Racism


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Freakzilla
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Racism

Post by Freakzilla »

Morgan Freeman solves Racism in 55 seconds

I agree with him. Someone made a comment here that usually the people accusing others of racism are the real racists.

IMO, I don't think we should try to legislate morality. You can't make it a law not to hate. That's just stupid. You can make laws to say I have to treat everyone equally. However, I will treat people based on their actions.

Not the actions of their ancestors, THEIR actions.
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Post by A Thing of Eternity »

Can't dissagree with you on that.
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Post by SimonH »

Races are no longer a scientific concept. There is no significant difference in DNA between races to justify the term. I think it would help if this concept was circulated more widely.
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Post by chanilover »

^^^
That reminds me of a party I went to once where some girl was talking about race in general and told me that I shouldn't refer to myself as mixed race anymore, I should call myself dual heritage. Meh, what a wanky phrase. "Dual heritage". It doesn't even make sense.
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Post by A Thing of Eternity »

I call them breeds. Race to me means species.
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Post by SimonH »

chanilover wrote:^^^
That reminds me of a party I went to once where some girl was talking about race in general and told me that I shouldn't refer to myself as mixed race anymore, I should call myself dual heritage. Meh, what a wanky phrase. "Dual heritage". It doesn't even make sense.
I hate people who get preachy at parties! My take is that, obviously, people can call themselves what they want, but there is no currently understood physiological basis to judge one person in relation to another by colour.
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Post by SimonH »

A Thing of Eternity wrote:I call them breeds. Race to me means species.
my understanding comes from half listened to podcasts, but breeds such as in dogs are still more genetically different than a "race" in humans. Maybe we are all Labradors, some blonde, some chocolate. :P
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Post by A Thing of Eternity »

SimonH wrote:
A Thing of Eternity wrote:I call them breeds. Race to me means species.
my understanding comes from half listened to podcasts, but breeds such as in dogs are still more genetically different than a "race" in humans. Maybe we are all Labradors, some blonde, some chocolate. :P
Dog breeds are waaaaay further apart than our slight differences, I just like the joke it makes out of the term "race".
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Post by SandChigger »

SimonH wrote:Races are no longer a scientific concept. There is no significant difference in DNA between races to justify the term. I think it would help if this concept was circulated more widely.
Yeah, disseminating scientific knowledge has worked so well for things like evolution, Einstein's theories, etc., now hasn't it? ;)
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Post by SimonH »

yeah true... Chinese whispers eh? oh, is that racist? :P
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Post by GamePlayer »

Great video. I love Morgan Freeman.
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Post by Eyes High »

Wonderfully said. We are each individuals responsible for our own actions. And should only be judged by those actions not how we look.

Every group that helped to build the country they wound up calling home is part of that country’s history. America has a diverse history and to delegate one group’s history to a particle month winds up treating that group as separate from the whole history. I’m not that familiar with Canadian history, but I imagine that theirs is just as diverse.

Let’s do away with the labels. Yes, we should be proud of our heritage but we should still take responsibility for our own actions. I’m proud to be part Irish and French, but I was not part of the injustice the Irish faced when they migrated here during the potato famine. I’m proud that they made it through that challenge and survived to call this country home. But I can’t cling to that injustice as if it was my own badge.

I’m still researching my family lineage and I hope that I’ll be proud to claim each group that added to my genetic profile, but no matter what injustice they faced, or they preformed, I am responsible for my actions in this day and time, not anyone else.

The past is the past. Yes, we should learn from it and never forget it (least we repeat it) but I cannot claim some injustice done to my ancestors to excuse an action that I perform.

Sorry to ramble so much but I hope that y’all understood (at least a little) of what I was trying to say.

To summarize: I liked what Mr. Freeman said in the interview.
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Post by A Thing of Eternity »

Eyes High wrote: Every group that helped to build the country they wound up calling home is part of that country’s history. America has a diverse history and to delegate one group’s history to a particle month winds up treating that group as separate from the whole history. I’m not that familiar with Canadian history, but I imagine that theirs is just as diverse.
Ours is pretty diverse, mostly filled with horrible acts, far too many to list, but there were some highlights from a human rights point of view every now and then. We've slowly improved, just like the US has, long way to go still.

I actually like to celebrate diversity, and to call attention to it, I find beauty and strength in our differences, but if some people would rather just blur those lines I do understand where they're coming from.
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Post by SwordMaster »

A Thing of Eternity wrote:
Eyes High wrote: Every group that helped to build the country they wound up calling home is part of that country’s history. America has a diverse history and to delegate one group’s history to a particle month winds up treating that group as separate from the whole history. I’m not that familiar with Canadian history, but I imagine that theirs is just as diverse.
Ours is pretty diverse, mostly filled with horrible acts, far too many to list, but there were some highlights from a human rights point of view every now and then. We've slowly improved, just like the US has, long way to go still.

I actually like to celebrate diversity, and to call attention to it, I find beauty and strength in our differences, but if some people would rather just blur those lines I do understand where they're coming from.
Walk down the street in Toronto and you will cross paths with every race, and for the most part we dont have the same issues as the USA around race, at least in reference to slavery, this is where the underground rail road ended for a lot of slaves during the time before amancipation.
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Post by Freakzilla »

I think the problem in the US (especially the South) is that for the most part, white people are not racist, yet black people, who have never been slaves, have been born in this country with MORE RIGHTS than white people, keep rubbing out noses in what happened 400 years ago.

Freeman is right. If they stopped playing the race card at every possible turn, it might go a long way towards healing.

But therein lies another problem. Black people don't seem to want to be equal. I think they like it the way it is. They get special treatment, why would they want that to stop? They WANT to be different. If they didn't, they wouldn't call themselves "african-americans", but just Americans. Why give up thier trump card?

I'm proud of my heritage (to the disdain of black people) but I don't call myself european-american.

Now, if I found myself in Africa, I would do my best to fit in, but that doesn't mean I have to forget my heritage.
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Post by Drunken Idaho »

is there anything Morgan Freeman can't do?
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Post by SwordMaster »

Freakzilla wrote:I think the problem in the US (especially the South) is that for the most part, white people are not racist, yet black people, who have never been slaves, have been born in this country with MORE RIGHTS than white people, keep rubbing out noses in what happened 400 years ago.

Freeman is right. If they stopped playing the race card at every possible turn, it might go a long way towards healing.

But therein lies another problem. Black people don't seem to want to be equal. I think they like it the way it is. They get special treatment, why would they want that to stop? They WANT to be different. If they didn't, they wouldn't call themselves "african-americans", but just Americans. Why give up thier trump card?

I'm proud of my heritage (to the disdain of black people) but I don't call myself european-american.

Now, if I found myself in Africa, I would do my best to fit in, but that doesn't mean I have to forget my heritage.
You make some good points although I have difficulty co-signing to this, I am one who feels that to some extent, we do have to make up for the mistakes of our ancesters... how we do that is another matter all together!?!
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Post by Freakzilla »

SwordMaster wrote:
Freakzilla wrote:I think the problem in the US (especially the South) is that for the most part, white people are not racist, yet black people, who have never been slaves, have been born in this country with MORE RIGHTS than white people, keep rubbing out noses in what happened 400 years ago.

Freeman is right. If they stopped playing the race card at every possible turn, it might go a long way towards healing.

But therein lies another problem. Black people don't seem to want to be equal. I think they like it the way it is. They get special treatment, why would they want that to stop? They WANT to be different. If they didn't, they wouldn't call themselves "african-americans", but just Americans. Why give up thier trump card?

I'm proud of my heritage (to the disdain of black people) but I don't call myself european-american.

Now, if I found myself in Africa, I would do my best to fit in, but that doesn't mean I have to forget my heritage.
You make some good points although I have difficulty co-signing to this, I am one who feels that to some extent, we do have to make up for the mistakes of our ancesters...
Did you learn nothing from Dune? Survivors sometimes had to do terrible things.
how we do that is another matter all together!?!
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Post by SwordMaster »

Freakzilla wrote:
SwordMaster wrote:
Freakzilla wrote:I think the problem in the US (especially the South) is that for the most part, white people are not racist, yet black people, who have never been slaves, have been born in this country with MORE RIGHTS than white people, keep rubbing out noses in what happened 400 years ago.

Freeman is right. If they stopped playing the race card at every possible turn, it might go a long way towards healing.

But therein lies another problem. Black people don't seem to want to be equal. I think they like it the way it is. They get special treatment, why would they want that to stop? They WANT to be different. If they didn't, they wouldn't call themselves "african-americans", but just Americans. Why give up thier trump card?

I'm proud of my heritage (to the disdain of black people) but I don't call myself european-american.

Now, if I found myself in Africa, I would do my best to fit in, but that doesn't mean I have to forget my heritage.
You make some good points although I have difficulty co-signing to this, I am one who feels that to some extent, we do have to make up for the mistakes of our ancesters...
Did you learn nothing from Dune? Survivors sometimes had to do terrible things.
how we do that is another matter all together!?!
Teach your children well.
I try to do so, I try to read to them from the likes of Marcus Garvey and Fredrick Douglas, MLK, and Nelson Mandela. Is that the teaching you are recomending?
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Post by A Thing of Eternity »

SwordMaster wrote:
A Thing of Eternity wrote:
Eyes High wrote: Every group that helped to build the country they wound up calling home is part of that country’s history. America has a diverse history and to delegate one group’s history to a particle month winds up treating that group as separate from the whole history. I’m not that familiar with Canadian history, but I imagine that theirs is just as diverse.
Ours is pretty diverse, mostly filled with horrible acts, far too many to list, but there were some highlights from a human rights point of view every now and then. We've slowly improved, just like the US has, long way to go still.

I actually like to celebrate diversity, and to call attention to it, I find beauty and strength in our differences, but if some people would rather just blur those lines I do understand where they're coming from.
Walk down the street in Toronto and you will cross paths with every race, and for the most part we dont have the same issues as the USA around race, at least in reference to slavery, this is where the underground rail road ended for a lot of slaves during the time before amancipation.
I think we have a racism problem towards natives that rivals the hatred towards africans in the US. I actually think that in a way, our lack of racism up here towards black people tends to make us overlook our other racisms.

Freak - I get what you're saying but it wasn't all 400 hundred years ago, and most of the blacks in your country are starting in a low place where they need some extra help to get onto a level playing feild. Society owes them that.
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Post by SwordMaster »

A Thing of Eternity wrote:
SwordMaster wrote:
A Thing of Eternity wrote:
Eyes High wrote: Every group that helped to build the country they wound up calling home is part of that country’s history. America has a diverse history and to delegate one group’s history to a particle month winds up treating that group as separate from the whole history. I’m not that familiar with Canadian history, but I imagine that theirs is just as diverse.
Ours is pretty diverse, mostly filled with horrible acts, far too many to list, but there were some highlights from a human rights point of view every now and then. We've slowly improved, just like the US has, long way to go still.

I actually like to celebrate diversity, and to call attention to it, I find beauty and strength in our differences, but if some people would rather just blur those lines I do understand where they're coming from.
Walk down the street in Toronto and you will cross paths with every race, and for the most part we dont have the same issues as the USA around race, at least in reference to slavery, this is where the underground rail road ended for a lot of slaves during the time before amancipation.
I think we have a racism problem towards natives that rivals the hatred towards africans in the US. I actually think that in a way, our lack of racism up here towards black people tends to make us overlook our other racisms.

Freak - I get what you're saying but it wasn't all 400 hundred years ago, and most of the blacks in your country are starting in a low place where they need some extra help to get onto a level playing feild. Society owes them that.
A good point about the Native issues we do have in Canada, we really need to do what we can to suport that population, something other then letting them run Casinos
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Post by Freakzilla »

SwordMaster wrote:
A Thing of Eternity wrote:
SwordMaster wrote:
A Thing of Eternity wrote:
Eyes High wrote: Every group that helped to build the country they wound up calling home is part of that country’s history. America has a diverse history and to delegate one group’s history to a particle month winds up treating that group as separate from the whole history. I’m not that familiar with Canadian history, but I imagine that theirs is just as diverse.
Ours is pretty diverse, mostly filled with horrible acts, far too many to list, but there were some highlights from a human rights point of view every now and then. We've slowly improved, just like the US has, long way to go still.

I actually like to celebrate diversity, and to call attention to it, I find beauty and strength in our differences, but if some people would rather just blur those lines I do understand where they're coming from.
Walk down the street in Toronto and you will cross paths with every race, and for the most part we dont have the same issues as the USA around race, at least in reference to slavery, this is where the underground rail road ended for a lot of slaves during the time before amancipation.
I think we have a racism problem towards natives that rivals the hatred towards africans in the US. I actually think that in a way, our lack of racism up here towards black people tends to make us overlook our other racisms.

Freak - I get what you're saying but it wasn't all 400 hundred years ago, and most of the blacks in your country are starting in a low place where they need some extra help to get onto a level playing feild. Society owes them that.
A good point about the Native issues we do have in Canada, we really need to do what we can to suport that population, something other then letting them run Casinos
I dont' think y'all understand, the "hatred towards "africans" (I don't know any Africans)" doesn't really exist. There are extremist, of course but not the population in general.

I hate the special treatment they get and the double standards, but I don't hate the people.

NONE of the people alive today were ever slaves. None of MY ancestors ever owned a slave.

White people still immigrate here from countries not even involved in the slave trade. Do they owe reperations for what other poeple's ancestors did?

Society doesn't owe anyone anything but what they make for themselves.
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Post by Freakzilla »

SwordMaster wrote:I try to do so, I try to read to them from the likes of Marcus Garvey and Fredrick Douglas, MLK, and Nelson Mandela. Is that the teaching you are recomending?
My kids are a little too young to read them anything like that. I don't pretend to know the best way to teach children. I just teach them what I think is right and I try not to pass on my prejudices to them.
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Post by Eyes High »

I believe the main problem is the generalization of the issue. Not all blacks are expecting something for nothing, but the ones who continue to play the race card receive the most attention. Not all whites judge others by their skin tone, but the ones who do stand out and are poor examples of how a human should act. Not all men are chauvinistic pigs but the ones who are… well you can see how it all boils down.

Is there an easy solution? No. Is there a solution? Yes, but it will not be a one size fits all. Teach our children to judge individuals not the group. Be responsible for their own actions and prejudices will eventually decline to a point that it won’t be the big issue it is now.

I’m glad we all are different. It is the differences that make life interesting. Will we like everyone equally? No, not with the different personalities out there, but so what. I know there are those who do not like me, even though I like to think of myself as an open minded person who can be a great friend. But such is life.

There is hatred in the southern US because of many reasons. The reconstruction period after the civil war, the injustices during the Jim Crow era, the hate groups who keep the turmoil stirred up. But it can get better if we work together as human beings, as fellow Americans, as fellow travelers in this wide universe of ours. Will it happen during my life time? Who knows.

Well, I normally don’t talk that much on this board. Thanks for putting up with this crazy, white, southern, Christian, fantasy reading, gal who is more than likely a half-breed anyhow.
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Post by Freakzilla »

I agree with you except in one point. We don't have to like anyone or any race. We can hate them all we want. What is important is your actions, not your feelings.

Where in the South do you live? I had no idea! FOr some reason I thought you lived up north.
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