Dare To Ask Talk And News About Our Differences
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I think it probably has more to do with the bias of the ad companies. They want to attract what they consider to be their main customer base. And for them, that’s the majority of the viewers on that network, and hopefully the ones with more money to spend on their product. By putting the white kid front and center, they are playing to their target audience.
There are obvious problems with this stereotyping, but sooner or later it is likely to change when it becomes obvious that white people are not the only ones with buying power.
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Name : John K., Gender : M, Age : 27, City : Cranford, State : NJ, Country : United States, Occupation : Chemical Engineer, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,I know a few conservatives, and while I do not agree with them as much as I might have in the past, I still have a pretty clear picture as to how they generally think. In short, for something to be ‘racist’ in their eyes, it has to be a direct action or obvious inaction based on race. Most conservatives would agree that the dragging death of James Byrd in Texas was a racist act, and would condemn it. However, they are less likely to see or acknowledge indirect racism, like institutionally racist policies.
Conservatives also tend to deny any responsibility for the effects of past racism or racist policies, such as slavery or the eradication of Native peoples.
Granted, this are generalizations and do not apply across the full spectrum of what is considered conservativism. There can be more ‘aware’ conservatives that largely label themselves that way due to economic preferences, as well as fully racist conservatives that knowingly act against nonwhites.
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Name : John K., Gender : M, Age : 27, City : Cranford, State : NJ, Country : United States, Occupation : Chemical Engineer, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,I believe this is something that originates with the racism of Western Europe – the lighter, the better. Italians, especially Sicilians, tend to have a darker complexion. Because of this, they would get a great deal of ridicule from the more ‘acceptable’ northern Italians and white Europeans. Add to that the common resources that many Italians and blacks had to fight over during the early part of the 1900s, when both groups encountered similar prejudice, and you have a combination that continues to influence the descendents of Italian immigrants to this day.
My grandfather escaped the fascists in Italy during that time and grew up within the context of these attitudes. Even as a northern Italian, his nationality made him a ‘nigger’ for many years. He came to hate blacks (and pretty much all other non-whites) for the rest of his life. And there are members of that side of my family who have yet to unlearn the lessons he taught.
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Name : John K., Gender : M, Age : 27, City : Cranford, State : NJ, Country : United States, Occupation : Chemical Engineer, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,I run into that all of the time. It’s been mentioned before, but for some odd reason, there are a large percentage of upper-middle class whites in New Jersey that fit your description. I know a few who actually attend ‘Powwows’ and decorate their houses with faux-Native art, reading books on ‘shamanism’ on the weekends.
I cannot say for sure, not sharing their peculiar mindset, but one has to wonder if this is an expression of ‘white guilt.’ It’s as though they understand there is some burden of responsibility that they need to attend to, but instead of approaching it honestly, they fake respect. Is it really so hard to know the difference between honest appreciation and insulting pandering?
I’ve noticed it mostly in the more ‘liberal’ white areas, the Northeast especially. But I’m curious about how it expresses itself nationwide, if at all. For example, in the Northwest, where there is much greater contact between Natives and whites, and therefore more of a chance of actually knowing the opinions of those being pandered to. Does this happen there?
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Name : John K., Gender : M, Age : 27, City : Cranford, State : NJ, Country : United States, Occupation : Chemical Engineer, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,Hey there! You mentioned that the ice-bridge theory supported by most scientists is a lie. I actually agree with you, but I was wondering if you were willing to talk about what you think the true story is.
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Name : John K., Gender : M, Age : 27, City : Cranford, State : NJ, Country : United States, Occupation : Chemical Engineer, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,As someone who has lived on the East Coast his entire life, I am now wondering what happened to all of my freebies. I mean, I went to public school, took out massive student loans to go to a public college, only went to Britian once for a high school choir trip… where are my exclusive resorts? My obligatory private schooling?
Obviously, not everyone on the East Coast lives so extravagently. Only the older, rich WASP families live that way, and they pretty much look down on the rest of us middle-class types. You are correct, though, to assume that the government does not give a damn about me or you, unless you have a lot of money to contribute to their interests. Or, alternatively, if your vote can give them the power they want.
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Name : John K., Gender : M, Age : 27, City : Cranford, State : NJ, Country : United States, Occupation : Chemical Engineer, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,First, I would like to make it plain that you are correct. Most white people do not understand what other cultures go through, and specifically do not even come close to understanding what black people have endured. Some are trying to learn, by truthfully examining the past and present, and attempting to repair the damage that has been done.
Why do white people not understand? Because most white people have been conditioned, through society, religion and whitewashed history, to believe that things are supposed to be the way they are. That Western European culture is the best culture, and that everyone else should be ‘converted’ to that culture. Non-white cultures, and even some white cultures, are pressured to conform to this so-called American culture. It continues to this day, as those who do not live up to the WASP ideal are discriminated against. I am thinking specifically of Native peoples.
It is not just a matter of ignoring the problem, because most whites seem to be unaware that it is even happening right in front of their eyes. It takes something shocking to even get some people to wake up, and even then, there are those who will embrace their ingrained feelings of superiority rather than acknowledge what is happening around them. This is part of the legacy of the racism that led whites to enslave and persecute. The actions might have changed, but many of the subtle philosophies remain. As hard as it might seem to believe, this is a very difficult realization for white people to make. It seems as though it should be obvious, doesn’t it? And yet the white American culture continues to reject the idea that they are continuing the cycle.
Some small percentage of whites truly relish this role, I am sure, while most are blissfully unaware, shaking their heads at the blatant racists while failing to examine themselves in the same fashion. I know … I used to be that way, and still have to check myself to make sure I resist falling into those same patterns.
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Name : John K., Gender : M, Age : 27, City : Cranford, State : NJ, Country : United States, Occupation : Chemical Engineer, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,I use a mass transit bus about three hours a day to commute back and forth to work in NYC. So I have more than enough experience with people using cell phones. Basically, most people who use them are very loud, because they are trying to talk over the noise of the engine, the general noise and static in the connection, etc. And most of the time, the conversations are needless. For instance, just last week, some guy was shouting for 40 minutes into his cell phone, working out with some friend how they were going to play some online video game!
Add to that the fact that everyone seems to have one, they use them constantly, and so there is never a moment’s peace. From the moment I get in line for the bus in the afternoon to the moment I get off at my stop, some inconsiderate jerk is yelling into their cell phone. So after two years of this, I have an automatic aversion to the use of cell phones in public places.
It is not as though the use of cell phones on the bus is the entire problem, though. They are used constantly now. In restaurants, movie theatres, concerts…everywhere! And people using them while driving (which is everyone, it seems, not just SUV drivers) make driving even more hazardous than before. I cannot count the number of times I have nearly been hit *on the sidewalk* by people driving with cell phones.
On top of that, cell phones use EM bursts as part of the connection, so any electronic equipment (like, for instance, a Walkman) gets hit with a very loud low frequency tone when a cell phone is in use nearby. So even if you want to listen to the radio to avoid hearing them talk, you can’t do it!
I could go on, but I think I made my point. Cell phones should be used for emergencies, not to order your dinner or keep working once you’ve left the office. If it’s that damned important, stay in the office, right? People just cannot be courteous and use a cell phone at the same time.
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Name : John K., Gender : M, Age : 27, City : Cranford, State : NJ, Country : United States, Occupation : Chemical Engineer, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,I am not sure this is going to provide you with any better impression of our society, but from what I can tell, most people are not all that concerned about stocks or IPOs. The reason that you see all of these commercials is simple: the brokers (including the people running the online trading sites) make more money when they lure more people into using their services. So they spend a lot of money on advertising, and pay to get that advertising everywhere. But the important thing to recognize is that these ads reflect a very small (and annoying) slice of American society. I live right outside New York City, and most of the people I know really do not care about the stock market. If they do invest, it is incidental to them.
Basically, don’t use those ads as a marker for our society. They are no more realistic than the ad for some credit card where the father could care less about his child’s first steps because he just made an online purchase. Would you really assume from that ad that Americans are like that?
Oh, and I have to say, I had a really fun time watching all the poor little investors panic for a few days when the market took a dive about a month ago…
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Name : John K., Gender : M, Age : 27, City : Cranford, State : NJ, Country : United States, Occupation : Chemical Engineer, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,You have to remember that in terms of racial identification, Hispanic is a largely political construct. It has been shown that in comparison to other ‘racial’ groups, Latinos have a much larger percentage of interracial marriages and relationships, suggesting that Latinos identify more culturally than racially.
This makes a lot of sense, as the term ‘Latino’ covers a wide variety of places of origin, where most racial terms point to a definitive ‘homeland’.
To my knowledge, white people are not just randomly taking on Latino heritage, but Latinos of all points of origin are beginning to find a wider acceptance than used to be the case. Unfortunately, this starts in the most likely fashion, with ‘lighter’ Latinos getting greater acceptance than ‘darker’ Latinos. Some examples would be Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Lopez, Ricky Martin, Marc Anthony, etc. All of them are more or less clearly Latino, but also are seen as universally accepted within the overall white culture. I would like to see this trend carry over to all Latinos as well.
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Name : John K., Gender : M, Age : 27, City : Cranford, State : NJ, Country : United States, Occupation : Chemical Engineer, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,The reason behind your confusion is that you are confusing the opinion of some people about our government and the geographical area that it happens to sit in. When people say ‘Washington is so liberal’, they are refering to the federal government…and specifically, the current administration.
Geographically, Washington DC itself is actually known for having liberal policies and suffering for it. Much of Washington, the parts not funded by taxpayers, is in pretty bad shape. There have been many reports on this in the media.
However, once you leave the District of Columbia, into the surrounding areas of Maryland and Virginia, things change. This is where most of the government types actually live, and it is highly conservative.
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Name : John K., Gender : M, Age : 27, City : Cranford, State : NJ, Country : United States, Occupation : Chemical Engineer, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,White Castle is a fast food chain around the NYC area, and up and down the East Coast to some extent. They are known for having small but tasty hamburgers that you buy by the sack. They are also known for having greasy food.
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Name : John K., Gender : M, Age : 27, City : Cranford, State : NJ, Country : United States, Occupation : Chemical Engineer, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,I think it took me about half a second after seeing the first trailer for this movie to realize what kind of trash it was going to be. I mean, really, what were they thinking? It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to recognize the stereotypes in just the concept of the film, let alone the final product. What’s worse, the original premise was a more mature film where the female was wearing much less clothing…which was changed when the studio realized they could make more money by making it a film for ‘the family’…
What I would also love to know is, what possessed the Latino actors and actresses to participate in the film? Especially since actors like Edward Olmos are well known for their outspoken views.
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Name : John K., Gender : M, Age : 27, City : Cranford, State : NJ, Country : United States, Occupation : Chemical Engineer, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,The answer to your question is simple. Quite frankly, you are forgetting that we are, by definition, part of nature and the natural food chain. Would you ask the same question of other animals that are omnivores? Why not ask the shark why it eats fish, or wild cats why they hunt other mammals? We exist within the natural order, and eating meat does not disrupt that order, in and of itself. Along the same line of thinking, eating plants would also impact nature, so how is that any better? And just how would we fertilize all those plants without ‘animal waste’? Think about it.
That being said, in general, humans have a very poor record in terms of maintaining a balance. In our strive to sit atop the food chain, we have overcompensated, and threaten ourselves and other species in the process. As nature always does, it will require that balance to be reattained . . . and we will pay that price, sooner or later. But so have countless other species in the history of the world, when they overpopulate and ‘spoil’ their environment . . . it is the natural order of things. We reap what we sow.
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Name : John K., Gender : M, Age : 27, City : Cranford, State : NJ, Country : United States, Occupation : Chemical Engineer, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,The term ‘minority’ is applied to any subgroup within a given territory or larger group that does not comprise the ‘majority.’ This is true in various contexts … Congress, for instance. The terms change as the group changes. Whites do comprise a minority in terms of world population, but within the United States, non-white groups comprise a minority. There is no ‘hidden agenda’ there.
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Name : John K., Gender : M, Age : 27, City : Cranford, State : NJ, Country : United States, Occupation : Chemical Engineer, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,
