Ban Racism! Show your unequivocal support!

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If, after the Dallas shootings, even a staunch, neo-conservative, social-conservative, ultra-nationalist Republican like Newt Gingrich says this....:
"It took me a long time, and a number of people talking to me through the years to get a sense of this. If you are a normal, white American, the truth is you don't understand being black in America and you instinctively under-estimate the level of discrimination and the level of additional risk."

.....then we perhaps witness a wake-up call that makes us realize things; a wake-up call that should not have happened though. Racism NEVER needs to be underestimated. Not even in The Netherlands, the UK or any other place on Earth! Empathize today with all minority groups on this planet. Because they feel under pressure, from hate and xenophobia. Moroccans, Jews, Blacks, Transgenders, Polish, Gays, Syrians, Muslims. They NEED the support of a majority that puts a welcoming spirit front and center; a sane, empathic, loving majority! Not the hate of a xenophobic white majority who wants you to....'fuck off to your own country or backward ghetto'.

Because make no mistake, racism is among us! And I won't allow it!

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Comments

  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
    An end to racism would be nice. :)>-
  • I agree with the sentiment, although I might quibble with some of the wording. "Ban" racism? How? Make it illegal? Through what mechanism, under threat of what punishment? "End" racism or "eradicate" racism would be more appropriate terms. I must admit that I found it quite surprising to have Newt Gingrich speaking to this topic in a conciliatory fashion. Perhaps there's hope after all...
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,528
    As soon as things inevitably turn nasty, which they always have when a thread of this sort is created, it'll be closed, so keep that in mind, please.
  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    Posts: 23,883
    'White privilege' is not a right, but it's certainly a fact.

    Understanding is what is required. Understanding of different cultures, races, preferences.

    Having said that, I believe mass immigration (especially refugees) must be contained, as it is a strain on societal resources in the host country and leads to more mistrust and lack of integration (inevitably).
  • doubleoegodoubleoego #LightWork
    edited July 2016 Posts: 11,139
    Why in the wake of the Dallas-police shootings of the cops though? Why do things have to get this far? It's crazy.

    Look at all the crap that's gone on so far this year alone. Cops being killed in the line of duty; a bunch of school kids being slaughtered, a large group of party goers at a gay club being mowed down, a black kid playing in a playground being shot to death, numerous others and then as of a few days ago the unceremonious murder of 2 black men by police officers.

    Racism is obviously wrong and it is very much still alive. Stamping it out completely is like trying to solve the problem of world hunger; it's not going to happen overnight if at all; but I suppose it all starts with one's self really. The most we can do is be kind to people, it costs nothing.
  • Posts: 11,119
    It should be the actual fight, the actual struggle to ban out racism....that can make society better in the long end.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 17,848
    Racism should be made illegal.
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 23,609
    A few things:

    1) I believe racism, in principle, is a (painful) form of self-defence, a natural consequence of man's tendency to protect that which he understands by fearing that which he doesn't. Very often, 'racism' is actually 'culturism' and has much less to do with skin colour than it has to do with entirely different habits, views, languages, ... If people weren't so darn stubborn about their cultural pride, there would be a lot less racism in certain parts of the world. Furthermore, in many cases we're not even dealing with different races. Muslims in my country often yell "RACISM" when you tell them to come to school, Ramadan or not. Yet Arabs aren't a different race from mine and their troublesome pride in archaic rituals clashes with my 21st Century common sense, not with any racist slur. To condone absenteeism because of the Ramadan, while others have no excuse to stay home, now THAT would be racism (if we apply the same false definition that is). Of course I cannot convince them of the fact that we're the same race, because that requires evolutionary biology and by the power of religious anti-intellectualism, they claim the right to reject the truth of evolutionary biology and replace it by the fairy tales of their holy books.

    2) The 'PC' world, being dictated by the media and stupid laws, demanded by overly sensitive cry-babies who can't even decide a good joke from a hard stigmatisation of a minority any more, doesn't quite help either. Banning TinTin over how Africans are portrayed in one of the first albums, didn't make me turn against TinTin or Hergé, but against the very people who appeared on television, crying rivers over a Belgian comic written in 1931 and how it molested the honour of their people and whatnot. Are we going to ban the Superman cartoons of the 1940s as well, for their stereotypical portrayal of the Japanese? Are we going to destroy all tapes and discs of Breakfast At Tiffany's for what Mickey Rooney did there? The word racism has lost its meaning in the chaos of mixed emotions and insulted feelings; it's become a meaningless expression of one's anger. The only difference with a curse word is that in our pussified courtrooms, accusations of racism are often treated with a seriousness they don't deserve.

    3) Of course things go wrong in the USA. In some parts of the country, people are educated with the Bible instead of a decent school text book. Meanwhile, you have an idiot like Trump stirring up the masses. Hate churches triumph in the Bible Belt and no-one is sane enough to fight them. Yet over there, people preach hatred towards blacks, gays, unbelievers, ... and they often have politicians backing them up. Yes, democracy, how wonderful it is, right? Ironically, both black and white people believe the country to be theirs, which is kinda cheap given that the true native Americans are all but extinct... slain by the very people now yelling that America has always belonged to them. Yet the funny thing is that in many parts of the USA, one can find more ethnic diversity than anywhere else in the world. In a way, America sets a beautiful example of how we can coexist. Just not everywhere.

    4) Massive overpopulation stimulates racism. It's okay to have neighbours, except when they come too close. And if they're from a different part of the world, the least little habit of theirs that you don't quite understand is enough to be treated as a declaration of war and join a white supremacy gang. Worldwide immigration, catalysed by war, draught and famine, confuses and frightens us. We feel sorry for "them", except when "they" come live nextdoor. We're hypocrites, all of us. We demand people who step on our land to respect and value our habits, yet we barely do the same thing when we visit their country. Man is a wild, silly and stupid beast whose social skills barely hold up as long as the conditions facilitate things but the minute the established order is upset and we are forced to think for ourselves, the hitler in each of us rises up. We rather donate some money than allow a family on the run to live next to us. We 'buy' our conscience.

    How can we ever stop racism if most people on this planet never receive a formal education, if we keep breeding like rabbits, if we resort to religious authority for a better understanding of (our place in) the world and if we wholeheartedly maintain that a cultural identity is somehow important? The only way to defeat racism is to marry and procreate outside one's own cultural habitat, to dispense with religious, cultural and other "defaults" that a priori separate 'you' from 'them', which offers the most fruitful onset of any (racist) conflict, to allow some sensitive toes to be stepped on so that we wouldn't turn every misplaced joke into a mass manifestation or even a war, and so on.

    Like Isaac Asimov, I dream of a world devoid of religious and cultural microstructures, in which people share one language, get mixed up so that all colours can be found in equal proportions all over the planet, and all get educated so that we could finally stop blasting out one baby after the other because some local bishop says that it's wrong to use a condom. Sadly, I'm part of a minority myself: sober-minded, cold-hearted, anti-theist scientists. In most households, we're as unwelcome as a mold. Yet we at least don't judge people by their skin colour, but by their talents, and we don't sentence them for having or lacking a certain talent, we provide them with an actual purpose. Hence CERN in Geneva, or the ISS. Science brings people together, makes biases obsolete.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,694
    Racism is born of ignorance. As long as people decide to stay or are kept ignorant, there will be racism, I'm afraid... 8-|
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 17,848
    Let's ban threads like this.
  • stagstag In the thick of it!
    edited July 2016 Posts: 1,053
    There are lot's of 'isms' which should be confined to the dustbin of history & racism is but one of them. I also don't like to see discrimination when it rears its head in other areas, against the disabled for example.
    Dragonpol wrote: »
    Let's ban threads like this.

    Good idea.

  • Posts: 11,119
    Dragonpol wrote: »
    Let's ban threads like this.

    Let's not ban a topic like this.
  • Posts: 11,119
    Birdleson wrote: »
    Dragonpol wrote: »
    Let's ban threads like this.

    I don't agree with banning, but you're right in; what is the point? I don't think many of us on here are "pro-racism". And those that some may label so would hardly see themselves as such.

    But that's the very thing of racism. It's pure evil. It slowly crawls up to our brains, to our society....until it's too late. So again, don't push off a good debate about racism. It's a necessity. Back in 1932 people also did not want to 'see' certain things.

    If we don't face it. If we don't dare to say to ourselves that even we can be susceptible to racism.....to the smallest bits of bullying. Then we let it happen. Slowly, but intensely.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,694
    Racists & mosquitoes suck.
  • edited July 2016 Posts: 11,119
    I also think from an historical perspective it is important to never forget what racism has done to so many societies.

    Simply saying "We don't need anymore, because we are all against racism" doesn't do it form me. Are we really saying that in the wake of the Dallas shootings?

    Racism starts with even the tiniest bit of hate. It isn't racism then. But it will become a feeding ground for racism:
  • Posts: 4,619
    Humans are inherently tribalistic. It's in our DNA. Tribalism and racism are very closely related. And while I don't think fighting racism is a waste of time, I believe that unfortunately as long as humans exist, racism will exist too.
  • Posts: 11,119
    Humans are inherently tribalistic. It's in our DNA. Tribalism and racism are very closely related. And while I don't think fighting racism is a waste of time, I believe that unfortunately as long as humans exist, racism will exist too.

    I just refuse to think that way :-(. We humans created prosperous nations no? Why not a prosperous planet in the long end? I think it can be done. And we really should be forcefully throw away this mentality that fighting for it is useless.

    I am a positive man.
  • Mendes4LyfeMendes4Lyfe The long road ahead
    Posts: 8,154
    Racism is speech. Banning racism is infringement on free speech, and is entirely impractical.
  • Racism is speech. Banning racism is infringement on free speech, and is entirely impractical.

    Racism is not speech. Discussing racism is speech. Defending it, opposing it: both of them forms of speech. Racism is an attitude. Acting on that attitude is a bad thing...but it is sort of impractical to expect that all bad things in this world can somehow be banned.

  • TheWizardOfIceTheWizardOfIce 'One of the Internet's more toxic individuals'
    Posts: 9,117
    Empathize today with all minority groups on this planet. Because they feel under pressure, from hate and xenophobia. Moroccans, Jews, Blacks, Transgenders, Polish, Gays, Syrians, Muslims. They NEED the support of a majority that puts a welcoming spirit front and center; a sane, empathic, loving majority! Not the hate of a xenophobic white majority who wants you to....'fuck off to your own country or backward ghetto

    Since when have Poles been a minority? And even if you accept they are being Polish isn't a race. And of course it's fine to stereotype white people as hating everyone.

    I know you're sour about the Brexit result but please don't make the 6th form debating society mistake of assuming that anyone who voted Brexit is therefore a racist.

    Sorry I've had several glasses of Belgian beer so not really in the mood to tolerate this lefty drivel.

    If the Americans banned guns instead of racism things might improve more noticeably.

    Pretty sure in the UK and US racism has been banned for some time anyway. If you are talking about banning things people think in their heads it is a) impossible and b) a miserable North Korean existence.

  • Mendes4LyfeMendes4Lyfe The long road ahead
    Posts: 8,154
    Racism is speech. Banning racism is infringement on free speech, and is entirely impractical.

    Racism is not speech. Discussing racism is speech. Defending it, opposing it: both of them forms of speech. Racism is an attitude. Acting on that attitude is a bad thing...but it is sort of impractical to expect that all bad things in this world can somehow be banned.

    Not only that, but what happened to left wing politics? Since when did the left call for banning things and a more puritian outlook. I always thought it was the right wingers doing the book burnings and calling for censorship of 'harmful' rock music. Suddenly, the left have become the authoritarians telling us which words are 'problematic'. Crazy world.
  • doubleoegodoubleoego #LightWork
    edited July 2016 Posts: 11,139
    Racism is speech. Banning racism is infringement on free speech, and is entirely impractical.

    Tomi Lahren is that you? ;)
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,333
    [quote="Gustav_Graves"Not the hate of a xenophobic white majority who wants you to....'fuck off to your own country or backward ghetto'.

    Because make no mistake, racism is among us! And I won't allow it![/quote]

    Xenophobic White Majority? Now who's the one being racist? The majority of whites aren't Xenophobic, that's just a stereotype.
  • edited July 2016 Posts: 11,119
    Murdock wrote: »
    Not the hate of a xenophobic white majority who wants you to....'fuck off to your own country or backward ghetto'.

    Because make no mistake, racism is among us! And I won't allow it!

    Xenophobic White Majority? Now who's the one being racist? The majority of whites aren't Xenophobic, that's just a stereotype.

    Just, please, look...at what happened the past days in the USA. Please. I beg you. Let's focus on that. And perhaps we can come up with some positive ideas to make society better. Stereotyping people -which I think I did not- is something different from racism.
  • MrcogginsMrcoggins Following in the footsteps of Quentin Quigley.
    Posts: 3,144
    Dimi I think that is just about the most accurate post that you have ever made I take my hat off to you.
    Wizardofice you are so right about the yanks and the banning of guns

    Gustav graves great idea Will never happen without mind control

    If we should ban anything lets ban that Arse Trump far more dangerous than most other things in the world at the moment

    @Mendes I think you might employ some sort of filter !....

    Doubleoego it would be a great place to start .
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,333
    Murdock wrote: »
    Not the hate of a xenophobic white majority who wants you to....'fuck off to your own country or backward ghetto'.

    Because make no mistake, racism is among us! And I won't allow it!

    Xenophobic White Majority? Now who's the one being racist? The majority of whites aren't Xenophobic, that's just a stereotype.

    Just, please, look...at what happened the past days in the USA. Please. I beg you. Let's focus on that. And perhaps we can come up with some positive ideas to make society better. Stereotyping people -which I think I did not- is something different from racism.

    I know what's happened int the last few days, It's tragic yes but your quote is anything but positive to society. You did stereotype by accusing whites of being Xenophobic. That in itself is ignorant. We all know what happened, We're intelligent adults here but with all due respect this isn't the place for these types of discussions.
  • Mendes4LyfeMendes4Lyfe The long road ahead
    Posts: 8,154
    Empathize today with all minority groups on this planet. Because they feel under pressure, from hate and xenophobia. Moroccans, Jews, Blacks, Transgenders, Polish, Gays, Syrians, Muslims. They NEED the support of a majority that puts a welcoming spirit front and center; a sane, empathic, loving majority! Not the hate of a xenophobic white majority who wants you to....'fuck off to your own country or backward ghetto

    Since when have Poles been a minority? And even if you accept they are being Polish isn't a race. And of course it's fine to stereotype white people as hating everyone.

    I know you're sour about the Brexit result but please don't make the 6th form debating society mistake of assuming that anyone who voted Brexit is therefore a racist.

    Sorry I've had several glasses of Belgian beer so not really in the mood to tolerate this lefty drivel.

    If the Americans banned guns instead of racism things might improve more noticeably.

    Pretty sure in the UK and US racism has been banned for some time anyway. If you are talking about banning things people think in their heads it is a) impossible and b) a miserable North Korean existence.

    Wow. You are obviously very drunk on that beer because non of the things you just said make any sense next to each other.

    Firstly, the only race that has a legitimate grievance with whites is the blacks. We brought them on boats and enslaved them for 100's of years, so they have a legitimate beef with us. Besides that, the other races are just piggybacking on black oppression. We owe them nothing. Even then, what we did to blacks was not white nature, it was human nature. Every race is just as capable of the same atrocities, as evidenced by the armenian genocide, and modern day Muslim extremism. So instead of white guilt, it should really be human guilt, and everyone should take equal responsibility.

    Secondly, you don't 'tolerate this lefty drivel', but immediately after that you advocate AGAINST the second amendment? That's a lefty position, you know. So you are either a closet lefty, or one of these middle class people who don't understand why anyone would ever need access to a firearm, presumably because you live in a nice middle class suburb where no violent crime is likely to take place. Well that's fine for you, but what about the single mum living on an estate with drug dealers and gang members hanging around? You want to take away any ability for her to defend herself and her children.

    Thirdly, how could you be so misinformed to think that racism is banned in the UK and US? Racism is included in free speech. Do you think that simply saying the N word in public would earn you a night in the slammer. That kind of ridiculous. Of course, if you started screaming at someone and chasing them, thats a different thing, but simply reading aloud a copy of Live And Let Die would not get you a prison sentence, and you are clearly deluded for thinking so.
  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    edited July 2016 Posts: 23,883
    Birdleson wrote: »
    Racism is speech. Banning racism is infringement on free speech, and is entirely impractical.

    Racism is not speech. Discussing racism is speech. Defending it, opposing it: both of them forms of speech. Racism is an attitude. Acting on that attitude is a bad thing...but it is sort of impractical to expect that all bad things in this world can somehow be banned.

    Not only that, but what happened to left wing politics? Since when did the left call for banning things and a more puritian outlook. I always thought it was the right wingers doing the book burnings and calling for censorship of 'harmful' rock music. Suddenly, the left have become the authoritarians telling us which words are 'problematic'. Crazy world.

    I've been complaining about this for the past 15 years. It all got switched around. When I was a kid ('60s and '70s) it was the emerging left that would say anything. They were the ones making people uncomfortable. People like Pryor and Carlin used the most feared and hated words and stereotypes to neuter them. And they were funny and unpredictable as Hell. ALL IN THE FAMILY, SANFORD AND SON and all of those other groundbreaking shows worked because they reflected real problems, sans sanitation. Archie Bunker could be a racist (not a Nazi, more indicative of his white generation) and say some horrible things, but there was also no doubt that he was a decent and kind man at heart. These days there seems to be no mid ground or texture to characters, there is a fear to offend. I think we were moving in the right direction when inconsistencies and understanding were thrown out. By "banning" racist speech or forcing those who have those tendencies to go underground only propagates their numbers and validates their message to those who are open.
    You both make some very good points. I agree with characters in tv shows and movies these days in particular being so one-dimensional - it's really quite boring. It's so easy to spot the 'bad guy' because everything about him is bad.

    I think one of the first shows I watched that seemed to reverse this trend, and it was very compelling as a result, was Mad Men. Of course that was set in the 60's and so they had 'cover' to portray characters in an unsanitized way that in today's politically correct day and age may be considered insufferable.
  • edited July 2016 Posts: 4,622
    Birdleson wrote: »
    Racism is speech. Banning racism is infringement on free speech, and is entirely impractical.

    Racism is not speech. Discussing racism is speech. Defending it, opposing it: both of them forms of speech. Racism is an attitude. Acting on that attitude is a bad thing...but it is sort of impractical to expect that all bad things in this world can somehow be banned.

    Not only that, but what happened to left wing politics? Since when did the left call for banning things and a more puritian outlook. I always thought it was the right wingers doing the book burnings and calling for censorship of 'harmful' rock music. Suddenly, the left have become the authoritarians telling us which words are 'problematic'. Crazy world.

    I've been complaining about this for the past 15 years. It all got switched around. When I was a kid ('60s and '70s) it was the emerging left that would say anything. They were the ones making people uncomfortable. People like Pryor and Carlin used the most feared and hated words and stereotypes to neuter them. And they were funny and unpredictable as Hell. ALL IN THE FAMILY, SANFORD AND SON and all of those other groundbreaking shows worked because they reflected real problems, sans sanitation. Archie Bunker could be a racist (not a Nazi, more indicative of his white generation) and say some horrible things, but there was also no doubt that he was a decent and kind man at heart. These days there seems to be no mid ground or texture to characters, there is a fear to offend. I think we were moving in the right direction when inconsistencies and understanding were thrown out. By "banning" racist speech or forcing those who have those tendencies to go underground only propagates their numbers and validates their message to those who are open.
    Well said @birdleson.
    Free speech is inviolable in a free society. Otherwise we veer further towards Orwellian Thought Police scenarios. Orwell intended 1984 as a cautionary tale
    .
    What we do have laws against( which is what I think @wiz was trying to say) is open discrimination in the work force etc.
    ie you can't put up a sign that says "no purple people may apply" or refuse to serve someone in a restaurant simply because of race, or tell them to sit at back of bus because of race. We have laws against such things, but we didn't always.
    In the US, post-emancipation, it took a long time to transition blacks to full rights in the States. We had the negro baseball leagues etc.
    Supreme Court even ruled that racially segregated facilities were ok as long as both races (white and black) had equal facilities, which of course they didn't
    You also can't stand on a bully pulpit and call for violence against a segment of society. We have laws against that. It's no violation of free speech, because the perp here is calling for criminal action against fellow citizens. Its akin to conspiracy to commit murder or assault or arson or what have you, except it's public.
    Yelling fire in a crowded theatre is not an exercise of free speech. Its not expressing an opinion. It's a deliberate action to cause panic. Laws against such activity are not laws against free speech.

    Banning racism, what does that even mean? It means nothing. A stupid turn of phrase
    Racism is ignorance. Ignorance can't be banned.

    @graves I really think you need widen your world view. Take the blinders off.
    Here in the big smoke, the local Black Lives Matter chapter is screaming that Pride supporters are bombarding social media with vicious anti-black insults and slurs.
    You can google it.
    The two very leftist organizations are at each others throats over accusations from BLM that Pride was racist against them.
    Yet you explain to us in another thread that leftists aren't prone to racist behaviour and thus seem gobsmacked at Gingrich's utterances
    Who cares what he has to say. He's a posturing politician. Everything these guys say is strategic. I don't know or care what degree of soft racism he might harbour, if any. There is no evidence either way, but I do know he's always looking to curry favour with voting constituencies.
    As for the racial slurs being promulgated on social media via the Pride supporters, I take those with a grain of salt too.
    They are hopping mad that Black Lives Matter held up and nearly shut down their parade with a bunch of demands and accused organizers of being a bunch of racists vis-a-vis the black LGBT community. So both sides are now engaged in the heavy insult trading business.
    Both sides are mad so they are hitting below the belt. Such is human nature.

  • edited July 2016 Posts: 4,619
    xenophobic white majority

    Delete this thread! (and answer my personal message, please)

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