I don't necessarily agree with this. While social media can be seen as holding a mirror up to society (which I think is what you say here, forgive me if I'm wrong), it is also shaping young hearts and minds. There are lots of vulnerable people both young and old on social media who shouldn't be there at all who are emboldened by what they read and while left to their own devices, they may never consider abusing someone online or in a stadium, they see others doing it and join in hence Rio's 'normalising' comment. I've read and heard from several match going fans who joined in with unsavoury chanting because everyone else was doing it, growing up and realising how shameful it was. You only have to see how quickly catchphrases, for want of a better word, take hold. Some see it and use it, very often not even knowing what they are saying or more worryingly why they are saying it.
There are and there always will be, but it's a lot lower risk than it was a generation or more ago and part of that is visibility. 2 million openly gay people walking around Britain and it becomes normal. 1,000 openly gay and 2 million closeted gays and it's easier to look on them as weird or freaks... Less likely you know one personally so more likely to be blinded by incorrect assumptions. You're probably more likely to have depression and stress (both of which shortens life) by supressing your true self than you are to get attacked for being gay. Obviously everyone weight the risks. If you live in a skinhead village be more discreet. If you live in Brighton, be loud and proud.
It is the "last" acceptable discrimination. It's fine to look funny at people etc. The two faced nature of major corporations is also funny. Major corporations are all for rainbow branding cos it's nice easy quick and a easy tick box. Not so hot on blm branding. Meanwhile in the back offices they have systems that actively discriminate against hiring anyone with a disability.
Why can't we all just get along. It really isn't hard to do. Be accepting of differences instead of creating some sort of hierarchy of who matters most. Unless we're talking football and then of course we all know who matters most
Front of the brain thinking. The ancient part of your brain is always hopping telling you about unfamiliar and threats so you dont get eaten. The front part of your brain has to over ride it. The problem is many people are too heated up or unwilling to override that ancient instinct that different = bad. It's ridiculous stuff but equally it is common to everyone every human being has the same biases and back of the head voices saying the same things. Some people unfortunately are on the wrong side of it but we seem to equate really negative nasty hateful upper brain hatred with the lower brain stuff. A fascist shouting white power is what we think of when someone says racist I suppose but them you have people smearing people who wouldn't dream of it with being the same thing cos they let the back of their brain out for a second. Even thoughtlessness now is being equated to racism. I suppose this is in some way positive as the people on the wrong end of the thing are finally getting their chance to speak out.
It's similar to the fight or flight response, our ancient threat detection system. As you say it's very real and deeply rooted. Like with other natural responses, you don't have to succumb. There's a huge difference between self preservation and gratuitous attacks. We are supposed to be an intelligent species, sometimes that doesn't manifest. One of the biggest problems with tackling racism and abuse of other minorities is that the real instances are being watered down or drowned out by the multiplicity of fake shouts. You mention thoughtlessness and that's a good observation but when you've got people claiming that things like milk, capital letters and maths (I kid you not) are racist, we have an even bigger battle on our hands.
A group of educators in California have put together a document in which they say that 'the concept of mathematics being purely objective is unequivocally false. Upholding the idea that there are always right and wrong answers perpetuates objectivity which is a symbol of white supremacy. Go figure.
A group of educators with by far to much time on their hands. Can you Imagine going into a primary school asking what 2+2 was and when they say four, telling them possibly, their little heads would fall off. I agree with you though, looking in every nook and cranny for any possible suggestion of some ism, just takes away from the main argument. It bores people and makes them turn off to it all.
Milk most certainly is not racist. It is however something that a lot of non Europeans have problems digesting properly so features a lot more commonly in European cuisine. I could perhaps see by providing a meal with a lot of dairy in it could be problematic and seen to be not be in the best interest of people without European ancestors though.
Yeah, they say we make 20,000 decisions per day. We are on autopilot. Every day. You cross the street instead of walking near someone, you look away instead of at someone or the opposite you look at a woman rather than away. All on auto pilot. So theres certainly a difference between people deliberately thinking and acting and the subconscious stuff. I simply dont know how we fix all this but it'd be nice to start with the positive deliberate actions to address systematic racism, homophobia, antisemitism and ageism and any other bloody ism people get up to.
I think they took into account that the toxicity of the relationship went both ways. Another ex-girlfriend of his killed herself earlier this year after they broke up.
