03-26-2012, 06:40 PM
Ted King wrote:
[quote=billb]
[quote=Ted King]
[quote=billb]
[quote=rjmacs]
[quote=Chakravartin]
Take out "black male" and substitute the words "hippie, hipster, teenage boy, K-Mart Shopper, person with backpack, ginger, anyone who walks in this neighborhood..."
People are xenophobic.
"Not from around here" and "not like me" are convenient excuse for murder in many places... and sometimes legal excuses.
Both of these are true, but it's a mistake to overlook that violence based on race has a particular and peculiar place in our history and society. It's simply not true that over the course of American history, 'hippies, hipsters, teenage boys, K-Mart Shoppers, people with backpacks, or gingers' have been targeted in ways that begin to compare with racially-motivated violence.
and some people need to hate so badly that they can find racism in an empty glass of water.
Do you think people finding racism "in an empty glass of water" is as big a problem as violence against someone based on their race?
You don't ? constantly throwing the race card against the ignorance wall impedes the progress of exposing and educating ignorance . Unfortunatley that same ignorance makes for a wonderful fuel for more hatred based ignorance.
Or do you think there isn't any racially-motivated violence?
Unfortunately that still exists around the globe. You don;t have to travel to witness it, you just have to open your eyes.
I don't understand why you made that comment. Is it just that you feel that you need to add an obligatory "some people find racism in an empty glass of water" comment to any thread that talks about racism?
I use the racism label only when it applies. Very stingily and only when it is proven appropriate. Any other time is just wishful thinking and
based on the same ignorance and bigotry that actual racism is.
Some punk making racist remarks isn't necessarily a racist. Certainly an ignorant punk that could use his mouth being washed out and deserving of an education.
Someone who starts beating their wife two years into a marriage only because he finds out her great grandfather is Cape Verdean is a racist. Someone who actually believes in their own race / color/ nationality / political affiliation superiority could be a racist or at minimum a bigot. And bigots love their cards, especially the race card.
No I don't think finding racism in a glass of water is anywhere near as much of a problem as racial violence.
As for the rest of what you are saying... what does that have to do with Chakravartin's point about violence based on race? I didn't see it and that's why I made the comments I did, and I still don't see it.
Remove the xenophobia filter entirely.
Why is that so hard ?
Under that wrapper is an even uglier sociological problem and it has absoluteley nothing to do with race.
