I know that what you are saying about the U.S. being too p.c. is a common comment and that there are indeed examples of when this is an issue. However, I don't agree that it is the responsibility for a minority group to continue taking abuse just because of the inherent bigotry in our society and our apparent collective complacency about it.
Yes, from a psychological and cognitive point of view everyone is racist aka everyone makes associations conscious or unconscious based on a person's skin color. However, the fact that our associations for a black person are usually along the lines of "rapist" and for a white person along the lines of "accountant" point to the problem these associations can cause. However, we do have the option of correcting for these associations, both as individuals and as a country. I'm not talking affirmative-action or anything like that. I just think that things would be a hell of a lot better if people had the "balls" and the compassion to treat everyone with respect and give them the same benefit of the doubt you would anyone else. We (people from Schaumburg, etc.) tend to marginalize when people say things that aren't p.c. because we ourselves aren't very bigoted (at least I hope). However, there are a LOT of people who genuinely are and when you hear someone saying the same things you might with friends, but you know that the connotation is dramatically different, it's really disturbing.
I don't want this to come off as some liberal hug-fest. I just think it's really irresponsible of us all as educated individuals and as a young generation to pretend that racism/bigotry doesn't exist anymore and so we should all stop being so uptight. Just because people aren't as upfront about it doesn't mean it doesn't exist. So when Mel Gibson or Michael Richards(Krammer) start going off at the mouth again I think we should be angry at ourselves as well; for ignoring the inherent problems in what these men are preaching and using them as scapegoats so we can once more settle into blissful ignorance about ourselves and the real state of our country.
Yes, from a psychological and cognitive point of view everyone is racist aka everyone makes associations conscious or unconscious based on a person's skin color. However, the fact that our associations for a black person are usually along the lines of "rapist" and for a white person along the lines of "accountant" point to the problem these associations can cause. However, we do have the option of correcting for these associations, both as individuals and as a country. I'm not talking affirmative-action or anything like that. I just think that things would be a hell of a lot better if people had the "balls" and the compassion to treat everyone with respect and give them the same benefit of the doubt you would anyone else. We (people from Schaumburg, etc.) tend to marginalize when people say things that aren't p.c. because we ourselves aren't very bigoted (at least I hope). However, there are a LOT of people who genuinely are and when you hear someone saying the same things you might with friends, but you know that the connotation is dramatically different, it's really disturbing.
I don't want this to come off as some liberal hug-fest. I just think it's really irresponsible of us all as educated individuals and as a young generation to pretend that racism/bigotry doesn't exist anymore and so we should all stop being so uptight. Just because people aren't as upfront about it doesn't mean it doesn't exist. So when Mel Gibson or Michael Richards(Krammer) start going off at the mouth again I think we should be angry at ourselves as well; for ignoring the inherent problems in what these men are preaching and using them as scapegoats so we can once more settle into blissful ignorance about ourselves and the real state of our country.
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