Even in the modern Hollywood landscape, where it's de rigueur for celebrities to also be authors, activists, and lifestyle gurus, Mayim Bialik's offscreen resume stands out from the rest of the red carpet crowd. Yes, she's best known for her…
You seem to know more about these ethnic groups than I do.
In my opinion, the ethnic or racial categories that define “white” or not make no sense. The definition of “white” according to white supremacists has always been very ephemeral (e.g. sometimes including Italians or Irish, sometimes excluding), and has no basis in science or reason. “White” is defined purely by political ideology.
From a more practical point of view, I believe if you are trying to understand how white supremacists think, I would say they define “white” as the people protected by the politically powerful, who are seen as human, or as first-class citizens, or as deserving of protection under the law, whereas non-white are those who the politically powerful want to erase from humanity. They constantly shift the definition of “white” to match these criteria as the political ideology evolves over time.
So from that point of view, you could think of antisemitism as a form of white supremacy that excludes Jews from the “white” category, while Zionism is a form of white supremacy that includes Jews as “white.” But both are white supremacy, both are evil.
It’s true that the boundaries of whiteness are fuzzy, but I feel like you’re mincing words. Am I to take it that Hutu perpetrators of genocide against the Tutsi people are white nationalists? It’s a common misconception that you can define words however you like. I think in this century, few would consider Mezrahi Jews to be white. Is Drake a white nationalist? He is a Jew who believes in “the right and need of a Jewish state [Israel],” after all. He also says quite a few things in that article I wouldn’t expect of a white nationalist at all – so unexpected indeed that I’m struggling to apply the label to him.
Zionism is ethno-religious nationalism. It’s more religious than ethno to be frank. But either way, it’s definitely not white nationalism. I can admit that race is a social construct, but people extrapolate way too much from its non-existence to get to ludicrous ideas like whiteness is 100% defined by power structures just because that pattern matches well with what Europeans, Australians, Canadians, and Americans see every day. The quasi ethnic group of Jews is not primarily “white,” by the most ordinary meaning of “white”: when people look at a Mezrahi Jew, “white” is not a label they will usually think to apply. And most definitely nobody is calling a powerful and influential man like Drake “white.”
Maybe in 150 years you’ll be right, the meaning of “white” will have shifted so much. But it is still 2024.
You seem to know more about these ethnic groups than I do.
In my opinion, the ethnic or racial categories that define “white” or not make no sense. The definition of “white” according to white supremacists has always been very ephemeral (e.g. sometimes including Italians or Irish, sometimes excluding), and has no basis in science or reason. “White” is defined purely by political ideology.
From a more practical point of view, I believe if you are trying to understand how white supremacists think, I would say they define “white” as the people protected by the politically powerful, who are seen as human, or as first-class citizens, or as deserving of protection under the law, whereas non-white are those who the politically powerful want to erase from humanity. They constantly shift the definition of “white” to match these criteria as the political ideology evolves over time.
So from that point of view, you could think of antisemitism as a form of white supremacy that excludes Jews from the “white” category, while Zionism is a form of white supremacy that includes Jews as “white.” But both are white supremacy, both are evil.
It’s true that the boundaries of whiteness are fuzzy, but I feel like you’re mincing words. Am I to take it that Hutu perpetrators of genocide against the Tutsi people are white nationalists? It’s a common misconception that you can define words however you like. I think in this century, few would consider Mezrahi Jews to be white. Is Drake a white nationalist? He is a Jew who believes in “the right and need of a Jewish state [Israel],” after all. He also says quite a few things in that article I wouldn’t expect of a white nationalist at all – so unexpected indeed that I’m struggling to apply the label to him.
Zionism is ethno-religious nationalism. It’s more religious than ethno to be frank. But either way, it’s definitely not white nationalism. I can admit that race is a social construct, but people extrapolate way too much from its non-existence to get to ludicrous ideas like whiteness is 100% defined by power structures just because that pattern matches well with what Europeans, Australians, Canadians, and Americans see every day. The quasi ethnic group of Jews is not primarily “white,” by the most ordinary meaning of “white”: when people look at a Mezrahi Jew, “white” is not a label they will usually think to apply. And most definitely nobody is calling a powerful and influential man like Drake “white.”
Maybe in 150 years you’ll be right, the meaning of “white” will have shifted so much. But it is still 2024.
Point taken.