Debunking 8 Bad-Faith Arguments About Racism (That Won’t Make Your Momma Proud)
Nov 4, 2020 • Tim Henares
Another Halloween, another blackface performance.
It’s like clockwork nowadays, seeing people decide that Halloween is the perfect time to relive atrocities committed upon minorities in the most frivolous ways, and last October 30, we got treated to just that in what was supposed to be just a simple MYMP online performance. It was an act of complete tomfoolery.
Pictured: an act of complete tomfoolery.
It’s bad enough to Make Your Momma “Yikes,” but the band’s lead guitarist, Chin Alcantara, made it worse by then going on a screed about Black Lives Matter and how it’s all just propaganda. Then he made it worse by doubling down on this in a YouTube video where he naturally did not allow comments. And because we’re at a point in history where we give the worst people (just the worst, you guys!) a platform for their horrible screeds, he even got to guest on Good Times With Mo to pretty much triple down on his rhetoric.
As well-argued (and exasperated) as the hosts may have been in addressing Chin’s non-arguments, it’s important that we listed down just what these 8 arguments essentially were, and why we think they’re made in bad faith — then debunk them anyways.
8. “I didn’t know blackface was offensive and racist!”
Why it’s made in bad faith: Ignorance that something you did was wrong does not mean what you did is no longer wrong. As a parent, he should know that, yet here he is citing ignorance as an excuse. Newsflash, it’s not.
To his credit, he did point out that now that he knows blackface is wrong (and if anyone reading this still doesn’t, just take our word for it for now — it’s really wrong) and that it’s not something he intends to ever do again. Which is probably the only good takeaway from this entire experience, I guess? It took him the better of an hour to finally understand, but he can finally get it, get it, get it.
7. “I just wanted my costume to be accurate!”
Why it’s made in bad faith: He still didn’t look like Jimi Hendrix, did he? In fact, most people who saw his “costume” remembered only the blackface, so we can safely say that “accuracy” is just a terrible excuse. We’ve seen better from Low Cost Cosplay guy.
Man. Imagine prioritizing “accuracy” over things like “basic human decency” and “not being a jerk.” Every little thing he does is tragic.
6. “I can’t be racist! I idolize black people!”
Why it’s made in bad faith: Mo pointed this out pretty handily — the black people Chin used to deflect accusations of racism were almost all on record as supporters of BLM — a movement that Chin called “kalokohan” and “propaganda” in his Halloween screed. So you idolize guys like Kobe, Jordan, and Jon Jones, but not enough to listen and consider why they support BLM?
This isn’t to say that Chin is necessarily racist — he may or may not be. But having “black friends” or “black people I idolize” doesn’t mean you can’t be a racist. Just ask the philosopher Martin Heidegger, whose One True Love was Jewish philosopher Hannah Arendt. This fact did not make Herr Heidegger any less of a Nazi. Yes, we went there. Now tell me where it hurts.
5. “Why all the focus on BLM?”
Why it’s made in bad faith: Because, how do we say this — nobody was talking about BLM during that entire performance until he brought it up himself. So maybe not bring it up if he’s so sick of the topic? It’s when people think the world revolves around them that they forget that certain things are important to certain people, and if BLM is not one of them for him, then why not just move on?
Look. BLM is one thing among many that people focus on. But if we may address Mr. Alcantara directly, you wouldn’t even need to talk about the topic at all if you didn’t think that this backlash was made especially for you.
4. “But what about ABS-CBN? They did blackface too!”
Why it’s made in bad faith: Whataboutism is such a sad, tired argument by now, we roll our eyes instinctively when we hear it. It’s so flimsy and played out, it’s like an MYMP cassette. Also, the fact that ABS CBN has indeed been called out over this in the past multiple times only shows he was clearly not paying attention.
When this is all we have as an argument, that other people are also doing horrible things, then we are simply conceding we’re no better. An argument like that is a little bit crazy. It’s a little bit of a fool.
3. “But all lives matter!”
Why it’s made in bad faith: Of course all lives matter. That doesn’t mean people who think black lives matter are wrong. Or worse, that they should shut up. Because BLM is precisely a reaction to police violence that makes them feel that to cops, no, black lives don’t matter — certainly not as much as a cop’s life. Also…
Take a wild guess what last Sunday’s gospel was. Go on.
Besides, why should we Make only Your Momma Proud? What about your Poppa? All parents matter! Constantly.
2. “What about Sudan?”
Why it’s made in bad faith: A cursory look on Chin’s timeline will show you that not once did he ever tweet about the plight of Sudan. This is called a silencing tactic.
This isn’t a contest. We all can help and advocate for whoever we want. If he really wanted to champion Sudan, then why has he done nothing about it? Nobody goes to a rally for breast cancer awareness to fight for prostate cancer awareness — because it’s pointless and disrespectful to the issues people there care about. He should try helping the causes he claims to champion sometime — it’s a magical feeling.
1. “You don’t respect my opinion.”
Why it’s made in bad faith: He made this claim specifically when his “opinion” was being eviscerated and completely debunked. Since when did respecting an opinion mean that it was immune to being challenged?
People are free to spout their opinion on things. What people tend to forget is that other people are equally free to tell them that their opinion stinks. Free speech cuts both ways, which is why people like these tend to dislike free speech unless it’s in their favor.
Let this be a lesson to people who argue in bad faith: your opinion is usually on a spectrum between two things — beauty and madness. If you can’t argue in good faith, then it’s safe to presume where your opinion lies on that spectrum.
What do you think about this whole MYMP blackface debacle? Sound off in the comments.
