Why do racists always feel the need to point out they're not racist, usually immediately preceding a racist statement?
Surely if you're racist and you're not ashamed of those views you should have no problem admiting it? (I myself hold many unpopular views, though racism is not among them.)
But if you're racist and afraid to admit it, wouldn't that be a clue that you need to reevaluate your perspective?
Just a thought.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
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12 comments:
Ok, I'll pipe up.
Since nobody seems to want to touch this most unpleasant of topics, I too will skirt the issue apart from saying that Racism turns my stomach.
C.B. What are some of the unpopular views you hold?
My atheist tendancies, for one. It's not as bad over here in Britain, but in the States a LOT of people still think atheism has something to do with devil-worship (which is rediculous), being an open atheist basically garantees you can't get elected to public office, and in several well-documented cases atheists have even been denied polic protection and suffered discrimination at the hands of law-enforcement officers. so it's a pretty unpopular idea.
i'm also strongly in favor full civil liberties for all people regardless of sexual orientation, and that includes marraige and end-of-life issues.
i'm pro-choice
anti death penalty
pro gun control
while none of these may seem extraordinary to you, i come from a part of the world where professing these beliefs resulted in verbal abuse every day and often physical abuse for 12 years while in school before i moved 800 miles away to go to college.
Wow...were you and I to be in the same room, we could never touch as we're so opposite, we'd physically repel each other like magnets.
That said, I admire those with opinions. I find most folks have either been handed their opinion by someone else or have a white picket so far up their bum its no longer surgically removable from fence sitting so long.
Enjoying the read both here and at your Alter Ego (kudos on the nice Alter/Altar thing!),
Rimshot
Figured I'd chime in, what the hell. I agree 100% with you, CB, on all counts. But then, I'm also in the UK, so it's no big deal.
Oh yeah, I'm an atheist that sings in a choir. Next week we're doing all the sung services in Ripon Cathedral (Yorkshire, for the geographically-challenged) apart from Weds. If you're anywhere near, do drop by. We'll be rehearsing in the cathedral most afternoons from 4 to 5 if you don't want to get involved in the service itself. Evensong is 5.30 to 6.15 if you do. Evensong combines max music with min god.
it never occurs to a true bone deep racist to apologize. a lot of the 'I'm not a racist, but...' statements are the result of people being so scared to mention differences in culture or to even admit there are such things as race or color that they have no vocabulary to express these thoughts. how can you talk about something when the whole subject has all this barbed wire around it?
anyway, that's the yardstick I use out here. weirdly enough, I find that the most virulent racists are women. men do the most shit-talking, but when it comes down to it i find that they're more apt to co-exist and make friends across the lines, while women stand behind their fences snarling. and there's your social snapshot of Whatcom County!
Some of my best friends are racists.
Er.. oh no.. that's not right..
Where I live, legalised racism is entrenched in our Federal policy of 'allowing' the original settlers of North America, the First Asians, to be 'voluntarily banished' on reserves. Political correctness is in full play here because we all came from somewhere else, Tanzania.
To me it is racist and bizarre for our indigenous people to have the right to be imprisoned in a neolithic internment camp in order to pursue a prehistoric subsistant life of hunting and gathering.
What ever you do don't let these reluctant 'Canadians' participate in the 21st Century. For those controlling the game, the thought of losing all that out of sight money is unaceptable. NO way you're a racist!
In many instances the 'out of sight, out of mind' theory is a gigantic financial sinkhole that simply siphons billions of dollars into the hands of consultants and band leaders who hoard the proceeds for themselves and their cronies.
Who is benefitting from enforcing a time warp feudal system where the average person may be at the mercy of their greedy overlords. The wrong people in positions of power means that the opportunity to reach parity is totally dependent upon the individual's ability to become a sycophantic slave. Hey wait a minute, that's what most of us have!
I think that this system is racist and btw where are 'their' Martin Luther Kings?
Then again I am hoping that ALL countries are abolished and that nationalities would disappear so that we were all just considered human beings. Isn't that silly.
Our evolutionary system of civilization is based on the finders keepers method which functioned when the vanquished previous owners were enslaved or slaughtered.
It is nearly impossible for the 'conquerors' to overcome thousands years of 'tradition' which dates back to the formation of the first Empires. Watching so called modern countries like Yugoslavia and Czechslovakia dissect and allow the ancient clans to get their own country is a troubling development. Instead of building a GLOBAL VILLAGE, modern humans are actually retreating into cookie-cutter demographic units. Just watch Iraq trissect in the next year or two.
I still think that the only way to look at the world is to recognise that we are all the same and we need to eliminate whatever separates us.
Most of these identities are religious in nature so that guarantees that this will NEVER EVER EVER happen.
Perhaps a few of us could strive for it and form our own country...hey isn't that we were trying to do over here??
Oh, I received a reply from the Newspaper owner who, in three sentences informs that the remarks (in context) were neither inflammatory nor racist.
Meh
Just curious...prochoice and anti-death penalty at the same time?
Do tell...I'm curious how they overlap. I'm not trying to be difficult - I honestly want to know...I'm not saying they're mutually exclusive, but doesn't the attitude towards life in one apply to the other in some way?
What you say is very true, but bear in mind that any negative comment or generalisation that crosses racial boundaries is considered racist in todays' ultra-sensitive West. In an ideal world we would all keep generalisations and negative comments to ourselves, but on the odd occasion when someone feels the need to say something silly . . . "Gee, the Irish are a bunch of pissheads"; or, "Africans seem to have a monopoly on drug dealing in Camden". Now one of those statements needs the daft 'qualifier' if uttered by a caucasian. We don't expect any qualifier if either statement is made by any other racial group. I think we have just lost a bit of reason all round.
ha!!!
nice post - and your blog puts a big ol' smile on my face - just thought id' point that out
cheerio
ha!!!
nice post - and your blog puts a big ol' smile on my face - just thought id' point that out
cheerio
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