I know way more racist people than I'd have expected

[Locke]

Please don't turn this into a politics thread, because both sides are fucking bat shit crazy, wrong, and pissy cry babies.

Let's get back to the topic at hand!

[Everlong]

^But politics are extremely interwoven with this issue. It's the political structure we have in place that prevents any meaningful change from ever occurring.

[Messiah]

a snap-back

Lmao, are you fucking kidding me? A HAT?

Well damn guys, I guess I'm just an everyday, thug black man who dresses like a fool.

I don't know if I'm reading this the wrong way, but it comes off as a thinly veiled attack on my character...and I think it's kind of a reach, dude. So what if I quote trap rap stoned at 3AM on the Chatbox? That's not a good point at all, completely irrelevant.

If that is how you took what I said (something I CLEARLY just said I don't have a problem with), then you have comprehension issues. Now that would be an attack on your intelligence, but see I'm not trying to do that. You come into this thread spewing this shit about how black people are this certain type of way and yet in the chatbox, you post ignorant trap music. Which, by the way, I love trap music. Listen to it all the time. But I'm not the one posting in a thread posting ridiculous generalizations about black people either and saying shit like someone being brainwashed by "nigga" culture. Like, what the fuck does that mean?

And don't talk about attacks at one's character. You are attacking my character now with this "nigga" culture bullshit. Your ignorant generalizations of my race and what we do. Not just my race, but your race. It is mind boggling that you believe the stuff you are saying.

I don't spew shit.

Yes you do. You are making ridiculous, dumbfounded generalizations.

Unfortunately, it's always been non-blacks. Yeah sure maybe we've been held down by the White man

My explanation for this (why on average, white people are more successful than black people) had nothing to do with being held by the white man unless you want to completely ignore it and make up your own narrative.

My cousins all sold drugs and shit. I stole shit in HS and sold it. Cleaned my act up and started emulating those who are succesful around me.

This really amuses me. Most of the people that I knew at my high school and still know that sold drugs are white. Pills, molly, shrooms, all that serious shit, they have. The people that steal shit and rob people? White people. I went to Wakefield High School located in a rich, predominantly white neighborhood. There were black people who did stupid shit, but there were also black people who didn't. None of my black friends do shit like that.

Unlike Kein, at least you seem to have an experience to base your generalizations and stereotypes off of. But it still doesn't make it right because it isn't. There are so many factors that play a role. I have met just as many fucking idiot white people as I have black people.

I did have a pretty boring HS life for the most part. You want to know why? BECAUSE I WAS DOING MY FUCKING HOMEWORK AND GOING TO CLASSES.

What does that have to do with the quality of your high school life?

I made great grades and never skipped (OK... I did, but you get the gist) classes. I still had a fucking amazing high school life. I partied, I played sports, I had a shit ton of fun. See, this is where your perception is all kinds of fucked up. People can do both.

Also, let me ask you a question, what's more common, a black man murdering people, or a white teenager shooting up a school?

Well no shit black people murdering people, because murders happen a lot more frequently than school shootings.

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/cr ... r_2013.xls

There have been more homicides committed by white people in the United States than black people.

Now see there is something wrong with that statistic. But it is no different than what you said above, ignoring context and all. So I'm just ready for you to point it out (if you can) and then you can see the flaws with the stuff you are saying.

You can tell right away that Whites are higher up the ladder than us by the way you complain about them.

I'm not complaining. I was making ridiculous generalizations about their race like you are doing because not all white people are rich. Far from it, actually. I'm truly stunned you didn't get the point.

look at our idols. Rappers, meathead athletes.

Sigh.

Hell, there's a reason we only get one month of history

This doesn't even make any sense.

[Messiah]

As far as the whole Canada thing goes, I never said anything about there not being black people there (certainly not as much as in the United States, though). I asked you a question. How many have you truly gotten to know?

[Messiah]

Also, nothing annoys me more than the whole rap thing. There are plenty of rappers out there that rap about more than just materialistic things. But even if they didn't... who fucking cares? They are entertainers first and foremost.

i'm not ignorant.

Do you not read your posts? Yes, you are quite ignorant if you believe the stuff you are saying. I mean according to you, you shouldn't wear a fucking snap-back (a SNAP-BACK!!!!) if you want to be taken seriously.

[Messiah]

But what really, really makes me laugh is something that I'm just now realizing.

Considering you are black and considering your views about black people... you seem to think that you are some rare, special little case of a successful black man. That's really fucking funny to me.

"Black people make excuses, black people are thugs, black people are loud as fuck, black people have this dumb as fuck culture... except me of course, I'm the exception." That is basically what you're saying.

the only guy we've got is epic black science man.

I mean come on. How can you say you're not ignorant when you say stuff like this?

[Everlong]

I mean come on. How can you say you're not ignorant when you say stuff like this?

Yeah, and not to mention stuff like:

unwarranted "rise" against the mistreatment of blacks - which in turn, has made us immune from persecution

and

It's never "man the fuck up" because that's insensitive and not in-depth enough.

and

Yeah, well why is things like Autism being diagnosed up the ass atm? You don't think there's a company pushing these meds? Just like the forced narrative of blacks vs. The World is being crammed down our throats on television all the time.

and especially

Oh, I feel like a girl, chop my dick off and pump me full of estrogen!

and basically anything else you want to quote.

Basically, this is someone who's either extremely sheltered or trolling, or both.

[Viazon]

You know what? I've been convinced and this thread has opened my eyes.

Fuck black people.

[Messiah]

Oh, I feel like a girl, chop my dick off and pump me full of estrogen!

and basically anything else you want to quote.

Holy fucking shit, I totally glanced over that one.

[Daz]

I mean come on. How can you say you're not ignorant when you say stuff like this?

Yeah, and not to mention stuff like:

unwarranted "rise" against the mistreatment of blacks - which in turn, has made us immune from persecution

and

It's never "man the fuck up" because that's insensitive and not in-depth enough.

and

Yeah, well why is things like Autism being diagnosed up the ass atm? You don't think there's a company pushing these meds? Just like the forced narrative of blacks vs. The World is being crammed down our throats on television all the time.

and especially

Oh, I feel like a girl, chop my dick off and pump me full of estrogen!

and basically anything else you want to quote.

Basically, this is someone who's either extremely sheltered or trolling, or both.

I honestly can't decide what I was more surprised by, the "chop my dick off" line or the "autism" line.

I suppose Cancer is just propaganda and AIDS was just scaremongering in the media to sell more drugs to liberal living white people and pill popping thug-tastic black guys, who didn't man the fuck up and started banging other dudes.

[SKS]

These stereotypes of yours aren't based off experience, unless you can provide me with real-life experiences you can remember. You spin everything to fit your narrative. You meet a black guy that shares your interests? Well... he must be acting white. There could be a tons of black people like him (there are), but you will never know because of your own racism.

This is fucking great. I've always thought about this as a major point but have never seen anyone besides myself articulate it. I was even thinking about logging in here and posting this before I left for work. And lo and behold someone brought it up.

I can't even guess the number of times in my life I've heard someone tell me, "You're not a real Mexican", or "You act white". People can't even being to comprehend that I'm not "acting" like anything, or understand why I'm not their exact stereotype of who I should be. I am an individual human being. My color didn't dictate who I became (my environment did to a large degree), it just dictated how up perceived me. Whenever someone says something like that to me what I hear is, "You're not who my ignorant mind perceived you to be. But instead of admitting that my beliefs are wrong, and that I should maybe stop judging people who look different as stereotypes and instead treat them like individuals, I'm going to assume you're so sort of outlier because my ego is to fragile or I'm just too stupid to ever consider being wrong."

I might be off base, but it really seems like this for a lot of people I've met. They seem to have zero self reflection, and it seems to be because some people can't bear the insult of considering that they're wrong or not all that great.

One way my race has affected me, is that a small part of me in the back of my mind is often aware that I have to be better in a certain sense. My actions don't get judged as an individual, I have the burden of making anyone who looks like me look bad as well. I hope I articulated that moderately well. Seriously though it's pretty silly that whenever I hear something bad on the news my immediate thought is, "Please don't let it be a minority." I can't even control it, it's an automatic reflex. And it extends past people who look like me too, I also feel it when it's a black person, as if by proxy or something. I don't feel we have the privilege that most white people seem to get at birth. To be judged solely as an individual, to not have to prove that you're your own person. This might be different for a lot of people. In the town I grew up in it was pretty much 99% white, maybe in much more mixed places it's not such an issue.

I hope I expressed myself OK. I always post after work like at 4am and am pretty tired, and I often don't get my opinion across as clearly as I wanted to.

I agree with most of what you're saying except what I put in bold. It is a bit insulting to me when a lot of people, including white people, say that we (as white people) have an enormous privilege and don't have to prove ourselves just because our skin is white. I can understand that that's what it sounds like from the perspective of a non-white person, but I deal with proving my own self-worth every day. Perhaps that's just my personality and self esteem issues, but being born white doesn't automatically give you a great life. The majority of school shooters are white, the majority of celebrities that kill themselves are white. They obviously don't have great lives if they have to resort to those actions. Black people can be rich and have great neighborhoods also. Same for any other race.

The idea that white people are born with a silver spoon in their mouth (not saying that this is what you meant, just in general when people say it) offends me. White people still have to go to school, go to work, just like anyone else would. Nothing is handed to us as a "race", and I could argue the whole financial aid/scholarship experience I went through again, but I won't, actually shows that minorities are beneficiaries in terms of getting an education. Again, it is probably just my personal experience and situation, not the same as everywhere else.

[Everlong]

It is a bit insulting to me when a lot of people, including white people, say that we (as white people) have an enormous privilege and don't have to prove ourselves just because our skin is white. I can understand that that's what it sounds like from the perspective of a non-white person, but I deal with proving my own self-worth every day. Perhaps that's just my personality and self esteem issues, but being born white doesn't automatically give you a great life.

But you ARE born with an enormous privilege. Hell, if you're black you're put at a disadvantage just because you look different, and that's not even considering the likelihood of being born into poverty as a black person. If you're white, what are the chances of someone ever refusing you service because they assume you're here to rob the store? If you're white, what are the chances of getting suspicious looks whenever you walk around a nice suburb?

Being born white doesn't automatically give you a great life, but it definitely gives you certain advantages that people of other races will never know.

[Locke]

These stereotypes of yours aren't based off experience, unless you can provide me with real-life experiences you can remember. You spin everything to fit your narrative. You meet a black guy that shares your interests? Well... he must be acting white. There could be a tons of black people like him (there are), but you will never know because of your own racism.

This is fucking great. I've always thought about this as a major point but have never seen anyone besides myself articulate it. I was even thinking about logging in here and posting this before I left for work. And lo and behold someone brought it up.

I can't even guess the number of times in my life I've heard someone tell me, "You're not a real Mexican", or "You act white". People can't even being to comprehend that I'm not "acting" like anything, or understand why I'm not their exact stereotype of who I should be. I am an individual human being. My color didn't dictate who I became (my environment did to a large degree), it just dictated how up perceived me. Whenever someone says something like that to me what I hear is, "You're not who my ignorant mind perceived you to be. But instead of admitting that my beliefs are wrong, and that I should maybe stop judging people who look different as stereotypes and instead treat them like individuals, I'm going to assume you're so sort of outlier because my ego is to fragile or I'm just too stupid to ever consider being wrong."

I might be off base, but it really seems like this for a lot of people I've met. They seem to have zero self reflection, and it seems to be because some people can't bear the insult of considering that they're wrong or not all that great.

One way my race has affected me, is that a small part of me in the back of my mind is often aware that I have to be better in a certain sense. My actions don't get judged as an individual, I have the burden of making anyone who looks like me look bad as well. I hope I articulated that moderately well. Seriously though it's pretty silly that whenever I hear something bad on the news my immediate thought is, "Please don't let it be a minority." I can't even control it, it's an automatic reflex. And it extends past people who look like me too, I also feel it when it's a black person, as if by proxy or something. I don't feel we have the privilege that most white people seem to get at birth. To be judged solely as an individual, to not have to prove that you're your own person. This might be different for a lot of people. In the town I grew up in it was pretty much 99% white, maybe in much more mixed places it's not such an issue.

I hope I expressed myself OK. I always post after work like at 4am and am pretty tired, and I often don't get my opinion across as clearly as I wanted to.

I agree with most of what you're saying except what I put in bold. It is a bit insulting to me when a lot of people, including white people, say that we (as white people) have an enormous privilege and don't have to prove ourselves just because our skin is white. I can understand that that's what it sounds like from the perspective of a non-white person, but I deal with proving my own self-worth every day. Perhaps that's just my personality and self esteem issues, but being born white doesn't automatically give you a great life. The majority of school shooters are white, the majority of celebrities that kill themselves are white. They obviously don't have great lives if they have to resort to those actions. Black people can be rich and have great neighborhoods also. Same for any other race.

The idea that white people are born with a silver spoon in their mouth (not saying that this is what you meant, just in general when people say it) offends me. White people still have to go to school, go to work, just like anyone else would. Nothing is handed to us as a "race", and I could argue the whole financial aid/scholarship experience I went through again, but I won't, actually shows that minorities are beneficiaries in terms of getting an education. Again, it is probably just my personal experience and situation, not the same as everywhere else.

^My wife and I were denied financial aid to pay for $80,000 dollars of hospital bills from childbirth that our insurance wouldn't pay, and it really felt it was because we *weren't* black. We waited in line for 2 hours and we were the only white couple, and every other group (I don't say couple because there were no "daddies" there except for me) was black, and they were given 30+ minutes each and all left with smiles and relieved looks on their faces. When it was our turn, we sat down, the financial aid person looked at us with raised eyebrows, asked us our issue, we said that our insurance ditched us (out of network, but life threatening emergency put us in that hospital - we had no choice) and she just said "Mmm hmmm, we can't do anything about that. NEXT!"

I found out later that all of their aid is strictly for minorities (some government grant thing).

My point? Being white actually FUCKED us there. Had to file medical bankruptcy.

[SKS]

It is a bit insulting to me when a lot of people, including white people, say that we (as white people) have an enormous privilege and don't have to prove ourselves just because our skin is white. I can understand that that's what it sounds like from the perspective of a non-white person, but I deal with proving my own self-worth every day. Perhaps that's just my personality and self esteem issues, but being born white doesn't automatically give you a great life.

But you ARE born with an enormous privilege. Hell, if you're black you're put at a disadvantage just because you look different, and that's not even considering the likelihood of being born into poverty as a black person. If you're white, what are the chances of someone ever refusing you service because they assume you're here to rob the store? If you're white, what are the chances of getting suspicious looks whenever you walk around a nice suburb?

Being born white doesn't automatically give you a great life, but it definitely gives you certain advantages that people of other races will never know.

Don't you think that's just contracting anti-racism? Should I apologize for racist white people? Should I feel bad? Should I go up to a random black person and say sorry my ancestors owned your ancestors a long time ago? Or should I feel that I'm just as equal as anyone else? That we are all just equal human beings? And we all deal with the same problems? Obstacles? Isn't that what EQUALITY is? Saying I have an enormous privilege just because I'm born white is racist in itself. When you automatically feel sympathy for a minority just because they deal with problems you are putting them at a disadvantage yourself. You already have set in your mind, "man that guy must have a rough life, he's black". Which is insulting to black people, by insinuating they can't live a normal life just because there are assholes in the world, just like any other race.

And believe me, I understand minorities deal with racism, I'm not stupid. But to constantly remind people of that doesn't really lead to equality, in my opinion. It just pushes the idea that people are not equal.

[Str8Shooter]

I can't wait for next weeks thread on Abortion.

[Daz]

I can't wait for next weeks thread on Abortion.

I'll start doing my research.

[Everlong]

Don't you think that's just contracting anti-racism?

I'm not sure what you mean.

Should I apologize for racist white people? Should I feel bad? Should I go up to a random black person and say sorry my ancestors owned your ancestors a long time ago? Or should I feel that I'm just as equal as anyone else? That we are all just equal human beings? And we all deal with the same problems? Obstacles? Isn't that what EQUALITY is?

No, you shouldn't have to apologize for racist white people, and no you don't have to apologize for your ancestors. You're being ridiculous.

However, what you do need to do is realize that no, you're NOT as equal as anyone else. We DON'T all deal with the same problems. That's the point. That's what the concept of privilege is. By virtue of being born white, you do not have to deal with all of the same problems that someone who is born black does. Just like I, by virtue of being born in a nuclear middle class family, do not have to deal with all of the same problems that someone born in a single-parent poverty-stricken household does.

Not everybody is born equal, not everyone IS equal. That's a fairy tale, not reality. What counts is that you realize that, and then what you choose to do about it. And no, that doesn't mean apologizing for who you are or the life you are fortunate to have. But it does mean being sensitive to the fact that other people were not born with those same things.

Saying I have an enormous privilege just because I'm born white is racist in itself.

No, it's not. It's reality.

When you automatically feel sympathy for a minority just because they deal with problems you are putting them at a disadvantage yourself. You already have set in your mind, "man that guy must have a rough life, he's black". Which is insulting to black people, by insinuating they can't live a normal life just because there are assholes in the world, just like any other race.

I think you misunderstand. I don't automatically think that all black people have a rough life, or feel sympathy for someone being black just because they're black. I do think that all black people share a common set of struggles that white people will never experience, however.

[Locke]

I can't wait for next weeks thread on Abortion.

I'll start doing my research.

I'll start organizing my stock photos with meaningful quotes, now.

[Daz]

Don't you think that's just contracting anti-racism?

I'm not sure what you mean.

Should I apologize for racist white people? Should I feel bad? Should I go up to a random black person and say sorry my ancestors owned your ancestors a long time ago? Or should I feel that I'm just as equal as anyone else? That we are all just equal human beings? And we all deal with the same problems? Obstacles? Isn't that what EQUALITY is?

No, you shouldn't have to apologize for racist white people, and no you don't have to apologize for your ancestors. You're being ridiculous.

However, what you do need to do is realize that no, you're NOT as equal as anyone else. We DON'T all deal with the same problems. That's the point. That's what the concept of privilege is. By virtue of being born white, you do not have to deal with all of the same problems that someone who is born black does. Just like I, by virtue of being born in a nuclear middle class family, do not have to deal with all of the same problems that someone born in a single-parent poverty-stricken household does.

Not everybody is born equal, not everyone IS equal. That's a fairy tale, not reality. What counts is that you realize that, and then what you choose to do about it. And no, that doesn't mean apologizing for who you are or the life you are fortunate to have. But it does mean being sensitive to the fact that other people were not born with those same things.

Saying I have an enormous privilege just because I'm born white is racist in itself.

No, it's not. It's reality.

When you automatically feel sympathy for a minority just because they deal with problems you are putting them at a disadvantage yourself. You already have set in your mind, "man that guy must have a rough life, he's black". Which is insulting to black people, by insinuating they can't live a normal life just because there are assholes in the world, just like any other race.

I think you misunderstand. I don't automatically think that all black people have a rough life, or feel sympathy for someone being black just because they're black. I do think that all black people share a common set of struggles that white people will never experience, however.

I feel as though your last point really depends on where you're located in the world. I'm sure poverty stricken black people in Africa would look up to poverty stricken black people in America, and think they have it all. I don't think it's a common set of struggles at all.

[Everlong]

I feel as though your last point really depends on where you're located in the world. I'm sure poverty stricken black people in Africa would look up to poverty stricken black people in America, and think they have it all. I don't think it's a common set of struggles at all.

Oh yeah, everything I'm saying here is in context to life in America.