People telling me to seek therapy because I said I hate being racially discriminated against!

Well, the title basically tells it all. Yet my goal for writing this post isn't to b*tch about some online troll or try to win any sympathy. I believe that these comments coming from self-proclaimed open-minded and respectful people show that we need some more discussion about this topic in our society. And I know that we have been discussing this for centuries and discussion is becoming too tiring for people whose lives are affected by bigotry. But the fact that we have more diverse books, TV shows, movies, and even advertisements is proof that some of it is working.

Though I might be trying to reinvent the wheel here, I am willing to give it a try.

The discussion started when I talked about how I hate being racially discriminate against and was told publicly by someone that "it’s a very bad view point to feel that way" and "I encourage you to look for therapy to address this." I wish to emphasize on this person's choice to say "view point" and "feel that way" which implies that this is just a view point and a feeling and not a real issue.

A friend of that speaker tried in their own way to defuse the situation by explaining away the comment. I feel that it ended up becoming somewhat worse!

Yes! As the above image shows, this person tried to defend the other by saying, "that therapy can help with learning to cope with these negative feelings. Would the best solution be for those who are racist to be stopped? For everyone to fight to be anti-racist? Absolutely. But that's not necessarily within ones control, while the internal evaluation of one's negative feelings is."

The brilliant recommendation of the second speaker is that being upset about racism and facing racial discrimination is a "negative feeling", again implying that this isn't a real issue. And that people facing racism should go to therapy! Which reminds me how in the old times, women were accused of Hysteria (thought to be feminine malady) for daring to object mistreatment and dragged to Mental Asylums (which fun fact, is actually what we were talking about when the discussion veered into racism). 

This line of argument by the 2nd speaker also makes the mistake of making it the job of those who suffer from racial discrimination to "fix themselves" and toughen up so that this issue wouldn't bother them... Ah, the good old victim-blaming!

Anyway, I hope that at least some of those who read my rants here would find it comforting and maybe even, this would help someone see this issue in a better light. If my words help even one person in any way, going through all this trouble would be worth it.

Why I am not surprised by the Golden Globe snubbing the Woman King and Wakanda Forever.

The Golden Globe nominations are here and unsurprisingly, The Woman King and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever got snubbed in most categories. The marvelous Viola Davis and Angela Bassett are the only acting nominations. And of course Rihanna's song is also nominated (well-deserved). Both Ms. Davis and Ms. Bassett were phenomenal as usual and deserve all the awards. But honestly, I doubt they would win because they are too good for the Golden Globe that time after time has proven to be ... how should I put it delicately? How do you make "racist" sound delicate anyway?

The nominees for best director are all white men. Again, no surprises even though in a better world, the battle for best director should have been between Black Panther's Ryan Coogler and The Woman King's Gina Prince-Bythewood. 

 

And I wish to point out that all the Actors on The Woman King did their own stunts in addition to the heavy lifting of their dramatic roles to show the world how an action-packed movie with amazing acting really looks like.

 

My issue with all of this isn't that we're still facing such blatant discrimination against anyone who isn't Cishet White Male, but the fact that I am not even surprised about it. This is the most depressing thing, not getting shocked by it anymore and basically just expecting the worst case scenario up front.

P.S.: I wish to clarify that I don't have anything against Cishet White Men. In fact, some of my best friends are Cishet White Men!