Hot Topic: Stop Attacking White People

Taylor Swift's new music video 'Shake It Off' has nothing to do with, well, anything. A bunch of dancers and one very awkward T-Swizzle makes up a viral video, but the content has become some sort of breeding ground for many offended Tumblr folks who call her a racist and a mysoginist. Although I used to jump on the Tumblr bandwagon and agree with the plethora of offended women, I have recently found myself being utterly annoyed at the degree of sensitivity that many people have in regards to gender and race. 

Let's get to it:

Here's the thing about racism; most of the time it's not. To read more about my rant on racism, read my article 'No, It's Not Racist'. People seem to enjoy attacking Caucasians simply because of their past and their privilege. I understand that being white has its perks and perhaps it is much better to be white than any other race. However, it does not give everyone else the green light to poke and prod every slight mistake they make and slap a label on them that says 'racist pig'. I am so sick and tired of seeing white people being treated as if they are obdurate neo-nazis who rendezvous underground every Thursday to reinstate the KKK. 

When Avril Lavingne released her music video which exclusively featured Japanese girls, the world went berserk. She was called out on her obsession with appropriating Japanese culture and her apparent racism. Although as an Asian, I understand that that kind of stereotype might be detrimental to the western image of us, but it does not render her as a racist. Appropriating one's culture seems to be mainly the fault of white people. If Taylor Swift wears ghetto street clothes and Katy Perry dons a kimono, opinionated Tumblr folks would rise up and rant about how problematic they are. But no one will bat an eyelash if Fan Bing Bing or Zhang Ziyi wears a Scottish kilt. It's as if the world has this unsettled vengeance against white people for what they have done when in reality, we are labeling them as racist well before they could do anything remotely so. This means that whatever they do or say will only justify what you have already presumed about them, giving them no chance to prove themselves otherwise.

A white person who goes to Ethiopia to build schools? White saviorism. A black person goes to Indonesia to help with the orphans? Such a selfless human being, bless his soul! It's completely unfair that an entire race has absolutely no chance of redeeming themselves of the mistakes made by their ancestors. I understand that to this day, the cis white male sits on top of the food chain, but that doesn't mean we should enforce white guilt on them. Just because we are gazelles does not mean we should make the lions feel like utter crap for being born as the king of the jungle. No one should be ashamed of the color of their skin, but it seems like many white people are starting to because they have been conditioned to feel remorse for something they personally did not commit.

I am not saying that racism against non-whites isn't prevalent in some countries, but I am just tired of reading articles and hearing people rant about what a white celebrity or model 'appropriated' and how racist and ableist they are. When we berate white people for being racist when they aren't, we are letting our irrational emotions get in the way of reason. We cannot keep treating white people as these privileged bums who are direct descendants of Adolf Hitler because it is unfair. White privilege does not entitle them to a great life, it might be a better life, but they are not exempt from hardship. 

Any white singer or author cannot have a music video or novel featuring an all-white cast or an all-black cast without being called 'racist'. They need the perfect 50/50 balance, and even then someone would still mention the fact that Asians and Hispanics aren't in the picture. White people can never win, and that's the problem, they shouldn't have to. They shouldn't have to break their backs to fill in the race quota while every other race in the world aren't subjected to the same racial standards. How I Met Your Mother or Friends were criticized for having a predominantly white cast,  but shows like My Wife & Kids or The Fresh Prince of Bel Air were applauded for having an all-black cast.

There are many things I can say or do that could be considered 'racist', but my olive skin and jet-black hair allows my peers to be more lenient towards my actions. Yet, if a white person says anything out of bounds or wears something from other cultures, they are rebuked for being racist. The real problem isn't white people being (presumably) racist, the problem is our obsession with calling out white people and their 'mistakes'.