One man's conservative view Sorry, I was called a blatant racist a few weeks ago, and I'd like to ring in here rather than the "hangout." I've also noticed that I've shoved a lot more of my views in here, so I felt it necessary to change the title..... And, apparantly, the title can't be changed... Damned clutchy's! I can honestly say that I've, for the past twenty years been with people who constantly degrade and belittle each other. Every now and then, we'll have someone say "stop it." But it is what I've known for the past twenty years. ie. I'm an a-hole to everyone off the board, as well. That said, I've always been opinionated about a TON of things, but race hasn't ever been one. Hell, When I grew up in Baytown, Texas, all I recall was that no matter what the size of the dark guy was, he could kick my ass. Then again, I got my ass kicked a lot back then. And it didn't matter the color. I just got whooped by everyone. I was a nerd. The only time I ever heard the "N" word (as a child)was when my parents were watching "Roots." To be honest, I personally feel that the media has a lot to do today with the animosity towards anyone. I certainly didn't have any towards any when I was a child. Hell, my Mentor, Mr. Glover, when I was 5-8, was black. At that age, at least in my opinion, you don't see a difference. To me, the media made it worse. I KNOW those who don't recall history are doomed to repeat it themselves, but as children, all we are are kids. We see dark as much as we see orange. This country is such a melting pot that if the adults would just shut up for one generation, imagine what it would do. Y'all know I'm a conservative, but this is something I'll take a stand for, if anyone is with me. Media needs to shut up. People need to shut up. Fix what is broken first and whine later. ie. When your car's axle is broken, you don't complain about the power steering! I'll say this people. Whether you like it or not, integration should have been done, and, as conservative as I am, I want money POURED into PRIVATE schools for underpriveledged youths. There are billions of dollars going into a "NEW" fund" that Perry and his cohorts don't want you to know about. Either stop it, or make it fund #1: PUBLIC TRANSPORT #2: FUNDING FOR PRIVATE SCHOOLING for any underprived kid who is honestly smart enough after 3rd grade. Saddest part is that I'm editing what I said earlier. You should be able to make fun of your friends regardless of color, and when someone tells you a derogatory joke about that persons race, you should be the one to tell them. Regardless, the funniest jokes are derogatory. At least to layman comedians. Refried beans? Sabbath? NASA? Ray Charles? I can keep going, but the day I throw every derogatory joke I know on every race (and I KNOW jew jokes, right RM Tex?) I'll get booted. Not a sad part here yet, but hopefully it will be. After all, we're all the same guy sitting in gym one day going "I don't feel like climbing the rope today. The girls are doing gymnastics over on the side!) And, if you're lucky, you'll get transferred to a new school the next year.,.. edit: Dems: Please don't argue with what I'm saying. Go with constructive criticism. I know this board sees a name and goes ballistic. I'm trying here. This is something I politically believe in. Whilst I have not the political pushing you may expect, if I can get enough on this idea, we may all have something.... Much as some may dislike Al Gore, and think his research is bogus, it is time we find a cleaner fuel. Much as y'all may dislike me, it is time we stop racism in this country, and by doing this, give every impoverished family a ONE-TIME Stipend of college education. We can't honestly do that for people who pop out 1 child a year for money purposes. And not to get on a high-horse, because I do believe I am compromising, the last democratic leader was FDR, who I would take back in a heartbeat, were he alive. He MADE work for people. He didn't give handouts. Why do y'all feel so strongly about giving needy handouts? Or you can all call me a jack-ass.
Fatty, I'm not quite sure about your rambling rant here, but you sorta made one point. This country hates being PC because we try to ignore race as if we should be invisible to it. WRONG. We should embrace our differences ...not ignore them. Traveling to other countries, I see their citizens actually know something about people that don't look like themselves. ...and when you can actually say something somewhat intelligent about somebody else, you're likely to not sound like an ignorant fool. In this country, folks LOVE to talk about crap they really know nothing about and therefore end-up making themselves look like idiots (ahem ...Imus). So to tie in your rant, if you know something about the subject matter of your joke, then you can probably make the joke in a non-offensive mannor. But you are completely ignorant about the subject, then you should just tell yourself NOT to make that joke ...cause inevitably you'll sound like an a-hole. For example, in this country, everybody loves to make jokes about Jamaicans. ...and usually involves a really bad accent with smoking a joint. Anybody who makes this joke, obviously knows NOTHING about Jamaica. Many Canadians I've met, actually understand the country and don't sound like fools when talking about the country. {/end rant}
Any white conservative is partially racist based on political and issue-based beliefs to a lot of the internet liberals. Since Al Gore created the internet (sic), they feel the need to overrun every forum in our digital world with their propaganda. The sad thing though, is that the conservative party has betrayed conservative beliefs, and so we are left waiting for someone to come restore the fire. Sadly it is no one that will run and that includes Fred Thompson. I will vote for whoever runs on the Rep ticket, but I am not a fan. I guess John McCain will be ok. I just don't want Hellary.
Hence the reason we should not attempt to ignore race ...we should celebrate our differences. People who say "I don't see color" are fooling themselves. It's perfectly okay to see and acknowledge that somebody is a different race. ...and you know what, it's okay to talk about it too. It's just not okay to sound like an idiot. So if you don't know what you are talking about ...just don't say anything.
My buddy is getting married at the end of December. He and his girl are both black. Not only am I in the wedding, I'm the ONLY white guy in the entire wedding party, and I can't wait. I've been telling everyone, including all the rest of the wedding party, how much I can't wait. I love being the minority in such scenarios. Its really not all that different for me than when some English friends got married in London. I was the only American present. Or when my Mexican friend got married here in Houston. White folks like myself were in the minority there, as well. I have family up north. Yankees are all crazy. It was all great fun. In simplest terms, its fun to be witness to, and participate in, another culture, particularly in happy, celebratory times. I'm confused as to what Fatty's original point is/was. I do agree that we need to celebrate and embrace our differences. Anyway. Carry on. [/personal story segment]
I caught a couple of episodes of the Chappelle show last night for a bit. It was the episode with the racial draft followed with the one testing the dancing abilities of different races in relation to different musical instruments.
Fatty here: I went to Harlem and Bowie for elementary, and went to Cedar Bayou JH before I went to Alaska. Why? Oh, and, had I gone to HS there, I was zoned to Sterling. But my best friend at the time's dad was the head coach at Lee, so who knows.
Wait, people have color? I always thought they were all the same. Oh a serous note, as a kid I've always thought that all people are all the same. I used to get in an argument with my best friend because he's say someone is white and someone is black and I"m like noooo people are all brown, just slightly different shades. Then he'd get all crazy because apparently I don't see any color. Maybe that's just me to the extreme. I actually used to judge people by their hair (fro, straight, curly, etc). Does that make me a hairist? Also, my ex gf from high school never really noticed Asians until I (who was big on the whole Asian Pride bs) starting talking Asian this Asian that. She only saw black and white in people. I find that very weird.
Exactly. Somehow in this country we translated: "We should treat all people as equal" into "We should not even notice the differences between people." ...and that's the BS part of it. People with differing backgrounds are PROUD of their heritage. If you treat them just like yourself (say, treat them like a white person assuming you are white), then you are essentially ignoring a huge part of their personal identity. So if we stop ignoring people's heritage, then we'll begin to really learn something about other people. ...and to tie in Fatty's thread, if you actually know something about the subject of your joke, then you can probably make a joke about other people in a non-offensive mannor.
Fatty; If you the point of your post was that you are upset that you can't make racial jokes with close friends I don't think anyone but them is stopping you. Racial jokes like everything else is a matter of context and what passes on between your friends might not pass for what passes in the wider public. For instance you and your friends might talk about women's breast and what you would like to do to various women's breast but if you were giving a presentation at your office you probably wouldn't want to start with a comment about the receptionist's rack. Context matters and what is fine between your buddies over some brews is a very different context than the wider public. Just to add one more thing I think why topics like this get people angry or feel that they are misunderstood is that Internet forums like CF.net are much more public than they are private. If you've been here for awhile and no the regulars you can get into the illusion that this is private but that is forgeting there are thousands of Clutchfans and lurkers who can read your posts and you have no idea how all those might interpret your comments. On top of that this is a very imperfect communication media and compared to sitting at a bar with three of your closest buddies you can't tell facial expression, body languange, and other non-verbal communication that largely tells you whether someone is serious, being funny or offended.
The key is that all people should be treated equal under the law, in business, and opportunity but that in personal makeup differences should be recognized. Acknowledging that we have are different doesn't mean that we discriminate in hiring or prosecution.
You know what chaps my ass to no end? The Mexicans or El Salvadorians driving their hoop-d with their last name on the window in Old English and THEIR COUNTRY'S FLAG DANGLIN' FROM THE MIRROR. Why do you live here if you're so proud of where your family is from? If you were born here you're an American. You should be proud to live here. If you immigrated here, you shouldn't be reppin your country's flag. Go back if you're so damn proud of it. Technically no one in the USA has ancestors from the USA, (unless your family was an Indian, but they're immigrants also.) Carry on -Proud to be a US American such as therefore.
