Perpetuating Racism
You know what I think is totally asinine? This whole drama surrounding the Tea Party rep who superimposed an image of Obama on a chimpanzee baby as a joke.
And here's why: Who hasn't seen some version of this image before?
I get that there at least used to be this whole historically inaccurate opinion that blacks came from monkeys while whites didn't or some nonsense like that. People have believed some ridiculous concepts over the centuries. They used to think the Earth was flat, for God's sake. People might totally disagree with me here, but I think it's really important to recognize when the side calling foul is actually the one perpetuating the problem. This is not at all to say that there aren't times when my race (white) blatantly acts in a racist manner. And guess what? So do other races about whites. I lived in Thailand. I've seen that side of things. But it goes both ways. Sometimes a member of a particular race may inaccurately assume something is meant as a racial slur, when in fact, it's not. And I honestly believe this is one of those cases of mistaken racism.
Let's face it - presidents are government monkeys. Color, sex, party, age - they have nothing to do with it. It has more to do with their faux confidence and their rehearsed optimism in the face of looming disaster. They are marionettes of their governing body - the snazzy salesman for some lemon of an idea (costly for the middle-class & poor, always lucrative for the rich). Sure every so often someone comes along who doesn't fall into this category, but we all know what happens to those folks.
Can we please grown some callouses with regard to this whole immediate jump to racism? Sometimes a black man has mannerisms like a monkey - sometimes my very white friends and family have mannerisms like monkeys. Does that mean if I call a group of friends a bunch of monkeys, that the black friends in there are going to take offense? Should they? Where do we draw the line?
I honestly believe this wasn't racially motivated, which is saying a lot, since I would never, ever consider myself a Republican (I'm a liberal, though I wouldn't call myself a Democrat either), so it's rare I bat for their team. As thoughtless as it may have been, I have to applaud her, because she's one step closer to a world where it isn't always about race than a vast majority of overly-sensitive citizens of this country. Sometimes it's just about people being idiots - just like she thinks Obama is, and just like she is for not thinking about how people will respond and either owning her joke as not being racist, or not sending it. Hopefully someday we can all call each other a bunch of monkeys, and the only people whose feelings will get hurt are those who happen to dislike them as a species. Because really, we are just a barrel of 'em.
And here's why: Who hasn't seen some version of this image before?
I get that there at least used to be this whole historically inaccurate opinion that blacks came from monkeys while whites didn't or some nonsense like that. People have believed some ridiculous concepts over the centuries. They used to think the Earth was flat, for God's sake. People might totally disagree with me here, but I think it's really important to recognize when the side calling foul is actually the one perpetuating the problem. This is not at all to say that there aren't times when my race (white) blatantly acts in a racist manner. And guess what? So do other races about whites. I lived in Thailand. I've seen that side of things. But it goes both ways. Sometimes a member of a particular race may inaccurately assume something is meant as a racial slur, when in fact, it's not. And I honestly believe this is one of those cases of mistaken racism.
Let's face it - presidents are government monkeys. Color, sex, party, age - they have nothing to do with it. It has more to do with their faux confidence and their rehearsed optimism in the face of looming disaster. They are marionettes of their governing body - the snazzy salesman for some lemon of an idea (costly for the middle-class & poor, always lucrative for the rich). Sure every so often someone comes along who doesn't fall into this category, but we all know what happens to those folks.
Can we please grown some callouses with regard to this whole immediate jump to racism? Sometimes a black man has mannerisms like a monkey - sometimes my very white friends and family have mannerisms like monkeys. Does that mean if I call a group of friends a bunch of monkeys, that the black friends in there are going to take offense? Should they? Where do we draw the line?
I honestly believe this wasn't racially motivated, which is saying a lot, since I would never, ever consider myself a Republican (I'm a liberal, though I wouldn't call myself a Democrat either), so it's rare I bat for their team. As thoughtless as it may have been, I have to applaud her, because she's one step closer to a world where it isn't always about race than a vast majority of overly-sensitive citizens of this country. Sometimes it's just about people being idiots - just like she thinks Obama is, and just like she is for not thinking about how people will respond and either owning her joke as not being racist, or not sending it. Hopefully someday we can all call each other a bunch of monkeys, and the only people whose feelings will get hurt are those who happen to dislike them as a species. Because really, we are just a barrel of 'em.