Okay, to use your own tools back at you - you are only saying that because you have American privilege. Reading your profile you are an American, or at least sufficiently immersed in their culture that you read as one. So you have been immersed in the 'antagonism' model of racial situations, hence it is not surprising that you will interpret any response to them, including this one, according to the antagonistic model.
Yes, some Brits do use the American tools that were developed in an American context to address American problems, because people will use any toolset that attracts them. But that does not mean they are any more correct to use them in a British context than the Americans. For every Brit who likes those tools I could easily produce five of every background who thinks the whole methodology of the argument is a load of bollocks. Who is to say who is right and who is wrong? Could such a concept of rightness even be applied to a socio-political situation where you can only ever hope for majority consensus of opinion, never universality?
Besides, I was not addressing the question of whether the British analysis of race is any better than the American one, I was simply trying to describe the contrast between the two systems as I have observed them, to help explain to alixtii why there is so frequently a problem - a thing he has commented on several times.
I am aware that a lot of people involved in these sorts of discussions are heavily invested in the idea of whole-world problems and solutions, and therefore wish to play down the national differences. As a geographer I naturally am more interested in the contrasts and similarities between nations just as as a historian I am interested in the differences and similarities between time periods. I therefore tend to focus on them and raise them where other people tend to blur things together. And of course as a Brit I am very aware of what US dominance of the LJ fandom space means.
Personally I think we can learn some things from American analysis of racial problems - I think multiculturalism sucks and has been a failed experiment and we need to start to look around for alternative models, in which case the US one can have things to offer. But the US model also has deep flaws, and to take the whole thing on board without due consideration for the differences between our countries would be insane.
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Date: 2008-02-27 07:33 am (UTC)Yes, some Brits do use the American tools that were developed in an American context to address American problems, because people will use any toolset that attracts them. But that does not mean they are any more correct to use them in a British context than the Americans. For every Brit who likes those tools I could easily produce five of every background who thinks the whole methodology of the argument is a load of bollocks. Who is to say who is right and who is wrong? Could such a concept of rightness even be applied to a socio-political situation where you can only ever hope for majority consensus of opinion, never universality?
Besides, I was not addressing the question of whether the British analysis of race is any better than the American one, I was simply trying to describe the contrast between the two systems as I have observed them, to help explain to
I am aware that a lot of people involved in these sorts of discussions are heavily invested in the idea of whole-world problems and solutions, and therefore wish to play down the national differences. As a geographer I naturally am more interested in the contrasts and similarities between nations just as as a historian I am interested in the differences and similarities between time periods. I therefore tend to focus on them and raise them where other people tend to blur things together. And of course as a Brit I am very aware of what US dominance of the LJ fandom space means.
Personally I think we can learn some things from American analysis of racial problems - I think multiculturalism sucks and has been a failed experiment and we need to start to look around for alternative models, in which case the US one can have things to offer. But the US model also has deep flaws, and to take the whole thing on board without due consideration for the differences between our countries would be insane.