I think the actual reasoning may be sometimes closer to "Holding shallow prejudices like that is evil. I don't think I'm evil. I have a high regard for my personal integrity, and I don't like taking actions that I can't stand behind. I can't recall off the top of my head any actions I've taken lately that I don't stand behind. If I did something like this without noticing it, I must have had a reason for it. I will stand behind that reason and defend it, because my integrity will be damaged if I did something indefensible. I can't have done something indefensible! I'm a good guy! BUT APPARENTLY YOU THINK I AM EVIL, BECAUSE YOU ARE GENERALIZING THAT STRAIGHT WHITE GUYS ALL DO THIS THING, AND PEOPLE WHO DO EVIL ARE EVIL. THEREFORE I MUST BE EVIL. FUCK YOU."
This is not a good position to take.
Someone who has been marinating in a culture saturated with shallow prejudices is going to pick some of them up unconsciously, and hold them without evil intent, and act based on them, still without evil intent. Generally it's difficult to pick up on "Oh dear, I seem to be harboring a prejudice or double standard" on one's own without it being pointed out. There is sometimes shit-all someone can do about their past actions -- regret does not un-say something asstastic, and the AA-esque seeking-out-of-people-who-one-has-wronged-in-the-past-to-press-apologies-upon-them skeeves me the *fuck* out when it's anything below a certain level of epic wrongness. The best one can do is roll with the blow to one's sense of integrity and proceed the fuck forward, both avoiding further personal fuckups in that fashion, and also acting as an ally when the opportunity comes up.
It does not actually serve someone's integrity well to claim that because their motives were pure, that their actions are free from reproach. Integrity is much better served by "I don't think I'm evil, so thank you for giving me something to think about and something else to be vigilant for lest my actions serve my intent poorly".
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Date: 2012-04-06 08:37 pm (UTC)This is not a good position to take.
Someone who has been marinating in a culture saturated with shallow prejudices is going to pick some of them up unconsciously, and hold them without evil intent, and act based on them, still without evil intent. Generally it's difficult to pick up on "Oh dear, I seem to be harboring a prejudice or double standard" on one's own without it being pointed out. There is sometimes shit-all someone can do about their past actions -- regret does not un-say something asstastic, and the AA-esque seeking-out-of-people-who-one-has-wronged-in-the-past-to-press-apologies-upon-them skeeves me the *fuck* out when it's anything below a certain level of epic wrongness. The best one can do is roll with the blow to one's sense of integrity and proceed the fuck forward, both avoiding further personal fuckups in that fashion, and also acting as an ally when the opportunity comes up.
It does not actually serve someone's integrity well to claim that because their motives were pure, that their actions are free from reproach. Integrity is much better served by "I don't think I'm evil, so thank you for giving me something to think about and something else to be vigilant for lest my actions serve my intent poorly".