From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: Killer Bs Discussion <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Scouted: The South Will Rise Again! Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2003 09:30:11 EDT
> For someone to want to restore a men only institution could well be a > desire to return to misogyny, but it might not. I'm not sure that we > should immediately assume they're > > just a bunch of scumbag racists. And sexists. And almost > certainly anti-Semites. >
I can't expect someone in Australia to understand the dynamic of the American
South, just as I can't be expected to understand Australian social dynamics.
Let me assure you, the men proposing to start this new "Southern Military
Institute" are definitely racist and sexist, and based on what I know of similar
people, I have no doubt they harbor anti-Jewish feelings too.
*general noises of agreement*
These institutions prided themselves on hating everybody who wasn't "a southern gentleman", which included (at various times) Blacks, Jews, Latins, Catholics, women, Muslims, immigrants, Asians, the Irish, etc., etc. I doubt their intentions are honorable, and there's a lot of historical precedent to back you up.
As far as people saying, "Well, I didn't cause the previous discrimination, so why should I be discriminated against?" - funny, innit, how these people never PROTESTED the previous discrimination either?
Sometimes. Not always. If you paint them all with the same brush, then I'd disagree. I personally object to affirmative action because I think it could discriminate against people who are better suited for a job, but will be passed over because another applicant got lucky. I don't think that pov makes me a racist.
How they never said a word
AGAINST discrimination until they became (in their own self-pitying minds)
victims? You get (up here, at least) racist scum like Trent Lott and Strom Thurmond
and Jesse Helms and Bob Barr who not once in their lives ever said a single
word against Jim Crow, and have even benefitted politically from pandering to
the racist resentment of the good ol' boys, but who get all hot and bothered by
what they call "reverse discrimination." In my eyes, they would at least have
a tiny semblance of moral authority if they had ever, even once, sincerely
condemned the racism and discrimination they themselves once publicly exhibited,
and basically still do, even if they try to dissemble when they think no one
from the New York Times is listening.
Al Sharpton is a good example of this process working in a pro-black/anti-white way. Malcolm X. Jesse Jackson. Khalil Abdul Muhammad. Remember that it goes both ways. There are plenty of racists to go around on both sides of the fence.
Didn't Lott and Thurmond support anti-discrimination legislation in later years? They may not have been able to erase history, but iirc, they were working to change the future. I know for sure that Thurmond apologized.
People who say, "Well, racism is bad, but I didn't do it, and reverse
discrimination is worse," to me know nothing about real discrimination (and have a
responsibility to learn), don't really object to racism, and are basically
selfish, self-pitying, mean-spirited immature little creeps who need a scapegoat to
blame for their own problems.
This I disagree with. Discrimination is vile in all its forms, even that which masquerades as ethnocentrism. And reverse discrimination *is* worse, because it's being done by people who have full knowledge of what being discriminated against is like.
What the heck is wrong with people being judged on merit rather than the color of their skin, or their religion, anyway?
And politicians who pander to them are even
worse; it's a lot easier just to tell these jerks that they're 100% right and all
their problems are someone else's fault than it is to take responsibility for
not doing anything to help anybody, for not owning up to and truly repenting
for their own racist pasts (and, in most cases, racist presents), and for
attempting to lead the way toward true reconciliation for everyone.
So... by that logic, politicians who are pro-affirmative action could merely be pandering to the people in this country who want to blame others for their own lacks.
I may be misunderstanding or reading you wrong, but I think you're contradicting yourself here?
Jon
Le Blog: http://zarq.livejournal.com
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