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"Kyle D. Jackson" <flightdeck@sympatico.deletethisspamblock.ca> wrote in
message news:G0yI4w.J3p@lugnet.com...
> I wonder about this. I tend to believe that no matter where you find
> people, you find the same basic human tendencies. One of those,
> unfortunately, happens to be prejudice (not just limited to racism).
Its sad, but true. Humans in general are always looking for a selfish way
to elevate themselves and put down others to make themselves look better.
You see that in childhood interactions and it only increases to a greater
scale as one grows up. Most unfortunately, people discriminate against one
another based on petty differences like skin pigment for similar reasons.
And with racism, its passed on from generation to generation - ever notice
really young children playing? They don't care who they play with, what
skin color they are - to them, people are people.
> Another thing I thought of while reading this thread. I noticed
> that "minority" in the USA tends to almost exclusively mean "black".
I didn't make that conclusion myself - but that's a logical one.
> As to minifig design..., I wish TLC had stayed with the original[1]
> smiley. They were completely generic, and always smiling :] I
> don't think anyone would ever be *that* yellow unless they were
> ill, so it was pretty generic. The uniformity I think helped
> avoided any issues of racial inequity in their products. Mind
> you it also squishes the beauty of diversity..., but I'm not
> sure the typical LEGO user (profile, age 10 :] ) is thinking
> about all that anyhow. I know I didn't. Now the minifigs are
> getting colours/facial features that portray those physical
> differences. I dunno..., it's a minefield either way. I still
> prefer the basic smiley.
Classic smileys should stay, simply because they're classic. I wouldn't
read into it much more than that, except that extreme distortions of minifig
heads such as eyeballs and noses fly in the face of all that we know to be
Lego.
As for racism, I think its safe (and at the same time sad) to admit that its
something we all deal with. Some handle it better than others - and some it
gets instilled in because of the environment they grew up in. As far as a
political view on 'solving' or 'helping' these issues - I tend to think that
if we don't classify people and make distinctions in our minds and in
written documents (job applications, school applications, surveys, etc..)
then people won't feel so racially bound and then lines will fall easier.
Labelling people is the surest way to reinforce racial tendencies, the way I
see it.
I certainly don't claim to have a solution to it - nor have I much been
effected by racism, being a white male. So, also, I'm no expert on the
subject by any means. I do have a few friends of other races - black,
hispanic, etc.., but not very many. Probably also due to the environment I
live in.
--
Tim Courtney - tim@zacktron.com
http://www.ldraw.org - Centralized LDraw Resources
http://www.zacktron.com - Zacktron Alliance
ICQ: 23951114
AIM: TimCourtne
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