In the past month I have seen racial slurs fly on Xanga. And people seem like they're either apathetic or they just seem to accept it. Which to me is a sign of laziness. I grew up around people of different colors and nationalities, and my father and mother taught me to accept everyone.
People excuse racial slurs for being Freedom of Speech. Like that makes racism alright. Ignoring ignorance is ignorance. Because it is safe and convenient people choose to not react to it. How many people gave their lives so anyone of every color could have equal rights in the U.S.? Do you remember apartheid and Nelson Mandela? And you think ignoring racism is fine?
Do you think racism should be accepted as Freedom of Speech?
Do you think the comments
HERE are fair or foul?
Comments (75)
Neil Gaiman put it pretty well - when you defend freedom of speech, you're going to wind up defending some stuff that is pretty distasteful. Yet that doesn't mean that an attempt to defend freedom of speech is bad.
NO! I have to deal with racism a lot being from the South. If you can, tell the person how wrong they are. Maybe they'll listen. But with some people, arguing will get you nowhere. You just have to bite your tongue and quietly seethe... and slash their tires when they're not looking.
Whether we like it or not, racism will remain. We can't control how people think, and at the end of the day, it's up to them to change their minds. Racism without violence is the only compromise.
I think racism is terrible. I grew up in a communities with many different nationalities and it gave me great respect for everyone. My only wish is that everyone could grow up in an environment without racial prejudices.
No.
They DO have the freedom of speech to say racist things. But I have the freedom of speech to tell them they're ignorant bigots.
However, that's also not a good way to make those comments stop. You have to stand up against them, obviously, but just yelling at the person is just going to make them feel vindicated, not stop the comments. Talking to them in a reasonable manner is ideal, but a lot of the time they're well beyond reasonable speech.
And occasionally you just have to verbally kick someone's butt.
The beauty of freedom of speech is that if someone says something stupid, I have the freedom to say so. It's a very hypocritical application of freedom of speech to argue that I have the right to say anything I want and no one can say anything about it.
I do NOT accept it. If someone on my friends list begins that shit, I defriend them. If someone my friends list even recommends a racist post I unfriend and unsub them. And heres something interesting, I was NOT raised to be Unracist, especially not by my horrendously racist father and his horrendously racist mother and everybody on that side of my family. In fact, they were so absurdly racist on that side of my family (the pentacostal side, not the Episcopalian side) that I think, even as a kid, I could see how fuckin stupid they were being and it pushed me in the other direction. But actually, I don't think I was racist even from birth, I was born thinking I'm no better than anyone else and no one could convince me otherwise.
@DearRicky - Racism without violence is not a compromise, many racists are super violent people, just look at the picture posted here.
@randomneuralfirings - no but I can distance myself from them (banning them, deleting them off my friends list unsubbing) and I can fail to support them that way. It might not be much, but it's something
people are stupid, always have been and shall continue to do so for as long as it takes us to actually wake up. Sleepwalkers still allowing their mamalian brains to corrupt their real sense of the world.
@Loonsounds - Getting racism abolished is impossible. It's naive to assume such when we aren't in Lalaland...
@DearRicky - that's not what I said. I didn't say we could get it abolished. I said racism without violence is not possible because those extremely racist people are often violent and I feel very strongly about it. I think if someone engages in racist hate crime that leads to their murdering someone, they should be tortured.
Anyway I DON'T ACCEPT RACISM which is the question which was asked.
^^^^Its not even racial slurs on here that kill me, its the racist stories people tell, while veiling their racism behind what they think is comedy, or worst, attempting to make it seem like they aren't talking about race at all.
@Loonsounds - Just because it's impossible doesn't take away the fact that it's a compromise. There are racist people in the world who aren't violent.
@DearRicky - I don't understand most of what you said there but I am sure there are racist people who are not physically violent. Racist acts are illegal, at least that's a start. It's only a start, but it's a start. I hear you that you think some kind of compromise is involved; not quite sure what that means. Does that mean, for example, that you are going to be friends with known racist people?
Me, I have zero tolerance for racist people.
@Loonsounds - Sure I would. One of my black nurses thinks all Caucasians are racists and I don't really have a choice.
Racism will finally be dead when we can make racist sounding jokes and everyone automatically knows you're not being serious
@Loonsounds - I'm not sure what your response has to do with my comment. I suspect that you misunderstood what I wrote.
@randomneuralfirings - no doubt, whatever
Hearing slurs against any race just gives me a headache. I especially, especially, especially hate how comedians think that making fun of races is just one big joke.Â
I was watching Bert Kreischer on comedy central the other day, and I really started to dislike him. he just basically stood up there and bashed every nationality he could think of: you know, the usual "you can't see black people in the dark", calling dora the explorer a "little mexican". I didn't think he was funny at all, just crude.Â
The one thing that annoys me most out of all is how many black people enjoy referring to each other as "nigga". You're right, so many people fought and gave their lives just so black people (and not only black people, all races) could have equal rights and respect, and this generation uses a word that was once used against their forefathers like it's a harmless nickname. I think that a lot of people need to understand how hard their parents and grandparents worked to have it abolished, and the implications that word used to have before using it.
@DearRicky - Does your nurse understand that most white people actually voted for Obama? I'm just curious
@DearRicky - good for you ricky. I wouldn't have a friend if I know they are racists. those people make me sick.
hmm I was talking about this with my old teacher. He was talking about how being Asian he grew up with blatant racism and his only escape was Theatre and even that can be racism. I don't believe we can ever escape racism in today's society. I acknowledge that it is her but I do not accept it. I acknowledge that people will always live their life based on this ignorance but I do not tolerate ignorance and stupidity. It's sad to say that even our times and even after Martin Luther King, not much has changed.
@Loonsounds - It's either accept her, or my family receives no help. I can't be so selfish as to make them suffer because of my values.
No.
But I feel like this post is one huge generalization. Yes those pictures get an emotional rise out of me, and here are my thoughts on racial slurs.
But I think you should watch Gran Torino or something. You seem to be struggling from an unclear view of the role taken by "racial slurs" in the lives of most people who use them. It's true that racial slurs are common, but usually they're more a joking vestige of the past. Sure, in moments of frustration someone might use a racial slur. But that doesn't even indicate racial hatred. It's more rare than you think, that these words indicate the kind of heartfelt, meditated hate you're referencing in those images.