i think what’s the likely root of this weirdness of a discussion is that we, white people, are trying to define what is/should be seen as damaging to the african american community, when they can perfectly gauge this on their own
like, good intentions is all i can see from virgo’s posts, but his posts have the airs of “my way or the highway” which, with not being black, thus not really knowing what it’s like and projecting your own set of beliefs onto people who know better, just comes off as...idk. odd
there’s a lot more to mj to criticize or condemn than his views on his own racial identity
also, even if he did try to appear more white, once again, white people are literally responsible for forcing other races to conform and with time, hate themselves enough to want to look white. there are exceptions to this, but with black people in america, it’s literally that. so the discussion shouldn’t really be if this is some despicable behavior, but whether a black man, abused and likely mentally ill, can truly be held responsible for the behavior that is more so a manifestation of systemic racism. also, body dysmorphia is literally a mental illness too, people don’t even necessarily need to be racist/xenophobic against their own race/ethnicity to despise their looks
like, good intentions is all i can see from virgo’s posts, but his posts have the airs of “my way or the highway” which, with not being black, thus not really knowing what it’s like and projecting your own set of beliefs onto people who know better, just comes off as...idk. odd
there’s a lot more to mj to criticize or condemn than his views on his own racial identity
also, even if he did try to appear more white, once again, white people are literally responsible for forcing other races to conform and with time, hate themselves enough to want to look white. there are exceptions to this, but with black people in america, it’s literally that. so the discussion shouldn’t really be if this is some despicable behavior, but whether a black man, abused and likely mentally ill, can truly be held responsible for the behavior that is more so a manifestation of systemic racism. also, body dysmorphia is literally a mental illness too, people don’t even necessarily need to be racist/xenophobic against their own race/ethnicity to despise their looks