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the only easy day was yesterday

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Goin dumb like we're in special ed...

I'm not too clear on black african history outside of America, nor am I very clear on the extent to which female opression has extended through time and through the world, so excuse me if I am historically out of line.

It seems that every time I turn on the t/v there's someone patting America and it's inhabitants on the back for their progress in racial tolerance and gender equality - do people really need to feel good about themselves for (doing a very shitty job of) correcting a problem that is so obvious. Last time I checked genetics still provide the blueprints for life, and barring the quantum properties of the chemical proponents of the DNA, have given life and undoubtably egalitarian nature - so why do we, as a life form so evolved that we can consciously fuck something so intrinsic to life as equlity of beaing of the same species, congradulate ourselves for unbearably slowly fixing our mistakes. The people who we praise for breaking through these "barriers" are the ones who, for the most part, realize what a stupid fucking deal racism and sexism are and how they should just be realized and forgotten and human life can move on. This may be an American thing, I don't really know because I've never been anywhere else to hear what their sports shows have to say about it, but either way as a species we need to realize our huge fuck up and get over it. Instead of honoring the people who have actually realized what needs to be done and transcended the way shit happens, we should take our time to say wake the fuck up to everyone who is to lazy to think about how stupid the whole thing is and just take whatever is spoon fed to them, and especially time to remember who it was who first started slavery, who first placed women under men in our species' hierarchy, and the men who came up with the ideas that colors of skin other than white, and humans without dicks were inferior. Is this to say that, in particular, sports' efforts to transcend racial and sexual 'barriers' are useless? Yes, absolutely. We all know that the problem is retarded - stop picking the damn scab, you idiots.
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2 comments:

Nielsen said...

Racism and sexism were public and ubiquitous in America just 40 years ago, so for those alive during that time and before (like our parents), progressions and individual moments in abating racism and sexism are especially significant and I don't agree at all that there is a problem in acknowledging them. To dismiss progressions made in these problems as the correction of a mistake I feel is also wrong; for all of American history racism and sexism have been the status quo, what makes them so difficult to combat is that they are so deeply ingrained into America's collective psyche, and they are not something simply overturned. The efforts individuals made in challenging racism often involve the dedication of entire lives, often their lives literally, and this was most frequently done anonymously; by honoring and congradulating those who made maybe a more minor but a more public effort acknowledges the importance of any such effort. Leading up to an anniversary for Jackie Robinson's first MLB there was a torrent of media attention, but what JR did was courageous and important, and certainly exteneded well beyond sports. Baseball was one of America's most universally venerated institutions, and the reluctance of any club in adding a black player was not at all seen as deplorable, was instead seen widely as correct. That is a hugely public, watershed moment is the history of race in America. When it is mentioned dozens of times leading up to the Super Bowl that Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith are black coaches it may be annoying, but it is significant because it has not been long since it was widely believed a black man did not have the intellectual capability to coach a football team. Also, racism is still quite obviously common today and acknowledging racism in any way, even historical, serves to make it a part of the conversation. If you ignore race than you ignore racism as well. To say that racism and sexism exist because a lot of people are stupid and don't understand the enlightened, true nature of things is a really purposeless thing to do. Racist and sexist beliefs are widely held and more importantly, widely taught. Such beliefs are carried through generations because they are beaten into people when they are soft, when they are children, and having outside sources consistently pressing the equality of races and sexes allow individuals to not be held isolated with only the views of their parents and peers.

July 16, 2007 at 1:57 AM
Jasper Yate said...

I'm not at all suggesting that racism and sexism be ignored, rather I am positing that we stop glorifying the unexceptably slow nature of their correction in our culture. As I said before, most people are aware of the inherent problems of racism and sexism, which is a step forward - but only a step to the thousand leaps we've taken backwards - and they can see these things because of the praise that such athletes as Jackie get, but other problems abound in result of their being TAUGHT the way to see race and gender relations; mainly the problems of being taught something as a truth. The way that racial (and gender) issues are presented today, in any place, be it a racist family or a sports television show, are as fact - I'm trying to steer clear of epistemological talk here - which is detrimental to a person thinking as an individual mind, which is what I'd like to think that people do; an furthermore is a large part of my own definition of humanity. Now, theoretically, if we were to be freed of all such influences positing any truths, would we not become entirely free and individually thinking people, and from such a mind set discover truths of our own minds? If we are to believe that humans are free-minded and think for themselves we need to transcend others truths and discover each of our own - including our own opinions on racial and gender problems, and take none of them from an outside source. I have confidence that collectively people can discover for themseves no logical reason for racism or sexism. If I were to ask anyone to ignore racism and sexism it would be with the assurance that they know for themselves the fallacies of racism and sexism and in the hopes that all the others who have not thought for themselves on the issue will now, with no immediate television source to turn to. Yes there will be parents and teachers and other people who do not share my opinions of people thinking for themselves, but the best and possibly the only way to eliminate them is to eliminate the presence of it in overall culture because eventually it will smother the flames and the remains of it will become smaller and smaller. This all also assumes a more universal teaching of metaphysics and epistemology, as well as a much fiercer aproach at promoting free thought without teaching as fact - all changes that I see as inevitably necessary for people to ever overcome these issues. And I somewhat commend the efforts of Mr Robinson and the like, they may have been as free thinking as I would like people to be, but the way in which they are praised only promotes complacency in the people too lazy to think for themselves - "racism is bad, huh? Jackie Robinson was the first black player in major league baseball, huh? He paved the way for other black athletes in american professional sports and in turn in america overall, huh? I agree. Jackie Robinson is cool. I don't like racism. I'm pretty smart, I'm against racism." Race and Gender cannot be ignored, but for the slow mending of a problem - which, when all given our own minds back from the television and media we could plainly see the problems with - to be praised so much only keeps people from realizing how easy it is for the able mided of us to move on from our ancestors mistakes.

July 16, 2007 at 11:36 AM

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