I appreciate the comments on this blog post. I have decided to stop allowing comments for it because I think that it is time to move on to another subject. As I said before and I think that most of you will agree, this post and how we feel about it could go on and on. Quite frankly I think that it has be discussed as much as it should be. I'm sure that some will not agree and if so than I think the discussion should be branched out another way. As for this one, the comments have been ended.

I thought about it for a long time as I don't want to offend anyone. No one has had their comment deleted or edited and I intend on keeping it that way. I'm just retiring this post where it is. If there are any issues about this feel free to message me and again I thank everyone for reading and posting their opinions here.

Loved your post, Mark, i think ppl in power are doing more than just the blind eye, but you are right, lotta that going on too.

"All that is neccessary for evil to triumph

is that good men do nothing."

 

  and i loved your words, and i hope i hope i hope, when you are geezer like me, you can tell some young atheist, "Well, when i was young, blacks got beaten and killed by cops pretty often, some ppl almsot got numb to it cuz it was pretty regular,and blacks were paid less, arrested more, etc etc etc etc,

 but like the gen before us, we kept calling it out when we saw it, standing up against it, trying to educate the others about it, and now, for your gen, it's way better". 

 

hope when you do, you flash back to this thread...(wouldn't that be something, if you did?)

 

 

TIME FOR RANDOM 9TH PAGE MUSIC VIDEO!!!  (stole idea from Michel once when i saw him do that.)

 

we'll do one from my era:

 

That's just the thing though, the people in power are from your generation and before, when even some of the good people had the wrong ideas about "Different" and bought into the hate, they may have not have participated in the Evil, but they turned a blind eye to it. These good people are the people still in power to day, they may see the changing world as a good thing, but they are still battling prejudges. Racism is dieing and I think I will see the end of it within my lifetime.

Your right though, Prejudges is different then Racism. When I think of Racism I think of actual oppression, not name calling. People too frequently get the two mixed up, and go in swinging when a few words in opposition would have sufficed. Racism is always prejudge, but prejudge isn't always racism.

 

Mark, WE POSTED AT EXACT SAME MOMENT!!!

is there a word for that yet?

 

 i agree, your gen DOES think "Mission Accomplished!"  (or almost, or pretty close to it)

I'm so glad to hear a young person admit it right out loud!  I've had many discussions with others  my age who have noticed that feeling.  Some ppl my age think the young ppl today seem to think racism is "something from the past" or something.?????????

like "it's over now" or something???

 

  It's baffling, in my gen, lynchings were still going on,

and this gen, seems to think, suddenly, after centuries of abuse and oppression and Jim Crow,

 it is now an even playing field, in less than generation.  WOW!!

it's not.

at all.

on many levels.

Blacks still face oppression, in many many areas.  Blacks of same education level tend to make less than their white counterparts, are hired less, are pulled over by cops wayyyyyyyy more often (we JUST had thread on THAT) are sentenced to death more often, way more often, pay higher interest rates than a white person with exact same credit rating, still face discrimination in housing to this day, just so many forms of discrimination it would be hard to list them all.

Soon as i hit send, tons more will come to mind.

Even Obama has had trouble getting a cab when he was a senator.  No, the field is not yet even, it is not yet "Mission Accomplished".

BUT WE ARE GETTING THERE!!!! 

IN just my lifetime, from watching blacks being hosed down during peaceful marches for rights to sit where they want to on a bus, to watching a state governor place his own body in the doorway of public university to prevent blacks from being allowed to enter,

to seeing our first black American President,

yes, things are improving!!! 

 

but it is too soon to call it an even playing field.  See, to me, some ppl my age DO find it amazing that so many many many young people feel as you do, that is all cool now, all "behind us" now, that institutional racism is not rampant,(it is) but, no denying it IS better....in just my lifetime.  but, maybe is good thing, but, maybe, is better to know the truth, that is not yet even.  A member here on AU posted recently her coworker told her she could not work for a black boss.  (last month, not "eons ago", it is still going on right now)

 

Understanding the very recent 'past' (to me, my own lifetime does not seem that "long ago") can help you understand the present more effectively.

 

there are still mountains to climb yet.  we've got a ways to go.

 

(and no, Mark, i did not mind your "having an opinion",(?) that was not what bothered me)

 

(oh, and the thread went back to revolutionary times,

as result of someone wanted to know why USA tolerates slave owners on dollar bill, or something like that).

(?) 

Why are we concentrating on the past instead of the present? Because some folks like to keep wounds open and others don't realize that's what they are doing.

Today the average racist has become a bully, a petty name caller; In the past, they were a terrorist. Neal is right! We really need to take a look at what we have achieved here. I'm not saying MISSION ACCOMPLISHED but my generation has really no Idea of what it was like, expect from a readers perspective, and that's a good thing. A great thing!

 

@Jean.

Thanks for the cheer! Unnecessary but nice just the same. :D

I feel your trying to unnecessarily make me feel bad for having an opinion, I would like to point out that Edmund used the word to make his point, why should mine be treated any different?

Also with in the my context, the word "prejudges" and "Racist" did mean the same thing, which is why the context need to always be considered, and not individual words.

 

 

 

Yes, Neal, "politcally correct" has been hijacked, from meaning just showing basic respect and not profound ignorance/hate,

to being widely accepted as a perjorative. 

anything can be taken "too far",

to ridiculous extremes, (these are SOooo often pointed out to keep "politically correct" to seem like "bad" idea)

but, that foolishness doesn't mean dropping the Nword is bad idea, imo.

 

i always wonder about those who try so so hard to keep "politically correct" to be seen as bad thing.  Whoever it was that set about to tear down the idea we should use respect as a starting point, was very successful, almost everyone is happy to jump in that boat!!!

 but, i'm not buying it.  I still think is good thing, but, to me, {whose nickname was once Jeannie Beannie}, carrying things to extremes does not describe what *i'm* talking about when i say, "Being politically correct is good thing."

 

but yeah, say "politically correct" and evvvvvvvveryone wants to bash the idea, but, i do think, in the same way fox news presents what democrats are,-------- some looove to take extremes, that no group i ever heard of or support objects to, and hold THAT up as example of "what being politically correct means."

 

to me, it's just almost a form of basic manners.  (ducks! i know, i know, i am so weird, i actually like basic manners, ducks again!)

Why are we concentrating on the past instead of the present? 

 

I do agree somewhat with those that disagree with political correctness as being something to strive for. At times it goes too far.

 

In Michigan we have a local competitor to Starbucks that was called Beaners. A complaint was made that it was a denigrating term for someone south of the border. I never knew that until I saw an hispanic comedian calling his brothers beaners.

 

Fuck, I'm way out of the loop, I miss the drama.

 

Anyway, they changed their name to Bigby's, (easier to keep those cups with the big B on them). 

 

But then again, I take a ride to chicago, stop for gas and some munchies. What do I find? Cracker Jack baby! What's up with that? Am I Cracker Neal? Continue the trip, decide to grab a bite, looking at signs and again, what the heck do I see?  Cracker Barrel. What? You stuffing us Crackers in a barrel? Mother foosballers!

 

Drunk, ignore the above. I'm sure there's a point somewhere, but I lost it.

Well i guess it is true but unless we can get a time machine and complain directly to his face his behavior while young is a moot point in this discussion.  Ditto for Washington and Jefferson who seemed to try to rise above thoughts of the time.   You can pile on Jackson - he seems like a Devil.

 

"As a political writer and activist, he stood out for developing the idea of an American nation.

During the early part of his life he was a slave owner and even advertised rewards for runaway slaves in his newspaper, the Pennsylvania Gazette. It was not until his later years that he became an abolitionist and founded an anti-slavery society."