The Issue of Race: How do you tackle it?

[Sianserais]

Firlodge_3

I do think it's frightening when the colour of someone's skin makes you a racist because you judged them by the content of their character.

Amen. (...and I'll just stop there, or I'll end up too far off topic.)

[Tenshi Yaminade]

Firlodge_3

You either are or aren't - no denial or admittance will change that fact.

That's the sentence to which I was referring in that everyone knows that.

When you say I said everyone could guess it, I meant this sentence particularly and I think I clarified that in my previous post, specifically saying "your second sentence" in the paragraph where there were only two sentences.

This is the internet where anyone can be anything they want without any real persecution. Ergo, the need to clarify is there. Do you think there aren't any racists on the net? Or that those in the world don't have a computer? Also you missed my other more relevant point.

Tenshi_Yaminade

I was clarifying it for the sake of the post. To make a point or even talk about something, one must take a stance on the issue at hand.

Firlodge_3

I don't think you're sitting in your room telling yourself you're not racist for one minute! I do find it unsettling that you feel the need to say that. Perhaps it's an area thing. Over here, the only people who say they're not racist are a)obvious racists or b)People who are justifiably paranoid that they'll be called racist because they believe that every human has flaws and no, minorities are not exempt from being human. Since I don't think you're racist - the only other option is b. You know what? I do think it's unsettling when society doesn't approve of you disagreeing with someone unless they're white straight males or you're of the same minority. I do think it's frightening when the colour of someone's skin makes you a racist because you judged them by the content of their character.

This is kinda bordering on the irrelevant as I didn't say that's what you thought. I also don't care what you think. I don't care if you find it unsettling that I feel to make a full and rounded post I should state my opinion first and then explain (or not) why I think that way.

As to the area thing, it's very possible. People grow up in conditions where they might be subconsciously taught to think a certain way. I'm sure there's a study on it somewhere.

Finally, to your options...really? That's it. Only just the two options? Wow the world gets smaller every day. I find your generalizations a little less than refreshing, but hey, we all have our ideas of the world. I'm wondering though, have you done the extensive research from which those two options would have spawned?

And...I agree with your last two sentences specifically.

[Dark_Lady_Jade]

As a person of color myself, I don't, really. Oh, I may make hints here and there, but as most of my characters are people of color, I simply write them as characters. I don't like the focus to be about race 'just because'.

[Firlodge_3]

Quote:

This is the internet where anyone can be anything they want without any real persecution. Ergo, the need to clarify is there. Do you think there aren't any racists on the net? Or that those in the world don't have a computer? Also you missed my other more relevant point.

Doesn't showing that you're a racist require knowledge of someone being <insert despised race>? Doesn't being misogynistic and demonstrating that fact require you to know you're talking to a female? This is the internet, as you say - by its very nature and your own admission, the internet makes racism, for the most part, irrelevant. I believe I genuinely did miss your other more relevant point? Could you restate it please?

Tenshi_Yaminade

I was clarifying it for the sake of the post. To make a point or even talk about something, one must take a stance on the issue at hand.

Hmm....

Quote:

This is kinda bordering on the irrelevant as I didn't say that's what you thought. I also don't care what you think. I don't care if you find it unsettling that I feel to make a full and rounded post I should state my opinion first and then explain (or not) why I think that way.

So which is it? Do opinions need to be stated/declared - even if it is a declaration of a non-opinion or should it not be brought up unless someone says that's what you thought? I mean, I never said that you were sitting in your room saying that you weren't racist, did I?

Quote:

As to the area thing, it's very possible. People grow up in conditions where they might be subconsciously taught to think a certain way. I'm sure there's a study on it somewhere.

You and I agree.

Quote:

Finally, to your options...really? That's it. Only just the two options? Wow the world gets smaller every day. I find your generalizations a little less than refreshing, but hey, we all have our ideas of the world. I'm wondering though, have you done the extensive research from which those two options would have spawned?

My statements came from a place where those last two sentences aren't just a hypothetical scenario but a common reality - perhaps not an everyday reality but near enough. I, for whatever reasons I had assumed that you did too, which is why I was not exactly surprised but.... disappointed by that comment. Yes, those two options do seem to be the only two - it saddens me but there it is. Perhaps justifiably paranoid wasn't quite the right turn of phrase as I really didn't mean that to be an insult - quite to the contrary in fact.

Perhaps what I should have said would be something more to the effect of 'I despise how society has made it so that someone who doesn't get along with James (who happens to be black) are racist despite the fact that it's that they don't get along with James as a person and not that they don't get along with black people.'

Quote:

And...I agree with your last two sentences specifically.

Nice - they were mostly there to provide context.

[Tenshi Yaminade]

Firlodge_3

Quote:

This is the internet where anyone can be anything they want without any real persecution. Ergo, the need to clarify is there. Do you think there aren't any racists on the net? Or that those in the world don't have a computer? Also you missed my other more relevant point.

Doesn't showing that you're a racist require knowledge of someone being <insert despised race>? Doesn't being misogynistic and demonstrating that fact require you to know you're talking to a female? This is the internet, as you say - by its very nature and your own admission, the internet makes racism, for the most part, irrelevant. I believe I genuinely did miss your other more relevant point? Could you restate it please?

Tenshi_Yaminade

I was clarifying it for the sake of the post. To make a point or even talk about something, one must take a stance on the issue at hand.

Hmm....

Quote:

This is kinda bordering on the irrelevant as I didn't say that's what you thought. I also don't care what you think. I don't care if you find it unsettling that I feel to make a full and rounded post I should state my opinion first and then explain (or not) why I think that way.

So which is it? Do opinions need to be stated/declared - even if it is a declaration of a non-opinion or should it not be brought up unless someone says that's what you thought? I mean, I never said that you were sitting in your room saying that you weren't racist, did I?

Quote:

As to the area thing, it's very possible. People grow up in conditions where they might be subconsciously taught to think a certain way. I'm sure there's a study on it somewhere.

You and I agree.

Quote:

Finally, to your options...really? That's it. Only just the two options? Wow the world gets smaller every day. I find your generalizations a little less than refreshing, but hey, we all have our ideas of the world. I'm wondering though, have you done the extensive research from which those two options would have spawned?

My statements came from a place where those last two sentences aren't just a hypothetical scenario but a common reality - perhaps not an everyday reality but near enough. I, for whatever reasons I had assumed that you did too, which is why I was not exactly surprised but.... disappointed by that comment. Yes, those two options do seem to be the only two - it saddens me but there it is. Perhaps justifiably paranoid wasn't quite the right turn of phrase as I really didn't mean that to be an insult - quite to the contrary in fact.

Perhaps what I should have said would be something more to the effect of 'I despise how society has made it so that someone who doesn't get along with James (who happens to be black) are racist despite the fact that it's that they don't get along with James as a person and not that they don't get along with black people.'

Quote:

And...I agree with your last two sentences specifically.

Nice - they were mostly there to provide context.

omg...you're so trolling me. Lemmi clarify just one thing before I leave you to your problematic thoughts.

When you pick and choose the pieces of my post to make my posts state what you want them to, you undermine and discredit yourself as a writer and as a logical person.

You have fun with that.

[Firlodge_3]

Sharp Tooth Firecracker

ninja

Hmmmm

[Old Man Maj]

I'm from the American South. I'm white. I write realistic fiction. I've notice the same from many other white Southern writers: I went through a phase, early on, when I just had to use the word "******" in every story I wrote. It didn't mean much to me; I'm not racist but not at all PC, either. I simply felt compelled. I've come to believe since that I simply needed to come to grips with the nature of race in the life I've known as a white Southerner. I think we all do. Or, at least, a lot of us. It's such a part of our history, we have to learn to process it. Once I figured it out, I simply approached race on an even-footed ground. Some people are white. Others black. Some people call names. On and on and on.