Quote:
|
Originally Posted by !@#$%!
but that's the flag of self-defeat. resentment is toxic and addictive. it leads to self-destruction.
and i'm not after polite conversation, i'm after some kind of "truth," which in order to be pursued requires openness to other points of view. i'm not threatened by "other" ideas and over the years i've changed my position on a lot of issues because i discover and see new things. being open-minded is not being a sellout. and braying in anger only makes one's ideas look ridiculous which is why i laughed the other day. obama explained it better.
|
It can be, that is true, but if you don't get up in racist peoples' ear, when will they if ever come to the realization of the Truth? Being nice politics are not exactly nice yo!
Quote:
|
so, in short-- your racialized ideology is doomed to fail because it perpetuates self-destructive resentment and the shirking of responsibility by externalizing all blame to an abstract "white man."
|
That is where you have it wrong. Its not about casting or castigating blame, its about working to build and establish solutions. Again, by working in public education to alleviate the gap, by working in local government to shift the racialization in the opposite direction, and by working with our neighbors in the civic community towards harmonization. Its not about wasting time pointing the finger, but conversely its NOT about pretending there is no problem, when again, its quite apparent there is.
Quote:
IT'S A WASTE OF TIME. it's better to spend one's time making something useful rather than holding on to ancient grudges.
|
Who has a grudge? Again, its about building towards the future, not dwelling on the past. In the history we have horrifying racism, today, not as much. However, today we STILL have racism in our economy, in our politics, in education, and in our society. So its not an anachronism to continue to work against this. Its not ancient, its completely contemporary. If you can't see this fact, that all the more simply goes to prove the point doesn't it, that advocacy and awareness are still important, that we need to continue to have this national and local dialogue, and that we can't sweep this mess under the rug. The LA Uprising in 1992 was the result of sweeping the problem under the rug. The eruption of gang violence here in LA was a direct retaliatory response to the racial gaps in the LA economy, politics, and education. The city took brown and black folks kindness for weakness, promising education and community reform, promising to invest in the poor and minority neighborhoods. Instead they CUT school funding even more, imposed gang injunctions in every neighborhood, and carted off more-or-less 200,000 people into prison to temporary resolve the problem. There is still a problem, the question is, will we work to solve it, or continue in the status quo with a shoulder shrug approach..
Quote:
|
and yes, i see racism every day, even coming from "nice people", but that's not an excuse to fuck up or stop working or to waste life in anger. or to think that *everything is about race*.
|
Who stopped working, or is wasting life, or fucking up simply by pointing out and discussing the realities of our society? Further, just because everything isn't about race, doesn't mean we should stop talking about it simply to be nice.