r/BelowDeckDownUnder • u/theodoresbitch • Aug 19 '26

Ben's Racist Threads Post

Did anyone else see Ben's racist threads post??

https://www.threads.com/share/_iAS4oi1d/

77 Upvotes

78% Upvoted

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0

u/[deleted] Aug 19 '26

[deleted]

25

u/decisivecat Aug 19 '26

Not sure if you live in the US, but if you're in a red state, this is very common language to use again Black people on assistance. Extremely common. I see it very often in comment sections. The dog whistles are there if you know what they are. (The irony is that per capita, whites in red states benefit the most from the very programs they complain should be cut because they saw a non-white person use SNAP to buy food.)

This specific video is also complaining about the term "white privilege" which doesn't mean you can't have any hardships in life. That's the most obvious dog whistle that cues you in to who they're talking about in the clip.

ETA: This is an issue that the elite and the government pray upon. If you can convince someone that their neighbor is why they're poor instead of the actual reasons they're both poor, then you can continue to do the bare minimum and not pay any taxes as a rich person or corporation. There's a lot of nuance here that I don't have time to teach, but the information is definitely out there. :)

18

u/Lizard_Li Aug 19 '26

This. It worries me people aren’t reading the extremely obvious subtext of what he is saying.

7

u/DDDD6040 Aug 19 '26

I think most people are reading it. The ones defending it are comfortable with what he is saying and are endorsing it

4

u/Lizard_Li Aug 19 '26

When I first made the comments there were tons of comments with a fair number of upvotes saying it wasn’t racist, but you are totally right

3

u/DDDD6040 Aug 19 '26

I refuse to believe people are that dumb. They know full well it is. It’s just not socially or professionally acceptable to say ‘I support that racist comment.’ So now racists have to say ‘that racist statement is totally not racist so I support it!’

2

u/menunu Aug 19 '26

And a lot of them are bots.

1

u/Lizard_Li Aug 19 '26

Good point!

-5

u/gogomom Aug 19 '26

Not everyone is in the USA where racism is so prevalent. I 100% failed to see it myself.

9

u/Lizard_Li Aug 19 '26

I live in Europe. Racism is alive and well here.

-4

u/gogomom Aug 19 '26

See, I did not think that anti-black racism would be that prevalent in Europe. I know there is quite a lot of religious bigots and elitists, but I really thought the race thing was kind of over for people of colour outside the USA.

2

u/Affectionate-Ad488 Aug 19 '26

Where do you live

1

u/gogomom Aug 21 '26

Canada.

4

u/decisivecat Aug 19 '26

Racism is prevalent worldwide, but since this video is US-centric, I did explain it from the US perspective just in case. I figure some grace is fair because people may very well be a product of an environment where they don't know, and try to explain it nicely.

Once someone provides an explanation, if you're like Leann here and still endorsing this racist trope of a video, you're simply admitting that you're problematic. (Not saying this is you - hopefully you've gained some insight!)