lol this is where brandon, if you're true to your statements, can demonstrate that you're not a racist by admonishing this guy who clearly is...
Maybe cancer is eating out my brain, I am after all right now being treating for cancer....so who knows zzzzz, its possible. The reason I did not change the first post and just say I voted for him once, but added the PS was that It had been up awhile, I was sure people had read it and I did not think I should just take it down. So, here it goes for you once more if you really are interested: I'm pretty sure that in 2000 I voted for Bush, I'm also not entirely sure that by NOT voting for John Kerry in 2004 I did not caste a vote for Bush in much the same way that people who voted for Ralph Nadar in 2000 did. Get it? Brandon
I really dont know what you say to the guy. He has some point in that blacks had some culpability in the slave trade, but certainly no more so than us. Had we not been there to buy them, they probably would have killed their prisoners of war, or integrated them into their own cultures as often was the case as well. So, I don't take great offense to historical fact being presented. As for the second comment, I'm not sure what you can say. I would say that I hope that blacks and whites continue to intermerry and such as well because it will lead to learning more about each other and greater acceptance. For example, my grandfather was always very racist, and pretty vocal about it. When one of my cousins married a black woman he would not go to the wedding. When my sister started to date a black guy he was really pissed off, I thought he was gonna have a stroke...however, he was @ our house one day and Breann and Que came by. Que's about the funniest guy you ever met in your life, and as my grandpa was getting ready to storm out he said something that caught Grandpa's attention and then they started to talk. He stayed all day, and I thought by the end of the day my grandpa was gonna have a stroke from laughing so hard. When Bre and Que left he goes well that was the nicest and most decent black fellow I ever met, if they where all like that....and my mom said "so dad, how many have you met in your life?" Three! Great, and he probably acted like an asshole when he met them, so of course neither side would have had a good experiance. In any case, long story short when my grandpa did finally die he had met a number of blacks, the man he ended up being best friends with, going to the senior center, the railroad depot and fishing with all the time, for the last year and a half of his life was black. He made a ton of progress because of "a black mans "fixation" on one of our blonde blue eyed Norweigan girls", and so what? It was a great lesson for my grandfather, he got rid of hate in his heart that had no business being there in the first place and my sister has a man and a second family who is great to her.
I do understand that, but I also think that things need to be taken in context. When my grandfather started to refer to blacks as colored folk, it was a hell of an improvement from niggers and monkey's. Most of us where very happy when it did happen, and when he was referring to them as colored he ment no offense what so ever. He grew up in a time and place that blacks were refered to as the above and worse, a time when a black man who'd have even looked at his blonde haired and blue eyed granddaughter would have at the very least been chased out of town, and likely killed..and not only that not a damn thing would have been done about it and no one would care, except in their tact approval of it. Racist thoughts and ideas where everyplace in the society he grew up in, in your family and in the popular culture when it was seen great entertainment to make fun of different ethnic groups and such..hell this went on as recently as Archie Bunker, so it wasnt that long ago (can you imagine if All in the Family was on TV today, everyone associated with that show would have to have armed security with them 24/7). Anyway, my point in starting this entire thread was that context is, at least in my opinion, important. That you should understand where the person who is saying something is coming from. If you don't take the time to do that, you are being just as "intollerant and ignorant" as that which you profess to oppose. Brandon
it sounds like you're obviously ok with black people, etc... in the case of that guy, i think it was pretty clear from his wording in expressing his hope that they'll eventually dissapear that he means something entirely different from your very.. um, kind interpretation of his intent. it's curious to me that you chose to smooth his comment over rather than acknowledge its pretty overt racism
Why is that his responsibility? He doesn't have to prove anything to you. Why do you feel it necessary to go around parsing other people's words for something to be offended about? They guy was making a joke about intermarriage, not advocating genocide.
This is why discussions of these matters can be so difficult, because people come into them with very strong beliefs and they hear/read what they already expected to hear/read so no progress is made by either side. So, I'll try to be clear. I made no attempt to smooth over neophytes comments, I was only stating my own view. Given what he wrote, I'm under no illussions that he shares my beliefs. His probably are much closer to what my grandfathers had been and are in pretty direct opposition to what I think. Taking his one post and forming an opinion of neophyte I would have to say that he is obviously racist, probably has very little experiance with blacks except for having to listen to the Rev Al jack his jaws. If this impression is true, then I hope with time his ideas change. All of this should be taken in the context of it occuring on the Internet, where you can not see a person which will also give you a lot of clues as to what they "really mean". More on context I guess, which..well never mind. Brandon
I refer to black people as "Black Guy" or Black Woman" if I can't otherwise make it clear who I am referring to in a sentence. When speaking directly to a black person I will use their name if I know it otherwise it might be just some attention getting phrase to initiate conversation like "Excuse me... but can you tell me ...", not a bit different than a white person IOW, it's just a common etiquette convention used by civilized people the world over.... Politically, I feel that blacks in the US are being offered a huge token payment for their resent against whities in the form of legal superiority and the freedom to vent anger anytime and place they so choose. They should wake up and realize that it is a TOKEN payment and the only way they are going to get significant payments is to own a business or have a career...
'hopefully ... they'll eventually dissapear' you seem to be trying to pretend that expressing hope that a race dissapears isn't racist because it was stated in amusement wrt to responsibility. he has none to me. i was just pointing out an opportunity it sounded like he would want to take - to differentiate his views from that of an obvious racist latching onto his thread. and he eventually did. brandon clarified his position on racism