So...people are getting offended because Matthews actually saw Obama as simply a person, and skin color, for once, didn't factor into it?
I seriously don't get it.
Even if the man thought about Obama's race the other 23 hours of the day, Obama's charisma was still able to pull him beyond thinking that, and Matthews realized this. And because he realized it, if he was thinking about it before, he can consciously work to change that. Isn't that what this has been about for the past 50 years?
And Sophia Nelson is a moron for taking offense to such a compliment.
Frankly, in my opinion, it speaks far more about the person getting offended at stuff like that than it does about "the state of things these days," or whatever.
I remember one time, my mom told me a story about how she was at lunch with a female friend of her's and my mom was talking about a company that she referred to as "a white women's slave shop." Her friend asked her what she meant, because she'd never heard the phrase before. My mom replied with, "they don't hire men, and they don't hired bla..." and it was only then that it registered with my mom that her friend was black.
That, in my opinion, is the way it should be. Skin color shouldn't register any more than eye color or hair color or any other feature. Use it to add to the list of descriptive words to form that mental image of that person to store in your mind, sure, but it shouldn't have any other meaning beyond that, and it sure as hell shouldn't affect your opinion of them as a person.
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branchandroot
(no subject)
Date: Jan. 29th, 2010 02:47 pm (UTC)I seriously don't get it.
Even if the man thought about Obama's race the other 23 hours of the day, Obama's charisma was still able to pull him beyond thinking that, and Matthews realized this. And because he realized it, if he was thinking about it before, he can consciously work to change that. Isn't that what this has been about for the past 50 years?
And Sophia Nelson is a moron for taking offense to such a compliment.
Frankly, in my opinion, it speaks far more about the person getting offended at stuff like that than it does about "the state of things these days," or whatever.
I remember one time, my mom told me a story about how she was at lunch with a female friend of her's and my mom was talking about a company that she referred to as "a white women's slave shop." Her friend asked her what she meant, because she'd never heard the phrase before. My mom replied with, "they don't hire men, and they don't hired bla..." and it was only then that it registered with my mom that her friend was black.
That, in my opinion, is the way it should be. Skin color shouldn't register any more than eye color or hair color or any other feature. Use it to add to the list of descriptive words to form that mental image of that person to store in your mind, sure, but it shouldn't have any other meaning beyond that, and it sure as hell shouldn't affect your opinion of them as a person.