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EvilGeoff -> RE: "Black Master"? (6/9/2006 10:09:32 AM)
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*smiles softly*
With human beings being human beings, having been raised by other human beings, and interacting with human beings, race will often be an "issue" for many people, at least for the forseeable future of the human race.
People, on the whole, are taught to distrust and be afraid of those who are "different". Most of us were brought up with comments from our parents like "don't talk to _them_, they aren't _like_us_..." regarding any number of differences like race, sex, sexual orientation, religious beliefs. Skin color/ethnicity is just the most obvious and easily identified difference.
INDIVIDUALS on the other hand, can be very tolerant, open minded, and accepting of differences.
In the US, race relations are far from perfect. Our politcal and religious leaders often have a vested interest in keeping racism and bigotry, hatred and fear, alive and well and flourishing. After all, playing up those fears is how they maintain their own personal power. They just do a good job of keeping the pot from boiling over. And as bad as our culture is at accepting diversity, it's still a damn sight better than what goes on in many corners of the world:
Up until very recently, Catholics and Protestants (overwhelmingly white) were blowing each other up and sniping at each other almost daily in Northern Ireland...
Bosnians and Serbians have been duking it out in the Balkans ever since the dissolution of Yugoslavia (which, under Tito, was actually a _relatively_bright_ spot in the Communist bloc).
Our Arab neighbors have been killing each other over their Shiite or Sunni beliefs and political power since many Arab nations have finally accepted the idea that Israel will not go away or be conquered by force of arms in the forseeable future.
Somali tribesman have been fighting one another over control of that nation in a civil war that is drawn along tribal lines along with animist, various Christian AND Islamic beliefs...
*shakes his head sadly* People are people. We will almost always find an excuse, a justification, for our hate. Hate for different skin color. Hate for different religious beliefs. Hate for different political convictions. Hate for different music. Hate for different sexes. Hate for sexual orientations.
I was a cop for 17 years, and if the worst racism or bigotry I ever have to deal with again is someone dissing rap music, I will count that as a blessing. I don't want to ever again have to deal with someone burning down a neighborhood church, or blowing up a synagogue, or crashing a plane into a building, or dragging a man behind a pickup truck, or beating a woman to death because she identifies as a male.
_I_ try to live by the maxim that Dr. Martin Luther King espoused, to judge others by the content of their character, not the color of their skin. I would hope that those I chose to associate with would try to live by that as well. But I am also enough of a realist to know that reality falls far short of the ideal.
As others have pointed out, the real hue and cry has been over inter-racial relationships. No one gives a rat's rear end when "kind mingles with kind". But when you start listing an inter-racial preference? OMG, the solid fecal matter impacts the rotary oscillating air circulation device... Some battles have been won, some have been lost, and the war against bigotry, prejudice and hatred is far, FAR from over.
YIK,
- Geoff
* Who's theme song is still "Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)" *
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