THE RACE TO RACISM

Language evolves over time. The word "teenage" used to refer to food for farm animals. Not that long ago a "geek" was not somebody with technical knowledge, but a guy who bit the heads off of live chickens in the sideshow of a circus.

And so forth.

The dictionary definition of "racist" currently denotes a person who maintains that his or her own race is superior to others. Notice, this doesn't require the hatred of those "inferior" races.

The term "white man's burden" meant that white people of European stock, being superior, needed to take charge of the feckless colored folk of Africa (and other colonies)—for their own good. It was to be a kind of benign parenting (that turned into slaughter of the natives and wholesale theft of the region's natural resources).

Actual parents really are superior to their children: bigger, stronger, more knowledgeable, and so forth, but that superiority rarely results in adults hating their children, based solely on their pitiful inadequacies.

Nevertheless, the term "racism" has in practice come to mean the hatred of the supposedly inferior race. This is not the "official" definition, but it's widespread.

Sufficiently widespread, in fact, to include NBC personality Megyn Kelly.

Her argument defending blackface as part of a Halloween costume made this distinction: If you are portraying a particular member of another race, a person you admire and wish to champion, there can be nothing wrong with it.

Specifically, it's not "racism" because the act is not based on hatred.

She agreed that a white person could get in trouble for putting on blackface (and vice versa), but she clearly—and I think innocently—thought there were legitimate exceptions to the rule. She made no mention of the case where a white kid was pretending to be Ugandan dictator Idi Amin (or the equivalent)—and held the individual in low regard.

In any case, she said it was considered okay when she was growing up, which couldn't have been that long ago. Maybe what she meant was this: Neither her friends nor their associated parents objected.

Okay, maybe she lived in a bubble of problematical ethics.

More likely, she simply missed the shift in the definition of racism that condemns every single case of blackface as part of an effort to denigrate African-Americans.

Historically, blackface was an essential aspect of the so-called "minstrel" shows, going back before the Civil War and lasting well into the 20th Century. Viz: The Jazz Singer, a movie from 1927; celebrated as the first (partial) talkie. The main character put on blackface to sing "Mammy."

(The list continues, of course, right on up to white actors playing the lead in Othello—if that's still happening.)

My guess is that participants in minstrel shows were no more likely to be racist than those who did not take part. It was, in the white uber-culture, a socially accepted form of entertainment, meant to play along with imagined "darkie" fun times Down South on the plantation, where it is presumed those rascals sang and danced their way through the day.

Tone-deaf? You bet. Ignorant? Absolutely. But I doubt it was particularly mean-spirited.

Times have changed, however—leaving a few behind.

I imagine there may still be ancient critters in nursing homes who cheerfully use the n-word to denote blacks in their presence, aware of no other word that fits. Not prejudicial, you understand, it's just the word they habitually used for those folks.

(The word is used 214 times in Huckleberry Finn, but only once or twice in anger. I doubt any character in that novel thought using the word could hurt anybody's feelings—even if used in anger. And they were probably right.)

Today there are whites in this country who scratch their heads over the status of the n-word, especially when it is repeatedly used by blacks in the hip-hop culture.

But that's the way it is now, a minefield of cultural taboos that can blow up your whole career.

I don't know if Megyn Kelly is a genuine racist or just someone who blundered into a Bouncing Betty. My guess is if she were truly a racist she would have been more careful not to reveal herself. There's a lot of money at stake, if nothing else.

On the other hand, human beings excel at hatred. It's natural to hate that which hurts you, and fearing another person damages your well-being. If the "other" makes you afraid, it's hard not to resent them.

Humans are wary of strangers, which makes sense. You don't know what they're going to do. Consequently, it's natural to shun folks from another race—as long as the differences are as obvious as black and white.

Folks from different religions are also dangerous, but harder to distinguish from your own kind, which makes them even scarier. Is that a Catholic in Protestant's clothing, or the other way around?

Politics is another confusing arena. How can you tell Republicans from Democrats when they're not at conventions or rallies, where they literally carry signs?

Pretty sure that guy with SS runes tattooed on his neck is a Nazi, but what the hell are Commies supposed to look like?

Maybe humans become black-white racists because it's the easiest kind of racism to operate. Also, hating the other guy puts you in solid with your own cohort, which is a pleasure that cannot be discounted.

Meanwhile, those who wish to avoid racism have it harder every day. The minefield extends, gobbling up more territory. Political correctness expands faster than actual damage—on purpose—to be certain no one is ever offended.

Will there come a time when a white person is publicly shamed for eating chocolate ice cream?

(Don't you know that's their ice cream? You're appropriating! Stick to your own kind, why don't you? And what's this nonsense about French Vanilla? What's wrong with American Vanilla? Oh my God, is that Rocky Road? Are you insane?)

There are fashions of social behavior. At one time, proper ladies dressed piano legs in frilly pantaloons. (And they were "limbs" not "legs.") You could say "nude" but not "naked." (I might have that backwards.)

Turns out, just about every aspect of life is some kind of kill zone. Hard to say why that is, but it's probably not because humans are so friggin' smart.