Quote:
Originally Posted by Far-L
(Post 20708112)
I just have a problem with racial generalizations of any sort and my experience is different I guess. What about all those white people that blame politicians for their problems. Armenians blame Turks, fascists blame jews, Chinese the Japanese, whatever. It is all just ridiculous in my opinion but there is always some sort of history that makes it "real" even if it is just a belief, a prejudiced perspective, and a matter of personal opinion. When I lived in LA I had gangsters and scholars as black neighbors. From the comments here I know not only would no one know the difference but would not even give them the benefit of the doubt. That is just racist.
When I was growing up in MA my parents, both from notoriously racist southern states Mississippi and N. Carolina, were some of the only people that would sponsor the black kids that were bused in from Boston. We lived in supposedly liberal progressive Lexington but when it came to taking care of a black Muslim kid from the projects for a few hours a week... no way. Most racists I know don't think they are racists at all. People feel entitled to their biases.
Every group, no matter what color, nationality, etc that is depressed economically and where a failure to educate has been an issue will blame the ones that seem to be responsible. That isn't just a black thing. It is a people thing. :2 cents:
I appreciate the reasonable discussion though, thanks.
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Here is where we differ. You don't like the sweeping generalizations, but from my perspective, in all that "blame whitey" there are nothing but sweeping generalizations by those laying blame. My objection is not that there are problems, that neighborhoods and people have problems etc. My personal objection is in being told "I" am the problem. Or that I am racist if I say anything that doesn't fully support the narrative that someone else is the problem.
To use Ferguson as an example... a narrative was created which was entirely false. A poor innocent happy go lucky guy was brutally attacked by a cop. That narrative became "fact" to anyone with an agenda. A town was destroyed. People lost their careers and were viciously attacked in the media and beyond... all because in reality, some guy tried unsuccessfully to kill a cop after robbing a store and slapping the owner around (See final DOJ / Eric Holder report).
That narrative, when unchallenged is extremely corrosive and destructive on every level of a community and society. It is not even grounded in reality. And no one cares. It would be like presenting heroin addicts with a fabricated list the benefits of heroin use and heroin addiction. That is enabling the problem. That is creating a problem. That is making the problem worse. That is taking that addict many steps backward from recovery and closer to dying. To me, this is happening in the black community. I didn't destroy inner city black families. I didn't cause 75% of black kids to be born without a kid. I don't cause them to drop out of school. I don't cause them to go to prison. I have nothing to do with any of that... but i'm being told all the time that i'm part of the problem.
You used the word prejudiced. I appreciate that. What stands out in that is that word is never used. People used to be bigoted and prejudiced. Today, simply stating an uncomfortable fact or truth will have you branded "racist" which is the new hands covering the ears and saying "la la la la i can't hear you la la la la.. so shut up...la la la"
True story... i was laying on the couch with my GF watching Goodfellas and it was at the scene where Pesci's character was in the car with Liotta's and he was asking him to go with him and another girl on a date... exclaiming "can you believe that, a jew broad prejudiced against italians!". I paused it and looked at my girlfriend and asked "did you notice anything weird"... she quickly exclaimed "yeah, he used the word prejudiced". The total disappearance of bigoted and prejudice from our lexicon and being incorrectly replaced by an extremely severe word like "racist" tells you how far people are willing to go to protect this false narrative. I personally don't like it.
Like anyone who needs to change, whether its weight loss, quitting drugs etc, change cannot happen until those needing change accepts their share of the responsibility and role in creating the problem. You can't improve your own position in life by trying to change the world around you. You can easily do it however, by waking up and saying "i've had enough and i'm going to start working on me - the one thing i control 100%". When you do manage to change the world around you by vilifying the one calling someone "fat", you don't help the overweight person. You've simply taken another step to enable them. Remember being a child and seeing an obese person and everyone just stared? Today,... its the norm. Today, we're being told "its sexy". Thats only hurting people, not helping them. The total number of people we hurt when we enable horrible behaviors, is swelling constantly. People aren't becoming better human beings. We are getting closer and closer to the inmates taking over the asylum in my opinion.
Note that blackmonsters hears things above and brands me racist. Thats a standard reply from people like him. He'll never address the facts. He'll never give any ground. Never in his life will he say "you know what, my fate is my own and i'm going to take control and make something of my life". Instead, he has to save money to buy lunch and made it clear that he can only pay his bills because Obama is President. Is it helping him more to say "you're right buddy! good job"? Or is it helping him to point out the absurdity of those beliefs and let it be known that he's expected to stop blaming others and start blaming himself so that he can move forward in life.
