Well, you can complain about secondhand reports of tone-deaf Facebook posts, the rest of us will work on the very real inequalities in our society.
I have no further interest in continuing this discussion. Thanks for remaining civil, but we’re talking past each other and nothing meaningful is being uncovered.
As a white guy, there’s nothing I can do that will reflect on white guys as a class. A white guy commits a mass shooting, and it’s a tragedy. An Arab commits a mass shooting, and it makes all Arabs suspect.
For specifics, what does ‘is that OK’ mean, exactly - by not OK, does that mean ‘the US should be preparing sanctions or military action against them’, or ‘I disapprove’? I don’t think that racial/cultural discrimination is a good thing, and I’ve been arguing against the idea of discriminating against people based on their race here. People who discriminate against other people because of their race are racists by definition, and racists are bigots.
I am wondering why you are posting that as a response to what I’ve said in this thread, and what relevance it has to the discussion at hand. This doesn’t appear to be a reasonable response to anything I’ve said, so I’m skeptical that it’s going to lead anywhere useful. For relevance to this thread, I would disapprove if, in your ‘hypothetical’, a Westerner visiting Japan and teaching English for fun told a poor Japanese person who’s working 60 hours per week to live in a closet-sized apartment ‘check your privilege’.
I have a theory/observation about it which is no doubt politically incorrect, but I think at least partially true:
Asians in general are often perceived as more “beta,” while black and white people are perceived as more “alpha.” Being beta is often desirable in women, but not in men, so Asian women are attractive while Asian men are not. Conversely, being alpha is often desirable in men, but not in women, so black and white men are attractive, but black women are not.
Positive role models: Michael Jordan, Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Beyoncé, Tiger Woods, John Lewis…
“Assumed trust”: what I’ve noticed in my lifetime - after being hassled by cops any number times as a youth - is that cops suspect young men of being up to no good. Older people and women benefit most when it comes to cops.
Proper speech: how you talk has as much influence on people as how you carry yourself and how you dress. Maybe it shouldn’t be that way, but it’s not a problem exclusive to black people.
“the general assumption that one’s positions and achievements are due to merit”… The whole point of identity politics - is that white people didn’t ean what they have - isn’t it?
“much less personal fear from those one interacts with day-to-day”: This is mainly a female privilege. Unless it’s not a privilege.
As far as history goes… what can I say? My own ancestors were ejected from the US because of their religion. It’s important to remember, but history can’t be changed.
So far as I know, I have no ancestor who was a slave owner. Many (perhaps most) black people do. I don’t think that should be held against them.
So basically your racist idiotic self just declared that White people are born white, so they should be discriminated against in favour of other people? Why should the global minority keep being crushed by the racist black global majority? Why should White people be discriminated afainst because of their skin colur?
These are all terrible role models. It’s not remotely realistic for the vast majority of people (of any race) to achieve success in the fields that these people were successful in, let alone the level of success that these people achieved.
What black kids (much like white kids) need in terms of role models is hordes of black doctors, lawyers, accountants, auto mechanics, insurance adjusters and so on.
[I have a sister who used to work in the (overwhelmingly black) Detroit public school system. I remember her telling me that you could see the difference in kids’ aspirations by age (I believe this was some sort of survey - she herself is a speech therapist, and she had experience across all grades). Really little kids had aspirations along the lines of my previous paragraph. By the time these kids got to the middle grades, virtually all intended to be either basketball players or rappers. That’s a disaster.]
I agree with everything except the first sentence - those famous people are good role models, but they’re not nearly enough without hundreds of thousands of mundane professionals like the ones you mention.
Let’s say there was a Republican candidate for president who proposed banning Muslims from entering the US, claimed that American Muslims had celebrated on 9/11, and appointed a man to the post of National Security Advisor who’d described Islam as “a cancer”.
Are Muslims morally forbidden from voting Democratic en masse in response to all this?
I agree that people like Michael Jordan and Oprah are bad role models. Not because they set too high a standard but because they have no real contact with any children but their own.
Because what all children need is for their parents, especially their fathers, to be good role models. The main reason black children under-achieve is because the large minority grow up without the long-term presence of a father figure.
To hell with sports figures. What children need is someone who communicates “you are worth caring about” by sticking around and showing him or her what it means to be a man.