I cannot help noticing that the African American politicians who've achieved the highest levels of office in the US have had relatively pale skin - Obama, Colin Powell, Condeleeza Rice. I cannot decide whether this is pure coincidence, or reflective of something.
I'm torn on this... to some extent I agree, our fear of the "other" of almost any kind seems to be at least somewhat innate. Yet it's also always been something that some group or class of society has exploited, increasing the fear through propaganda, in order to further their own interests (often, a wish to grab the resources of the other group, or enslave them, or whatever).
One reason I wonder how much our fear is innate, and how much it's culturally created, comes from looking at how young children react to people who look very different. Often it's curiosity more than fear.
Human history has been going on for so long I think it's very difficult to unpick what is truly innate and what has been learned and taught over millennia.
As for Obama and don't ask, don't tell, I have no idea what he's doing with that. Is he keeping it in spite of promises to chuck it out, or something? Bah, politicians.
Okay, so, I don't think I have any thoughts to put in other than "yay Obama" on this one. It was clearly a revolting policy.
However, if you wanted to be controversial, you could say you'd think the right-wingers would be thrilled, as this will allow for more gay people to enter the military and get themselves killed.
Sorry, I'm a natural troll, I just can't help thinking of things which will wind people up.
AHA. Hold your yays. There's still a LONG way to go before annything actually happens, as my penultimate paragraph states.
Here it is, even though it's crap and needs revising... (I'll post the whole article once it's finished)
"Before anything changes, military chiefs have to give certification that the new regulations are “consistent with the standards of military effectiveness”. After this certification is issued, there is a 60 day waiting period before new regulations are implemented. And even when this is finally done, there is still a long way to go: regulations have to be enforced and training programs such as the British Navy’s Equality and Diversity training will have to be started. With all of this, it’s hard to be sure when change within the military will actually occur. "
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Of course, people exaggerate the degree to which different "races" look different.
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But possibly you already knew this.
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One reason I wonder how much our fear is innate, and how much it's culturally created, comes from looking at how young children react to people who look very different. Often it's curiosity more than fear.
Human history has been going on for so long I think it's very difficult to unpick what is truly innate and what has been learned and taught over millennia.
As for Obama and don't ask, don't tell, I have no idea what he's doing with that. Is he keeping it in spite of promises to chuck it out, or something? Bah, politicians.
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However, if you wanted to be controversial, you could say you'd think the right-wingers would be thrilled, as this will allow for more gay people to enter the military and get themselves killed.
Sorry, I'm a natural troll, I just can't help thinking of things which will wind people up.
Reply
Here it is, even though it's crap and needs revising... (I'll post the whole article once it's finished)
"Before anything changes, military chiefs have to give certification that the new regulations are “consistent with the standards of military effectiveness”. After this certification is issued, there is a 60 day waiting period before new regulations are implemented. And even when this is finally done, there is still a long way to go: regulations have to be enforced and training programs such as the British Navy’s Equality and Diversity training will have to be started. With all of this, it’s hard to be sure when change within the military will actually occur. "
And LOL I really want to put that in now!
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