ANGRY MOB

The reason for the argument

The average Mail reader is part of the 'silent majority', but sometimes they simply cannot hold in their opinion any longer: they have to speak out. When they speak out it is essential that you realise the average Mail reader is just being honest, they are not ignorant, nor brainwashed, but they are the voice of reason and experience. However, Mail readers are sometimes misunderstood, people sometimes read the truth expressed by a Mail reader and accuse them of being racist, homophobic, ignorant or a myriad of other things which the Mail reader is definitely not. In order to avoid this common misconception the Mail reader must therefore be careful about how they frame their observations; they need the 'magic but'.

The 'magic but' works to join two conflicting statements, the first statement purports to not be something, the second statement confirms that the exact opposite is true. So, for example, 'I'm not racist, but...' is followed by a statement that is clearly racist. The idea behind this form of argument is that in denying the racism straight away the person expressing the sentiment is already pre-empting the reader of the comment and correcting him for his false interpretation. However, this is not enough to fool most people, so the Mail reader must be careful to only follow the 'but' with an observation, an anecdote of personal experience.

For example: 'I'm not racist, but I once walked past a black man and he tried to steal my handbag'. 

The first statement is an acknowledgement by the person making the statement that they are aware of the stereotypes associated with black men - in this instance: black men are criminal - and claim that they are not racist - they do not subscribe to this stereotype - however (or but) through their own experience they have been the victim of a crime committed by a black person.  Because they draw no direct conclusion from this (they merely make an observation) they do not think they are being racist; however, the statement is framed in such a way as to make it implicitly racist.

It is a racist statement because the writer acknowledges the statement is constructed to say: 'I am not racist per say, but in my experience black people have committed crime and therefore they fit the stereotype.' The argument is essentially I'm not racist, just pointing out a fact corroborated with my own eyes. The implication is that not just the one black man is a criminal, but all black men are criminal. If a commentator merely pointed out that they were mugged by a black person, this is not a racist statement, merely a statement of fact. However, prefixing this statement with 'I'm not racist, but' implies that the writer is aware of the racial stereotype that the mugging reinforces and links the two on purpose, whilst claiming merely to state a observational fact.

How to spot the argument

Very simple, the prefix is normally the same:

I'm not... [racist, homophobic, ignorant] but... [insert observation / anecdote here]

An Example

'I'm not homophobic, but a gay man near me was arrested with child porn.'

Here the denial of homophobia is contradicted with the reinforced stereotype that gay men are paedophiles.

The importance of the argument

It is a useful way of pretending that they are not inherently racist, but have drawn these conclusions through their own experiences; therefore they are not being racist, but they are being ‘realist’. So the disclaimer denying racism for example is designed to mean ‘I am not inherently racist’ the ‘but’ then provides a chance to generalise – from perhaps one experience / example – that the brown person is in fact all of the things that a racist might accuse (assume / stereotype) them of being. So a racist I’m not… but goes like this: [denial] ‘I’m not racist’ [qualifier]: ‘but in my experience’ [conclusion - that just happens to support the racist stereotype that they deny at the start of the sentence] ‘I’ve met a black person and they were a violent criminal’.

The ‘I’m not… but’ prefix relies on the writer or speaker being clearly aware of the stereotypes that they are denying, so that their personal experience can always support these stereotypes – they like to think it is an observation, rather than the expression of a racist stereotype. They present the information as ‘fact’ and surely no-one can get offended by a statement of fact?