by MrMoe 100 Replies latest jw friends
what bothers me is the assumption that whenever there is a public announcement/advertisement/p ortrayal of racism it is ALWAYS the white person who is portrayed as the racist. why is that?
Halle Berry said her father was a racist, in her Oscar winning speech, and he is black.
Racists are not born, they are created. A child is not born a racist but in a number of homes they are indoctrinated into racism. If we are to change then first we must change from within and, hopefully; it will change in the home, in the neighborhood and throughout the world.
Excellent posts...
Go and live in South Africa with SYN for a year. If you come back as a non-racist I will be very surprised.
Nope, won't happen. Culture is not the same as skin tone. So i STILL grasp for the logic of racisim, as how on earth does skin color make you who you are? Yes, i understand how some ignorant folks may classify on the basis of skin color... but...
EXAMPLE:
Imagine a child the same skin color as you. Now, imagine he is a boy. Now, this boy is in school, about 8 years of age, and wears pink shoes because this is the only color shoes his family wears (humor me.) He is generally picked on by the other students, same as his cousins and brothers and sisters. They all wear pink shoes, the whole lot of them. I will not comment on his family as far as if his parents were good parents or not, use your imagination - fit or unfit, does not really matter, although the family background is far less than Millionare Row as most of this huge "Pink" wearing family lives in a bad area with a high crime rate.
The children make fun of him because of the color he is wearing, and also because he is thought of as a "nerd," and he and his entire family are called The Pinks. Soon, the torturing becomes too much to bare, so he begins to manifest himself in anger at school, eventually acting out these emotions of pain, repression, anger and grief, which in turn changes the way he lives as an adult. Some of his family rise above this and do not become as emotionally damaged as the boy did, and others take the abuse much worse.
NOW, was it is the color pink that was the culprit, or rather was it the way he was treated and the way he grew up?
Moe,
What is the difference between culture and race?
If an English person has a disdain for French people is that racist?
If an Indian hates a Pakistani is that racist?
If an American dislikes a Muslim is that racist?
If a white South African fears for their safety from black South Africans is that racist?
Forget all the poppycock about Racism = ignorance.... Look at reality - live in the situation and see if you can uphold the "purist" views. I bet you can't.
Edited by - gravedancer on 31 July 2002 7:26:21
I think NewWay & Gravedancer have the most insight into the subject. It is a more complex thing than to put little labels such as "ignorance", "fear", "hatred' on it & be correct. It is about culture and language. It is about the USA being founded by immigrants, Polish, Italian, German, Chinese, etc. who never asked the taxpayers to finance their assimilation & learning at least enough English to function. That is one reason the early immigrants successful and prosperous. It is about entering into a culture & not attempting to foist your own upon it. It is more about respect and appreciation of tradition.
Hence the quotation marks bucko """"""""""
Faraon,
Nice to see you around and thanks for the info. I was already aware that the WTS had, yet again, changed their 'teaching' about race. I can very vaguely remember, from when I was very young, that we still had segregated KHs. However, my point was that by the time I was old enough to pay attention to what was being taught, the teaching had shifted to acceptance of other races, which did act as a balancing factor between what I learned at home from my father and what I experienced at the Hall with my mother.
Dana
Edited to add:
The feeling was that all that work would only go to waste among Hispanics.PS to safe 4 kids:
How come it took over 110 years to get someone who was not an anglosaxon white to the governing body?
That type of attitude towards another race is disgusting! And it honestly doesn't surprise me, unfortunately. You won't have me arguing on the positive side of any issue for the JWs; that wasn't my point. It was merely that in my experience, subjective as it is, the ONLY place I received messages against racism was at the hall. Of course, most of us are aware of the WTS's ability to preach one thing, but do another.
Edited by - safe4kids on 31 July 2002 9:58:27
Hence the quotation marks bucko """"""""""
Quotation marks are not a substitute for providing a reference to the source. Next time you copy and paste a quote, it would be helpful - and ethical - if you could copy and paste the source too.
Why is it we are supposed to have the same warm fuzzy feelings towards those of different cultures over that of our own kindered? That doesn't make sense to me. While embracing your own, that is certainly no indication, or should'nt be, that the person doing so is racist at all.
That was a good point brought up by someone; how we have to check what nationality we are on a job application. If that's not "racist" according to the same rules the Fed feeds us, then I'll never know anything. But they are making the rules. Like the JW gov body, they can play both sides. So that's my opinion anyhow.
Truthfully, before all this pre-planned "racist" mess, I had more respect for diversity then I do now. Oh, I'm all for learning about different things, etc., but I do take offense at how the real hate monger pushes this garbage at me.
I'm sick and tired of some hypocrite, as I see them, defining words for me. Perhaps we ALL have a common enemy. What type of life form needs our fear, anger, and hatred to thrive upon. Is there such a thing as an 'alien' force amongst us that keeps shit stirred up? Yet that force appears as human as you or I...?
Sometimes I read to much, too. Gives me all sorts of food for thought. Back to my book.
Granny, (who suggest you attend different type meetings that might explain any groups particular agenda) sorta like going out and doing research. I enjoyed it for awhile, perhaps you would too.
I love people! especially, and even moreso, my grandchildren. My kin. My kind. My immortality...I've been rambling this afternoon.
luv
Bottom line, education
"Most educated people today don't believe that race is a determinant in ones intellect or intrinsic value to society."
Any truly "educated people" would not.
