omega 616 said:
Racism is still something that is a huge part of society. We are marching steadily away from hatred of that calibre though, things like gay people getting married etc shows that we are moving forward.
I think as long as black people still say "nigga" racism will still be there. I remember watching a youtube clips of the view and this black was getting all uppity 'cos this old white woman said "******" while reading the headline but was okay with Whoopy Goldberg saying "nigga" even though they both pronounced it the same... She even said "I know she doesn't mean anything by it but it's just something about a white woman saying it".
Then you have black comics, Dave Chappell (did I spell that wrongly? ), Kate Williams and Martin Lawrence off the top of my head all do "you know how white people are different to nigga" jokes... Only heard one guy even come close to jokes of that nature, Louis C. K who says "I'm not saying whites are better but it's clearly better to be white".
Eminem said "a lot of truths are told in jest" although I probably messed up the quote and attributed it to the wrong person.
Speaking of rappers, how often do black rappers say "nigga"?
I think if you want to get rid of racism you need to stop using words that are related to heavily racist things and stop trying to separate and try to unite.
This type of thinking is very, very interesting to me. As it's giving more power to words than actually they have. '******' didn't cause racism, it came out of racism. Lessened Racism didn't happen because we had laws that said 'Lulz, be good to one another now'. Lessened Racism happened because children were forced with other children and they came to find out that even if they were different, they were still people who could be really good friends.
Saying that a word has that much power is akin to going back to those children, pointing to the black friend and saying ******, and thinking magically the non black friend will start to see a witch or something. That's probably not going to happen. That non black friend will look at you and say 'No, that's my friend'.
This type of thinking is essentially a cop out. It's not my fault I think A, because those people who are A say that they are A. I'll ask you and I'll ask everyone... What is a ******? What does the term mean? This will be an interesting discussion if it happens, because it will bring out some well hidden biases on their part. And it wouldn't be your fault. It's how you were taught.
Finally, I'm sick and tired of people blaming the n-word with the schism between races. It's so simply ignorant, I'm ashamed that I even have to type anything about it. But I do, because a lot of people have this belief.
I'm sure we all know a woman or two in our lives. And I'm sure we've heard them talk on an occasion. The frequency that I've heard my female friends (of all races) call their friends 'bitches' is astounding. We have bumper stickers and t-shirts that proudly proclaim them to be the queen bitches. They call themselves Bitches as a term or to let you know that you don't mess with her because she is the baddest ***** you'll ever meet.
And
no one says that Men and Women can't get along because women call themselves bitches and we can't. There's a Reason I asked about what ****** means. Because it has no different definition than the word *****. ****** is a derogatory word aimed at black people, with the roots coming from the spanish language for their word for black (negro). ***** is a derogatory word aimed at women, with the original meaning being 'a female hound'. Both now are pejoratives aimed at their group... But the difference splits with people's mindsets.
A woman will say she's not a *****, she's an outstanding young lady. People nod their heads and say that she's right. She holds herself well. A black person will say he or she is not a ******, he or she is well spoken, educated, and never used the word. People will look at each other curiously, and go '... Well, come on. All that's true, but still... you ARE black, you know'.
That's the problem here. It's not that blacks use pejoratives. It's that people still equate their understanding of blacks based on what that term means to them, which is essentially 'A black person at his natural state'.
Here's a
Better Example of why this doesn't work. The freaking 90's. We spent Millions of dollars on campaigns and tv shows to let me know that I'm no longer black. I'm African American. A nicer term, I'll admit. I liked the sound of it. And for an entire decade, we said this was the only proper way to refer to one another.
And what happened? People said 'No, they are black'. THEY didn't want to change their thinking, even when a new term was given by the government, by the social movement of the time, and by wide eyed people who wanted to show that they were better than the terms that people gave their ancestors. No one budged. No one cared. Blacks were still the same thing in their eyes. So, if terms had that much power and given that most blacks really mainstream adopted calling each other '******' in the 90's (believe me, I'm black. and I grew up in the 80's. Calling a black person a ****** back then even if you were a black person was a problem), How come one won out over the other?
People said each term with equal frequency. Hell, if you count media, Blacks were called African American more. We say rappers spread nigga. That's so true. but then we had movies (that showed people losing their shit over that term), tv shows educating us, children's shows trying to cement african american in their young minds... To ignore the tidal wave of African American being shoved down our throats, and to look at one small segment of media and say 'Ok, we'll listen to those guys' shows a lot of bias. And ignorance. In all accounts.
The term isn't the problem. It's the acceptance of the term. It's believing at the root of the matter, the term is the only descriptor. People have been calling themselves different terms since America has began. Since Nations began. But it's the people are large, those in power, who really get to set the stage. I wore African American proud, and people in power said bullshit you're black. Womyn (remember that?) was created because women stated they should have their own word without the inclusion of 'man. The People are large said nope, you were born women, you'll stay women.
Terms are meaningless without general acceptance. It just gives voice to a mindset deep within us. You get rid of ****** today, and people will still say it in their hearts. It won't be ******, of course. Until the new word comes, they'll just be the ominous '
them'.
Angie7F said:
i cant help but wonder, if this is such a big problem, then those who are discriminated against should boycott the area and move.
We're usually talking about the poorest of the poor. Also, there's logic to staying.
What's to stop it from happening somewhere else. Every moment needs a something to look towards as a success. If those people in Alabama said "enough of this crap, we're leaving"... Not only did the racists win, but with the internet they can proudly proclaim their victory, rallying other like minded people to be horrible to those they don't like to get them to move.
Eventually, people get old. It's sad, but it's true. And their children are exposed to yours. some will hold onto the beliefs their parents taught them, some will not. You stay and you fight for those who do not. For the betterment of your children. You don't teach them to run and hope it's better somewhere else.
Deshara said:
Implying that we're civilized...
Keep in mind that this is the country where not only are people walking into schools with guns and killing people's children a thing, but it happening sparks no change.
Children not getting shot to death in elementary schools<nra's profit margin.
Not civilized.
EDIT: Oh, and let's not forget how this year we all found out that running a minor down in the street with a gun in hand and shooting them to death isn't murder if your victim's black and therefor a dangerous hoodlum
I'm with you on your edit, but just because we have faulty people in our ranks does not mean we aren't civilized. Every animal species have those members who are overly aggressive, those who are timid, those who just walk the path. We are animals. We will have variations. And it's that knowledge that keeps us needing protection.
Psychopaths are a thing not because we didn't structure society correctly, just that people's natural wiring does not allow for the idea of following societal norms. You can't breed that out. You can't reteach those people. Those people are lost. What do we do with them? Lock them up? What do we do with the hundreds, thousands, damn near millions we don't know of because they don't have the money or the support to get tested? Hope and pray that they don't find us?
We don't have millions of school shootings (thank all that is Sciencey and Holy) because it's not in our civilized programming to do so. I mean, that is the barrier we have. But it only work for those with the mindset to follow our civilization. Now, I could probably fight off a psychopath if I have enough warning and on a good day... But can the average person? female? disabled person? What are they to use against someone who's 6'2/183 cm and 215 lbs/97.5 kg (my measurements)?
There are predators within every species who hunt everything. Including their own species. We are doing ourselves a disservice to believe that humans should be the only creatures alive that shouldn't do that to ourselves.
