How to respond to the 'racist' accusation

Honest people are often attacked as 'racist' by Leftists. For too many years they have responded poorly. This post outlines some good and bad responses to the malicious 'racist' charge.

Bad responses

I'm not racist! Some of my friends are black; my wife is Asian, etc.

This is an old response and one of the worst because it buys into the Leftist frame and therefore immediately concedes a defeat. It keeps the Overton Window where it is and leaves one open to more attacks.

It's also not convincing, because everyone knows you can have an association (work/friend/transactional) with a POC, treat that individual like any other, but still have racialist (not 'racist') viewpoints in some other regard to society. In the same vein, some POCs have white friends (nominally) yet are happy to undermine the dominant ethny in order to advance themselves -- indeed, this is the mode of operation for many.

Psychologically, this response puts one of the defensive and prevents one from saying what actually needs to be said. It grants power and status to the accuser. Seeing someone cuck like may make others more fearful to talk out.

You/The Left are the real racists

This is slightly better than the above, because it may put the other on the defensive, or at least helps deflect the charge. Some Boomers (#notallboomers) will accept this response, but it's still bad because it is accepting the Leftist frame and leaving the Overton Window where it is. You can spend a lot of time deflecting the charge with this response, and you can certainly counter-troll with it.

Good responses

Point out the propaganda of the charge

This is also effective and easy. e.g. "The Left think anyone to the right of X is racist/a Nazi"

This attacks the frame of the Left directly and succinctly.

Wear it as a badge of honour - without accepting the premise

e.g. "A racist is just a person winning the argument against a leftist"
or less cumbersome "A racist is a just a Republican that is winning"

"The word racist just means something of which I disapprove" - George Orwell said this.

"Just being a normal person is 'racist' nowadays" 

Point out the hypocrisy of the charge

This is a personal favourite. I use this most often and have had very good success.

For example: "How come when POCs do such and such, the media celebrates. But when whites do the same thing they are smeared as 'racist'."

Most people won't respond to this, because frankly they can't deny the hypocrisy. POCs* generally don't care about being hypocritical. They know white people are treated like crap by POCs while having to pay the cost of POC paristism. POCs will actually respect you more if you point out this hypocrisy. Many will flat out agree with you.

White people hate hypocrisy, much more than anything else sometimes. White people are attuned to hypocrisy because they are so used to attacking Christians with the same charge.

Making the hypocrite counter-accusation immediately undermines the validity of the 'racist' charge by undermining the source. It undermines the Leftist framing by showing it is intellectually dishonest and prejudiced. It also undermines the notion of 'racism' together, by pointing to another explanation for supposedly 'racist' behaviour, i.e. valid in-group preference of POCs which is socially acceptable for them (but not for white). While not affirming the 'racist' notion it does expose anti-white prejudice.

White ethnocentrism is "Racism" while the criticism of jewish ethnocentrism is "Anti-Semitism."

*I'm generalising of course. Some POCs are genuinely good, honest people.

It's not 'racist'. Just facts. 

A good response. However, you will need to repeat yourself, over and over if need be. You also make it clear that you are not afraid of the racist charge, that you are in neutral in regard to it, but you just want to focus on the facts -- don't say this explicitly, but implicitly.

A benefit of this is avoid the Leftist frame and saying what actually needs to be said.

A very minor drawback is that it's a little cheesy and tired, but that can also be strength. Lines like "facts don't care about your feelings" still trigger the Left hard.

Explain 'racism'

This is not a good strategy unless you have many words to explain - it requires a long form response. It's not a good strategy for Twitter for example. You need to consider your audience too: many people don't understand what 'freedom of association' is so you should probably explain your terms.

An example is here: Racism 

You might also consider a genealogy of the term 'Racism'. I haven't done this myself, so not sure how valuable it will be. I haven't researched it either and have overheard variously that Leon Trotsky, Franz Boas and Magnus Hirschfield were its originators.

Thank you

Not many people will be brave enough to use this one. And I'd avoid using it unless others (not your accusers) clearly understand that you are not saying you are 'racist', but using a clever tactic to shutdown the Left's ad hominem. Be careful with this one, as it's highly context dependent.

Use this one anonymously on social media. People will respect you because you are effectively saying you don't have time with such malicious accusations and therefore are somewhat morally superior to your accuser.

Your thoughts

Please leave a comment if you other good strategies or lines you use. Also, feel free to criticise as that will only make us stronger.