Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I had this weird dream last night, where I was at a graduation ceremony. Oddly enough, it was a majority black graduation ceremony, and after they called this one white guy up to the receive his diploma/degree, he suddenly burst out that he hated black people.
In my dream, the man ran out of the auditorium, and a bunch of people chased him, and then by the time I got outside to see him, he was on the ground looking a little beat up, and the police were trying to arrest him for some reason.
Anyway, after I woke up I thought, that is an interesting idea. If you took one black guy and threw him into a group of one hundred white people, and then one white guy and threw him into a group of one hundred black people. And each guy told the group of people that they hated them... What would most likely happen to the white guy vs what would most likely happen to the black guy?
Now, I don't post on city-data much anymore, but I am sure some of you might recognize me, in someone who discusses race often. I don't think it is the great taboo that most people believe it to be. And I don't find that the immediate discussion of race has anything to do with hatred towards people, but possibly hatred toward how people approach the issue of race.
In my view, race is simply a situation of genetics and culture. It is not that whites or blacks are inherently superior or inferior to each other, but that the proportion of certain characteristics and strengths varies from one group to another. And these physical and mental characteristics can be perceived by society to be more beneficial or less beneficial.
Lets just take height as a simple measure of social value. We know that being tall is generally more beneficial than being short. That women tend to want a tall man. And we know that Asians tend to be much shorter than Caucasians and Africans.... If hypothetically the determining factor in regards to individual success was a persons height, then Asians would be much less successful than other groups. And to believe that each group should be equally successful, would seem ridiculous.
Obviously though, height is not the determining factor for individual success, nor are the vast majority of physical traits. The determining factor for success is generally intelligence. And to believe that average intelligence doesn't vary from one race to another, is like believing that average intelligence doesn't vary from one family to another, or from one person to another. It is obviously a ridiculous assumption. But it is the basis for every social program that attempts to create equality of the races, or sexes, or ethnicities, etc. You cannot have equality where equality doesn't exist. You are not equal to me, nor am I equal to you. The only way there could ever be equality, is if everyone was exactly the same.
What you can provide is equality of opportunity, if you try for equality of results, then you are going into the realm of social engineering and special-privileges. IE Affirmative-action.
I discussed genetics, so let me move on to culture. And I believe that this has more to do with our real problems than anything else.
When it comes to the issues of race, it seems to me that mostly it boils down to a perception of who someone is, and what group they belong to, and mostly, where their loyalties lie.
It isn't that black people and white people are necessarily always enemies. It is that, black people and white people tend to view themselves as different people, and each group tends to want different things, and have different values.
When it comes to interracial marriages. The only marriages that last, are where one party in the marriage adopts the others values and culture of the other. They can't be two totally different people with different values and it to work, especially if they have children.
I don't dislike black people, but I don't like the gangster types. But for that matter, I don't like white people who act like gangsters either. Its always refreshing to me when I run into a black person who basically acts white. I always think of them as being basically unlucky to have been born black, because they get associated with the more mainstream black image, which is largely negative.
I think the best thing for the black community to do, would be to embrace the white culture to such an extent that there would be no reason for whites to perceive blacks negatively. But that won't happen because there is this whole black pride thing, and the thought of being called an Uncle Tom.
To give an example of my views of this, take immigration to America in the past vs the present.
The funny thing is, the largest ancestral group in this country by far, are the Germans. But how many people really know that? In fact, there are about twice as many ancestral Germans in this country than there are ancestral English. A great many people who came to this country in the past, changed their names when they arrived here, to something that sounded more British. Because they wanted to fit in.
While most of these people might still recognize their ancestry in general terms, very rarely do people really obsess about being part Italian or Irish or Scottish or French or German, etc. They might recognize it in general terms, but almost always see themselves as American before anything else. And I think that that is a good thing, and an extremely healthy thing for society in general.
I understand the desire for blacks to learn about their heritage. There is nothing wrong with that. But when that desire becomes a sort of hatred for America, and a desire to sort of separate yourself from the rest of America. You aren't doing any favors for anyone.
In my view, I think the liberal philosophy of social engineering is doing no real good for anyone, and just causing problems.
In my view, the best philosophy is just to get out of everyone's way, and let there be a natural equilibrium. Long before the Civil Rights movement there were rich black men. And even before slavery was abolished, there were rich black men, even in the southern slave-states, who were slave-owners and supposedly despised blacks.
Because the free market doesn't really care what color you are, the free market cares how much money you can make them or save them. If someone was selling a car for half-price, why would I care what color he was? Am I really going to buy the car for twice the price, because I want the white salesman? Get real.
On the other hand, if the salesman spoke a different language, or acted strangely, and I believed he hated me, then I might feel differently.
I think the natural flow of the free-market is to destroy diversity, to unite under a single culture and language, and to eventually eliminate race altogether.
I wanted to add one more thing that I've been obsessing about lately. And that is this interview with Barack Obama's brother, George Obama. About halfway through the video, he discusses his book and colonialism.
I can't help but agree with his assessments in regards to colonialism. I think Kenya would be much much much better off today if it had remained basically a colony of Britain. I think too often people think that life is a zero-sum game, where if someone benefits then someone else must lose. And when they see a rich person, they instantly believe they are taking advantage of everyone else.
And while that can be true, it is rarely the case. In the free-market, no one is going to interact with each other unless they benefit from it.
A good example of this was a question I posed to my uncle. His wife is from Guatemala and they were showing me some pictures from Guatemala when I was visiting.
An interesting thing about Guatemala is that, much of the country has wonderful weather. It has a access to both the Atlantic and the Pacific. Yet, much of its coastline is almost completely undeveloped.
So I said, what would happen to Guatemala if it was annexed by the United States? Would it be a bad thing or a good thing for Guatemala?
In my view, if we annexed Guatemala, the real estate values would skyrocket. Especially in the areas near Guatemala city, which has better weather than southern California. You would instantly see huge developments along both coasts, and a huge modernization of the agricultural industry. The living conditions in Guatemala would drastically improve, practically overnight.
So what is the problem? Well, they don't speak English. And if they were annexed, the Guatemalans would basically lose 99% of the control over their own country. The current farm-owners would most likely be bought up by huge farm conglomerates, and the people who seem relatively wealthy in their own country right now, would end up being practically in poverty after the annexation. Most of the current business-owners in Guatemala now, would end up losing their business and having to work for someone else. Most likely in tourism, hospitality, entertainment, or other service industries. And, they would practically all need to learn how to speak English overnight, otherwise they wouldn't be able to compete, and would remain in poverty.
My view is that, if Guatemala was annexed, it would greatly benefit economically, but would probably lose much of its culture. The question is, if you were Guatemala, would you make that trade?
For that matter, does any African in this country actually want to go back to Africa? Well then, I think you should attempt to act more like an American then.
Last edited by Redshadowz; 08-30-2012 at 06:49 AM..
Does it bug you when people claim that Rush is some sort of leader of an entire community?
Not really, because he knows he's just talking to a section of people. With blacks, it's assumed they're all under the entire umbrella, regardless of their social standing.
Not really, because he knows he's just talking to a section of people. With blacks, it's assumed they're all under the entire umbrella, regardless of their social standing.
When people argue that Rush is some leader of something or another it is assuming the same thing you complain about but yet, with one you have a problem but not with the other.
It's funny that on this forum I see a lot of black people bashing. Calling black people lazy, voting democrat for handouts, needing affirmative action etc... Don't people realize that we also want the American dream? We want a nice car, nice job, good home and for our kids to go to good schools. It's a shame cause when a black person does something then it had to be illegal or some kind of affirmative action program to get them there.
We're not looking for a handout or an advantage were looking for equal rights, not more not less, equal.
They don't see it as bashing and they cannot distinguish a poor black person on welfare from a middle class black person in the suburbs, or a black male murderer from the millions of black males who never commit any crime at all, simple as that.
My comments are geared only toward those commenters who continously spout things like "they listen to Sharpton" or "they are controlled by democrats" and other nonsense.
Basically, which has been the case since the end of the Civil War and before, some people do not view black people on a whole, as a positive group of people, they don't see us like all other Americans.
I personally have accepted that this is the way that some people think. I also do not feel it is only a characteristic of white people, but also of many other subcategories of Americans, including some black people as well.
I feel on a whole, we, as black people, really shouldn't care what white people or others think of us. I think that trying to impress "white people" or other Americans who have a poor view of us as black Americans, is stupid and a demeaning thing to do. I see black people who do this - try to impress others - as having an inferiority complex and who have worse problems than the people who constantly generalize black Americans. I personally feel that this is a bigger problem for black people in this country, feeling guilty about the actions of other black people and trying to impress white people, than practically any other issue that we as black Americans collectively possess in this country. If we stop the focus on "I hope that wasn't a black person" who committed an atrocious act because we don't want to be further demonized by whites and others, it would free us to focus on things that actually matter in our families and neighborhoods.
They don't see it as bashing and they cannot distinguish a poor black person on welfare from a middle class black person in the suburbs, or a black male murderer from the millions of black males who never commit any crime at all, simple as that.
My comments are geared only toward those commenters who continously spout things like "they listen to Sharpton" or "they are controlled by democrats" and other nonsense.
Basically, which has been the case since the end of the Civil War and before, some people do not view black people on a whole, as a positive group of people, they don't see us like all other Americans.
I personally have accepted that this is the way that some people think. I also do not feel it is only a characteristic of white people, but also of many other subcategories of Americans, including some black people as well.
I feel on a whole, we, as black people, really shouldn't care what white people or others think of us. I think that trying to impress "white people" or other Americans who have a poor view of us as black Americans, is stupid and a demeaning thing to do. I see black people who do this - try to impress others - as having an inferiority complex and who have worse problems than the people who constantly generalize black Americans. I personally feel that this is a bigger problem for black people in this country, feeling guilty about the actions of other black people and trying to impress white people, than practically any other issue that we as black Americans collectively possess in this country. If we stop the focus on "I hope that wasn't a black person" who committed an atrocious act because we don't want to be further demonized by whites and others, it would free us to focus on things that actually matter in our families and neighborhoods.
I'm curious as to what they do in trying to impress white people?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
