enter the gurton

Neil joins the fray with style. It’s that mess down in the States right now that’s causing racism to surge into the forefront of our consciousness again. I like it.

A friend recently returned from a visit to the States. She said there is a palpable tension there between whites and blacks. Sad. Sad and stoopid. It’s exactly like Neil pointed out when he mentioned his Greek friend who hates Turks. She doesn’t know why, it’s just how she was raised. I have such a fountain of contempt for that! Do us a favour and don’t breed!

Yes, I go too far there. I have no idea who this person is and I’d bet pretty safe money that in spite of her casual racism she’s otherwise a good and decent person. Let me amend my comment to “do us a favour and open your frickin’ mind!” Better?

See, there’s no reason to harbour racist thoughts. No one is any better than anyone else. There are biological differences that make certain generalities reasonably safe, but it’s absolutely unforgivable to pre-judge (read: prejudice) anyone or any group.

I cringe when someone says, offhand and without malice, that there are a lot of East Indians in such and such neighbourhood. Or that suburb is full of Asians. I mean, so what? Why should it even occur to you to make such a comment? Sure, you could counter by saying it’s perfectly acceptable to say there are a lot of old people in Victoria, and you’re not wrong. But you’re not right, either. You’re missing my point. Stop being obtuse! Obdurate? Stop being an ‘ob’ word!

It’s the prejudging that’s wrong. It’s the connections you make in your mind without basis in fact that drag us all down.

Look in a mirror. See that person? Well, what do you imagine other people see when they look at you? It’s a sure thing they don’t see what you see. You’ve been around you for a long time and you probably know yourself reasonably well. Well enough to pick you out of a police lineup anyway. But everyone else? They see what they’ve been programmed to see. They see someone who, to them, is nothing more than a conglomeration of impressions of other people they knew before you came along. Or didn’t know.

I’m saying we can’t help a certain amount of pre-judging. It’s in our nature to establish familiar patterns as quickly as possible. We incorporate information from past experience into the present, and there’s nothing wrong with that for the most part. It’s a huge part of that ability to survive that got us this far.

But. When you see a young black man walk out of a music store, do you assume he’s got the latest Raw Nigga cd in the bag? Do you assume he’s probably got two more in his jacket that he didn’t pay for? Do you assume that’s his lowrider in the parking lot?

Do you assume he smokes dope and comes from a broken home in Da Hood?

Most likely you don’t. Most likely you aren’t particularly prejudiced. I think just the fact that you’re reading this is a pretty good indicator that you’re a fairly smart and open-minded individual. But then, I’m prejudging.

Neil talks about how a girl was giving him a hard time about him calling his buddy black. This is something that’s given us a lot of grief over the past few years of ‘enlightened’ PC thinking. As far as I’m concerned, any given group is perfectly entitled to present its own acceptable identity. If the black crowd as a general rule is content to be referred to as black, then the rest of the world should shut the hell up and get over it. Don’t know how to refer to somebody in the third person? Ask them, I guess. I asked Aaron if he had any preference between ‘Jewish’ and ‘a Jew’ and he doesn’t. I dunno. *shrug*

How about you all sound off and tell me how you’d like to be referred to in the third person? Personally I don’t know. You tell me. It’s not really something us SWMs struggle with.

K, just so we’re clear on one thing- ignorance is worthy of my utmost contempt. If you endorse racial prejudice then there is no place for you in my world. You don’t deserve it. You are small-minded and afraid. And yes- if you turn that around and open your mind then I will welcome you as a brother. The book is never closed. That’s part of it, you see.

Neil- welcome to blogland. Good start. Hope you keep ’em coming. I like yer moxie!