ethanr wrote:Reg wrote:Just a passing thought on the meaning of life and nothing specific about this form or its members....
Exaggerated protection is a backlash reaction to earlier persecution. IE, its ok to be gay and exercise some very strange rights including same sex marriage and adopting children but you can't call them what they are - gay.
As a result of slavery (abolished in 1833) we're not allowed to even mention the colour of a person's skin - as Maxipaxi can attest.
The problem is not the colour of the guy's skin, nor the fact he might be gay, but that the handup's associated with the images created in the past overwhelm peoples' sensitivities. Example 'whenever I think of Cyril Regis I visual Kunta Kinte'. Nothing wrong with that, 'Roots' was a great book and a great film, very well acted and got a lot of deserved praise. But 90% of people will have thought oh..oh.. its a racist thing when they read my comment. Its not at all but we've conditioned ourselves to fear every reference to black people in fear of upsetting them.
Or laughing at gay skits from the 1960's and 70's etc.. Alf Garnett, 'It aint half hot mum' etc... or the Black and White Minstrels etc.. it was humour, not bad intent. Sure we've moved on, but no racist offense was meant.
Half our problem today exists in our minds and not in reality. The lad was crying.... WHAT? he came to Anfield and cried (remember Nani?) I put it to you he couldn't handle teh occasion, match nerves and nothing to do with racism.
I agree. I've been referred to as white, and I take no offense to that. I've referred to people as black, or hispanic, or asian and I've done so because I felt it was relevant. If I was saying something about a black person and saying that they're black wasn't relevant, I didn't mention it. I do the same when I talk about white people, or Asian people, or hispanic people, or anybody.
I think for many it's a comfort level thing. I'm comfortable with the fact I'm not racist, and I'd never say something with racist intent to somebody, but others hear something and love to make a big deal out of it because they want to sound superior or something like that. I've seen more often white people take offense and say that something was inappropriate then a person of the particular race in the same conversation, and it seems they often do so because they want that person of the relevant race to think they aren't racist or something.
A few months ago I went to a preseason American football match. After the game we went down to the parking lot and hung out with some people from the opposing team (it was preseason and nobody really cares). There was this huge black guy named Doug there who introduced himself to us. Somehow the city of Oakland was brought up (Largely a black population) and Doug said he'd stay far away from Oakland right now because there was some dangerous stuff going on. The lady with us said something a long the lines of "You're a big black guy and even you're scared of Oakland right now." It wasn't meant to be racist or insulting, and Doug seemed to take no offense to it at all. But after she said it, Doug said "Hey, I'm not black, I'm Doug." He didn't say it in an angry way or anything, he just said it. I thought it was really cool the way he said it because he doesn't care about his skin color, people are people and that's how he sees them. I looked around and there were white people, black people, hispanic people, asian people, just people from all different races who supported the 2 teams that just played each other, and we were all having a good time. Nobody cared what color anybody else was because it didn't matter. It's all about being comfortable with it, and when all 50 or 60 people that hung out with us were comfortable with it, race basically went away.
A big problem with racism as well is people are always trying to be careful what they say, so they can't always say exactly what they're trying to say. Alan Hansen said the word colored, and had to apologize for it. He didn't mean it in a negative way at all, but some people take offense to it, so it became an issue.
Come on, seriously.
Can you not see the difference between
"big black guy" - describing someone's looks, where race is quite an important part of that description.
"fucking black cunt" - insulting someone where their race has no importance whatsoever.
The UN's legal definition of racial discrimination is -
"racial discrimination" shall mean any distinction, exclusion, restriction, or preference based on race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin that has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life.
So we can all be "cunts" but the moment you make a distinction with race (i.e. black cunt), the assumption is only the black race are cunts.
I really am staggered that the basic concept of discrimination is so hard to grasp!
at least he finished, id have just sank !
