I think that people hire who they are comfortable with or their friends especially if it is their own business. That isn't that big of a deal, IMO. The problem that had to be addressed was the fact that many companies simply would not hire minorities. Hell, many school districts refused to admit minorities and stores would let them shop there. The fact is that there are still people in America would wouldn't hire a minority unless they were forced to. Because our law protects everyone equally regardless of race, creed or color, we have a responsibility to make sure that people are not discriminated against solely on the basis of race. The very changes in those laws has resulted in a tremendous amount of changes in our society. While a racial slur wasn't considered a big deal for more than 100 years, the changes in law helped to bring about the changes in society that made a racial slur today seem pretty awful. That only took 30 years. The point is that those who are in power have to be willing to take a stance that may not necessarily be popular to lead others down a path that is just. Ultimately, change is painful, but inevitable.
i'm sitting here filling out all these college applications and every one of them asks my race..... i'm sitting here thinking what does it matter..
Because in many schools if you are a minority, it helps you get in. As for Spike Lee, he is one of the very few directors who explores racism, the human psyche, and emotions. He is opinionated and brilliant filmaker. Films to see: Jungle Fever Do the Right Thing Bamboozled Also on racism. I am a racist. I am a minority. I am not a huge racist, but I laugh at racist jokes, negatively stereotype races etc. I try to better myself...but I'm not swimming in self pity over the fact that I am. In a way, I think we all are racists to a certain extent. I think what is more important is how we learn how to deal with it: how we think, our emotions, and especially how we act on it. I have close friends of many races...but that really doesn't mean jack. I grow weary of people using friends as THE reason why they are sure they are not racist. When I'm on Navigation in the Wards visiting friends I am very weary. When a black man approaches me there, I am holding on to my desert eagle. I've met a lot of Jewish people in my life and still don't understand the jokes about being stingy. Is it really that blatant? From my experiences and from friends experiences, tipping was always on a color curve: the darker your skin is, the less you tip. The exception to that was if the waiter/delivery boy/person doing the service was of the same skin color. These are racist remarks, but that is stuff I've experienced in life...and I've been victimized too. Racism is bad, but I just don't know...I think if people in general were more kind hearted and caring, racism wouldn't lead to all the trouble that it has.
Wrong! We are all prejudice to a certain degree, but definitely not racist. People that hate, despise or look down on other people because of their race are racists. It is human nature to have prejudices. The key is to know whether those prejudices are right or wrong as a human being. That is a very ignorant statement. As a waiter I can speak from experience that in certain restaurants this can be the case, but in others it is not a factor. I've waited on white people that tip great and some that I've called white trash afterwards because they either don't care or are to ignorant to know what to tip. The same goes with black people I have waited on. I waited on Othella Harrington before. He gave me $2 on a $40 tab. Another time I waited on three young black men that were being very demanding and all thugged out and I expected little tip if any. I ended up getting $30 from them on a $70 tab. I've also seen black friends that are waiters get crappy tips from their black customers. The point is there is ALWAYS an exception.
I guess we are all prejudice in ways then. You are right, there is always an exception....but does that mean it is wrong to say things generally happen like so? I guess I am ignorant, for my lilfe experiences definintely do not make up the whole world. But I've worked for Pizza Hut and Papa Johns and at a Restaurant. I worked in the ghetto and in nice neighborhoods. I'm just stating trends and statistics and that's the way things are. Shaq tips well and so does Spencer Tillman...but then there are hundreds of blacks who don't. Indians don't tip either (in general). And many whites don't tip...but even in the ghetto, more whites tip than blacks (again, this is a general statement from my and coworkers experiences). I am ignorant, but hell, it's not like I'm making up stories and all this didn't happen. Back to my original point: I don't think any of this is a big deal as long as we are working to improve ourselves...like being less prejudice and just getting to know people better.
I think it is. I laugh at jokes about white people when guys like Dave Chapelle and Chris Rock make them. I don't feel offended. Some people are just overly sensitive. If a joke really bothers you, tell the person, otherwise, just laugh or ignore it or whatever, but we do not need the PC police running around saying so and so made a racist remark/joke. It is all this hyper-sensitivity that allows the problem of racism to fester, IMO. I mean, it isn't like we have many of the things that the civil rights movement was fighting against anymore (segregated schools, whites only resaurants, etc.)
How long ago was that black man dragged to death behind a truck? How long ago was it that the NYPD shoved a plunger up a black mans butt? How long ago was Rodney King beaten on film? Racism is not gone, you dumbass. Its all hidden under the thin veil of 'just joking,' and 'don't be so sensitive.'
kim.. i know.. and it kinda upsets me because i've worked my butt off for years and many of the competitive schools i'm applying to i will probably be right on the borderline of getting in or not getting in.. just makes me mad that my race could cost me the spot
I've been seeing a lot of posts saying that we don't have segregated places like schools and stuff like that but the truth is they are still segregated to an extent just not by law.
We are a society of convenience. If we're fat, we want a pill or surgery to fix it when, in reality, the best solution is just eating better and exercising. We want to drive huge vehicles even though they may not fit the streets or waste tons of fuel or pollute the air we breathe. We want simple solutions to complex problems and demand convenience at every turn. Prejudice is an easy solution to a complex problem. The fact is there are assholes everywhere and of every race and color. By having a preconceived notion about a person simply because of what we have heard about them or found to be true in our very limited life experience, we are just trying to take the easy route. The hard thing to do is to treat every individual as an individual and see everyone as simply unique and interesting rather than invoking some stereotypical thinking pattern. But, that isn't easy and most of us want easy.
This has been a really fun thread, I love the debating and you guys are great at it. So here we go. It wasnt the fact that it was so terrible that he said the joke. I think racial jokes are funny. I think racial jokes about white people are funny. I just find it odd that there is a blatant double standard about how white people are treated when they make comments about other races and how minorities are treated when they make comments about other races or even their own race. For example, black people can say ****** a million times and use the term very openly but no other race can. Get a rap CD and count how many times it is used. I think the word is terrible. I think that the origin of the word is horrible. So why trivialize the word by using it so commonplace. The problem is not what it used to be and I think that the law is outdated. I do not want anyone to be discriminated against because of their color but I think that it is ridiculous to have to hire less qualified people because you have to have a certain number of minorities. I think that who ever is the most qualified should get the job regardless of race. Race shouldnt be a factor. Equality shouldnt just be for the good things. Being equal is in every way. I am not trying to trivialize these events but racism is not as wide spread as it use to be. Those incidents were brutal and were useless and those people should be severely punished. The media also blows these incidents out of proportion and I can already hear everyone saying that I am apart of the problem and not the solution because I feel this way. When a minority kills a white person or another minority it is not covered the same way. Why is it that when gang members kill each other we dont have the same outcry? You watch the news and we hear about killings daily and unless it is brutal or racial no one cares.
Disproportions will always exist in a society in which free will and individualism are not oppressed; We do not conform to statistics. Speaking of oppression, I'm listening to Shostakovich
<B>I do not want anyone to be discriminated against because of their color but I think that it is ridiculous to have to hire less qualified people because you have to have a certain number of minorities</B> I'm not a big fan of affirmative action, but quotas as you described are already illegal.
Again, pardon my ignorance, but I am still not clear on why there are so many jokes about Jews being cheap? I've met Jewish people in my lifetime...I guess situations just don't arise in my circumstances. I think the first joke about Jews being stingy, I heard when I was 13 or so...and I've heard a bunch ever since. So why do these jokes exist? Is it true? Are Jews cheap? Is it anti-semitism? Cause like I'm one of the cheapest people around, and once in a while I get this "are you Jewish" quib at me followed by a giggle. Rocket Fan...just write down that you're hispanic or something. I have a buddy that got a full ride b/c he looked hispanic and said he was hispanic but he isn't.
Just because some psychos use race as an excuse for doing horrible things, doesn't mean that everything related to race must be horrible. Besides, Rodney King attacked some cops and got beat down. The moral is not about race, its about not getting all jacked up on coke and attacking cops. I am not denying the existence of racism in the United States. Unfortunately you do not seem to be seeing the vast chasm between telling jokes and killing people. I also noticed that all of your examples were about racism toward black people, despite my post being about black comedians making "racist" jokes about white people. Maybe a little bit of your racism is showing through. Please try to realize the huge difference between institutionalized racism, which all of my examples were indicative of, and individual racists, which will not go away no matter how many jokes you and your PC Gestapo stamp out. Or you can ignore what I am posting and come back and call me a dumbass again.
<b>RM95</b>:" Also, racism was widely accepted in our society as little as 40 years ago...hell, RichRocket's been around a lot longer than that!!" <b>RR</b>: What's up with this!!! Merry Christmas to you, my fiend....
What does this mean? Maybe in your totally skewed and completely warped view that is the moral. Personally I'm suprised you can spell 'moral' with an opinion like this. In what cave did you grow up that you think its NOT INSTITUTIONALIZED RACISM when multiple cops continually beat an unarmed and defenseless man, and none of the over TEN cops on the scene stopped it. The fact that he was out of it is completely irrelevant at the point they had him face down on the blacktop, handcuffed, and continued to beat him. It is not moral or even close to legal (which can be a lesser standard than morality) to do that. It is completely inconsistent with everything this country is SUPPOSED to be about. The moral is that a minority has to fear a lack of equality not only in their day to day encounters with other citizens, but with the very institutions that should be at the forefront of equal protection, especially the police. No, I do not think you should put someone is jail for telling a racist joke. Yes, I do think you should put someone in jail for killing people. Yes, I do think there is a difference IN DEGREE. But in principle a racist action is deplorable, and the degree of offense is something to be considered in response...However, the action, whether a joke or a killing should be condemned. Bad is bad. When we say we have 'morality' we are saying we determine some things to be good and some to be bad. Racism is always BAD. There is never an instance when it is good. NAME ONE EXAMPLE where racism is GOOD. I don't think there is one. It is unnecessary, it is hurtful, it erects barriers between people, it leads people with less self control or moral balance to act on their racism and ALL OF THAT is bad. What kind of nonsense is this? I'm racist because I say racism is bad? That is a completely incoherent argument. This whole thread is about a black man (Ali) that made a Jewish joke, which I condemned. Get you head out of your ass. In addition, when a minority, who is oppressed by the system, tries to take power BACK by using rhetoric as a tool to get power it is not equivalent to an oppressor using rhetoric to dehumanize, and maintain an unequal power relationship. But is racism in all its forms bad? Yes. Individual racists are only components of the overarching racist sentiment allowed and condoned by our society. If you, as an individual, reject racism in all its forms whenever you see it, you can have an effect. You CAN stop racism. If you are in a group of friends and they tell a racist joke, you should say "Hey, that isn't funny. I'm not going to hang out with you if you keep that up." If you are hanging with good people they'll respect that. The more people that lose their fear of rejection and stand up for the greater good, the sooner we can move beyond the ignorance that pervades our society in the form of racism and sexism. You just aren't getting it. You think we should only condemn the 'psycho' actions without realizing that no one starts out as a racist murderer. They start out on a steady diet of jokes and jibes that degrade another race or sex. They learn through this repetition of rhetoric that those that are not like us are LESS than us. They are monkeys, they are stupid, they cannot be trusted, they are cheap, they are drunks, they are thieves, they are unclean, they are immoral, they are less than human. So if you condone the lesser forms of racism, if you show your approval ("haha, hey man, that was reaaaaaallly funny") by giving a positive response instead of a negative one ("Hey man, that was not funny") you contribute just as much to the 'psycho's' action as the parent who teaches outright racial hatred. You just do it in a more incremental and insidious manner. Wrong. I can do both, come back and answer what you are posting, and then call you a dumbass. You are a dumbass.
