***
Something I've never understood, is that there's "Black History Month" in the U.S. and Canada, yet there's only "Native American Day". Why only one day? I concur that the Native Americans have dealt with the greatest loss of any of the North American cultures, but they rarely get mentioned in the media in terms of when people are talking about 'racism'. I suppose it's not "cool and hip" in Hollywood to include them (sarcastic overload).
The problems that I have with the video shown, are that it's in poor taste at trying to deliver a message, and the reaction that's sure to follow it. But you know what, most things in the media now (TV/YouTube/etc) are really in poor taste, although this one is a bit extreme.
The public passionately feels that we need to teach our youth about racism, and all of the wrong doings throughout history. When I grew up, I didn't really think about it being a problem, until I got to about high school. I pretty much always knew that it was wrong to think less of someone just because we aren't the same culture/ethnicity. In fact, most TV programs throughout the '80s up until today, sitcoms for example, delivered the message that racism is wrong. In school, when we were a little bit older, if someone made a racist comment, that person would probably be outcast by everyone. It's politically incorrect to do anything 'racist', and most people I've known over the years, never want to associated with anything termed 'racist'. I think most people in today's society are fearful of being flagged as being a 'racist'.
Another problem was with the idea of focussing on our youth and teaching them about 'racism', which wasn't necessarily the right demographic to be aiming for. For the most part, they got it. They weren't taught to be racist, or to think like racists. Our grandparents/ancestors were the ones who should have been taught that. Having said that, I don't think all our ancestors were racists either. There has always been anglo americans who thought that equal status amongst cultures was a good thing, in fact, many have faught for that balance (even though they don't get the credit they deserve for going against the grain of society).
When a guy like this makes a video, he makes Anglo-Americans look bad, not necessarily just the Latin-Americans in this video. His perspectives do not reflect the way most others feel about other races, he is ignorant, and his feelings about others are just on him. Just being Anglo-American doesn't make someone a racist. There are a lot of cultures that also take shots at white folk, and there are a lot of white folk who apologize for things they didn't do, and most certainly would never do. I've felt guilty for years, about things I've never done, and would never do. My family, and most other families that I know (pretty much everyone that I can think of), understand how bad acting on 'racism' is. Even the older generations, not all of them mind you, but more than people think, have grown to think about how wrong all of that is.
Whenever someone makes a racist comment on YouTube, the knee-jerk reaction is to assume that it's someone who's white. Is that fair? Do all cultures love each other, it's just somehow the white man, the corporate monster, the Ivy Leaguer, who uses everyone to get what he wants, that creates turmoil?
There were a few great quotes that read a while back...
"Racism is simply an ugly form of collectivism, the mindset that views humans strictly as members of groups rather than individuals."
"Racists believe that all individuals who share superficial physical characteristics are alike: as collectivists, racists think only in terms of groups."
"By encouraging Americans to adopt a group mentality, the advocates of so-called "diversity" actually perpetuate racism. Their obsession with racial group identity is inherently racist."
If David Letterman were to go on the air tonight, and state that he is a proud white man, and that he loves all of his white brothers and sisters, we'd have Larry King interviewing him, Jesse Jackson, and the leader of the KKK the following night, after he gets word from the top dog at CBS that he's being replaced by Tracy Morgan (though I think he's quite funny). But somehow, it's perfectly okay for Bryant Gumble to say that the "Lack of Blacks makes the Winter Olympics look like a GOP convention".
George Clooney had some choice words for Charlton Heston (just prior to his passing away), and that made a lot of people excited for some reason. Michael Moore interviewed him in his 2002 documentary/film 'Bowling for Columbine', which made Heston look like the Devil. But... while Heston was the president and spokesman of the NRA for many years, he was someone who strongly believed in people's rights and liberties (not blasting away at other folk like in 'The Omega Man'), and he accompanied Martin Luther King Jr. during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom held in Washington, D.C. in 1963; "long before Hollywood found it fashionable." His words, not mine. Hollywood sure found a way to shoot him in the back.
I'm pointing this out because it's become really fashionable to be a media darling/star, building schools in Africa, and putting on these HUGE concerts to raise money - both great things by the way, make no mistake there - while overlooking that Detroit is in shambles, that the people affected by Hurricane Katrina couldn't get drinking water for 10 days, and that their penthouses in Dubai were built on slave-labor by very poor, tired, and desperate Asian people, who're very lucky to get their $20 at the end of the week. It's cool though, because Bono did his bit... and Obama gets a 'Nobel Peace Prize" for... well... I'm not sure why. Oh right, by bringing the people together...
To wrap this up, if a white guy says something racist, I'm not apologizing for it anymore. He's an idiot, and he's responsible for himself, so it's all on him. If a Korean makes a racist comment to me (and it's been done before), that's just one person's perspective, not everyone that I come in contact with shares his/her views. There's always going to be someone saying something stupid, and it'll be caught on camera, and we'll never make any progress because of it. I firmly believe that the only way to get over racism, is to stop talking about it. Out of mind, out of sight. I know a lot of people can't get past that, but it's like two best friends fighting, not talking for months, and one day a school, they just start talking again because it had grown too uncomfortable ignoring each other each day. Do they bring it up, or do they quietly understand that it's much better being friends, and move forward? The media loves the word 'racism', I don't.
Steed
***