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"Tim Courtney" <tim@zacktron.com> wrote in message
news:G0yMvK.9rF@lugnet.com...
> "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.
To them, mini-figs are food! But seriously, it is not only to make
themselves look better that people discriminate. It is deeper than that -
most likely to heighten their own self esteem and as a defense for their own
insecurities. And I don't know why you included the word selfish in that
sentence - your use of that word for no reason made me think you are
prejudiced toward selfish people. Being selfish and hurting/hating other
people are two different things, Tim. I am glad you see though that, most
of the time, the prejudicial differences are quite petty - childish, if you
will, and for some reason as people grow older these increase to a greater
degree, whereas theoretically they should disappear as one outgrows childish
things.(1) The reason may be because those same insecurities become larger,
and the self esteem needs a bigger boost, and the hatred grows rather than
receding. Most unfortunate, indeed.
> > 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.
I don't recall the usage of minority in my post, though it probably was
used extensively in the thread. If it seemed that I was speaking
exclusively about blacks, it is because I was. My post was exclusive to the
racism between white and blacks in the USA. I was doing so because the
original thread was about Lando (who is black) from Star Wars. I
acknowledged, and will expand, that there is plenty of racism and prejudice
of all varieties in all parts of the globe.
A friend of mine pointed out to me that not only blacks (and whites) feel
the hatred that is racism. I am well aware of this and perhaps he missed my
main pont. Which was that it is not TLC's job to change the thoughts of
people. It is the people in our society (I was speaking about My society)
to do the necessary work to change people's views. I think people in any
country should do the same, whether their collective hate is aimed towards
black
people or any other group of people.
> 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 don't want to debate everything you say, but again I disagree. Taking
the blind approach (again (2)) is no better - saying "I don't see that you
are black" instead of "you are black" - that is somehow better? I think the
solution is to learn to accept differences - not to learn to overlook them
or ignore them but to acknowledge and accept them. I don't think job
applications or surveys have much impact on racism at all. Surveys are
intended, sometimes, to find out what different types of people are saying
about something. Your last sentence does not ring true at all. I mean
every person does label him/herself. That person should be free to tell
others who they are, and others need a way to describe each other. IMO, it
would just be very nice if feweer people hated each other based solely on
their simplest description. Your statement comes across like this to me:
those
Firestone tires have a lot of problems, so lets not call them Firestone
anymore and they should work fine. Silly, huh. And besides, not only does
your last statement not ring true, but is an Impossibility not to classify
people, so think of something else that might Possibly work!
In closing, now that I think about it some more, I don't think it would
be all that awful if the new Lando mini-fig does make some waves and attract
some media attention. "Even bad publicity is good publicity," is a saying
that Ford is demonstrating right now, so LEGO probably wouldn't suffer too
much from it. As long as the publicity is not too bad (Firestone) (3). And
I
know, just like me rehashing this topic may have bothered some people,
whenever the media starts bringing up racism again people complain, "Oh, not
again!" So maybe next time the media does bring up racism and you hear
someone complain, you can say, "Well if you'd stop being racist I bet they
would stop bringing it up!" If another media spectacle changes the thinking
of just a single person, then I'd say it is worth enduirng more media
attention to racism.
1 - We haven't outgrown LEGO...
2 - Tim, it was your blind approach to the number of blacks depicted on
LEGO's merchandise and publications that got me started on this topic,
remember? You tried to prove that LEGO "does a good job" depicting
minorities, blacks in particular. LOL. I did find one set that has a black
kid on the packaging. That little kid's picture reminded me of the one
black guy I used to work with at a country club. Token was the word, I
think. That friend I mentioned earlier joked, "I bet his parents are
proud," - I am ashamed to admit I laughed, because I bet they are.
3 - Its not the bad publicity that is killing them - Firestone is being
slaughtered for the incredible mistakes they have made.
Have fun!
John
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