I actually think that the cyberspace environment intensifies racial dynamics, it doesn't distance them just because we can't see each other.

Obviously, on one hand, we can have color-blind debates on non-racial (or ostensibly non-racial) issues. In other words, we can talk about free trade or socialism or capital punishment without the resistance that could be inherent in a real-world situation. I see the difference on a daily basis: talking about poverty with the Black Student Association at Yale is a very different experience (involving judgement and hesitation on both our parts) than it is on OKP.com.

That being said, when we discuss issues of race directly, I think cyberspace cuts us loose from our ethnic background, and either we free-wheel around as "global citizens" or we make over-zealous attempts to identify ourselves and each other so we don't get lost in this online vaccuum.

If you go the first way, you end up talking around everything and not always being frank with people. But it does allow for a level playing field, in that not "identifying" gives you some allowed legitimacy in making statements about race.

I'm often prone to use this approach, because my experience has been that identifying myself as a 20 yr. old, male, white, Jewish undergraduate at Yale doesn't always foster open discussion or acceptance here at OKP.

The unfortunate side-effect of agressively identifying oneself is that, since we're all afloat here, we tend to categorize people as "with us" or "against us" so there's some grounding.

Basically, in a real-world situation race gets taken into account as a factor in judging somebody, but their physical presence, voice, personality...also play a large role. Here, you're forced to go on whatever you can get. All we've got is digital words and whatever somebody tells you. And it doesn't work well to say "I'm a sincere, open, committed, charismatic person and if we were talking in person you'd believe what I'm saying about____."

Unfortunately, I've found it to be the case that OKP's often fall back on race to explain why they don't agree with one of their peers. I've definitely experienced it as a white activist...i.e. "How could you understand what we want? You're white!" Pretty limited way of viewing the world, in my opinion. If I was ignorant enough to say the opposite, how would that sound?"

---->> As for being identified by others as white, Spirit told me that I "must be white" because of my opinions about the process of creating music.
On the Activist board, I always privately thought it was hilarious that utamaroho and Solarus (black men), would rant for pages about the White European Imperialist agenda, then would tell me that I (a white man) had no right to question their black African agenda. (obviously, I think anybody has a right to question/check anyone's agenda...and I agreed with their assessment of White European Imperialism).

Anyway, sorry this is so discombobulated. I'm finishing a paper myself.

Alek
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Can't kill something that's already dead.