Revision as of 20:55, 23 February 2022

Critical Race Theory (or CRT for short) has become a divisive political topic in the United States and across the globe, with political conservatives exposing it as an argument to delegitimize progressive thought. In this article we investigate what Critical Race Theory is, why it has become an instrument of political criticism, and how this is relevant to veganism.

What is it?

Critical Race Theory is one of those ideologies that's hard to define succinctly because there's not a lot of central authority or a clear universal definition, unlike Veganism. However, there is extensive enough scholarship and prescriptive practice to establish a general definition.

To understand what CRT is, it's important to understand where it comes from because it's a reactionary movement (much as veganism is a reaction to Carnism). CRT stems from the period after civil rights reforms as an evaluation of race in society and culture in attempt the answer the question of why racial disparities persisted despite liberal attempts at a colorblind system. Fundamentally, it's a departure from liberal beliefs of colorblindness in law which it regards as ineffective. It advances the idea that we live in a white-dominated society, and that racism benefits whites so the majority white dominated culture is motivated to maintain racist systems, and because of this non-whites will not be capable of prospering in the same way whites are because of this indelible structural racism built into the system at every level. This structural racism needs not by necessity be intentional on the part of any individual, it has more to do with the point of how it benefits whites at the expense of people of color.

Principal Beliefs

To simplify the implications and premises necessary to understand CRT, here is a rough approximation of the necessary axioms and their necessary conclusions:

1. There are races

CRT necessitates that there are races which are real in some substantive sense beyond perception and social construct, and that those races possess certain fundamental qualities unrelated to mere race perception that cause them to prosper differently in different systems. Difference in success is not just due to individual racism e.g. in hiring by racist bosses. This assumption is necessary to reject color-blind solutions (the rejection thereof is the foundation and origin of CRT). If those differences in outcome were only caused by subjective prejudices due to perceived race, then color-blind solutions would stand a very good chance of success if implemented properly. This is fundamentally the same belief about race that ethnonationalists hold.

To be clear, many CRT scholars have attempted to claim they believe races to be "social constructs". However, in examining the credibility of those claims it's necessary to assess the gulf between words and actions, and the deductive necessity of the underlying belief in *actual* races. It is credible that some CRT advocates may believe races to be non-biological in nature, instead preferring a "nurture" based explanation to necessary fundamental racial differences which includes upbringing and cultural identity. However, if they believe these to be the differences causing differing levels of success (for example, the plausible but controversial/unproven "acting white" hypothesis[1], discussed more here.) they seem to have little to no interest in identifying and rectifying those differences. Whether this disinterest in examining cultural causes of differing outcomes is fear of "victim blaming" or the belief that culture is sacrosanct is a distinction without a difference -- nor is the distinction between cultural aspects and biology -- in any case it amounts to what they would regard as fundamental and immutable qualities of a race which leads to the fixation on systemic discrimination of some kind as the only acceptable cause worthy of consideration.

To be clear, the Philosophical Vegan community does not endorse this position and holds the position that any racial beliefs beyond medical ones (e.g. higher rate of Sickle Cell Anemia among patients from African decent, people of light complexion more prone to skin cancer) to be pseudoscientific and without evidence. Because there is no evidence of race, the null hypotheses for the cause of racial disparities should be racism from perceived race and issues like poverty and lead exposure which can be resolved through colorblind policies. Ascribing any other cause would require evidence that neither CRT advocates nor ethnonationalists provide.

2. Those races' interests are in conflict and the minority always loses

Critical Race Theorists believe that white people (or in theory the dominant race in any culture) are inherently motivated to benefit themselves at the expense of other races, either consciously or unconsciously, and will always create and maintain systems that are hostile to people of color in a way that they can't get ahead and achieve racial equality. CRT teaches that white people will only allow people of color to prosper when it benefits them, the implication being that this is a rare occurrence. Essentially, the conservative claim that CRT teaches that white people are racist is unfortunately correct and has been repeatedly validated despite the attempts to obfuscate this claim with jargon in CRT apologia. The only caveat is that the definition of "racism" CRT advocates use is different from what conservatives assume (e.g. a man in a white hood saying the N-word and burning crosses in front of black churches) CRT teaches fundamentally the same belief of ethnonationalists in this respect, except where ethnonationalists believe in a coming race war, CRT teaches that this will result in an indefinite perpetuation of oppression of people of color.

To be clear, the Philosophical Vegan community does not endorse either of these positions and holds the position that racism and racist policies are harmful to society at large and the vast majority of everybody.

3. The solution to this is race based equity policies

Because they believe people of color can not get ahead in a white colonial society in a color-blind way, CRT advocates prescribe a race equity solution where people must be categorized by race and given advantages if categorized as oppressed (or conversely given handicaps if oppressor, likely in the form of taxation on white people for being white) to result in racial equity (equality of outcomes in terms of racial averages). However, CRT proponents are not very policy-minded and rarely outline clear solutions.

The nature of the prescriptive solution is where CRT and ethnonationalist beliefs diverge: the enthonationalist solution is to segregate races into their own nations where they believe they will all do best (and end or prevent the race war). Incidentally, the ethnonationalist solution is compatible with CRT beliefs, and given the number of people who *would* take up arms over a "white tax", the ethnonationalist account may be more plausible -- this is particularly true because based on the CRT belief that white people will not act against their racist interests such a white tax could not come about democratically in a white majority and would have to be the result of violence (e.g. the race war ethnonationalists believe in). It is not clear how Critical Race Theorists resolve these contradictions in their prescriptions, though it is fortuitous that they don't join forces with ethnonationalist racists.

To be clear, the Philosophical Vegan community does not endorse either of these positions and holds that the vast majority of people are probably not racists (in any substantive sense that would prevent equal regard for rights), that most hold racism to be abhorrent, and want constitutionally legal colorblind reforms to end racist hiring practices, to help people out of multigenerational poverty, and end childhood lead exposure and other human welfare issues regardless of racial category. Because we do not accept the psuedoscience of race or fundamental racial differences, we have no reason not to accept a null-hypothesis of optimism in supporting democratic reform for the good of all -- one that has the knock-on effect of resolving racial disparities. This is explained more in alternatives to CRT.

Lack of scientific basis

Politics is a field that is generally less about science and evidence and more about rhetoric and opinion. While there is certainly hope that the field of politics becomes a field that bases itself on scientific evaluations, it's currently plagued by ideological thinking and cares little in the way of rigor.

Many of these positions seem to be the result of intuitive speculation, that is, not only is it mere speculation, but rather than basing it on any given evidence or reason, they're speculating merely with what they find intuitive. CRT is no different; If you were to take the time to observe the claims made by proponents (like the ones stated above) you'll notice that there is very little, if any, evidence for their claims.

These are interesting ideas that may be worthy of consideration, but unfortunately these claims come with no evidence and by the nature of CRTs rejection of culturally dominant modes of discourse will not come with evidence because CRT rejects the idea of measurable evidence and testable hypotheses themselves on the basis that these are in themselves dominant white modes of thinking in social science -- modes which they believe tend to exclude people of color -- in other words, asking for evidence or testable claims amounts to racist expectations. This makes criticizing CRT functionally impossible without being charged with supporting latent racism, and thus, immune from any sort of criticism, regardless of validity. You can draw a parallel between this type of thinking and religion, where things are to be believed without question, because if you dare criticize, you're a blasphemer (or in this context, a racist, or if you're a person of color, "internalizing racism").

Examining many of its positions, particularly the unfalsifiable claims and rejection of scientific methodology in favor of story telling, it comes off as anti-science, anti-egalitarian, conspiratorial, and ironically enough for proponents of CRT, very often racist in its assumptions of the unwillingness of a defined "white" to challenge racism due to self interest. Many proponents hold even more overtly racist views.

Alternatives to CRT

Asset to anti-progressives

Relevance to Veganism

Similar to ideas such as anti-natalism, overt misanthropy, and deontological ethics, it is potentially harmful to the vegan movement to be advocating CRT, as not only is it a socially harmful idea that lacks evidence and fails under scrutiny, it creates the impression that Vegans and the animal rights movement value ideology and rhetoric over empirical evidence and reason. Veganism as a movement must not fall under the umbrella of becoming a partisan political issue (which unfortunately climate change has become) if it is to become a widely accepted ideal for society; Advocating partisan positions such as CRT doesn't help this.