PC and the simplicity of it all.

[Terin]

WARNING: the following may lead you to believe that I am racist, sexist, or have a bigotry towards something, the fact is I might, on some small degree. It's not brought on by my upbringing, but rather from society itself. SO here goes.




As a "white" "man" to all who aren't I have one simple question:

How am I supposed to view you as an equal if you're constantly throwing the fact that we aren't in my face?

I mean isn't that what Martin Luthor King was fighting for? Isn't that why women fought for the right to vote? We are equals, right? So why do I as a white man feel like I have to put up with any and all shit that is dealt to me as long as a race/gender card is stapled to it? It seems like bullshit to me. Is this another "Angry White Man" rant? Sure. Is it founded? I think so. I mean honestly, how long would a WET channel last (as opposed to BET)? Honestly, I think every program on such a channel would probably be twisted into something racist, simply because of the name. Maybe I'm wrong. As far as gender goes, it's not that strong of an issue with me (after all, we have Spike to answer to Oxygen.)

Am I making sense? Am I crazy? Am I an Angry White Man and is my confusion well founded?

-T

[ScrumYummy]

To some degree, you have a point. People that feed into stereotypes aren't going to abolish them. But "black" is no longer just a definition of someone with African American background, but it's a sub-culture as well. If there were enough goths, you can bet there would be a GET.

As far as gender issues are concerned....sexism DOES exist. I used to work at a computer store. And I can't tell you how many times people would actually ask "Can I speak to a guy?" Or, if I was talking to someone, and one of the guys walked by, they would quit talking to me and talk to them. Will had an office in the front, and one day I was talking to this guy about whatever problem he was having, and no joke, the guy saw Will in the office, leaned over the counter, and started asking him questions! And when I would answer people's questions, a lot of times they would walk off and ask one of the guys the same question. Happened at least once a day.

And I also hate going into computer stores or video game stores with my husband; if I start talking to a male associate, asking questions or whatever, they'll quit talking to me and start talking to my husband. Happened just the other day. I was buying Metroid Prime (I had only rented it before, and found a used copy for SIX BUCKS!!) and talking to the associate about the game, but whenever he would respond or answer a question, he'd be looking at my husband.

So yeah, sexism still exists. Especially in the computer and gaming fields. =)

[Girkon]

You're right as scrum said to some degree. It's all about context at it's core and ultimately it comes down to this. You're not gonna please everyone, and odds are even if you tiptoed to any extent, you would still end up offending someone. It's also about who is looking at your rant.

Some will see you as someone who has a point, yet another person who sees it will indeed call it an "Angry White Rant". I guess a question is, how much are you willing to let the subject linger in your mind. Where is the balance of one point of view and the other? Actually neither is more dominating, but the fact that you ask the question and bring it up means that in some small way you're trying to find some balance in this conflict of cultures. So in the end...what do you want it to be? Cause that is what it will be to you, and that is what counts the most.

[Terin]

[Tobias]

oh boy...this is gonna be a fun one...

Ok...as far as ya go, im right with you; and I'm not saying I'm an angry white man either. What I AM saying is that people like MLK fought for the equality, yet something still existed, which goes right into the present day: "Separate, but Equal." The thing about it that has changed (in my humble opinion) is that in that time, white people kept the races separate. In this day and age, every race is doing it. In a way, you can technically say we are all equal...at least we all think we're the greatest. Only thing is that black people keep wearing their FUBU...white people keep on wearing their abercrombie. They identify themselves in certain stereotypes that most people see the other race in, and it ends up creating this mentality of Separate, but Equal. The only other thing I can provide is that people need to drop the face-value, which is what everyone usually associates with...seeing that guy wearing that abercrombie popped collar shirt, or the Flat-brimmed hat with all the tags on it. If we could pass that out of our minds and get a more binding sense of the person, maybe things would turn out better.

And for the sexism thing, Terin does have a point about the demographics...although if i was in a game store, and a girl came up, id be helping her, completely disregarding any men-companions...mainly because it IS rare to see a female gamer. But thats just me.


Anywho, my opinion is out there now. Hope i didn't offend anyone.

[ScrumYummy]

[BWS-1]

[Silver Adept]

The separation has happened by the time they exit high school - it only continues into university and into the world at large, in terms of race, anyway. Sex and gender, I don't know whether the ideas about that are fully-formed yet. I suspect it has a lot to do with the peer group being hung out with - so I'd say by the end of high school, more than a few of them have alrady become set in their ways. Which is sad.

And yes, racism and sexism still happen, perhaps not as overtly as before, but they still happen. The danger is now of the pendulum swinging too far the other way into some sort of bizarro world where being the majority race or gender means being the oppressed minority.

I'm almost starting to see that happening, especially here on the university campus. There are plenty of ethnic groups, which is fine, and then there are also some groups that are basically trying to ensure that "white" people will have to provide privelege and mollycoddling to minorities for the rest of civilization. Their rationale is that if we don't, then er'll slip back into the days of slavery. Luckily, most people on campus see them as extremists and out of touch with reality.

Whatever happens to the idea that one should treat people as people, "not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character"?

[Girkon]

That gives a scary conundrum. On the one hand you have the minorities and the rest of the world chastising us because we as a country and people try to put our noses into everything so we get hated. Yet at the same time for the distinct moments we try NOT to be in peoples business, we get hated for not helping...so it seems like no matter what we're gonna be ragged on.

[Andsectoid]