Not trying to be PC, actually anti racist

[ezbtr]

Re: Not trying to be PC, actually anti racist

wow what great replies guys (and girl) !!!!!!

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Not trying to be PC, actually anti racist

We try never to let our friends down!

 

[ezbtr]

Re: Not trying to be PC, actually anti racist

My wife has a black lab and a yellow lab (acts like a blonde).... she wants to complete her "variety pack" with a chocolate....... Ez how many girlfriends do you have??? Do they know about each other?????

Hmmmm, I live in the boonies just like Mark (same state ) and yes I have experienced more North-South problems rather than any other. Now if you move to VT you are labeled as a Flatlander and it is said you will remain one until 6 generations are born and buried here!

I am actually proud to say aside from the flatlander comments we do not have any prejudice here and I raised my family the same way........

just one gf, lol!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[mscher]

Re: Not trying to be PC, actually anti racist

Yep.

SIL married a man of Mexican decent. FIL wanted nothing to do with her children (SIL eventually divorced).

Everyone is racist, IMO, if even only a little bit. I've seen many who say they are not, usually when referring to my views, then turn around and make a racist comment, when they they think they are effected.

I consider myself and equal opportunity racist. I'll make fun of anyone and I invite them to do the same about me. It's the honesty on how one feels, that is the problem.

Stand your ground, with you GF. They will either accept her or not. If they don't get over it, then it's their loss, not your's.

 

[mphy98]

Re: Not trying to be PC, actually anti racist

Hmm. I didn't get that at all from the original post. I'm one of those left wingers who stirs that kind of stuff up. Heck, I even teach classes in it. My take? Around here people need to be made constantly aware that they are constantly aware of the differences in color/race/religion/gender etc. They sometimes forget how much they attribute to race. Having them not talk about it in public doesn't ease things up at all.

Generally it's people lashing out at people of color, but you'd be surprised what they say about Russians and Ukrainians around here.

This is the type of thinking I do not understand. I do not need to be constantly aware of differences in race etc. My family has all colors, shapes and sizes. We have black cousins, mexican cousins, and a lesbian aunt. Nothing ever comes up about our differences, but we do discuss our similarities. To me people who keep stirring up pots that are not boiling are s**t stirrers. And, love to watch things boil over after they make their comments. We have a wonderful blended family and have nothing but respect and love for everyone. EVEN though All of us are conservative. I think we should always count on how much we are alike in life and forget all that negative stuff that divides us. One Nation Under God. We are more similar than not. It has been said here that everyone is racist. I disagree, we can be opinionated, even judgmental and not be racist. Yes I am opinionated, and will call a dirtbag a dirbag. I will also praise personal initiative and hard work by anyone.

 

[rbh]

Re: Not trying to be PC, actually anti racist

Just because you hate everyone, doesnt make you a racist.
on Moms side they are highland scotch and Irish, on dads side they are french and swede.
Its no wonder when I fight with myself, the loser has to buy the first round.

 

[JB]

Re: Not trying to be PC, actually anti racist

You're the one who brought up Obama and Tiger Woods.

Quite true, but you completely missed my point. I have no problem with what a person chooses to "label" themselves.

My objection is when others refer to our "black/African American" President or to the "black/African American" golfing great. Neither of these gentlemen describe themselves as such.

Each of these men have names and titles to which their ethnicity or multi-ethnicity is completely irrelevant.

Barack Hussein Obama is President of The United States of America.

Tiger Woods is probably the greatest professional golfer ever.

The unspoken "in spite of being. . . " is left out, but hangs in the air.

The media only rarely do that to sports celebrities. Wouldn't you be shocked to hear the great baseball players referred to as "the caucasian/white player, Joe DiMaggio" or "the black/African American player, Willie Mays" ??

 

[Cofe]

Re: Not trying to be PC, actually anti racist

There is good and bad in every race. Look for the Good.

Racism is a pride gone wrong issue.

 

[cribber]

Re: Not trying to be PC, actually anti racist

Also there are those that confuse racism with prejudice. My example is ignorance can be fixed... stupidity is for life. I'm prejudiced against stupid people from all walks of life irregardless of where your ancestry originated. And to me racism is just stupid...

 

[lckstckn2smknbrls]

Re: Not trying to be PC, actually anti racist

My family really didn't care when I brought a white girl home.

 

[ezbtr]

Re: Not trying to be PC, actually anti racist

Also there are those that confuse racism with prejudice. My example is ignorance can be fixed... stupidity is for life. I'm prejudiced against stupid people from all walks of life irregardless of where your ancestry originated. And to me racism is just stupid...

yeah because USUALLY stupidity = laziness....

 

[ezbtr]

Re: Not trying to be PC, actually anti racist

wow, there are some incredibly insightful answers here! Hmmm perhaps I think more(???) about it as my oldest girl, 23,(adopted) is half Caucasian and 1/2 Iranian? God the stupid comments I would get at the grocery stores....but we would make it a regular joke - "oh the blonde and her are both yours?, yes the brunette is the one God burnt" heehee

 

[ezbtr]

Re: Not trying to be PC, actually anti racist

and these morons couldnt even THINK that perhaps they might have hurt her feelings???? geezzzzzz

 

[puddle jumper]

Re: Not trying to be PC, actually anti racist

mixed" Some people don't like that term either, since it has connotations that go back to words like "mulatto" and "mestiza" which are derogatory. ?

I like what you have said here. Every one raise your hand if your not a pure breed something. I think 99.9% of the people in North America are of mixed origins and could be the focus of prejudices for one reason or another.

As of the north south thing in the states from a Canadians point of view it sound silly and out dated. But sounds very real.

 

[86 century]

Re: Not trying to be PC, actually anti racist

The only problem i have is that if someone is of a different race,religion,or national origin. I can't tell them they are a moron without being called a racist.

 

[Mike Robinson]

Re: Not trying to be PC, actually anti racist

Personally, I believe that we all have racist tendencies, my theory is that we are hard wired that way genetically.

Maybe in ancient times it was matter of survival to judge people by the way they looked, you had to decide quickly who was friend and who was foe.

I like to think that as human kind is evolving the line between "us" and "them" is becoming more blurred.


The islands where I live were named by Captain Dixon who surveyed the islands in 1787 after one of his ships, the "Queen Charlotte". Recently the first nations people who live here ceremoniously "gave the name back" to the Provincial government. A month or two later the government agreed to rename the islands "Haida Gwaii" which means "Islands of the people" in the Haida language.

I first heard about the governments decision on the evening news and initially I was annoyed that I was finding this out on TV instead of locally. I guess I felt that as a resident I should have been consulted or something. After a while I started to think about how the Haida people must have felt when some strange European showed up and out of the blue, declared this place "The Queen Charlotte Islands". I've come to realize that was pretty arrogant of my British ancestors.

I am a person of Western European descent and I have grown up in Canada in a "Western" culture that has been predominant here all my life. I have to remind myself that this is changing both with recent immigration trends and local First Nations who are becoming socially and politically more predominate. I have to admit, acceptance of this doesn't come naturally but I am trying.

 

[Mark_VTfisherman]

Re: Not trying to be PC, actually anti racist

...I do not need to be constantly aware of differences in race....

I disagree. Constantly being aware of differences- personality, skin color, social background, bad hair day- even as a boss or a pastor or school teacher or a salesman is how we respect another's dignity and uniqueness. I see mostly white people in the course of my days- but I am keenly aware of the many differences that exist. An Asian or Russian or? is just another kind of difference. Sometimes differences are skin color, or social background.

Like OP suggested in summary: everyone is different; hyper-focusing on making believe there aren't any differences (being PC) is actually racist.

Personally, I believe that we all have racist tendencies, my theory is that we are hard wired that way genetically. Maybe in ancient times it was matter of survival to judge people by the way they looked, you had to decide quickly who was friend and who was foe. I like to think that as human kind is evolving the line between "us" and "them" is becoming more blurred....

Racist tendencies..hardwired genetically? Survival? Genetics get blamed for a lot of things; is way to big of an intellectual leap for me.

I have been in several threatening situations. My fears and reactions in those circumstances had nothing to do with race; it had everything to do with their behavior. That is what I remember- their actions, not their ethnicity... In fact, I don't even remember the ethnicity of anyone in one pretty big circumstance I was in once in a grocery store parking lot after dark one night in SC. About 15 or so guys in their 20's started approaching our truck when we came out of the store. Some vehicles pulled up, surrounding us. I pushed my wife and baby into the truck, jumped in, started it, and began driving in mere seconds. I nearly had to run over two of the apparent thugs. I would have had they chosen to keep standing in the way of my only path of escape from their circled vehicles. Their actions made me feel threatened.

My survival instinct had to do with actions, not race or ethnicity. 19 years later now, I do remember the face of the one on my side who stepped out of my only path to drive away. Etched in my mind. He may have been Hispanic, maybe Mexican. Maybe tanned white? Doesn't matter; the look on his face was one of sadness, and pain, perhaps regret. Whatever that group had planned that night, he wasn't diggin' it.

Learned or socially passed behavior is not genetics- it's racism.

 

[kenmyfam]

Re: Not trying to be PC, actually anti racist

Very interesting thread. I will keep reading before posting further.

 

[mphy98]

Re: Not trying to be PC, actually anti racist

My earlier point was to show why do we need to label anyone? Can we not just accept the fact that we are all just people? Yes we have differences, that is what makes us unique, and the same at the same time. If that makes any sense. To label anyone is to possibly alienate them, possibly the person does not like that label. Others may like the label, so why label anyone at all. Every label has positive and negative connotations to some in the group, so why do it at all. After all aren't we all part of the human race?

 

[cheburashka]

Re: Not trying to be PC, actually anti racist

Quite true, but you completely missed my point.

You're absolutely right. I tend to get kind of stubborn about issues like this. Must be the Irish in me. . .

Seriously, you are right. No one else has the right to decide who you "are" or what word suits you best.

Sometimes discussions of race can be absolutely bewildering--in one class I teach I was talking about race and I used one woman with light brown skin as an example and said "I'm never sure whether to call someone like you Chicana, Mexican American, Hispanic or Latina." She said "Well anyone who really needs to know recognizes that I'm Black." Oops.

I always like that Bo Diddley song where two guys are arguing about origins:

"Hey man, where you from?"
"South America"
"You don't look like no South American to me"
"I'm still from South America"
"What part?"
South Texas."

This is the type of thinking I do not understand. I do not need to be constantly aware of differences in race etc. My family has all colors, shapes and sizes. We have black cousins, mexican cousins, and a lesbian aunt. Nothing ever comes up about our differences, but we do discuss our similarities. To me people who keep stirring up pots that are not boiling are s**t stirrers.

I've got no quarrel with you on this one. Sounds to me like you're pretty accepting of a lot of people. However, I've cooked enough to know that often a pot that isn't boiling is burning whatever's on the bottom. You either bring it to a slow simmer to mix stuff up, or you stir it until you're ready to serve it. I'd say you're pretty lucky to be around people with so many different backgrounds and lifestyles. Around here we're not so lucky and people tend to think and say some pretty nasty things. I'll give you an example. We're about as far North as you get, so folks say things about racism in the South with a kind of smug attitude. That kind of stuff doesn't sit right with me--largely because of people like you. If someone thinks they're not racist and they've never in their life talked to a person with darker skin than their own, I say it's time to get out that spoon and start stirring.

There is good and bad in every race. Look for the Good.

Racism is a pride gone wrong issue.

Hmmm. I'm not sure that there are any characteristics to any race--good or bad. There's good and bad in all people, but I'd have a hard time saying it comes from their race.