Sam explains his post two nights ago, one phrase at a time (***)
Alright, I've decided that I'll elaborate my feelings on the collection of phrases I posted a couple nights ago, one at a time. I'm kinda forcing myself to write all this, as I know it may leave me a bit hot-headed, but eh, if I don't write it now, it may never be said. So....
"Everybody's a little bit racist"*. Worst. Excuse. For racism. EVER. What kind of dumb fucknut thinks this makes it okay to be racist then?
Everyone takes a shit once in a while. Yes, a gross but necessary process. Thus, unless you're attached to some sort of fancy catheter, everyone's a little bit gross, because everyone has to at some point during the day expel waste out their anuses. Now this doesn't grant you an automatic excuse to do anything else that's gross. Just because everybody's a little bit gross sometimes, doesn't mean that you....okay, I just ate, so let's go light and say that it doesn't give you the excuse to scrounge around furiously in your nose with your pinkie.
Now obviously I doubt many people would say, "Everybody's a little bit racist" as an excuse for punching a black baby; There are different degrees of racism. You're most likely to see this phrase as a reply to someone who complains about a racist portrayal of someone, i.e. the black gangster, the Mexican thief, the Asian asexual nerd/martial artist/dork/angry male/etc. But I suppose the difference in the analogy I had given is that being gross isn't necessarily wrong nor right, it's merely a state of being that turns people off rather quickly.
But now someone may pipe in, saying that being racist is the same way. That person may think that it's wrong a good portion of the time, but other times it's based on fact. I always chalk up this reasoning to good ol' ignorance; "based on fact" is too loaded to take as truth. But the thing about racism is that whatever so-called facts that some of it may be based on are always taken the wrong way. Either the "fact" is flat-out wrong or it's interpreted without context to fit the prejudice. The whole "Asians are bad at driving" thing, for instance...what the hell constitutes "bad driving" exactly? Bad driving in Davis is different from bad driving in San Francisco. I never know if by "bad" people may mean "safe but slow" or "fast and dangerous". A driver anyone can get along with in Hawaii could be trouble on wheels if said driver moved to say, New York. Is it so tough to think an immigrant from Asia would be considered a good driver due to his environment, and a bad driver in the States? Thus, racist things such as "Asians are bad drivers" can come from sheer ignorance. And what I feel towards ignorance is another topic for another day.
*Yes, there's that Avenue Q song, Everyone's a Little Bit Racist (Here it is in case you're curious...No, I don't know why there are Star Wars characters. I get just a wee bit irked at that, but you can tell some of the stupid stuff they say is funny because it's stupid and wrong, and I don't think it's worth feeling the urge to backhand a Sesame Street parody. It's a mix of good and bad there at least.
"Everybody's a little bit racist"*. Worst. Excuse. For racism. EVER. What kind of dumb fucknut thinks this makes it okay to be racist then?
Everyone takes a shit once in a while. Yes, a gross but necessary process. Thus, unless you're attached to some sort of fancy catheter, everyone's a little bit gross, because everyone has to at some point during the day expel waste out their anuses. Now this doesn't grant you an automatic excuse to do anything else that's gross. Just because everybody's a little bit gross sometimes, doesn't mean that you....okay, I just ate, so let's go light and say that it doesn't give you the excuse to scrounge around furiously in your nose with your pinkie.
Now obviously I doubt many people would say, "Everybody's a little bit racist" as an excuse for punching a black baby; There are different degrees of racism. You're most likely to see this phrase as a reply to someone who complains about a racist portrayal of someone, i.e. the black gangster, the Mexican thief, the Asian asexual nerd/martial artist/dork/angry male/etc. But I suppose the difference in the analogy I had given is that being gross isn't necessarily wrong nor right, it's merely a state of being that turns people off rather quickly.
But now someone may pipe in, saying that being racist is the same way. That person may think that it's wrong a good portion of the time, but other times it's based on fact. I always chalk up this reasoning to good ol' ignorance; "based on fact" is too loaded to take as truth. But the thing about racism is that whatever so-called facts that some of it may be based on are always taken the wrong way. Either the "fact" is flat-out wrong or it's interpreted without context to fit the prejudice. The whole "Asians are bad at driving" thing, for instance...what the hell constitutes "bad driving" exactly? Bad driving in Davis is different from bad driving in San Francisco. I never know if by "bad" people may mean "safe but slow" or "fast and dangerous". A driver anyone can get along with in Hawaii could be trouble on wheels if said driver moved to say, New York. Is it so tough to think an immigrant from Asia would be considered a good driver due to his environment, and a bad driver in the States? Thus, racist things such as "Asians are bad drivers" can come from sheer ignorance. And what I feel towards ignorance is another topic for another day.
*Yes, there's that Avenue Q song, Everyone's a Little Bit Racist (Here it is in case you're curious...No, I don't know why there are Star Wars characters. I get just a wee bit irked at that, but you can tell some of the stupid stuff they say is funny because it's stupid and wrong, and I don't think it's worth feeling the urge to backhand a Sesame Street parody. It's a mix of good and bad there at least.