When people shout #BlackLivesMatter, some folks counter with #AllLivesMatter. This is deeply offensive to the #BlackLivesMatter group. They tend to counter with various predictable retorts, including the classic, "You're white and therefore you're racist. Go die."
The more reasonable among these people (and let's be fair; many of them are genuinely good, intelligent people) tend to look for other ways to explain their biases. One of the favourites is a reasonable-sounding "house on fire metaphor." It often looks like this:
When I first heard this explained by a good friend, I thought, "Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I totally get it."
And I did, for a while.
But recently, I began to think of it with a bit more common sense. Yes, if you take this analogy at face value, it is perfectly rational. But what if you look beyond the cartoon to a more reasonable version of events.
Yes, the metaphorical house of black people is on fire. And yes, it is not particularly helpful for people to say #AllLivesMatter in response to it.
You see, the black house is not the only house on fire. In that neighbourhood, the American one, the black house is one fire and there is a white house and an Asian house and a Middle Eastern house all smouldering away to different degrees, while the Native American house burns far more intensely than the black one.
Meanwhile, over in the next town, a different house burns down. It is the Chinese district and here the black, white, and brown houses are all burned to the ground in equal measure.
All over the world, people are being racist and people are being racially abused. In America, the blacks have it bad right now, but contrary to popular belief, America is not the world.
Racism is a fucking scourge but it is not - as idiots would have you believe - just perpetrated by white people. Not even close, folks. It is a worldwide phenomenon and when you angrily shoot down people who say #AllLivesMatter, you are not just being a degenerate fuckwit, you are condemning other victims of racism while at the same time calling them racists.
Let's bring back the old-fashioned liberal values of discussion, common sense, logic, and compassion.