--- In AsburyPark@yahoogroups.com, "evosap" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> Thanks for setting me straight re your old article I will send my
email.
Great! I'll send it right over.
> There is a new book out "slavery by another name", haven;t read it
but
> listened to author. He documents the continued efforts to enslave
> black americans with phony charges and work camp prisons up to
the30s
> or 40s. heartbreaking. slavery still very much exists, most
> disturbingly in the sex trade of children.
>
> while i hear that americans have fought against it, i still don't
> think the average american appreciates the horror that existed in
>this
> country for african people. it is often hard for humans to admit
>our
> participation in something so egregious. we are a human family, and
> my american family did commit crimes against african people. no
>idea
> what the best thing to do about it but deny its impact is not it. i
> have listened to a number of people claim no responsibility, no
> appreciation.
I guess this is where you and I disagree. We've looked at the horror
of slavery ad nauseum in this Country, while leaving no room for the
triumph story.
It's time to celebrate the triumph story.
> then...what to do about the victim mentality that drives individuals
> to see discrimination where it does not exist?
Give them something better than victimology - the triumph story.
Nothing feels better than winning. People will finally take their
rightful place as American insiders when they celebrate their own
American greatness.
> ultimately it seems to me that racism/sexism/homophobia/Speciesism
>and
> any other stance we take that sees another as "other" than us, me
>etc
> is a spiritual ignorance (and pretty scientific seeing as we are all
> in the same ecosystem).
I agree. My conservative philosophy is "pro-human" to protect people
from the trespasses of government and one another. It is rooted in
the Declaration of Independence (the self-evident truth that we are
all created equal). That's why the same conservative philosophy that
drives me to protect the rights of really small humans called fetuses
is the same philosophy that compels me to protect the rights of gays.
> I am pretty guilty of making fun of behaviors that i find
> offensive...gross materialism, fear of the poor, classism, the
> assumption we should all be living the married procreating life,
> hummer drivers, chicks with plastic surgery blah blah blah..so i am
> failing to recognize the light of the universe in all as well.
I'm certainly not holier than thou. I'd bet at some point I will
fall pray to some pop culture stereotype and insult someone without
intending to. I only hope that if that happens it's pointed out to
me where I was wrong in an attempt to flip me to the right way,
instead of folks trying to tear me down. That's the way I handled it
with Ken Pringle, and I'm sure it was the right thing to do.
> i tell myself that my discrimination is better than that based on
what
> is unchangeable, like skin color, orientation, gender...but am i
> kidding myself?
No, I don't think the word "prejudice" applies to those things you
speak about. The law traditionally only addresed prejudice
to "suspect classes" defined as those who could show that their group
suffered an historic prejudice against them (Blacks, women, gays) but
that always seemed to be in itself a prejudice.
I think yours is a political statement.
For the record - I seem to like everything you hate.
Why do I like you so much? ;-)
Better stop here. Pete's gonna ban me again.
------------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AsburyPark/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AsburyPark/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
