"Practical Joke" and Bigotry
There was a post on this site yesterday linking to an email I had sent somewhere. What I didn't know when I posted that link was that I'd left my computer unlocked and a coworker added a racist line of text to the email (that I stupidly sent without checking to make sure it said what I wanted it to) that was eventually published.
I deleted the post linking to it once I found out, and have debated since whether or not to mention it here. I have decided that there are people I respect that come to this site and I need to make something clear.
I am not a bigot of any stripe. I have friends and former intimates of many different cultural backgrounds and ancestry and make decisions about the people in my life based upon their behavior, beliefs, and how they treat me. I don't care how much melanin is in someone's skin, how well they speak my language (beyond the ability to communicate with them), or where their ancestors came from. Moreover, I resent that I even feel the need to defend myself.
Ultimately, I'm a bit of an odd bird when it comes to bigotry. It isn't so much that it enrages me so much as it is a red flag that the person practicing it is unlikely to be terribly intelligent. It is because of that I tend to avoid bigots. If I (ever) meet one that is smart and doesn't act like a cretin to otherwise unoffending people or let loose with a steady stream of asinine remarks, I may actually talk to them.
If that ever happens, I'll probably post it here, as it'll be very surprising to me.
I think I'll do another post on bigotry in the near future. I've got clients in Europe who tell me it's about as common there as apple pie and ice cream are here. Are (nearly) all cultures so xenophobic that when someone who looks different is introduced therein, they are automatically rejected as inferior? Are none strong enough to accept that a difference may add strength?
These are ideas worth considering. More on this later.
Bartleby
I deleted the post linking to it once I found out, and have debated since whether or not to mention it here. I have decided that there are people I respect that come to this site and I need to make something clear.
I am not a bigot of any stripe. I have friends and former intimates of many different cultural backgrounds and ancestry and make decisions about the people in my life based upon their behavior, beliefs, and how they treat me. I don't care how much melanin is in someone's skin, how well they speak my language (beyond the ability to communicate with them), or where their ancestors came from. Moreover, I resent that I even feel the need to defend myself.
Ultimately, I'm a bit of an odd bird when it comes to bigotry. It isn't so much that it enrages me so much as it is a red flag that the person practicing it is unlikely to be terribly intelligent. It is because of that I tend to avoid bigots. If I (ever) meet one that is smart and doesn't act like a cretin to otherwise unoffending people or let loose with a steady stream of asinine remarks, I may actually talk to them.
If that ever happens, I'll probably post it here, as it'll be very surprising to me.
I think I'll do another post on bigotry in the near future. I've got clients in Europe who tell me it's about as common there as apple pie and ice cream are here. Are (nearly) all cultures so xenophobic that when someone who looks different is introduced therein, they are automatically rejected as inferior? Are none strong enough to accept that a difference may add strength?
These are ideas worth considering. More on this later.
Bartleby
posted by Bartleby at 1:40 PM
6 Comments:
It's human nature to fear what we don't understand.
It's rational thought that allows us to seek to better understand what we fear.
I suppose you're correct, but why do people so often let their fear override their logic? I don't mind generalities, but I think it's stupid to continue to apply them in the face of evidence to the contrary.
Bart
I am a bigot, but it is not that I fear what I don't understand. I understand it. It is rational thought that enables me to critique a race and realize that it is lacking in many respects. Which race is irrelevant to this discussion. I don’t vocalize my bigotry, post it, or even treat others differently. I am not hurting anyone. It is just my opinion, an opinion that I believe is based upon facts. Some individuals prefer people from small towns, some like people from the city, etc. As soon as the sacred issue of race is involved, we are supposed to act like it is all the same. You lack intellectual honesty. Do I hate every member of any race? No. That would be illogical. But why can’t I say I don’t like race “X” without offending everyone? The most intolerant people you will ever meet are the ones who say they want to promote tolerance. I could care less if you like my race or not because you don't know me. You speak as though you accept all racial differences as equal and, somehow, that makes your reasoning superior. Then you talk with such distain about people who have a different opinion than you? Is opinion so different from race? Is it irrational for me to say there are racial differences that I prefer and racial differences that I don’t? Am I stupid, fearful, a cretin? Or have you met a bunch of bigots and then arrived at the conclusion that you don’t like bigots? That sounds like bigotry in itself. But it seems logical.
Dear Anonymous,
I have to make several points here, chief among them is that I probably would not hold your bigotry against you in my decision as to whether or not you would be a friend of mine were I to meet you in person. If you don't vocalize your bigotry, post it, or hurt others for it, I don't care what your feelings are.
You are entirely right - some people prefer townsfolk, some people prefer city people, and some people prefer suburbia. It's not that race is sacred, but that generally speaking, making a decision based entirely upon race is a bad idea. Would I want to live next door to 50 Cent? No. Would I mind living next door to Bill Cosby? I'd love to. It is not racial but cultural and behavioral differences that I find to be substantive.
I don't like gangsters, low lifes, people who don't keep clean, people who don't know how to behave in public, or discourteous people. I also don't like loud people, people that think they deserve the world for nothing, people that believe in entitlements for things that happened before they were born, or people who believe in preferences. These are not things based upon race.
All that aside; I realize that statistically speaking some races commit crimes with a greater regularity than others, and I also believe that you can make rational decisions based on appearances to avoid situations where you can be endangered by doing otherwise. If a person dresses, speaks, and acts like a gangster, they probably are one, and you should respond accordingly. If I see a person that intentionally looks like a thug, I cross the street, adjust my position in relation to my family and friends, and/or make sure my gun is readily accessible in case I need it. That's not bigotry - that's responding to the other person's desire to look scary. It's a deliberate behavior with a rational response.
I don't speak with disdain of others that disagree with me. I speak with disdain of people who behave badly. As you will notice, I said in my original post (and in this reply) that I would not have a problem befriending an intelligent, well spoken, courteous bigot. It is the rude, loud, raging ones that I don't want to be around. The person who defines themselves by what they hate is not someone that is entertaining or educational for me to be around.
See? :)
Bartleby
“The person who defines themselves by what they hate is not someone that is entertaining or educational for me to be around” interesting. Your previous post indicated a general dislike, if not hatred, toward bigots. I do not fault you for disliking bigots. I just find your position hypocritical. You stated that bigotry “is a red flag that the person practicing it is unlikely to be terribly intelligent. It is because of that I tend to avoid bigots.” Why is it acceptable for you to say that about bigots, but not when speaking of a race? It has become popular for people to pretend like they have no prejudices, but most could list in order of preference the racial make up of neighborhoods they would choose to live in… black, white, Vietnamese, Arab, Jewish, Hispanic, whatever. You say that you wouldn’t mind being neighbors with Bill Cosby, but ask yourself, based solely on the racial demographics, which neighborhood would you most prefer to live in? Which neighborhood would you least prefer? If you have a preference based only on race aren’t you a bigot. 90% of everyone would have a preference, and the remaining 10% are lying. Applying racial generalities to individuals that you do not know is normal, like apple pie and ice cream. I understand that Jesse Jackson does not like Jews. No, I am not horrified by his racial slur. I am not demanding an apology. What should he apologize for, his beliefs? He did eventually apologize, but do you actually think he changed his attitudes? And who cares if he did? Why can’t he dislike a group of people? WWII vets that don’t like Asians, what is the problem with that? But because so many atrocities have been committed based upon racial prejudice, it is now so politically incorrect to admit our prejudices that we all feign that we don’t even notice race. I wish we could judge everyone by the content of their character, but we don’t know the content of everyone’s character, so we generalize. Is your character strong enough for you to admit your bigotry, or is your character so weak that you will continue your hypocrisy? Just like Jesse Jackson.
My previous post did not indicate a hatred toward bigots, though I agree it indicated a general dislike for them. That is partly because of what I have noticed as a general theme among bigots of being vociferous in their beliefs and their hatreds (though it occurs to me that if I met one that was quiet about it, I'd never know). Regardless, my general dislike revolves around a belief system and set of behaviors and not around something peripheral that has no effect on my life. I even said in my original post that if I ever meet one who does not do the things I dislike that I'd probably talk to them.
Note that I don't consider it to be bigotry to respond to groups because of things that statistically hold true for that group...it is when you encounter invidividuals and do not find out who they are before making a decision that becomes bigotry.
In other words, as I said before, when I see the thug dressed kid walking toward me, I'm going to respond as if he's a thug, even if he's just dressed like one. Conversely, if I see a kid dressed in a three piece suit with a nice haircut who is speaking quietly with his (similarly dressed) friends I am going to respond positively.
Anyway...as I've said earlier in this blog, generalities work - that's why people use them. I have no problems with generalities and the effective use of them. I have a problem without finding out about individuals before making decisions about them. Looking sufficiently into them could range from checking out their clothes, to listening to them speak, to finding out about their lives.
It just depends.
Sorry this is rambling, but I'm at work and getting to this as I can. Ultimately, I do not really recognize race so much as I recognize culture. In answer to your query as to whether or not I would want to move into an all-black neighborhood, the answer is 'probably not', because of cultural differences in America. I don't think I'd mind living in an affluent all-black neighborhood in Africa. I definitely wouldn't mind living in an affluent all-Asian neighborhood in America. Further, I wouldn't mind living in an affluent all-Mexican neighborhood in Mexico. The problem is not with the race, creed, or nationality of the person, but on the values system held by the people that live there. This isn't racism so much as it is a statistical analysis of cultural differences and what is most likely to be a place where I can relate to the people near where I live and raise my family.
Bartleby
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