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Autumn Winds
30 August 2009 @ 12:03 am
16 May 2009 @ 03:35 am
Raising Katie:
"All else being equal, I think she should be with people who look like her," says Mark. "It's not fair that she's got to grow up feeling different when she's going to feel different anyway. She wears glasses, her voice is a bit squeaky, and on top of that she has to deal with the fact that her mother is 70 and black."America isn't done with its racism yet. We have inherent feelings about section of our populace that have been passed on culturally and almost without our noticing. "Tropes", to be succinct, that are still writing the fiction in our head for us, unobserved until confronted.
This isn't critical race theory's insidious "invisible racism", however, cropping up in everything from billiards to the name of your breakfast cereal like the face of Jesus in your burnt toast.
This is real racism, quiet racism: actual judgment and perception of a person based on their physical type and the cultural story of what that type is like.
...the African-American man—six feet tall, bearded and wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt—watching the girl's every move. Approaching from behind, he grabs the back of her bicycle seat as she wobbles to a stop. "Nice riding," he says, as the fair-skinned girl turns to him, beaming. "Thanks, Daddy," she replies. The onlookers are clearly flummoxed.Surprise you? Get nervous? That's a trope worming its way through your skull, about the roles of certain people and the interactions they should have, at least some of it racial (the rest is "all men are dangerous around little girls", and "six-foot men in hoodies are no to be trusted, no matter what color their skin is" because, fuck, scary, mugger).
There are definitely racist tropes involved in this story, though:
...Like the time at a Pocono Mountains flea market when Riding scolded Katie, attracting so many sharp glares that he and his wife, Terri, 37, and also African-American, thought "we might be lynched." And the time when well-intentioned shoppers followed Mark and Katie out of the mall to make sure she wasn't being kidnapped. Or when would-be heroes come up to Katie in the cereal aisle and ask, "Are you OK?"—even though Terri is standing right there.Honestly, I've never been that blatantly fucking racistly stupid.
Be smart enough that you can take a situation as it is, not according to the story being spun in your skull. Compare and contrast, do a "if I change these variables" self-check and see if your reaction is the same. Be honest. Don't listen to the story your head tells of whether you are or aren't racist, because that's a story, too. See truth. Or try to.
Our country isn't done with racism, but that's only because the tropes haven't changed yet (more on that some other time). And unless you realize you often function according to assumed tropes--culturally-programmed reactionary feelings--unless you learn self-examination skills, you can't do anything to achieve clear, rational thinking-over-reaction with your biases labeled and hopefully contained.
Try Zen Buddhism. It provides a nice set of such skills and wake-up calls about the nature of reality and perception. Also an understanding of the brain, consciousness and self-hood, as explored in modern psychology. They complement each other nicely.
16 May 2009 @ 12:15 am
I recently posed a question about a specific situation and how certain groups of anti-race activists might respond to that situation.
Here's why: I actually based that question off a real example; and not just any example, but an example created by the behavior of a well-known anti-racist who, ironically, has repeatedly attacked and scolded others for doing exactly the same thing.
( Read more... )
16 April 2009 @ 03:43 am
*snort*snicker*BWAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA!*des
*wipes away tear*
Yeah...yeah.
This goes well with How to be a Race-Troll on LiveJournal. Sadly, though, for certain folks I think the moral of the dinosaur tale will be akin to The Tolerance Book Scenario. The what? Story time(!):
Back in senior high school, I met and was mutually attracted to this cute girl who happened to be a fundamentalist Christian. We were browsing Waldenbooks together one day, and she showed me her favorite book, which told a story about talking animals arguing over what God really was--a mountain, wind, the sea, etc.--and fighting quite terribly about it, until finally realizing their own limited, personal conceptions of God were just that: limited and personal. That no one alone among them was right, but that everyone was in some way. Basically, a modern retelling of the old blind-men-and-the-elephants fable.
She loved the story, yet never managed to apply it to her own thinking. Despite "loving!" the book, despite being blatantly clear (it was a kids' book after all), the moral of the tale somehow skipped right over her head. I say that because, knowing I was pagan, she was always subtly trying to convert me (back) to Christianity and show me how her way was best/real. I really don't know what she thought the story was when she read that book, but it clearly wasn't what the author also clearly intended.
02 March 2009 @ 07:04 pm
Guy thinks it is confusing when I talk about racism, or rail against hypersensitivity disguised as anti-racism (or feminism, etc.), because he believes other people are apparently using vastly different definitions than I. So he encouraged me to post my definition. I'm not sure it will do any good, as I think anyone who has read through my journal and DOESN'T get it just doesn't WANT to.
But on the chance that isn't true, I'll bite.
( ...definition and discussion... )
24 February 2009 @ 03:46 pm
So, this is apparently "blackface".
Right.
Blackface is painting your face black specifically to portray an unflattering caricature of African-American features, it is an obvious racist caricature of people of African descent (or even performing the same without the makeup).
It is not painting your face gray and pretending to be a frickin' dark elf as there is no stereotyping or African-descent caricaturing involved. Painting your face does not equal blackface.
Hell, even black cosplayers agree it isn't blackface! Just because some race-trolling offense-whore on-line starts a stink about it doesn't make it so.
Fuck.
If it is, next we should protest D&D for leading to Satan-worship, because it has demons and devils in it. Because--clearly!--having devils and demons in a game means it is a Satanic game. Just like painting your face gray to pretend to be an elf is--clearly!--racist towards African Americans. Just like Huck Finn is--clearly!--a racist work that should be banned because Jim is called a nigger (and neveryoumind the historical or literary context of the book!).
After all, thanks to modern politics, far be it from us to differentiate between what something looks like and what something is when we can be secure in our moral outrage.
So, if something is associated with terrible things in some way or that looks like something else wrong, that's all that matters. Context schmontext! Someone start a protest group!
Give us our communist witch hunts!
McCarthy is smiling in his grave.
12 February 2009 @ 01:12 am
We all know what trolls are, right?
They enter or begin discussions with the purpose of sowing chaos, discord, hurt feelings, confusion, and basically causing a shit-storm, and the more people they can drag down with them, the better! (Especially if they don't have to do much of the work themselves, just get it started, or keep it moving.) And they're good at using a group's own logic and vulnerabilities against it, and exceptionally good at hiding the fact that they are doing so, claiming innocence and honest intent.
( Read more... )
03 January 2009 @ 12:15 am
Still having serious anxiety issues related to the legal issue, but I added more anxiety to that tonight: I wrote a letter to my dad because of a comment he made while here during the holidays.
My wife had mentioned to my mother and sister those baby dolls who were pulled off the shelves because they say "Islam is the light!" I commented, wryly I thought, that I bet no one would have complained if they had said "Jesus is the light!" My father responded, saying, "They're complaining because we're having a problem with those people."
I was floored. I tried to talk about it with him, but he turned back to the football game instead. So I spent a couple days thinking about what to say and then wrote an e-mail.
Still, I don't like confronting my dad because, well, he's my dad, for one. He's also stubborn and argumentative and can become very upset when confronted or corrected (I think I've mentioned before the arguments and so forth we went through when I told him I wasn't Christian). But he's not a bad person andused to be? quite thoughtful.
Part of the problem these days, I believe, is that he watches too muchright-wing lies and spin FOX News, and too easily swallows their slick trash without fact-checking. I've tried to warn him about the constant misinformation put out by his media favorite, but I don't know if pointing him to non-partisan info sites like FactCheck or Snopes has done any good.
Regardless, following is the letter I wrote to him about his statement, trying to highlight the facts to him and get him thinking about what he said and what he thinks he knows, without my being angry or accusatory about it. (Thinking about it, this is honestly a letter much of America could stand to read and consider as well.)
I'll note I sent it after waffling for quite a bit, given my (hopefully, probably unfounded) apprehensions of setting fire to and burning bridges with it, because how often do you really want to tell off your dad, politely or not? And there's another human truth: dealing with family is difficult.
( ...text of letter follows... )
Well, that's it, glaring and serious grammatical errors, poorly relayed ideas and all. Hopefully it will go over in a positive manner.
ADDENDUM: it didn't (go over well). He bitched at me for inferring he was racist and pointed out how he has spent his life working with and for the rights and protection of minorities and the disadvantaged, including his being shot at and nearly killed on a number of occasions while delivering food and medical supplies by the people he was delivering them to, and how he kept going back anyways because it was the right thing to do. Which is all true.
And which makes his statement all the more aggravating. We must be careful not to advance stereotypes by using careless blanket statements in thought and speech, given that people will and do foolishly latch on to stereotypes as truths, whether they are the oppressor or the oppressed.
My wife had mentioned to my mother and sister those baby dolls who were pulled off the shelves because they say "Islam is the light!" I commented, wryly I thought, that I bet no one would have complained if they had said "Jesus is the light!" My father responded, saying, "They're complaining because we're having a problem with those people."
I was floored. I tried to talk about it with him, but he turned back to the football game instead. So I spent a couple days thinking about what to say and then wrote an e-mail.
Still, I don't like confronting my dad because, well, he's my dad, for one. He's also stubborn and argumentative and can become very upset when confronted or corrected (I think I've mentioned before the arguments and so forth we went through when I told him I wasn't Christian). But he's not a bad person and
Part of the problem these days, I believe, is that he watches too much
Regardless, following is the letter I wrote to him about his statement, trying to highlight the facts to him and get him thinking about what he said and what he thinks he knows, without my being angry or accusatory about it. (Thinking about it, this is honestly a letter much of America could stand to read and consider as well.)
I'll note I sent it after waffling for quite a bit, given my (hopefully, probably unfounded) apprehensions of setting fire to and burning bridges with it, because how often do you really want to tell off your dad, politely or not? And there's another human truth: dealing with family is difficult.
( ...text of letter follows... )
Well, that's it, glaring and serious grammatical errors, poorly relayed ideas and all. Hopefully it will go over in a positive manner.
ADDENDUM: it didn't (go over well). He bitched at me for inferring he was racist and pointed out how he has spent his life working with and for the rights and protection of minorities and the disadvantaged, including his being shot at and nearly killed on a number of occasions while delivering food and medical supplies by the people he was delivering them to, and how he kept going back anyways because it was the right thing to do. Which is all true.
And which makes his statement all the more aggravating. We must be careful not to advance stereotypes by using careless blanket statements in thought and speech, given that people will and do foolishly latch on to stereotypes as truths, whether they are the oppressor or the oppressed.
23 July 2007 @ 12:00 am
Damn! I came across this review of 300 tonight and realized I HAD TO post a link, because it says everything I want to say about the whole hullaballo over the film, including to the folks I've attempted to discuss this film with in the past (Vincent, I'm looking at you) and various other similar issues.
I'm going to spoil it for you: ultimately, I see it as a good bash of modern critics (professional and otherwise) and their trends, which are really cultural trends at large in society that I hold no sympathy for ( snark ).
( not so much snark )
Anyways, quotage:
It's somewhat amusing. It makes one feel like saying "not everything is about you, guys. This film is about Spartans, because they were interesting and weird. Get over the 'not about you' part" and you'll begin to get this film.Yeah! YEAHYEAHYEAH! *pumpfistair*
...
300 is better understood as an expensive art-house project and not your usual genre piece starring Gwyneth or Brad. Critics have tried to twist its story into some kind of contemporary allegory and failed.
(For those missing what I'm getting at here, let me quote a statement attributed to Freud, "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.")
( in other news )
( clever )
14 January 2007 @ 07:29 pm
When two girls dress up in costume at a fantasy gaming convention, one as a winged elf or angel and the other as a drow elf, and have a mock sword-fight where the drow loses, it is considered to be a lynching.
At least that's what Chris recently stated in the comments of one of his posts on racism in gaming; I quote, "...between that and the blackface elf lynching at the convention..."
When a person can't or chooses not to distinguish between a lynching and fantasy cosplay, there's something seriously wrong.
To compare a mock sword-battle between a couple of fantasy-costumed girls to a racial lynching is nothing but an insult to the memory of those who have suffered lynchings -- it mocks the serious and disturbing nature of hate crime.
What's next? A rant on the racist evils of the game of pool: "The point of the WHITE ball is to hit all the COLORED balls into holes! It's RACIST! It perpetuates acceptance of oppression and white superiority!"
...because that's about how bug-fuck crazy this shit has gotten.
For a while I thought I could or should try to patch things up with him, but now, I don't know if there's any hope of doing more than watching the on-going descent and his fierce grin the whole way down.
Current Mood: 
melancholy
melancholy21 November 2006 @ 11:55 pm
I don't know why I keep reading Chris' journal; it's obvious he's marked me "enemy", decided nothing I have to say is of value to him, and has decided to piss whatever friendship we had down the toilet.
I guess I still read it because I find his perspective valuable and agree with it far more often than not, and he has excellent links to various news items and media I don't usually come across on my own. I'll definitely be picking up this book on his recommendation.
At the same time, reading things like this, knowing he thinks these are great Guides to the Truth, and knowing they end up functioning as nothing more than (ironically) ways to shut down conversation is trying and tiring to put myself through.
( ...critique and example... )
You'll also note other similar cases of blindness to rhetorical problems throughout: in this case, blanket, broad-brush statements about "white people" are made, which (if you care to ask) are defended with the explanation that this is shorthand for SOME white people: it's, "Oh, not ALL white people. You know what I mean."
( ...hypocrisy... )
In the end, Chris' lists, while being based on real problem issues that deserve public attention, are often no different than this conservative rant about liberal tactics, and how the ignorant, dishonest libruls are all just sneaky, evil con-men and you need to watch out for their dirty tactics! It's all based on the same foundation, and the tribal politics are just as difficult to watch.
I guess the main reason I keep reading his journal is out of a hope he'll...I don't know...mature through this "angry young liberal" (or whatever the hell it is) worldview he's working from, where critics and dissenters are all willfully ignorant or just-plain-wicked enemies.
I guess I still read it because I find his perspective valuable and agree with it far more often than not, and he has excellent links to various news items and media I don't usually come across on my own. I'll definitely be picking up this book on his recommendation.
At the same time, reading things like this, knowing he thinks these are great Guides to the Truth, and knowing they end up functioning as nothing more than (ironically) ways to shut down conversation is trying and tiring to put myself through.
( ...critique and example... )
You'll also note other similar cases of blindness to rhetorical problems throughout: in this case, blanket, broad-brush statements about "white people" are made, which (if you care to ask) are defended with the explanation that this is shorthand for SOME white people: it's, "Oh, not ALL white people. You know what I mean."
( ...hypocrisy... )
In the end, Chris' lists, while being based on real problem issues that deserve public attention, are often no different than this conservative rant about liberal tactics, and how the ignorant, dishonest libruls are all just sneaky, evil con-men and you need to watch out for their dirty tactics! It's all based on the same foundation, and the tribal politics are just as difficult to watch.
I guess the main reason I keep reading his journal is out of a hope he'll...I don't know...mature through this "angry young liberal" (or whatever the hell it is) worldview he's working from, where critics and dissenters are all willfully ignorant or just-plain-wicked enemies.
Current Music: Follow You Down - Gin Blossoms
06 September 2006 @ 05:30 pm
Note that I've split this up into parts in this post to hopefully make it a little easier to wade through.
The Chat
The other night, a week or two ago, in a chat that became heated in places, Shreyas said to me, "You have the ability to express yourself without insulting others, so use it."
As is usual in real-time chat, especially emotional/heated chat, I was saying exactly what I meant without putting much diplomatic spin on it, leaving it to others to filter the meaning out from their own reactions. One would think that after twelve years with my wife, I would realize this is usually a bad idea. Some people can do that, and some people just can't or don't want to.
So, Shreyas is right. The idea that people should be able to express themselves without insulting others or letting anger or force taint their words is a correct idea. But this does not mean I agree with the conclusion that may be come to from the idea.
( Read more... )
The Chat
The other night, a week or two ago, in a chat that became heated in places, Shreyas said to me, "You have the ability to express yourself without insulting others, so use it."
As is usual in real-time chat, especially emotional/heated chat, I was saying exactly what I meant without putting much diplomatic spin on it, leaving it to others to filter the meaning out from their own reactions. One would think that after twelve years with my wife, I would realize this is usually a bad idea. Some people can do that, and some people just can't or don't want to.
So, Shreyas is right. The idea that people should be able to express themselves without insulting others or letting anger or force taint their words is a correct idea. But this does not mean I agree with the conclusion that may be come to from the idea.
( Read more... )
15 August 2006 @ 02:17 am
Claiming a white person costuming up as a drow is equivalent to the use of blackface as a weapon of oppression against African Americans is as misguided as claiming men dressing up in drag is the equivalent of the relegation of women to the status of property (...since, historically, women were not allowed to participate in theater and their parts were played by men in drag, thus making drag a tool of oppression).
The difference between putting on blackface as part of a costume for a fantasy race or in homage to a character in a novel or comic book, and in using blackface in mockery or in reference to a degrading stereotype -- such as what happened with the Lieberman blackface or the Penn State blackface -- should be obvious and clear.
( Read more... )
The difference between putting on blackface as part of a costume for a fantasy race or in homage to a character in a novel or comic book, and in using blackface in mockery or in reference to a degrading stereotype -- such as what happened with the Lieberman blackface or the Penn State blackface -- should be obvious and clear.
( Read more... )
28 July 2006 @ 07:26 pm
Ok, so it isn't International Blog Against Racism Week any longer, but while I was cruising the net today, by the gods' grace I stumbled across this article, Aryan to Anti-Racist: Political Sympathies and Elizabeth Thompson's Blink, by Annalee Newitz.
Now, apart from being an interesting story, a number of things hit me about the article -- the important meat really starts about halfway through, talking about politics and liberal/left/activism politics in particular. This is all stuff I have been on the semi-conscious tip of for years, and am (re)experiencing recently for myself.
( article quotes )Sadly enough, this article is from 1998, and it is still as relevant today as it ever was. We're still shooting ourselves in the foot and wondering why conservatives won control of two branches of our government.
Not too long ago, I made some of the very same arguments/observations and was derided and shamed for doing so. As I mentioned, this was nothing new; I've gotten my own blood on my shoes before, mainly back when I spoke up against the oppressive/destructive behaviors among pagan activists, as a pagan, and having engaged in the same behaviors myself for many years.
( Read more... )
Poignantly enough, the article also describes something else that hit close to home.
( more article quotes )As many of you know, I went from a hardcore, unforgiving Christian fundamentalist bent on converting the world to the glory of God and damning all the unrepentant "sinners" to hell, held together with a fiery certainty of the indisputable truth of his own beliefs...to a more mild-mannered, accepting, comfortably uncertain pagan, governed philosophically by a devotion to rationality, multiculturalism and a desire to search for truth instead of find it.
( more personal reflection )
But...despite the progress, I can still see myself back there, and I still fight with myself and the same underlying attitudes that informed all that past behavior. In fact, if you're wondering where I get all that fire and brimstone from when I rant and vent here in my LiveJournal...now you know. And hopefully you know I know as well: I'm not blind to the behavior. It's something I struggle with.
Now, apart from being an interesting story, a number of things hit me about the article -- the important meat really starts about halfway through, talking about politics and liberal/left/activism politics in particular. This is all stuff I have been on the semi-conscious tip of for years, and am (re)experiencing recently for myself.
( article quotes )Sadly enough, this article is from 1998, and it is still as relevant today as it ever was. We're still shooting ourselves in the foot and wondering why conservatives won control of two branches of our government.
Not too long ago, I made some of the very same arguments/observations and was derided and shamed for doing so. As I mentioned, this was nothing new; I've gotten my own blood on my shoes before, mainly back when I spoke up against the oppressive/destructive behaviors among pagan activists, as a pagan, and having engaged in the same behaviors myself for many years.
( Read more... )
Poignantly enough, the article also describes something else that hit close to home.
( more article quotes )As many of you know, I went from a hardcore, unforgiving Christian fundamentalist bent on converting the world to the glory of God and damning all the unrepentant "sinners" to hell, held together with a fiery certainty of the indisputable truth of his own beliefs...to a more mild-mannered, accepting, comfortably uncertain pagan, governed philosophically by a devotion to rationality, multiculturalism and a desire to search for truth instead of find it.
( more personal reflection )
But...despite the progress, I can still see myself back there, and I still fight with myself and the same underlying attitudes that informed all that past behavior. In fact, if you're wondering where I get all that fire and brimstone from when I rant and vent here in my LiveJournal...now you know. And hopefully you know I know as well: I'm not blind to the behavior. It's something I struggle with.
18 July 2006 @ 07:29 pm
On my blog last week, I wrote a piece about the Guantanamo Bay prisoner detainment situation. It seems like a good fit of subject for the Blog Against Racism week, so here it is. Yes, this is political, but it is racial, too...deeply so. In fact, I doubt you can seperate the politics of race from politics in general in this situation.
( If you would like to participate, here's what to do )
( If you would like to participate, here's what to do )