I'm not prejudiced, but...

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Simultaneously, organizations which are undoubtedly racist have attempted to improve their image with the same kind of [[rhetoric]].  For example, in a policy statement for the far-right [[British National Party]], leader Nick Griffin repeatedly states that the party is "not racist," while laying out his vision for an [[White supremacy|all-white Britain]] and his belief that [[Nationalism|nationality]] is defined along [[Racialism|blood lines]] rather than residency or even [[cultural]] factors.<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20071010043702/http://www.bnp.org.uk/articles/race_reality.htm "The BNP: Anti-asylum protest, racist sect or power-winning movement?"] at the BNP website.</ref>
 
Simultaneously, organizations which are undoubtedly racist have attempted to improve their image with the same kind of [[rhetoric]].  For example, in a policy statement for the far-right [[British National Party]], leader Nick Griffin repeatedly states that the party is "not racist," while laying out his vision for an [[White supremacy|all-white Britain]] and his belief that [[Nationalism|nationality]] is defined along [[Racialism|blood lines]] rather than residency or even [[cultural]] factors.<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20071010043702/http://www.bnp.org.uk/articles/race_reality.htm "The BNP: Anti-asylum protest, racist sect or power-winning movement?"] at the BNP website.</ref>
 
{{cquote|''I'm not gay, but that guy sure has a nice bum.''|||Shameless bad joke appended in no intelligent way.}}
 
 
{{cquote|''I'm not gay, but I fucked a bloke who was.''|||Same.<ref>Okay, it's finally funny [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hp_xsUg9ws here.]</ref>}}
 
  
 
==See also==
 
==See also==

Revision as of 17:08, 10 June 2014

The touchy subject of

Race

link=:category:
Key concepts
Racism and racists
I don't want to sound prejudiced or anything, but for one, I am not going to vote for a colored man to be our president
—An anonymous voter interviewed during the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election campaign.[1]

Any sentence that starts with the words "I'm not prejudiced, but...," or similar formations ("I'm not racist, but..." or "I'm not homophobic," "not sexist," etc.) is likely to contradict itself very rapidly. The technical term for this type of statement is false front, but the colloquial but-head is often used, with or without irony. Saying a sentence that starts with "I'm not X, but..." likely means that you are X.

These words are often spoken in the mistaken belief that simply saying "I'm not prejudiced" is enough to exempt the speaker from responsibility for the offensive comment they are about to make. In this context, the "I'm not prejudiced" statement is an example of argument by assertion, although it's sometimes backed up by non sequitur statements such as "I like curry"[2] or "I enjoy the music of Queen and the Pet Shop Boys,"[3] to demonstrate just how unprejudiced the speaker is.

Variations include ending the sentence with "not that there's anything wrong with being gay/black/whatever" after they have just made an offensive statement about them. Or the old classic, "I'm not anti-(fill in the blank), some of my best friends are (fill in the blank)." Or, for the truly curmudgeonly, "I'm not prejudiced, I hate everybody equally!" Or, as one editor's grandmother is fond of saying: "The Lord knows I cherish black people, but..."

The increasing prevalence of these kinds of statements demonstrates one of the more hilarious effects of political correctness, in that people with controversial opinions are afraid to be branded as racist or otherwise prejudiced, or even to acknowledge to themselves their own prejudices.

Simultaneously, organizations which are undoubtedly racist have attempted to improve their image with the same kind of rhetoric. For example, in a policy statement for the far-right British National Party, leader Nick Griffin repeatedly states that the party is "not racist," while laying out his vision for an all-white Britain and his belief that nationality is defined along blood lines rather than residency or even cultural factors.[4]

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. Obama's Racial Identity Still An Issue, CBS, Nov. 27, 2007
  2. Classic Not the Nine O'Clock News sketch.
  3. in The Office
  4. "The BNP: Anti-asylum protest, racist sect or power-winning movement?" at the BNP website.
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