Deconstruction Of A Statement About Racism And Self-Defense

Significance of the Pronoun ‘I’ in the Statement

I am a first person pronoun used to refer to oneself. In the statement above, its use indicates the presence of one or more parties. The person might be involved in a monologue reaffirming his actions not being racist, (Wagner, et al. 2009). He might be a feeling of him having wrongfully mistreated his clients. ‘I’ as used in the statement can also signify a presence of a dialogue. The person saying the statement is feeling embarrassed by his or her actions towards the other party.  ‘I’ has been used to bring some emphasis on the position the two parties or rather the party is occupying. He is in a position of power. No one else is in that position except him. ‘I’ might have been used here to indicate the two classes of reasoning. One party might not be viewing the ‘I’ as being racist hence not warranting the defense. This might not be the case with ‘I’ who seems to be embarrassed by his or her actions. ‘I’ has been used to represent, self, social class, ethnic class and position of power. Reference of self not being racist is an exclusion tactic that might imply the other party comes from a race that racially abuses others.

The use of a negative phrase in defense means that some actions that are deemed racist had been realized. The person talking is justifying himself or herself in relation to the actions he bestows to others. The moral norms of the world today, there is no tolerance on racism. This regulation might have been the reason why ‘I’ is defending his or her actions not to be seen against the social expectations.  Racism cannot be from people of the same race. The statement clearly shows ‘I’ coming from a different race as that of the second party. His race might be having history of racially abusing others in the past. Due to this, the society has stereotyped them as being racist. Any actions they take contrary to the expectations of the person seeking his help are deemed racist. He has therefore come to self-defense show that his actions have nothing to do with racism. When something is being mentioned, it seems that it exists in the society. ‘I’ is defending him/her not to be put in the same bracket as other people who are racists. He might be a beneficiary of a former regime that used to racially abuse others thus him being taken as a racist. From the phrase, ‘I am not racist,’ the conversation on racism might not happen since the person that is viewed as the oppressor has refuted the claim of racial discrimination. In the world today, the oppressor is not viewed to be melanated, (Williams, 1993).

Use of Negative Phrases for Self-Defense

 ‘Not’ is always a word used to express something in the negative way. Basic mathematics tells as that two negatives make a positive. If the actions of ‘I’ are racially demeaning others, he is justifying his acts by employing this elementary use of negative statement. He is cleansing himself from his racist actions. However, if ‘I’ had his actions not be racially abusing his companion, he did not have a reason to show them not being racist verbally. ‘Not’ has been used to signify another person going to a place expecting a certain way of treatment. He is treated contrary to his expectation and hence he starts blaming it on matters race, (Lea, and Sims, 2008). The person the statement is being said to might be among a few members of the society who live with a stereotype mind set blaming others of racism whenever they fail to oblige to their expectations.

‘Racism’ was created in the world as told to separate humans into different classes according to their races. In the statement, does the word racist signify the way the first person looks at his actions? Does he use it to ease the tense of the second person? In the aspect of socio-cultural discipline, ‘racist’ is used to imply the different class amongst people and how people feel their superiority. Genetically, race is not biological. Racism has been used to create biological groupings of people given the features they have. In the statement was ‘racist’ used to show that the person talking comes from a different race as those/that being addressed? Was it used by a person of the same race as the one being addressed? From appoint of view, the statement was made out of fear of being considered racist. The framing of the words clearly points out that there is a person in a position of power who does not want others to believe that he is racially abusing them, (Kettrey, and Laster, 2014).

When the word ‘…treats everyone…’ is used, who is being referred to? This can only mean that, according to the view of ‘I’, there is a universal equality in the world, No one being more equal than others. Everyone receiving the said treatment equally, no favors are given to a certain group of people. The same scenario can be everyone in the society is grouped in the same group and are accorded unfair treatment. ‘….treat everyone…’ in the statement creates ambiguity, what is the treatment that people are receiving. It can be everyone is being abused racially, or no one is being abused racially. In the recent past, there have been trends such as, ‘black lives mater,’ or ‘whites’ lives mater’. These two trends are significant in knowing that there is racism in the world. In this statement, it might be the case of blacks vs. whites, whites vs. Indians, Indians vs. blacks.  

Ambiguity of the Phrase ‘Treat Everyone the Same’

‘…the same.’ Has been used to show the universal treatment people get with no favors. The only big problem is that no one can measure the size, quantity or weight of treatment, (Tourse et al. 2018) this is abstract. Someone might perceive that he/she treats everyone the same way but in real sense, his/her level of treating people vary from person to person. The use of it in the phrase can be so as to frame a shallow meaning and believe that we are all equal. It has been used as a mechanism of making people live in illusion that there is nowhere he or she will receive a different treatment as his next neighbor. Treating people equally means having all of them on the same ground, no favors or unconditional advantage accorded to any group or race of the people, (Power, 2006).

Advocacy for equality in the world is in full force today than it used to be in yesteryears. The use of ‘…treat everyone the same,’ Might be a campaign in disguise championing for the equal rights of all human beings. The person saying the statement might be doing it truly or he implies it. He is not being sincere with himself in the sense that he might have seen another party joining them and he wants to maintain his good image to him. ‘I’ might be saying the statement to tackle wishes of favors which he declines being branded a racist. He therefore, has to come to his defense.  There is a feeling of inferiority and despise amongst the parties. The statement was majorly used as a self defense mechanism to get oneself from blatant blame of being racist. He uses it to show that he or she does not give special treatment to anyone, be it from his race or not. His or her actions therefore justified not to be racist, (Kalantzis, 2013). In order for the inclusivity to be true, were there people from other races present to prove the actions taken by the person talking are universal?  

The above statement can mean two different things depending on breathe they were said. When emphasizing it, the whole blame goes to the second party who does not know how to judge the actions of other people. When said in a rather faster tone, the actions exhibited by the person saying them might be exactly the opposite what he means on the statement. These kinds of statements are always said by those who are defending their pedophile behavior. They verbally defend the racist actions they would not dare to change. The sentence exhibit both inclusive and exclusivity characteristic. The use of ‘I’ excludes someone from the group which they are. The person becomes egocentric focusing on him/her and become an autonomous entity. ‘…everyone…’ shows inclusivity of people and how they interact with each other.

When people are treated the same way equally, they do not want to be told how they are treated all the time. It becomes a universal belief and expectation. When served, they take their serving and leave without questioning why the treatment. The questioning only occurs whenever they feel that they have been taken as inferior to a certain group of people in the same community.

Deconstruction of a statement brings various dimensions on how the meaning of the statement can be arrived at. This gives as an insight what was the real meaning of the statement in question. Thus the meanings derived are compared to the universal moral norms in order to get one right meaning.

References

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