Memebusters: Oscars & BET

Memebusters: the part of my blog in which I take certain memes I come across on social media and discuss why they are destructive

Destructive meme of the day:

What does that make the BET awards? A by-product of white supremacy. In the world of logical fallacies, this meme is two fallacies in one!

1. The "tu quoque" fallacy: avoiding having to engage with criticism by turning it back on the accuser - answering criticism with criticism! 
2. The "black-or-white" fallacy (no pun intended): where two alternative states are presented as the only possibilities, when in fact more possibilities exist. 

Tu Quoque. This argument ignores the possibility that there is an actual issue and turns the criticism back on its protesters. It might have worked if the premise wasn't wrong. BET is the result of the Oscars being "too white." This argument actually proves it's opposing view.

Black-or-White. The argument assumes that having an all black institution and complaining that the white one is "too white" indicates hypocrisy on the part of the ones who complain. But it doesn't consider that there are other possibilities. Building on the first argument, this also avoids criticism because it dismisses the cause of the all black institution.  Let's change the content. Let's make it about women's rights. It's the same as calling the business world, "a man's world" and a man saying, "You're complaining that the business world is 'too masculine'... so what does that make the feminist rights movement?" If I heard a man say that, I would consider him to be completely oblivious to reality. I'd think he's either chauvinistic or completely ignorant. And I would also realize that in making this statement, he does not care about, nor is he willing to listen to the cause of women. I  would lose respect for this man. So when a white person posts this meme, I imagine black people feel very similar, and probably feel angry. Now do you see that the argument itself is hypocritical? (and makes people who post this argument seem very hypocritical).

You might think that the people who boycott the Oscars are being too sensitive, but when you've lived your whole life being told you're less valuable than others, it begins to wear on you. I understand this, because that is how I feel as a woman. No one has literally told me that I'm less valuable than a man--they've only devalued my ideas, dismissed my claims, and withheld titles from me that they've given less-qualified men!

People of color have not "drug-up" old issues--they've been given courage to express themselves about an issue that was never resolved.

As white millennials, we don't need to start feeling guilty. We don't need to be defensive. We weren't the cause of the problem. But we are part of the problem if we refuse to acknowledge it. Most of the white people getting defensive in my social circles aren't racist. But the people who set up our housing systems were. The people who set up our government were. Plenty of people still are! And we need to realize that this is a problem! Black people live in fear every day. They get the shaft all the time. They feel the hurt of being secondary. And here we are, arguing that their complaints are hypocritical because we don't know what the heck we're talking about. We feel attacked?

Maybe you've been accused of being racist when you weren't. Maybe you've been frustrated about the issue. Black people can just as easily be hypocritical, racist, and hurtful as any white person, sure. But there is an actual problem of systemic racism in this country, and it puts all people of color at a disadvantage. The emotional impact of this alone is a very heavy burden to carry. When we make arguments like this and spread this kind of thinking, we are perpetuating the problem, and in that way I think we are guilty.