Local view: Cognitive dissonance makes it hard for whites to see racism
July 26, 2012 at 7:00 pm in Duluth News Tribune
Several recent public incidents highlight a dynamic that can make racism hard to see.
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Local view: Cognitive dissonance makes it hard for whites to see racism
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Please join me in a moment of silence in honor of the dead horse that continues to take a beating.
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So well said Dan H! So well said, we used it as our story of the day with a pic of the horse of course.
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Nothing going on. Time to drag out the “white privilege” debate again. Don’t woryy, it will disappear again in a few weeks when the paper again focuses its attention on the rowdy college students returning to town.
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So, are people of color also susceptible to cognitive dissonance? If you’ve been told all your life and if you believe that the world is a racist place, do you not then deny the evidence that shows it really isn’t as racist as you believe…. based on cog dis? Seems like a talented author could rewrite this article with the exact opposite spin……. I’d argue they would both be correct.
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It makes me chuckle when theories such as cognitive dissonance are passed off as proven fact. Especially in such vague fields such as psychology.
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You must really laugh when people cite religious tracts are cited as proven fact, then.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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One man’s religion is another man’s cult, digits. Nice observation.
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What I find insulting is that some how whites are racist and blacks are not. KUWS can have a racist show like “People of Color With Henry Banks”,but if you site facts then you are racist.Like mention the illegitimacy rate among blacks”Jun 8, 2005 – In 1940, the illegitimacy rate among blacks was 19 percent, in 1960, 22 percent, and today, it’s 72.5 percent”I guess the war on poverty killed the black family.Or the murder rate “During 1999–2002, among persons aged 10–19 years, the homicide rate for blacks was estimated to be 17.8 per 100,000 population, a rate 10 times that of whites (1.8 per 100,000)”and you are a racist. Yet white people are the problem and we need to shut the hell up.
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If you were to pick up a pistol and shoot yourself in the foot, whose fault is it? Mine? Not hardly. If you engage in self destructive behavior whose fault is it? Mine? Not hardly. If you refuse to put forth the effort to raise, guide and help your own children whose fault is it? Mine? Not hardly. If those kids are allowed to run wild without their parents being involved in their lives, whose fault is it? Mine? Not hardly. If those kids get into gangs, get into trouble, end up in prison, get out and have a tarnished record that will forever haunt them, whose fault is it? Mine? Not hardly. It all goes back to the parents and the fact that they feel free to breed freely and frequently like animals and then quickly abandon their offspring like animals. Breeders need to take responsibility for their spawn and need to help that spawn grow into responsible adults rather than allowing their kids to drift aimlessly. It all comes down to solid family values and those values must include stressing the need for, and assisting in getting, a good education so the kids can enjoy a good life.
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so we all know a kids upbringing is relevant in how they turn out, and if one knows they cant afford to give their kids a decent rearing since they are working multiple jobs and not at home parenting as much and still cant afford to give them a college education let alone a good college education. the conservative family values is a good thing but when they are pro life it just adds to the problems some people already are facing. didnt mean to go there but ended up there some reason sorry bout that.
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Levi: In my continual stressing the absolute necessity for a good education, I have never said college is the only way. Family values must be improved to the point where kids get at the least a high school education. The drop-out rate for some minorities is deplorable. That is the first step in improving the lives of our kids. After successfully graduating from high school, kids should be encouraged to seek additional training, i.e.: vo-tech, 2 yr community college, apprenticeships even the military should be considered. Employers like myself look at the kids “stick-to-itivness” and a structured learning program successfully completed after high school shows an employer that the kid is determined enough to finish any challenge they start. A 4 or 5 year degree is becoming somewhat questionable nowadays in light of the outragous expense required to obtain any degree, so I would encourage looking at alternative educational paths.
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i agree with everyone you just said and have even posted the same thing about 4 year vs voc and whatnot. and yea minorities dropout rates are deplorable…my question to you is why do you think they drop out??? i argue it is directly related to poverty.
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Ulysses~ Am not sure you missed a single hater racist stereotype….and here for that, you get tons of thumbs up…SMH!
There isn’t equality in education, the system is skewered and there isn’t a level playing field regardless of race and one is very uninformed about how education system works if thinks so. There is also still discrimination within workplace as I already posted. Then there’s of course just a general racist stereotype that is used within white culture to justify and rationalize by the small minded and uninformed discrimination of blacks. Your post was like a testament to ignorant racist stereotypes that continue to thrive in our society which promotes and defends WSP and continues to promote discrimination against non-whites. Seriously..portraying others as all gang banging uneducated breeders?
It’s pretty racist and awfully ignorant to take a negative stereotype and then with broadbrush use that to make sweeping generalizations as discription of whole group of people regardless of their race. There are white uneducated lazy meth head felons on welfare with multiple kids from different mothers living in trailer parks with confederate flag decals all over there 30 year old pick up truck. I sure wouldn’t use that stereotype as representive of all those even living in trailer parks let alone use it as representative of all whites, but apparently you would?
The difference between white and black viewpoints is that blacks can’t go a day without interaction with whites. Blacks know there are racist whites, but they also know that not all whites are ignorant racist meth head felons living in a trailer park. Whites not having the same interaction with blacks draw their conclusions as you did, solely from negative stereotypes. Some whites see those as the nonsense they are and as sweeping negative racist portrayals of others and then some whites as witnessed by your post and thumbs up, actually believe that nonsense is true. That is WSP at work…and apparently as campaign points out…it’s hard to see when you’ve been socially programmed to believe that garbage as true your whole life.
It is a undeniable scientific fact that behavior and intelligence is randomly distributed and not race specific. So that makes all your sweeping broadbrush racist stereotypes nothing more then just racist stereotypes and ignorance.
Silly child, you’ve actually proven a testimonial to the utter garbage of lies we’re fed and programmed to believe that are part of WSP and what enables it. In trying to dismiss WSP with your ignorant diatribe, you’ve instead proved how effective it is in altering whites view of reality and how is used to continue to discriminate against non-whites.
“Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened. ”
Sir Winston Churchill
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You have a pattern of talking down to people. Yet if someone points that out to you…you turn into an insulting whiner. That is my only problem with you. It’s a big one though. You will never rid the world of racism with your snotty attitude.
“The man with the better manners is the better man.” –devilschild
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To: Fastone not President Grant.
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tj: Thank you for the clarification. I get frustrated at times by the liars, racists, id*ots that come here to spew their garbage and I’m sorry if my frustration shows at times.
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Tj~ You’ve now posted for over 4 days non-stop that you don’t like my posts and find insulting over and over again. I think maybe just a few more days of it now and people will maybe catch on that you don’t like my posts and find insulting. I’m only guessing of course and there is possibility you might have to continue into next week before they get it.
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Fastone you were right here with me for the past four days. Hello…is anybody home inside that hard head of yours? Now be a gentleman and let me get the last word in.
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Fastone: Talk about a diatribe! You remind me of a crooked politician, in that you seem to feel that if you talk long enough eventually you will say something each person can agree with, whether it is true or not. Education, especially locally is skewed (not skewered) but the Red Ink plan will cure all that. That was a big selling point of the plan…to provide equal educational opportunities to all of Duluths students. So be happy for the Red Ink plan. If you look at my comments and see me slinging darts and arrows at blacks specifically, you areabsolutely, dead wrong. I do freely sling darts and arrows at those losers who breed with anything that comes along and then lives for the rest of their lives sucking on the governments teat, regardless of skin color. You see I, unlike you, want ALL people to thrive and enjoy a good life. I am repulsed by those lazy breeders (of any and all colors) who get government paid housing, food and health care…just like a pet. Now tell me where in that, or my previous statement I pointed any fingers at a specific color of losers? You seem to be reading every comment through your racist glasses and those glasses are tinting even the most generic criticism of losers in general as being something those comments are not.
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Ulysses~
1- The topic is WSP.
2- You’re in this very thread posting already how minorities have squandered their opportunities and things been more then fair for 40 years. Actually, they’ve never been fair and still aren’t!
3- You have a history here that isn’t as innocent on race issue as now are feigning it to be.
4- You also have a history of doing soft shoe routine when someone steps to you and calls you on it. Many a time you’ve posted total neocon Faux News nonsense and cut down Obama and democrats and when called on it you also feign innocence and proclaim well no, you’re really not a Republican or conservative. You have a tendency to duck and run is what saying, so no surprise feigning innocence.
5- So you speaking of all races and not referring to anyone in particular when throw out terms like joining gangs and breeders? Yup, probably no race intent in that, you probably meant Catholics right? and you weren’t refering likewise of course to non-whites when in thread you said minorities have squandered their opportunities and launched into same diatribe that just need to get education and work. You meant I guess Slav’s as white minority, right?
Yeah, so my bad on a thread on WSP when someone posts that minorities have squandered their opportunities and goes on and on how is someone’s own fault if don’t get education and work. You’re not speaking on point, like someone else here, you’re only intent is to check it.
That said. So folks that get a good education and work hard and do all the things should get ahead and those that won’t get an education or apply themselves get the lot they made for themselves. On this totally agree. But again, the topic is WSP and so what of those that apply all your rules, do exactly as you say but the whole system is geared to hold them back? What of the kids that have an unfair advantage just because of their birthright and skin color. What of the kids that don’t just apply themselves, but excel in education, graduate with honors, never been in any trouble but still get routinely pulled over by police, followed in stores, denied opportunities and have this society as a whole view them as violent thugs, drug dealers and on welfare and have to fight that stigma every day of their lives?
The topic is WSP and reality. Your little fantasy portrayal that if one just works hard and does the right thing is NOT a universal rule in this society, that applies to everyone, it’s the programming of WSP that makes true for whites and makes white’s believe it’s then true for everyone, but it’s not.
“Too often we… enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought. “….John F. Kennedy
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Yes Levi. That is exactly my point. Everything that has ever gone wrong since the beginning of time is the fault of black people. Finally someone gets me.
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People have to take responsibility for their own lives. People need to strive for a good education. Excuse me if I care for all people and want them to be the best they can be, but that is the way I am. To have your housing provided for you (section 8 or other programs), to have your food provided for you (EBT and other Fed programs), to have your health care provided for you (Obama Care) reduces a person to nothing more than being kept like a pet. Do you really want to be owned by others (Gov’t) like a dog, or a slave? I believe people deserve a better life and that is why I urge people to: 1) Take responsibility for their lives and 2) get the best education possible. Don’t accept a life like a dog or a slave.
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Actually your last line is correct, you’re racist and uniformed and need to shut up.
You’re playing up illegitimacy among blacks as some twisted support for the negative stereotype that blacks are more sexually promiscuous. It’s a scientific and undeniable fact behavior is NOT race specific because we’re all the same race so one has to look for another reason. Blacks have naturally and honestly come by a total distrust for many of white societies institutions, and marriage is one of them. The don’t feel the need to get married. Was only white at all black wedding and they had 4 kids and been together for 15 years and finally decided to get married, great family. For 15 years though by white society rules and standards, those four kids would be counted as illigitimate. To blacks if in love and living together, you’re married..they see no need for white societies approval. Now the racist stereotype of course is the unwed urban black teenage single mother on welfare. The reality is by far the largest group drawing welfare are white, married and living in suburbia.
On violenceL Again, since behavior is randomly distributed one must look past the racist stereotypes that black males are just more violent because it can’t be true. Regarding crime the real reason for it is socio-economics. White’s crime impact us all and their means are different and is usually fraud, embezzlment, ponzi schemes. Blacks don’t generally have those means and so petty violent crime is their avenue for those that choose to go done that path. In fact, almost all petty violent crime and murder is relegated to those living below the poverty line and applies to both blacks and whites. Due to the socio-economic situation Blacks have struggled with because whites have a 300 year jump on them, the majority of blacks are below the poverty line. So it’s easy for racists to flip the script and proclaim Blacks as percentage commit more violent crime and use that as some twisted proof to racist stereotype that blacks are more violent. Reverse the economic positions of both races, with majority of whites below poverty line and you’d have a higher percentage of whites commiting violent crime and blacks doing embezzlment.
This is though the social programming that takes place in this society thru WSP. It’s so prevelant and engrained it white society that am sure the majority think it absolutely and undeniably true that blacks are more sexually promiscuous and black males more violent.
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I feel so guilty about my heritage and all of the questionable things my ancestors have done since the beginning of time. I know that the responsibility and burden for every questionable action and word in the last 200,000 years is mine to bare. If anyone from a culture other than caucasian has any ideas about what I can do to start atoning for all past trangressions, please feel free to let me know. I will make it my life’s work to do everything I can to erase all of your feelings of mistreatment that was perpetrated by the hands of my evil ancestors. I will start by flagellating my back with a scourge until it bleeds and sew a red letter “R” prominently on all of my clothes. Hopefully, maybe someday in the far flung future, all of us caucasians can be forgiven for all the mistreatment you have suffered.
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I’m not “all up in arms”. I’m just sick to death of other people thinking they are entitled to something that they are not. This unfair campaign is just a vehicle for perpetuating the numerous advantages that minorities have over caucasians. They want it to keep going so some ignorant white people can feel guilty and keep filling the trough for them. If we keep filling the trough for them, we are enabling their sense of entitlement and blocking their sense of responsibility. What can I do to atone for the mistreatment of all animals, past and present? What can I do for the mistreatment of the environment and the earth? What can I do for all of the grass that I have mown down unfairly? Where does it end? If you have any sense of entitlement, you need to reevaluate your priorities. Ask “what can I do for my country, not what can my country do for me.”
You’re not ever going to get me to feel guilty about anything. Cry me a river. I’ve had a tough life and nothing has been just handed to me because I had the advantage of being born something other than white.
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That’s a complete lie. I’ve witnessed it several times, amongst several other people, that when there’s a heated argument between whites and blacks/indians, they will ALWAYS say that “you (referring to whites) owe us anyways for stealing our land” or “you owe us for enslaving my people”. If I’ve seen it happen once, I’ve seen it 20 times. They have a self entitlement outlook that is taught to them from birth. Unfortunately, what they aren’t taught is how to fill out a job application.
As far as equal opportunity, say there’s a local company hiring a position and there’s three applicants, a white guy, a black guy and a latino woman. You can be guaranteed that the latino woman will be hired if she’s even semi-close to the requirements of the job. It doesn’t matter who is best qualified for the position. It could be the black guy. The company doesn’t want to deal with someone who is going to scream racism because they didn’t get hired. And it would be guaranteed to happen if the white guy was hired over the other two. I’ve lived through it. You’re too young to know any better and cannot speak intelligently on the subject. Working for 25+ years will give you the opportunity to learn these realities of everyday life that a textbook and foolish ideals cannot.
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I am a Jewish, Irish, Native American, now tell me about Racism mister hyphen name..
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Those who came to this country in recent decades from Asia, Latin America and Africa did not suffer discrimination from our government, and in fact have frequently been the beneficiaries of special government programs. The same cannot be said of so many hard-working white Americans. Non-whites recieve special consideration in a wide variety of areas including business start-ups, academic admissions, job promotions and lucrative government contracts. Beyond our continuing obligation to assist those African-Americans still in need, government-directed diversity programs should end. Nondiscrimination laws should be applied equally among all citizens, including those who happen to be white. Our government should be in the business of enabling opportunity for all, not in picking winners. It can do so by ensuring that artificial distinctions such as race do not determine outcomes. We need to drop the Procrustean policies and allow harmony to invade the public mindset. If done…fairness will happen and bitterness will fade away.
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tj, such uplifting prose deserves a toast:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ib-Qiyklq-Q
Unfortunately, that peace and harmony optimism for our world didn’t work out too well…except for Coca Cola’s profits.
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I would have rather you spent your time and energy stating your opinion on this issue than slamming everybody and labeling them as haters. Who are you to judge us? Oh…by the way…your game is lame…you should call it The Lame Game.
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Both Black’s & Whites are prejudice if they believe there is a scientifically based definition of race as an actually existing concept. IOW, there is no such thing as race. We are 99.9% or even 100% the same geneticlly. Our genes may be expressed differently as regards to skin color but everyone has the genes to be black or white & every shade between. See Stanford U’s Dr. Spencer Wells PBS doc. or his national Geographic site for the details.
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Thought so.
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I think I won The Lame Game. Alright!! Of course I was the only racist willing to participate so not much of victory but a victory all the same. Do I move onto the national competition or is this just a regional event?
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You are now a member of an exclusive club, the NRA (Northland Racist Association). We have 60k hardcore members and another 10k sympathetic to the cause but lacking the fortitude to be recognized openly. Contact your local chapter for information on upcoming events, fundraisers and special hand signals and speech that will identify you to others members without letting anyone else know. You are also available for special benefits within the association such as getting the best cuts of meat from the butcher if they’re a member, the best parking spaces, discounts on several services and merchandise from participating vendors, etc.
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If you’re going to just start letting anybody in, the newbies have to work the kitchen on Sunday pancake breakfast days.
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An exclusive club with 60k members. I’m honored…no really I am…to be a member of a group with such high standards.
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You lost me the first time you said the word ignorant, not to mention stupid, clueless, and hater. One other thing…Dead Inside does not whine. He states his opinion. There is a huge difference between the two. You only said that to tear him down. It was rude and you should know better. FYI…you don’t cure racism by inciting anger. You need to find another way of speaking to people on this subject.
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When I read the quote at the bottom of your comment I thought I interpreted the meaning correctly behind your words. I referenced it to be sure. I was right. This comes from a person who is vehemently fighting for equality for all races? Who says something like to a person? What kind of a man are you?
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I highly doubt he spilt any tears. I didn’t pick up a clue of a high pitched sound coming from his throat similar to finger nails on a chalkboard. He didn’t repeat himself peevishly nor did he plead for assistance. He maybe a little irritating at times but I wouldn’t describe him as a whiner. No, in my opinion…Dead Inside is a creative writer who knows how to interest the reader.
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Well if you don’t see it, I guess that just means it doesn’t exist.
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Vune I appreciate the fact that you and I can have a different point of view without tearing each other down. The quote at the bottom of fastone’s comment from 1:46 pm has taken the wind out of me. I won’t continue on after being insulted to that degree.
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You say all these great things & then spoil it by a quote from Ayn Rand? WTH
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Thanks Spearman….for nothing of course. Thanks for being you. “Great things” I suppose you are including the Dorothy Parker quotes along with every other insult he sent my way in your compliment. I made fun of his game and stuck up for everyone he insulted. For this he ripped me a new a.s.s.h.o.le. Thanks Spearman for patting him on the back. This is your ally? Why am I not surprised. He had the chance to state his opinion in a reasonable fashion instead he got angry right out of the gate and ruined the opportunity to enlighten us with his views. The truth…as I see it is…he didn’t like my first comment because it didn’t conform to his point of view. He immediately went into attack mod. He lost his cool and then the majority of the audience. But not Spearman. No…Spearman compliments him.
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I’m sure you already know but that’s the standard modus operandi of the far left liberal. They start mudslinging as soon as someone bursts their scintillating fantasyland bubble they erect around themselves to shield them from the truth and then they continue the steep downward spiral like a house of falling cards. But, the far left liberal position is quickly becoming a thing of the past, much like the catholic and christian churches. It’s only a matter of time until both entities cease to exist in nothing but name only. Then the country can begin to heal itself. Until then, we have to treat them like Gollum from the Lord Of The Rings and pity them. Humor them with as much composure as you can muster in the face of their enormous amount of wrongheadedness until they fade away forever.
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Thank you Dead. Have a good day.
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I have friends in Austria who could probably find a nice, comfortable clinic for you. Let me know. Everything’s going to be okay.
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You are judging the persons philopshy and that is referred to because some of her philosphy by the right wing because fits their agenda. I just saw the statement as a truism.
LMAO…sheesh, folks are having trouble with quotes I use but nobody is picking up the ball on POV…..here, this better? It’s the same thing…
“Ignorance, the root and the stem of every evil. “….Plato
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Bill Clinton’s Georgetown U. professor, Carol Quigley, finished his Western Civ. classes by striding across the classroom & tearing Plato’s “Republic” in half as he called Plato a fascist.
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Fastone,
I want others to treat me with respect–it hurts when someone thoughtlessy says or does something that I perceive to be negative or offensive. I always appreciate it when someone apologizes to me. I feel that I owe it to others to provide them with the same courtesy in return. Half the time, most people don’t mean to be offensive, but it is always a nice gesture to be sincere in our interactions with others. Miscommunication happens. I apologize, let’s move forward and let go of any bad feelings between us. At the end of the day, the old advice is the best: “Treat others the way you want to be treated.” It may sound trite or cliche but it is the absolute truth.
-tj-
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You may not have won the game but you won the fight.
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and no amount of ad campaigning will help people with white priviledge see that they actually even have it apparently.
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last message in reply to ulysses said: On July 31, 2012 at 1:26 PM
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There are entire classes, such as social stratification, devoted to studying issues of race and inequality. In the same way that not everybody is an expert in medicine or engineering, not everybody is an expert on the root causes of racial inequality. If you observe that certain families are less successful, as ulysses has, you need to ask “why” is that so? And you need to keep asking why in order to understand the root causes. Simply sitting in your country home and reading the newspaper does not make you an expert on anything, and it certainly doesn’t verify your half-thought out opinion on a much larger issue.
The responses of most people on here show me that it’s easier to be lazy and knock something down, than it is to really try to gain an understanding of it.
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Within some families, all across the spectrum of colors, there seems to a culture of perpetuated ignorance. If the parents have not achieved an adequate education so that they can reap the benefits of such education, the parents themselves cannot understand the value and subsequently serve as role models to their children about the benefits of education. With the parents having a lack of understanding of the value of a good education how are they going to stress and push the idea of their kids getting a good education. It all comes down to maximizing your potential. Without a good education you will not maximize your potential and your life will be reflective of that lack of education.
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Sounds like you’re saying that past discrimination (exclusion of minorities from educational opportunities) can have generational effects. Maybe this campaign is making some headway afterall.
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Minorities have been force fed “more than equal opportunities” for over 40 years and look at what they have accomplished with those advantages. Anthropologically speaking that means two (2) generations have had all the advantages, more than enough time for grandparents and now parents to have made up for past injustices. And well how is that working? Some of us would say “Not at all”. I might suggest there is a culture of ignorance among some people. People have to really buy into the value of an education to achieve their best outcome. After 40 years, tell me, how well are some minorities buying into the need for education?
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If you really need someone else to tell you that educated black people exist, then you are truly blind. There are successful black families at all levels of society. But all you see is gang members and welfare queens.
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ipsofacto wins….finish him…
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Vune: Are you one of the uneducated? You certainly have a reading deficiency. In reading my posts correctly, a rational person would notice a continual thread running through ALL of my comments. That thread is: 1) Take responsibility for your life. 2) A good education is crucial. 3) I don’t give a rats arse about a persons skin color…what matter is what is in their head and their heart. I am thrilled when a person makes good, regardless of their color. So for a small minded racist to point out that there are educated and successful black people is to demonstrate your racist views. Color shouldn’t matter to anyone. I don’t care about their color, I want all people to strive and succede and enjoy a happy and rewarding life…in a color blind world. Your racist viewpoint is exactly what holds people like you back.
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So just to recap… You coming on this website day after day, talking about black people as if they are all welfare-scamming gang members is “not caring about skin color.”
But me answering YOUR question about whether or not educated black people even EXIST… That’s racist.
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Vune: In your racist outrage you are unsuccessfully trying to put words into my mouth. You can spew your hatred but you are the problem not me. I never referred to blacks as any of the repulsive derogatory terms you spewed. There ARE however bad people of all colors, but to a racist like you you read everything as “black”. Kind of makes one think you have more than your share of hatred and you are trying to paint everyone else with your vile viewpoint.
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Not that this even needs to be said, but a person does not have access to a higher education unless their family has the money or credit required. No amount of responsibility changes that fact… And this problem is worsening as Repubs continue calling for cuts to state and local funding for eduction. In fact, this is the #1 reason for rising tuition… not rock walls, not teachers unions… cuts to public funding.
So if you’re going to sit at home and preach about how people should have a better eduction, you better think about how your stance hinders that opportunity.
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Merv: It is a sad fact that when I refer to a better education, I could be referring to just completing high school, which is an education not even achieved by a deplorable percentage of kids. Beyound high school is gravy but parents need to see that their kids graduate from high school at the very least or those kids are doomed.
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Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
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I read your comments fastone. So did me mother. She read all your comments. She finds you interesting. She’s a retired physcologist.
Well I have to go. I need to make breakfast for twenty-four fishermen. If you think of anything else you feel the need to say to me just jot it down. I will check back after the breakfast dishes are done.
-tj-
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So did my mother not me mother. lol It was early.
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my boss in last meeting said i need a filter lol so there you go
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these posts are not getting put in right places weird..
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The ‘unfair’ campaign is just some DFL white liberal inspired- garbage.
Non-whites aren’t the problem. White liberals are.
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I demand the same billboards go up about Asians in Duluth.
Aren’t they responsible for racism?
They own businesses and are successful. So, they’re racist too.
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http://newsreel.org/guides/race/whiteadv.htm
RACE – The Power of an Illusion
BACKGROUND:
A Long History of Affirmative Action – For Whites
Many middle-class white people, especially those of us from the suburbs, like to think that we got to where we are today by virtue of our merit – hard work, intelligence, pluck, and maybe a little luck. And while we may be sympathetic to the plight of others, we close down when we hear the words “affirmative action” or “racial preferences.” We worked hard, we made it on our own, the thinking goes, why don’t ‘they’? After all, the Civil Rights Act was enacted almost 40 years ago.
What we don’t readily acknowledge is that racial preferences have a long, institutional history in this country – a white history. Here are a few ways in which government programs and practices have channeled wealth and opportunities to white people at the expense of others.
>>>>>>>>>>Snip
For those interested I found this an outstanding piece, learned new things and some never thought of before and worth the full read. I just loved the very last line and so putting in place of my usual quote…
“It’s a little late in the game to say that race shouldn’t matter.”
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http://newsreel.org/guides/race/whiteadv.htm
RACE – The Power of an Illusion
A Long History of Affirmative Action – For Whites
Many middle-class white people, especially those of us from the suburbs, like to think that we got to where we are today by virtue of our merit – hard work, intelligence, pluck, and maybe a little luck. And while we may be sympathetic to the plight of others, we close down when we hear the words “affirmative action” or “racial preferences.” We worked hard, we made it on our own, the thinking goes, why don’t ‘they’? After all, the Civil Rights Act was enacted almost 40 years ago.
What we don’t readily acknowledge is that racial preferences have a long, institutional history in this country – a white history. Here are a few ways in which government programs and practices have channeled wealth and opportunities to white people at the expense of others.
>>>>>>>>>Snip
Couldn’t post whole thing but is outstanding read and highly recommend as a read. Learned lot’s of things never even thought of before and this just one part in a series on the issues of race.
I loved the very last line in this article so much that just going to use that as a sig this time ….
“It’s a little late in the game to say that race doesn’t matter”
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