It was another news article about a political figure (Sarah Palin) and her “racist code words” that got me started on ranting below the article in the comments section. A plucky person with the internet ID of GEO challenged my original statement, and below you see the course of the “debate” between the two of us on this issue. It begins with my first post in blue, and his replies in orange:
President Barak Obama used to talk about a post racial divide America in his 2008 campaign speeches. We’re seeing the result of nearly four years of President Barak Obama’s removal of racial division in this country. The liberal media and the Democrats manufacturing more artificial racial division than has existed in America since the 1960’s. It is like they are trying to convince themselves that nothing has changed since that time for minorities or women.
Paraphrasing Barak Obama in his third debate with Mitt Romney – “Wake up. The 1960’s want their racial politics back.”
Z,sounds like you have been under palin’s skirt,in the cave with her.
Geo,
While I do think Sarah Palin is an attractive middle aged woman, I don’t spend any time up her skirt. Her cave is in Alaska, and my cave is in West Virginia.
For the record I was born an raised in Illinois which President Barak Obama calls his home. Also for the record my wife is from the Philippines and my child is of mixed race.
That is why I think the liberals creating artificial racial outrage is such a stupid re-hashing of something which is long over in America except in their own minds. I have just as many friends with “minority” status as I do who are “not minorities”. A person’s race is not something I judge them over. Their values and behavior I am fairly judgemental about however.
I notice that insults are your chosen method of communication. I would like you to understand that they do little to upset me, and much more to show your lack of ability to address an issue with a measue of inteligence and respectful dialog.
I will thus judge you as just another liberal with no real knowledge, respect, or understanding of how to create a nation of racial unity. You’ll live for your argument of an artificial racial divide to justify your hatred of other people. I know you’ll feel smugly
superior that you told me off. I hope you enjoy that feeling, and the continued
division of artificial racial politics which are the hallmark of liberal thinking.
This racially divided thinking the liberals possess does them much more harm than it does those of us who look past race and evaluate people based on how they behave toward their fellows. I’ll address you with respect and as an adult, you may likely fail to achieve that same benchmark. Intelligent people will be able to see the difference between the two of us, and they will be able to judge accordingly who they would rather trust and believe.
If you don’t see racial divide it meens you are in a cave. You may not see it in yourself, but it is around you. In a way i am glad that you don’t have to suffer the reality of perception. Underwater you can think anything you want to believe.
Geo,
I agree in terms of seeing America as bitterly racially divided with no solution, then yes I am living in a cave in terms of viewing America that way. I don’t perceive a racial predjudice in most people I know regardless of their race. I am in a mixed marriage and my parents are fine with it, my relatives are fine with it, my friends are fine with it, my neighbors are fine with it, and my co-workers are fine with it. I have yet to hear anyone I know criticise my choosing to marry someone not of my own race.
You on the other hand seem to be like the liberal media carefully searching every word and inflection for the racial bias you just “know” has to be present in people with whom you don’t agree. My personal life experience has demonstrated much more intolerance and hate related speech on the part of liberals and Democrats than I have ever heard from the conservatives and Republicans I know.
I have seen Democrats promote race based policies instead of turning a blind eye toward
race. I have seen liberals call people of “minority” status the foulest racist names if they have conservative values. The remaining racists in America are much more concentrated in the liberal camp than the conservative camp in my experience.
Promoting the thought that a member of a “minority” needs federal government handouts because they are too weak to make a success of their lives without government assistance is the most insideous form of racism out there. It hands a crutch to “minorities” while patting them on the back and saying, “It isn’t your fault you can’t succeed. They are keeping you down.”
The truth of it is that conservatives understand the crutch and the fear mongering by liberals is what is keeping any “minority” down. Stop judging someone based on race. Give everyone the same opportunities to succeed without selecting to “assist” a few into a lifetime of dependence upon the federal government and the Democratic party largesse.
The problem I see is that liberals need to create a class of oppressed people in this country in order to have a chance to seize power and control of the national agenda. If everyone is doing well, then the basis for the liberal argument goes away. Real conservatives want everyone regardless of race, and regardless of gender to have the same opportunities in front of them. They don’t think you need to treat certain people as “disadvantaged”, and to guarantee they can not succeed to secure a political power base.
Look at history and some of the worst race based behavior has come from socialist movements and the Democratic party. Democrats were the party of the Confederacy and the KKK. The Nazis were a worker’s socialist movement in Germany. All of that is long past history now, but here the liberals and Democrats are trying to raise those
spectors in the minds of “minorities” while pointing the finger at conservatives.
My conservative values are pretty simple: the government like its people should live within its means. If you can not afford something frivolous, then you probably should not be borrowing from other people to obtain it. If you are judging someone based on anything other than their actions, then you are doing them a wrong.
I also believe that it is the job of the people to avoid the abuse of the people by their government. The US constitution was deliberately framed to separate the powers of the state and the national government. It furthermore split power three ways to prevent too much national power from residing within the hands of a few people. The bill of rights formed from the first ten amendments to the constitution are to limit the power of the government to interfere with people’s natural rights. They do not grant rights to the people which can later be removed at the will of the government.
That’s it. Pretty simple conservative values. Explain to me how that conservative philosophy of governance is racist if you will?
Wow,i sure din’t say anything like that. I am farther away from racist than you pal.where you got all that was from the coffee.i don’t hate you ,or anyone else. When i went to battle it was even for those racists you talk about.maybe you just can’t shut up long enough to think clearly.
Geo,
That is the crux of the liberal argument right there. They resort to telling people to “shut up” when they talk about the real problems and sources of racism in the country.
If you read my statement at no point did I say that you said anything like that. What I have said is that I have seen plenty of blatently obviously racist hate language come from more “liberals” than I ever have heard the supposed covert “secret code” hate language or any obvious racist hate language come from conservatives.
If you don’t believe me, then look at the horrible hate filled racist and sexist things “liberals” call conservative minority blogger Michelle Malkin on a daily basis. Look at the
language used by liberal media icons such as Bill Maher against conservative minority women like Mia Love, and tell me that is not racist or sexist language of the foulest nature. Anyone not on their side of the issue is cursed, called the foulest names, and treated as sub-human.
If that is your idea of a beacon of respect for minorities and women, then we don’t have much common ground to discuss this issue. If you are truly concerned about racism in America, I suggest you begin by addressing the blatent hate speech comming from within the liberal ranks first before hunting to find “secret code word” hate speech among the people with whom you most disagree.
In all truth, I doubt you really are concerned about racism in this country. I think like most
liberals you find it a useful tool to accuse others of racism in order to attempt to squelch their ability to exercise their freedom of speech. I think that the ability to raise the specter of racism to demonize a political opponent to prevent a “minority” from looking at their political options.
Why are “minorities” or women who “stray from the liberal reservation” treated with such
distain and hate speech?
The reason is because they may actually encourage others to stop being held down by the liberal agenda.
Like the gop,you can talk all day and not say a damn thing.lol. I guess you are
proud you are not a racist. That’s good, i am too.
I don’t have to be proud of my “lack” of racism. It is simply how I live my life. If you want racism to go away, looking for racism in every corner and every remark is the wrong way to go about achieving it. Just stop judging people on how they were born, and start judging people on how they act regardless of how they were born. If you can give someone a “pass” for their behavior because they are of a “minority” status that you wouldn’t give to someone from the “majority” group, then you are still acting in a racist manner. If you single someone out and say, “It’s ok you didn’t do as well as everyone else, because you are
“minority X” we’ll give you the job, or college admission instead of someone who
did better”, then it is still a racist action.
When you stop putting people into a “minority” status category, and start actually treating everyone as Americans who are judged by the same non-racial, non-gender, non-orientation, non-age, based standards, then you can say you are finally free from being
biased in a prejudicial manner in your thinking. When you start actually seeing people as people regardless of this other noise, then you can be proud of yourself for fifteen minutes. After that you can go about treating your fellow people as individuals who deserve respect without needing to pat yourself on the back about it.
The hardest part is to start by extending respect to the people you disagree with the most. Once you learn that, then the rest becomes rather easy.
By the way “Z,sounds like you have been under palin’s skirt,in the cave with her.” is not respectful, it is sexist and insulting to women, and it is typical of the double standards the liberal mindset has no problem overlooking. It makes you seem like you do have a ways to go in removing your overt bias, prejudice, and sexist way of thinking.
To me Sarah Palin is just another person. I don’t agree with her many times. Yet like with
President Barak Obama with whom I also tend to disagree with on many issues of public policy, I always extend him the courtesy of treating him like a person. I don’t call him names, and I don’t harbor hatred of him or his point of view. I do attempt to articulately describe where I disagree with his public policies, and his political practices.
As for whether I say a thing or not, my belief is that I am saying plenty. However I also believe that, frankly speaking, you lack the desire to understand anything I am saying. To my point of view that is not hurting me any, but you are the one who loses out when you fail to understand your fellow person and their perspective. I don’t require anyone to
agree with my point of view. Being able to adequately state and defend what your own point of view is would give me a much better chance of understanding your position.
Then again maybe you don’t care whether I understand you, or maybe you don’t have a thought out position you can actually state with any confidence. I’ll keep checking to see if you actually do.