Why doesn't anyone ever quote these words by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.? Just a guess: there's no profit in these words for race-baiting poverty pimps who thrive on victimology.

>> ^quantumushroom:

Why doesn't anyone ever quote these words by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.? Just a guess: there's no profit in these words for race-baiting poverty pimps who thrive on victimology.


'Race-baiting', 'The race card', 'profit from poverty' and 'victimology' are right wing concepts designed to marginalize anyone with the courage to broach the topic of race, and to ultimately shut down the dialog on racism all together. Racism is real, qm, and whether you know it or not, you keep it alive with this kind of ignorant language.

I was introduced to racism by,ironically, minorities. For about a month or two I didn't understand that the term "white boy" was an insult to my creed. At first, I thought I was just abnormally white, in actuality though I am pretty dark as far as white people go (or was before I discovered computers). Over time I finally figured out that it wasn't my color that they were making fun of, but my ethnicity, which up until that point in my life I had never contemplated before. I had never identified myself as a white person. My only understanding of color was that some people were more tan than others.

In all these race arguments I feel like I am at a loss. It would seem that for most my formative years I lived the MLK dream of being color blind. This makes it really hard for me to understand racism; both at the source and at the recite. As such, I have a deep guttural reaction to both racism of hate and racism of reciprocity (affirmative action). For me, the goal is to be color blind, not color sensitive. As such, anything that makes more than a superficial distinction on color...no matter how noble in appearance it only works against that goal. Perhaps I am naive, but the trollish observations of "race-baiting and victimology" do have some significance. Racism still happens, and when it does it needs to be righted, but this constant heehawing about supposed acts of racism seems to just prolong the healing. Like that line in fight club, "it is like that sore on the top of your mouth that would heal if only you would stop tonguing it." Not to say that we should turn a blind eye to racism when it rears its ugly head, but for some, racism is a means to a life style. People like Al Sharpton contrasted against MLK highlight this difference in mind set. MLK was victim to all the out right ugliness of racism. But what you hear from him is nothing but the utmost strength and self determination. He was never a victim, he was always the triumphant gladiator ready to take on the next hurdle and take all the dignity owed him. He was a brave, courteous hero whom is worthy of emulation by our current generation.

Yes, you are naive.

Go and read the full MLK library and you will see that he never subscribed to this oversimplified concept of 'color blindness'. He endorsed affirmative action-like solutions, for example.

People who say they are color blind are extremely suspect to me.

"Racism as a lifestyle": a mythological creature akin to the spaghetti monster. I know of noone who makes a living off being a racial victim. It's a triumph of white doublespeak when you take an effect that strips people of wealth and freedom, and turn it into something that is seemingly a profit-making venture. Al Sharpton and Rush Limbaugh are entertainers; give some real examples of this insulting concept.

That man could give a speech that's for sure. I almost yelled "I'M BLACK AND I'M PROUD" at work and I am white.

>> ^GeeSussFreeK:

Perhaps I am naive, but the trollish observations of "race-baiting and victimology" do have some significance. Racism still happens, and when it does it needs to be righted, but this constant heehawing about supposed acts of racism seems to just prolong the healing.


So if black people just shut up and stop 'heehawing' about racism, everything will get better? It seems to me that a lot of good has come as a result of heehawing by the likes of MLK, Ghandi, Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, Langston Hughes etc. Heehawing ended slavery. Heehawing got the right to vote. Heehawing ended Jim Crow. Heehawing got the civil rights bill passed. Instead of telling black people to shut up, maybe you should listen to them?

PC liberals have totally poisoned the well regarding race, discussing race, etc. Crying 'racism' is their favorite fallback (next to raising taxes). It is simply not possible to have a rational discussion about race in America at this time. I prefer Morgan Freeman's take on race: stop talking about it.

So the rightwing contingent of videosift has come to the consensus that: If black people shut up about racism the problem will go away?

I'd love for either quantummushroom or geesusfreek to help me understand how this seemingly oppressive and counter-intuative logic is supposed to work? And how you've come to this conclusion after watching a speech about taking pride in who you are and where you come from? It seems like you've missed the point.

MLK isn't denouncing the emancipation proclamation, the civil rights bill that he worked so hard for or any other legal actions that confront racism. He is simply stating that these things alone will not cure the pain and degradation of living in a culture where blackness is considered ugly and evil, and that this type of mental adversity can only be overcome by taking pride in who you are.

Transitioning from this inspirational speech to your political 'racism of reciprocity' bullshit is condescending, and transitioning from 'I'm black and proud' to 'stop all this heehawing about race' is just plain disgusting. It's also interesting to note that you have no problem heehawing about race yourself. How do you justify this? White privilege fringe benefits?

Not sure I see much to argue about with this video. It's a distraction from this beautiful message against the *fear of men.

Adding video to channels (Fear) - requested by blankfist.

>> ^blankfist:

Not sure I see much to argue about with this video. It's a distraction from this beautiful message against the fear of men.


My fault for taking troll bait.

*quality

Boosting this quality contribution up in the Hot Listing - declared quality by blankfist.

I don't know how often this is or isn't quoted, but I suspect racial sensitivity plays a role. Coming from black lips to white ears, it would sound threatening -- we don't need to wait for you to make laws or treat us fairly, we're just going to stand up and take what's rightfully ours. Coming from white lips to black ears, it would sound painfully condescending -- you don't need Civil Rights or fair treatment, you just need to stop whining about being oppressed and stand up for yourselves, and you'll find you weren't all that oppressed in the first place.

Just my guess based on what I know of race relations.

@GeeSussFreeK, I have my own story of learning about race as a child. I too was never taught about ethnicity as a child, though I did identify that there was more than a tan going on with "brown people" as I unknowingly called them. I didn't really think much of it, I mean people have different hair and eye colors, and different genders, people just have different skin colors. No big deal.

So it was until I had my 7th or 8th birthday party, and invited a bunch of school friends over for my party, including one of my friends who happened to be black.

He came over, and we did all the usual kid's stuff, including playing in the yard together. Well, our neighbors across the street didn't care for that much, and decided they'd all come out in their front yard with guns. They didn't say anything, they just stared at us a bit, before my mom rushed us into the house.

I later asked my mom why they'd done that, and she just said "they don't like brown people". I asked why not, and she said "I don't know".

Of course, years later my mom told me that they'd said they were just wanting to make sure that "little nigger" stayed in line, and didn't try to steal anything, and all kinds of really atrocious things.

I think racism is not dead, and not trivial. The only way to help with the problem is to be open to the idea of questioning your own actions with regards to race. I think of myself as being pretty free of prejudice, but I don't really spend time with non-white people in social situations anymore. I think that opens me up to a situation where I become insular, and insensitive to the ways in which a privileged white male like myself lives a life that's utterly different from that of people of other races, genders, and classes. It also means I might say or do something that seems completely fine to me, but would be horrific to someone outside my ethnic group.

I don't think the way you ease that tension is for people who are offended to feel like they need to just stay quiet and tolerate it. You don't just ignore it, and hope it gets better.

If you believe liberal doctrine, Whites are no longer allowed--if they ever were--to be proud of their heritage. Second-class citizenship has been shifted from Blacks to Whites.

For every Black person who takes pride in who they are and Americanism, flawed though the latter may be, there is a sad-eyed liberal or Je$$e Jack$on-type in the wings saying, "No, you are not free, you are a victim."

If black people shut up about racism the problem will go away? No one is saying "shut up" except the purveyors of politically-correct speech codes. Liberal doctrine might be taken more seriously if it didn't demand race be brought into every single argument.

>> ^quantumushroom:

If you believe liberal doctrine, Whites are no longer allowed--if they ever were--to be proud of their heritage. Second-class citizenship has been shifted from Blacks to Whites.

What heritage are you not allowed to be proud of? Your American heritage? Your European heritage? Your white American heritage? Are you not proud of who you are? Do you hate yourself? >> ^quantumushroom:

For every Black person who takes pride in who they are and Americanism, flawed though the latter may be, there is a sad-eyed liberal or Je$$e Jack$on-type in the wings saying, "No, you are not free, you are a victim."

So racism is an illusion, and black people are really being kept down by sad liberals and Jesse Jackson? Again, this sounds like you want to shut me and Jesse Jackson up about race. Sorry, qm, but that's not going to happen, even if you call me 'sad-eyed' or put dollar signs on my screenname. >> ^quantumushroom:

1) If black people shut up about racism the problem will go away? No one is saying "shut up" except the purveyors of 2)politically-correct speech codes. 3)Liberal doctrine might be taken more seriously if it didn't demand race be brought into every single argument.


1) You said "I prefer Morgan Freeman's take on race: stop talking about it." and Geesusfreak said, "but this constant heehawing about supposed acts of racism seems to just prolong the healing." in this very thread. Sorry to contradict you with your own words.

2) 'Political correctness' is just a scary, clinical sounding euphemism for respectful language, used because no one would listen to you if you ranted against treating people with respect. Our culture is changing, and openly racist language is becoming less acceptable. Most people consider this a good thing.

3) You chose to watch and comment on a video about the subject of racism in American. Your comment was about race, and even includes the word race. What was your point again?

every time i start to read one of QM or GEE's post ,,i get the reductionist take of "trolly troll says trolling is troll."
or am i too reductionist?

also the reason MLK's speeches are hard to actually hear and see now is because they were all copyrighted .

http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/

Here's a good resource chock full of MLK's documents, with historical annotation and context. For those who want to go beyond that one famous speech, and learn what the man was really about.

>> ^NadaGeek:

also the reason MLK's speeches are hard to actually hear and see now is because they were all copyrighted .