You have been acting like you want to engage in a discussion? You have made weak opinionated assertions and aggressive denigration targeting posters which you then back up with contempt. Although you fit in with a certain crowd, don't feel special or agreed with by the aggressive and dishonest way you act just because someone sarcastically apologizes to you. I won't kiss your bellicose ass in exchange for disingenuous 'engagement'.

You are also very smart and probably handsome.

I have already stated I have no interest in going down rabbit hole discussions with you and you will have noticed that FoldnDark and I seem to be able to communicate without your intervention.

So cheers but for the record FoldnDark once told me, in a thread where I criticised Masque for equating BruceZ's treatment to that of a slave, that SMP may not be for me because masque goes to Stanford. My tone may reflect this context.

Everything you are saying makes sense to me, except I'm not sure what the last part means.

While I agree whites are unlikely to see as much racism, and empathy is always part of the problem, the converse is also true. I got beat up by cops several years ago. If I were black I may have assumed racism even if that was not the case. The perception of racism can be as harmful as the real thing.

Suffice to say while I think there are still plenty of very bad racists, most of mainstream America are not very racist anymore. Yes, everyone holds some unconscious bias and even form conscious stereotypes. Most will admit racism still exist on some level, but there is a wide degree of disagreement on how much effect it has, and on how much a priority it should be given politically. How to best convince them to make it a higher priority is a good question.

I try not to hold grudges long, and enjoy thoughtful discussion.

I doubt that's exactly what I meant, but if that's how you took it then I beg pardon.

The last part was merely to say that I think you mistake sitting on the fence to being balanced. That you may wish to reserve judgement in case the full facts aren't known when we can judge something to be wrong in any case.

I understand you want to be balanced but that doesn't mean giving the bad guys (who ever they may be) the same credit as the good guys.

It's fine I don't actually take offence at stuff I just like being a dick. In any case I think it reflects your reluctance to take a side at times and taking sides, when appropriately informed, is fine. This is what I think you miss.

There's your problem right there.

Yes some of your posts are the problem. I asked you a simple and polite question to back your assertion about me and you avoided. You failed by first engaging me with bull**** and second by failing to even try to back it up. Thirdly you failed initially by avoiding the content of my post to make an ad homimen as your 'final' response, you really lost before the 'engagement' even began. You fell in your own rabbit hole when you attacked the poster rather than response to the post. So please when you target me like a ignorant chump and state you are capable of reading, expect to be confronted and pushed back in your rabbit hole. Doesn't matter how many stupid and dishonest accusations you conjure up and then run away from.

Oh and that line about intervention? It is really stupid, this isn't private discussion and I am free to respond and interject as are you.

Cheers.

How is that a problem?

I think you are generally right and that the perception of racism is not as harmful as the real thing but let's consider that someone does not apply for a job because they believe that the hiring company will not hire black people. This may be as harmful as the person applying for the job and not getting it because they are black, in both cases the person doesn't get the job in both cases their chances of getting the job were impacted by their race.

And apologies I know this is a digression but I do think that perceptions that are wrong can be as damaging as the state of affairs represented by them if they were true.

disagree with the bolded. ever seen that new network tv series called "empire"? it's a show on fox about black people, written by white people and targeting a white audience. although terrible imo, it's wildly popular, and the amount of classic negative stereotypes portrayed is almost laughable. it's a great viewing window into what the average suburban/rural white american thinks about black people.

and obv perceived racism is nowhere near as harmful as actual racism, c'mon son

FoldNDark's example, in the context of that sentence which starts with

.

leads me to believe he's not talking about how black people falsely perceiving racism can further harm black people.

Black people on Facebook seem to love that show.

ignorant people come in all shapes sizes and colors

he's basically saying that hurt white people feelings from being called racists are as important as hurt black people feelings from actually being discriminated against.

What I mean by that is if someone believes they are the target of racism, it doesn't matter if they are or not, the damage is the same.

Yes, racism and how everyone deals with it is a ripe target for comedy.

youseriousclark.jpg

Probably sound advice. The flip side of that coin is way too many people make up their minds without even close to enough information.

It's not a contest. Alienating non-racists by associating them with racism using flimsy rational or emotional appeal surely doesn't help the people still being discriminated against. If so, how exactly?

Interesting you left out the more famous criticism that he was racist.

but see, this is usually the line people take when they don't believe that institutional racism in american police departments is a real thing.

Cognitive Perception errors caused by compartmentalized and incomplete information are a contributing factor to individual racism.

Perception is in fact part of the answer to the mostly avoided question "when does a person stop being racist? " When they change and abandon their racist perceptions. Perception matters a lot on the topic of race. A mistaken perception can do as much harm as a good intention, I guess.

i mean we've already established that not everybody has to identify as a klan member or whatever to be guilty of harboring some racist/prejudiced attitudes. if nobody ever brings it to your attention that you're perpetuating racism with things you subconsciously think/say/do, then how else are you gonna realize it?

We can't ignore facts just because we dislike how they are used. My response to that complaint you mention is that perceived racism is a sign of a problem, whether based on real racism or misunderstanding. But it's unlikely there would be much perceived racism if there weren't so much real racism.

"Wasn't a good enough reason" to release the Daniel Pantaleo grand jury testimony.

http://chicago.suntimes.com/nationwo...c-garner-death