The news thread

[Marie Monday]

It doesn't sound like that to me either. It's impossible to understand his point in such a short video, but if it is that it's a problem that positions of power are predominantly filled by white people in a country with predominantly white people then I don't agree with him. If he's saying that the number of white people in power is disproportionate compared to the white population of Scotland, then he makes a good point. What matters is accurate representation in positions of power, not that the leaders match the 'racial identity' of the country. There is none: people migrate, countries evolve, and assigning that much identity to a country leads to nationalism. In any case, even if he means the former it would be just sloppy thinking. I don't see any hate, just frustration.

[jimmy jazz]

If he's saying that the number of white people in power is disproportionate compared to the white population of Scotland, then he makes a good point.

Scotland is 96% white.

129 seats in the Scottish Government and 6 of them are occupied by non whites which is pretty much bang on proportionate representation.

So I'm not sure what the good point is?

[Marie Monday]

There are other positions of power though. Like I said, the video doesn't explain what his point is so I can't judge. I just listed two possible points he might be making, and what I would think of those, because that's the best I can do

[jimmy jazz]

There are other positions of power though. Like I said, the video doesn't explain what his point is so I can't judge. I just listed two possible points he might be making, and what I would think of those, because that's the best I can do

Is this one long enough?

He was talking about structural racism, and this was his argument that Scotland was structurally racist.

[Janszoon]

Watching the longer cut, what he's saying is basically "let's all try to be better about making sure everyone has a voice" and he's including himself in that. Seems pretty reasonable to me.

[jimmy jazz]

If he said let's make sure everyone has a voice then that would be reasonable I agree, but that is clearly not what he said.

He claimed Scotland has a problem with structural racism and his evidence for that was that there are too many white people in positions of power (in a 96% white country). That is literally what he said. It is bonkers.

[Janszoon]

If he said let's make sure everyone has a voice then that would be reasonable I agree, but that is clearly not what he said.

He claimed Scotland has a problem with structural racism and his evidence for that was that there are too many white people in positions of power (in a 96% white country). That is literally what he said. It is bonkers.

It didn't seem bonkers to me. He pointed that there have been, I think, zero black people in any role whatsoever in the past 20 years or something. I understand that the black population in Scotland is probably quite small, but based on what he's saying, it sounds like they don't have much of a voice. Seems like a fair thing for him to mention.

[jimmy jazz]

It didn't seem bonkers to me. He pointed that there have been, I think, zero black people in any role whatsoever in the past 20 years or something. I understand that the black population in Scotland is probably quite small, but based on what he's saying, it sounds like they don't have much of a voice. Seems like a fair thing for him to mention.

Well quite small is a bit of an understatement, it's not even 1% (and about half of them are school aged so not relevant anyway).

He did say that, as well as the other things I mentioned, and he claimed it was evidence that Scotland has a problem with structural racism. This is the bit that is bonkers.

I am not being a dick, I see the bit you are saying, but he could have made his point, without claiming structural racism is to blame simply because the majority of positions of power are held by white people (in  a majority white country).

[Toy Revolver]

If he said let's make sure everyone has a voice then that would be reasonable I agree, but that is clearly not what he said.

He claimed Scotland has a problem with structural racism and his evidence for that was that there are too many white people in positions of power (in a 96% white country). That is literally what he said. It is bonkers.

i agree with you

if he simply said even though people of color are a minority we should still have voices in government that would be fine but to repeatedly point every position held by a white person and use the word white multiple times like that is obviously hostile

maybe it was an exaggeration when you said "snarled" but there is ugly invective in his voice and i think he's using the term "white" as a pejorative

that's how it seems to me and if i was scottish i would not be ok with it

[jimmy jazz]

If you check the comments on the video plenty of others noticed his tone of voice so it's not just me.

[Janszoon]

Well quite small is a bit of an understatement, it's not even 1% (and about half of them are school aged so not relevant anyway).

He did say that, as well as the other things I mentioned, and he claimed it was evidence that Scotland has a problem with structural racism. This is the bit that is bonkers.

I am not being a dick, I see the bit you are saying, but he could have made his point, without claiming structural racism is to blame simply because the majority of positions of power are held by white people (in  a majority white country).

There probably is structural racism though. I think you'd be hard pressed to find a government anywhere in the world that doesn't have structural racism and/or other kinds of structural inequality.

[Toy Revolver]

If you check the comments on the video plenty of others noticed his tone of voice so it's not just me.

i think to ignore such a thing (if you're scottish) is racist against non-whites because the implication is that the white power shield is invulnerable and non-whites will never have the strength to inflict injury

[Toy Revolver]

he claimed it was evidence that Scotland has a problem with structural racism

it probably does at least as he defines it

going by what i think his definition of racism is a certain amount of racism is healthy for most countries- in this case, the way i see it, scotland is well within reason to want to carry on being scottish

[jimmy jazz]

it probably does at least as he defines it

going by what i think his definition of racism is a certain amount of racism is healthy for most countries- in this case, the way i see it, scotland is well within reason to want to carry on being scottish

That's not the reason there are 0 black MSPs or whatever though. That's because you're only slightly less likely to find Nessie than a black person in Scotland. But I know you agree with me anyway so who cares.

[jadis]

The Pistorius case (not the US general having sex or whatever that thing was but the other one) being back in the news reminded me of this fine piece about how every crime in South Africa is a race crime even when it takes place between two whites in the privacy of their apartment

https://hazlitt.net/blog/pistorius-defence-black-men-made-me-do-it