General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard to Talk to White People About Racism [View all]Prism
(5,815 posts)"White tears" is meant to be a hostile, derogatory bit of racial invective. It's meant to be mocking, and it's meant to elicit a response.
When that response materializes, feigned surprise is pointless. More pointless is the inevitable, "Well! Now we can see who is racist!"
It's intended as a bit of bait. It's meant to get people riled up.
When you start on that foot, productive discussion becomes less likely.
That article is an excellent example. It's a genuinely good article detailing the astronomical amount of shit Serena Williams and other successful PoCs have to deal with when they excel in historically white enclaves.
The title unfortunately distracts from it - unnecessarily.
I don't believe in the "punching up" frame of hypocrisy ("you can't abuse me, but I can abuse you" that unfortunately colors so much of tumblrish discourse these days).
If you're throwing punches at people you want to persuade, to listen to you, and to ultimately adopt your viewpoint, you're less likely to succeed.
We can't act superior or surprised when we aim to offend someone and then they act offended. That's adolescent at best. People could at least own when they're being childish and bratty.