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| Mar 31, 2007 3:02 am |
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re: Since I still had this in frontpage I thought I'd post it here as well--a different perspective |
Tom
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Dave
I have no problem with your views on whites.
I have no problem with your views on racism.
I have no problem with the people who agree with you. I agree with a lot of the stuff you say, myself.
What I have a problem with is your attacks...not even on the views of others, but attacks on them personally. You've labeled a number of people as bigots, and then you went a step further and insinuated bigotry of the people who didn't even post, almost by sheer virtue of the fact that they didn't post.
Share my introspections? With which label would I be tagged if I did that? No thanks.
But I have a few extrospections.
Humans have a nasty habit of exerting power over one another in a constant struggle for dominance. Whites have been especially “good” at it, while blacks have been particularly vulnerable to it. This continues because the struggles for dominance are ongoing, and always will be in a capitalist (maybe not the right word, but you get the idea) system.
You mentioned that blacks cannot succeed until whites allow them to succeed. Come on. That’s not really succeeding, is it? Blacks only able to succeed because of the glorious benevolence of the whites who graciously cede privileges does not remove them from their quagmire that is that they do not have power over their own existence. IMO, they will not have such power until whites (let’s face it, and others) get over their compulsive need for power.
Denigration (like when you stick a label on someone) is nothing but a weapon used in a struggle for dominance over someone else. It’s why racial slurs are so dehumanizing. It’s why I felt that your cavalier assignment of the label “bigot” was so far out of line. It also made me wonder if your attitude is so far beyond reproach that you can afford to be so disdainful of others. Does any attempt at dominance over someone else not, at least in some small way, fuel racism? A position at the head of the class may be a bit more difficult to achieve than you had thought.
As for my introspection, well, I’m fully aware of how and why the cards are stacked in my favour. It’s a much different phenomenon in Canada than it is in the US, but the fights for dominance occur up here, as well.
James asked me, “where do we go from here?” No, James, we don’t stop discussions. We make sure that the discussions are of the nature that people want to participate (yes, I have not always been stellar in the way).
Dave, you’ve provided a number of great posts, which I’ve valued. But to be blunt, when I hit a belittling comment, I stopped reading, which makes introspection all the more difficult.
Do I care to join in? I have no interest in the mudfests that have been the entire months of January and February. Heated debate is one thing, but is a reason why there are a number of “silent voices”.
Private Reply to Tom (new win) |
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