I used to be a vociferous and zealous anti racist myself.
Growing up in the deep south I dealt with a lot of racism in society. I am not black myself, but most of my friends have been black since a very young age. It was just a result of being a white kid in a black part of town. I've been beat up by other white kids for being a 'nigger lover' and actually told by cops not to hang out with 'those people'.
When I started seeing nazi skins at punk shows I easily bought in to the Anti-Racist-Action thing. We used to go around confronting nazi skinheads and getting in brawls with them at punk and metal shows.
I got beat up pretty bad a few times. We beat them up pretty bad a few times.
On one hand this is a bit better than being a whiny PC word police piece of shit. It is actually putting your money where your mouth is and trying to do something. It certainly takes more courage to pick a fight with a nazi than it does to tell some guy at a show not to say 'insert uncool slur here'. But after a while I realized the ARA and the skinheads were self justifying. The nazi skins fed off of our confrontations. If we prevailed, they were martyrs. If they prevailed they could drink and stay up late gloating about it. Nobody was moving ideologically because they got their nose broken. And frankly, those nazi skins were fucking pussies when it came to fighting.
I've come to believe that problems like racism and gay bashing arise because people tend to clump in group of similar sorts. I've tried to avoid this, so I hang out with gay, black, latino, asian whatever. If I feel uncomfortable with something I confront it. I've hung out with Mexican gangbangers. I've played at gay clubs.
I also have friends that are in right wing militias and a few Muslim friends. Cum bay yah I'm the fucking UN.
My point is that you can't beat up racism, and you can't criticize it away.
That whole word police thing just makes the accuser feel good and accomplishes zero.
