True.
There is also a tendency for people to reinterpret things as RACIST or some other form of BIGOTRY when they are not. Unless you happen to be a mind reader.
For example... SHITHOLE COUNTRY. Disrespectful of the country... sure. True? From some perspectives yes, others no. Racist? It doesn't mention race at all. So deciding it is racist is a decision of the observer not the speaker. They chose to view it as racist. Why? Perhaps most of the population is Black... so what?
the majority of the population of the U.S. is White. Does that mean if someone called the U.S. a Shithole country that they are being racist and anti-white?
That kind of means any non-whites cease to exist. Which is not the case.
People chose to call that statement racist when in reality it had nothing to do with racism other than in their own mind.
We should seek to try to have respect and not offend people.
Yet as Sweden is showing that can go way too far as well.
Where does offense happen of this type? In our minds. Someone says something and our minds become offended. It may not have been intentional. If it was obvious that the thing stated could be interpeted as such then hopefully the person would apologize and say I didn't mean it that way. If they then explained what they meant then hopefully you would not be offended when THEY said it as they explained their intent.
Words are tools used to express meaning. To convey thoughts. If I speak a word meaning one thing and it means something different to you then communication failed.
We have to talk and find a way to fix the communication. Usually that is explaining what the use of a word meant to us. Holding onto our own interpretation is not the way to go. Really we need to know what the person speaking means, and hopefully when we speak the people that hear us know what we mean.
Reacting and demanding that our meaning is the only one will never result in peaceful or equal exchanges as we shouldn't have the right to control other people's minds. We also should not expect them to be able to read our mind.
That doesn't mean there are not assholes out there. They are all over the place and they come in all shapes, genders, colors, ages, nationalities, religions, and political affiliations.
Assholes happen. :)
I believe certain elements in politics and the media are intentionally increasing racial tensions. I believe some people are choosing to turn things that are not racism into racism.
This has proven effective.
I am very white in appearance though I have quite a bit of Native American heritage. Right now calling for killing white people, white genocide, no white zones, etc is ACCEPTABLE and not censored anywhere that I see. Talking about WHITE PRIVILEGE is common though I've never lived in a part of the U.S. (it's a big place) where such privilege existed. I know there are such places, but like I said the U.S. is a big place. The only black kids in my high school were treated like rock stars and had tons of friends. I lived in a rural south western part of Colorado most of my life. Though other than being popular they were not given privilege either. It was a pretty equal place.
I encountered racism against me later. I worked in a Rollerblade Wheel factory Kryptonics for a little over a month. Most of the workers were Latino/Hispanic/Mexican and a lot of the foremen for the machines didn't even speak English. I took the opportunity to learn spanish (spoken) and really all I learned was very foul spanish. I know very good spanish insults. They were used on white people all the time, and sometimes amongst themselves as common banter. They'd ask the white girls "How much for your hole, how much for your ass?" in spanish and chuckle. One white guy they constantly referred to as "Dog" in spanish.
I've been on a bus and been referred to as a Cracker, or had people express something as though it was a "white thing to do".
Yet those for the most part it. I never have judged people or treated people based on race in my life that I am aware of.
I've been called a racist for disagreeing. More and more often within the last decade as the media and things like black lives matter make race more and more a deal.
Oh yeah, and I've been at companies where they didn't hire some guy that was white even though he had the skills and such we needed because they needed to meet diversity quotas.
I was already working there so don't know if that ever happened to me or not. I don't think it did. I've just witnessed it happen to others.
I've had two black managers I respected a lot. I've been an advocate for a co-worker that was black in recommending him to BE a manager, which was a higher position than myself at the time.
I believe in EQUAL opportunity, but I do not believe in ARTIFICIAL/FORCED diversity.
Character, skills, etc... can you do the job? That's all I really care about. Gender, Race, Religion, etc none of those things matter as long as you can do the job, or if it is a situation where training for the job is an option do you show that you have a willingness and passion to learn the job then that'd be reason to hire someone as well.
Artificial quotas actually promote racism.
For me diversity happens more in your personality, your culture, your mind, your character, etc. Diversity of thought can lead to new ideas, and increase the potential of solving problems.
Diversity of skin color doesn't guarantee any kind of diversity of thought, character, etc so truly it doesn't increase odds of being more effective.
It might appease those who are racist and who focus on skin color. Even if they say they don't.
I can tell you this. I and my kids I raised would never look at you in any way with regard to skin color other than due to being pale I burn badly in the sun at times... so I'd look at someone with more melanin with some envy. :)
For me the beauty of a person is not skin deep. I've seen some people society considers beautiful that I only see ugly due to knowing their character.
I will stand in solidarity with you or ANYONE when challenging someone truly being racist.
I actually will stand in solidarity against ANY form of bigotry.
You see I do have a conflict. I am a hypocrite in a way. I am a bigot because I hate bigots. ;)
I don't hate a lot of things. I hate bigotry. I hate willful ignorance.
That's about it as far as hate goes for me. :)
I definitely don't hate you. I respect you, value your writing, and appreciate the opportunity to share my thoughts with you.
Even if we don't agree 100%. So what?!?!? As far as I'm concerned that is a good thing.
Diversity of thought. :)
The offense is Economic and Social. It's Called Discrimination and is the symptom of Classism. The Lower classes CANNOT discriminate against the classes above them. the very mechanism of Racism is Systemic Discrimination which manifests in can and cannot do's. It's not "mental", it's why the gypsies have left india millenia ago, and to this day thrive on the mentality that they should lie and steal and cheat all they can because they were the shit pickers of the shit pickers in the social pecking order and everyone shit on them and EXPECTED them to clean that shit, QUITE LITERALLY, and there is the same social order there today, and in America the Land of the We will fight FOR slavery and discrimination statistically is the most evident in punishment and crime, the double standard and privilege is evident yet acknowledging that a whole class of people has privileges, explicit and implicit, is "reverse racism", a country created by Slave Owners oxymoronically so ignorant to recognize that they are no more free as the slaves they own. Society hasn't magically changed and the people who have to recognize that aren't the gypsies but Every single one of the 8 classes "above" them.
I challenge you to explore Dr. Joy DeGruy's work and open your perspective to it.
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