority that comes anywhere close. So, pardon me if I recognize the correlation between minority status and socio-economic views that are incompatible with the culture that I share with the many non-white Americans who have been smart enough to adopt such universally successful cultural habits as valuing education, productive work, compliance with laws, and two parent families. And being called a “racist” because of my preference for a culture that correlates with being white (or Asian) only makes me more inclined to vote against so-called “progressive” Democrats.
That’s RACIST !!!
I always enjoy reading your editorials, but Mr. Beaton, your reply to Ted might border on what someone categorized recently as “lazy thinkin”. And you’re not paying your bodyguard enough.
I’m leaning towards the Ted Stude line of thinking, not that there’s anything wrong with that.
GO UGA!
MAGA!
Or COURSE my comment to Ted was lazy thinking. That was the whole point — to illustrate the lazy thinking of such a comment.
Thanks for the entertaining links 🙂
Since your latest article on black people presumably switching (back) to the Republican Party did not have a provision for comments, I will add mine here.
One of the greatest differences between the Republican and Democratic parties is that the Democrats favor a much higher, more progressive level of taxation in support of government programs that are intended to primarily benefit low income people. (Some of these do real good and some are arguably counterproductive or at least not very cost-effective).
Since the median or average income or wealth of blacks is substantially lower than for whites and other groups, it is hardly surprising that they tend to vote heavily Democratic. Even as individual blacks achieve economic success (largely by adopting the norms of middle-class European-American culture) they are likely to retain sympathy for government programs that tax wealthier people to benefit poorer ones. A good analogy is of Jewish people, who tend to be wealthier than average, and yet tend to be more liberal on social issues and thus to vote Democratic.
I am somewhere in the middle myself. I support the idea that wealthier people — including myself — should be the main ones who pay the taxes to support all government programs, whether they are of general benefit like national defense and highways or targeted to lower income people, like Medicaid and the earned income tax credit. What particularly turns me off about the current crop of Democratic “progressives,” however, is their refusal to acknowledge the fact that the U.S. tax system IS fairly progressive and funds many social programs that have been established by a moderate consensus over the past 50 years. They have no concept of the notion that “enough is enough,” and that lower income people have an obligation to do more to help themselves and, especially, their children.