Why I am often an angry bitch
Until three years ago I had never a read a blog, I used the internet mostly for research (work and school) and shopping. I really didn’t know much about them until I had a class about ethics in computing. Some topics for discussion were about blogs. A little later a friend started a blog and I began to read his and his links. These were usually politically conservative and libertarian. Politically I might agree or disagree, and I wasn’t bothered much by what I didn’t agree with, until Katrina. When the water was up over peoples heads, the poor were being attacked for not being self sufficient enough. They were victims of that disaster, because they depended on the government too much. If it was them, the bloggers would know how to survive. This chatter was included when asking people to donate to help at the same time. WHAT! You can’t give them help unless you speak about how superior you would be in the situation. Was it coincidental the people were black that generated this chatter?
The post I have written about race have been stimulated by other blogs in which I have gotten in arguments with others making comments. I probably shouldn’t read those blogs, but I still want to know how they think. I get angry because blacks are used as an example, whenever there is a discussion about culture, public schools, welfare, self-sufficiency, responsibility and even as the inventors of slavery. The arguments have been crafted by the think tanks and the bloggers and their following want you to think they are only arguing ideology. The internet is not the only medium; the language has permeated into the general population through talk radio and faux TV news. Now the common thinking is; that it is alright to talk about black people and not be PC, because it is for there own good. Racism has become much more sophisticated. We have become the “Negro Problem” once again and the last time we were discussed in this way resulted in the Jim Crow Law being accepted as constitutional.
My statements might sound rash or just crazy, but I have lived through Jim Crow and have had to listen to the variations of racist speech, and what is happening now seems to be Variation in C sharp.
5 comments:
I am beginning to believe that starting with the “Republican Revolution” there has been a concerted effort by the right to consolidate power and wealth. As they perceive themselves more and more powerful they become more and more arrogant. They coined the phrase “politically correct speech” to describe parts of our common language that have changed to reflect a new attitude in the culture that they did not endorse.
To me “politically correct speech” is an indication of where we are going in our culture and not so much as where we are. To hear you say that it is being abandoned with respect to the discussion of race is very troubling. This is however not near as troubling as your feeling that we may be entering a new Jim Crow era.
One of your ongoing themes is the effort by some to clean up the United States’ history. To ignore slavery, genocide or any thing else that is uncomfortable to talk about. I just read an article about a very large equestrian statue that is going to be dedicated in El Paso next month. It is the second of what was originally proposed as twelve monuments spanning the time from 1535 to 1910. This particular statue is of a mounted conquistador. It originally was called Don Juan de Onate and was to include a plaque that accurately described his role in changing the area. The plaque was to include a description of the brutal subjugation of the indigenous people. Because of opposition, it is now called “The Equestrian” and no plaque is present. In the short article I read it does not say who opposed the statue. I personally think that the original name and plaque should be in place. We can not change history. This man changed the face of the area he controlled during his life time. We can not undo the changes, we can not bring back the cultures he destroyed or fragmented. We do not have to say that what he did was all good or all bad but we do have to live with the result. I find it especially ironic that this monument will be unveiled at El Paso International airport. Will it be in plain view of the thousands of soldiers coming and going from Iraq? Will they see the face of the neo-cons in the face of Don Juan Onate? Will we condemn his aggression and justify our own?
A picture of the sculpture can be seen at http://www.12travelers.org/
It has always pissed me off when a person thinks they can spout off a bunch of racist comments and hide behind the old "I'm not PC. I don't adhere to the status quo". How about just human common damn decency? How about not using slurs because you share this planet with other people who have the right to not be accosted by comments that, incidently, are not really meant to be irreverant and political, but to show how superior and cleaver you are? As we used to say growing up, "Ha, ha, HELL!"
z.
I hope I am not appearing to be too paranoid:)
I checked the equestrian site out. Without the name, why bother.
magic mona,
Superior is a word used more often, in reference to the American (white) culture. This is something blacks and other non-whites have to adopt. I wonder if they realize that 99.999% of black people and many many Mexicans would not have been immigrants to America.
As Lynn says, and it's similar when they start a sentence "with respect ...", it usually means what they are about to say shows no respect at all.
Lynn Gazis-Sax,
That's what gets me so angry. I call them on it and I suddenly become what they are.
A.
The only one who has to show respect are those they are speaking to.
I don't know how many times I've been told I have to earn respect. How? By being their clone.
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