A Dream

[kola]

my 2 favorite blacks: MLK and Muhammed Ali" certainly sounds like you are meaning something along the lines of "I like them... for black guys," which is most definitely racist.

I do not think a TRUE racist has "2 favorite blackmen", but you are a perfect example of the hypersensitivty issues regarding the topic. Classic.

This is a good conversation because it shows how easily people flip flip a statement which was meant to be just plain simple and harmless. Yet now I have to defend myself beacuse of someone elses MISinterpetation due to the fact of the increasing hypersensitivity in regards to people of different color.

I am proud of my hertitage and like being catogorized and view myself as being catorgorized. I have no probs about it. I like having different nationalitites and enjoy learning other peoples cultures, traditions and belief sytems. I enjoy the individialism of these groups as it brings great diversity into the world.

I have favorite black men AND women, favorite gay musicians, favorite NA Indian (aka Redmen), I have favorite homemade cookies, I have favorite Chevy trucks, I have favorite ballpoint pens, I have favorite
Harleys and so on and so forth.

Your interpetation of my statement was dead wrong. The disturbing thing is there are many others who interpet the topic in the same way as you did.

Kola  

[kola]

oh..so now it has come down to me using the word "guy" ???

That is how I talk...white guy, brown guy, guy with glasses, redhaired kid  etc

same goes for a lady as I use the term "gal"..white gal, black gal..indian gal etc

If you met me you would know I do not use high society language nor do I have plans to ever do so. I am a country boy. I say reckon and pardon and fetch and britches...and I call black folks, black guys and
gals.

..so according to your interpetations if I would have said "my favorite back MEN" that would have been politically correct for your likings?

Kola

[kola]

How about this?

a black guy says ":my favorite white dude is David Spade"

racist statement?

does "dude" fit the "guy" catagory...according to your rules.

Kola

[sandm000]

oh..so now it has come down to me using the word "guy" ???

That is how I talk...white guy, brown guy, guy with glasses, redhaired kid  etc

same goes for a lady as I use the term "gal"..white gal, black gal..indian gal etc

If you met me you would know I do not use high society language nor do I have plans to ever do so. I am a country boy. I say reckon and pardon and fetch and britches...and I call black folks, black guys and
gals.

..so according to your interpetations if I would have said "my favorite back MEN" that would have been politically correct for your likings?

Kola

Sorry, but in your original post you said 2 favorite blacks.  You did not use the word guys. 

As to hypersensitivity, I'm curious if those who are admonishing you are even black?

[kola]

Sorry, but in your original post you said 2 favorite blacks.  You did not use the word guys. 

As to hypersensitivity, I'm curious if those who are admonishing you are even black?

Wow, you are right. I did not use "guys" but see how my statement has gotten twisted around? LOL!
and Joe was quick to pounce on it...although it was never said by me.

Hmm.

yeah I wonder too if any folks posting on the topic are black.

Kola

 

[John]

Are you saying that you wish the political forums were still here?

Kat (my friend),
Please give me time to answer that.

[grasshopper]

Sorry, but in your original post you said 2 favorite blacks.  You did not use the word guys. 

As to hypersensitivity, I'm curious if those who are admonishing you are even black?

Wow, you are right. I did not use "guys" but see how my statement has gotten twisted around? LOL!
and Joe was quick to pounce on it...although it was never said by me.

Hmm.

yeah I wonder too if any folks posting on the topic are black.

Kola

 

   Ah- ha ha, aaaa  ha ha ha    I wanna be the indian too!   A-ha ha ha, Aaaa, ha ha ha ha!  (beavis laugh)


   Sorry, I had ta.  Please don't beat me when you meet me....   

[John]

It sure is interesting to find how much importance some people seem to put on color/race/ethnicity/gender/whateverthehell rather than on ideas.  What kind of person am I (and are you),  . . . more Freedom for everyone - or not?

BTW, from the same speech:
" . . . I have a dream, that my four little children will ONE DAY live in a land where they will not be judged by the color of their skin - but by the content of their character . . ."

LET FREEDOM RING!

[kola]

Grasshopper, I am not sure what point you are trying to make. Care to clarify? Thanks

John, I know where you are coming from and see your point. What I am trying to say is that it is ok to look, act and live different and still have things in common such as good wholesome values that revolve around love, caring and freedom for all. And that it is ok to call and catagorize different people by their differences in a respectful manner. Face it, man...skin color, sexual preference, hair color, its all different. People can have differences yet still share similarities. Maybe it is the "labeling" that you you do not like.

As a kid growing up I developed a thick skin..not much shakes me up....but I can always tell when someone is making a racial comment towards me or anyone else. Here in Webville it becomes quite a challenge to get the real meaning from just mere words on a screen.   

Would it be OK to "de-classify" everyone and throw us all into one catagory?? geesh I dunno. I kinda enjoy my individuality and I am proud of my ancestory. I do not think I want to sacrifice that. Others may think differently. 

thoughts?
Kola 

[Tom Sawyer]

A black navy seal doesn't have to put black makeup on his face for night time operations while a white one does. Which means he has to cary less stuff and doesn't have to worry about forgeting or running out of the paste.

In this situation being black is more valuable than being white. The black man will always have this advantage, it is unique to his skin color.

We were told that a black guy shines at night from the skin oil pretty much like a white guy.

[MaineShark]

my 2 favorite blacks: MLK and Muhammed Ali" certainly sounds like you are meaning something along the lines of "I like them... for black guys," which is most definitely racist.

I do not think a TRUE racist has "2 favorite blackmen"...

Why not?  I have a favorite dog.  Doesn't mean I think that dog is my equal.

Racism doesn't mean that you hate members of another race.  It means that you view them as not equal to you.  You can still care for them and even like them, while still being a racist.

Since primate-derived brains aren't capable of viewing "others" as people, I say that anyone who believes in race is a racist, because it's not biologically possible for them to be viewing members of another species as people.  They can still like them, but they can never view them as equally vested in personhood, if they insist that they are some other race.

...but you are a perfect example of the hypersensitivty issues regarding the topic. Classic.

Actually, the knee-jerk way you've responded here, referring to comments which specifically state that your statements were not racist, in and of themselves, as being "hypersensitive" would lead many to conclude that you are a racist, and are simply trying to cover it up with that sort of reaction.  My opinion is still open on that one, but you ain't doing your case any good with those sorts of reactions...

and Joe was quick to pounce on it...although it was never said by me.

A little out of touch with reality, are we?  I was the third person to comment, and explicitly stated that the statement was not specifically racist or non-racist - rather, that the meaning behind it would determine it.  I explained why using a single descriptor can lead the reader to believe that the writer is a racist, whether or not that is the case.

Joe

[kola]

You are right Joe. You win.

Kola

[StaggerLee]

I think if people are less sensitive to words they can see that everyone is different because of things that are under no control of their own. . . .

I'm an American of Polish ancestry. . . .

call me a polack. . . because I'm proud to be a polack. . . and I refer to myself as a polack.  People usually laugh and begin to tell me a "polish joke"  . . . I then remind them about the invention of the bagel and a literacy rate higher than that of the good ole USA.   

[shyfrog]

Not a lot of people know this, but I'm a Brazilian-American.
My godfather is black. I was named after a black man.

I'm about as white as they come and I have blue eyes despite my Brazilian mother having a dominant brown eye gene.

What does this all mean, you ask?

*shrugs* I dunno. Don't really care much either.

Racism is political. Doh!

[Lex]

We were told that a black guy shines at night from the skin oil pretty much like a white guy.

I think if you're infiltrating a group of guys with vision that can spot reflections from skin oil, you have other problems to worry about ;-)