Bloody fucking hell...

[wyn]

Not everything is black and white..

I am so sick of idiots playing the fucking race cards.

Seriously.

"I forgot he was black." Wtf? Hmm, he's black. Woo. And? Just because someone is black, white, red, yellow, or pink and white checkered with day-glo green zig-zags, it doesn't make them act a certain way. That comment, as well intentioned as it may (or may not) have been, was just ignorant.

I get the point of people being offended by that, I really do, but I also take issue with something said by a black woman as well:

Sophia Nelson, a black attorney, former lobbyist and founder of PoliticalIntersection.com, which focuses on politics, race and gender, said she has been offended by people calling her articulate and intelligent: "That's saying that people who look like me normally aren't those things."

No. You idiot, you. That's like saying you appear to be articulate and intelligent. Should I- a female Native American and Caucasian mix- take offense when someone tries to compliment me by calling me intelligent and well-spoken? No. I'm going to thank them and more than likely pawn off the compliment with something witty in return.

And it only goes to show once more that idiots, no matter the race, creed, sexual persuasion, age or gender, will still go out of their way to take issue with things.

As ignorant as that first comment was, that second comment? It was just as bad. I'm so sick of the whole walking on eggshells bullshit so many people dance around, especially as of late.

You're black. Get over it.

I'm white. Get over it.

You and I? We still bleed red when you prick us. We both breathe oxygen, need food and water and sunlight to live and we both have feelings, emotions, wants and needs and goals we'd like to accomplish.

Get over your fucking skin color.

Unless you don't want to.

In which case, at least have the balls to say, "I'm black, I'm racist, and I think everyone owes me the world." Or, in the case of the white guy down the street: "I'm white, I'm racist, and I think no one can do anything as well as I can."

Either way, maybe we should just hand out shotguns and swords and let everyone kill each other off from their own stupidity. Because really, it doesn't matter what color the skin is- we'll still find some way of making ourselves morally superior to some other group.

Morons.

Comments

[sydneyrodriguez.livejournal.com]

Well, technically, Nevada and California were Union States, so people from there would have a whole different issue with being called Confederates. And, now that I have the means to actually write something and do a little refresher research, I think I was mistaken on the Mason-Dixon line reference, and it's simply (or more complexly, however you look at it), a Union v Confederate thing from the Civil War (and, in that case, you would be considered a Yankee, as Michigan was a Union state).

But, nitpicking aside, I agree, using blanket terms and whatnot just reinforces the use of stereotypes. I think that's the core problem with such things as the term "black." It's not just used to describe a person's color, but is also a blanket term for various stereotypes ("you're not 'black' enough"). If we could get rid of the "blanket term" segment of the word black, then I think we'd be a lot closer to getting rid of some of the prejudices and racial tension (at least between blacks and whites).

I agree, too, that people are too touchy and overly defensive. If people didn't get so defensive about some of the dumber things, then they'd lose those "offensive" meanings.

I remember one time, I was describing a coworker to another coworker (because I forgot his name, I'm terrible with names), and my description went something like this:

Somewhat tall, slender build, Middle Eastern, well-dressed...

My coworker looked at me slack-jawed and bug-eyed because I used "Middle Eastern" in my description of him. "Well, he's from India!" was the response when I asked what the problem was. What she seemed to completely miss was that by using the term "Middle Eastern" among the rest of my description, she knew exactly who I was talking about (otherwise, she wouldn't have known who I was talking about, since there were several people in the office who could have fit that description sans "Middle Eastern"), because the phrase comes with it a particular set of characteristics (dark hair, darker complexion, maybe an accent, etc). Could I have used a better term? Perhaps, though, to me, it's not much different than using the term "Asian" to describe someone with a particular skin tone, hair color, and eye shape. No, I didn't get the exact country right, but that's not really possible when I don't know what country he was from (our office had something between 1/3 and 1/2 that were from the Middle East or India, and pretty much the rest are white, with a handful of people of various other ethnicities, and they may or may not be American citizens), and therefore my goal was to get the ethnic/"skin tone" region right. I also find it awkward to spend ten minutes trying to describe a skin tone that's something along the lines of a mocha color (or other such shade that isn't as simply described as "black" or "white" or "tan" or whatever) in such a way that it would actually be reasonably accurate in describing the color.

My phrasing was meant to be nothing more than to act as a single term to describe half a dozen characteristics that wouldn't have been otherwise very easy to describe, but because she interpreted as something else, it was offensive to her.

(On a side note, it's interesting to observe my feelings about whether or not to post my little story, because of fear of offending someone for whatever reason.)

[arualanne.livejournal.com]

(On a side note, it's interesting to observe my feelings about whether or not to post my little story, because of fear of offending someone for whatever reason.)


yeah I was just thinking of this. And thinking that we are talking about a very touchy subject. I appreciate you being able to share, but I do understand that many people would think we were trying to be offensive.

Really Avenue Q sums it all up very well with the song of Everyone's A Little bit Racist. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKg_ca3AgW0 I am not certain if this is the full song as I am at work and it isn't horribly offensive, but can be if you just heard an excerpt and hadn't heard the whole thing and what they are talking about in the song. So yeah listen at your own risk)

[sydneyrodriguez.livejournal.com]

Woot for Avenue Q not being afraid to tackle the politically incorrect stuff head-on!

[arualanne.livejournal.com]

If you haven't heard the whole music track for the musical you really should. It is very good, but very non-PC and tackles stuff like race and homosexuality with no problem, but you definitely can't have a thin-skin and like it.

[shadows-wolf06.livejournal.com]

Bwah ha ha!

Best.
Song.
Ever!

XD

[arualanne.livejournal.com]

I am going to have to do more research. Were California and Nevada even states by the time the Civil war happened? I know Michigan was as I remember it being in the war in my history class I took. Also from my understanding yankee was specific to the North-eastern states, but I could be wrong as it is information from my husband and I don't know what his sources were, but he is generally very good about getting reliable sources. *Shrugs*

[sydneyrodriguez.livejournal.com]

According to both the Library of Congress and their respective state websites, yes, both California and Nevada were states by the time the Civil War happened. Nevada joined in 1864 and California in 1850. Whether they had significant involvement in the Civil War, however, I'd have to do more research, as I don't know off hand.

Princeton's definition of Yankee actually has all three connotations: New Englander, specifically; Northerner/Union state person in general; and American in general (by non-Americans). So, technically, it seems we're all right.

[arualanne.livejournal.com]

lol figures. *grins* we can be all right. We win!

[shadows-wolf06.livejournal.com]

She was offended by your use of the term "Middle Eastern"?

Well that's ridiculous.

It's not exactly like you were calling him a (and excuse the ignorant term but it's used for the point) towel-head.

Now that would have been offensive to me. Not to mention ignorant, stupid and just plain mean. Middle Eastern, though? Gods, let's just get offended by calling people from the States Americans and people from the UK Brits.