If I recall your post correctly, you discussed Anglo-Americans as a uniform block of racists until you decided to focus on wealthy and powerful Anglo-Americans, letting members of the block off the hook. So you started from the position of labelling Anglo-Americans as racist and then moved to a position where powerful and wealthy Anglo-A…
If I recall your post correctly, you discussed Anglo-Americans as a uniform block of racists until you decided to focus on wealthy and powerful Anglo-Americans, letting members of the block off the hook. So you started from the position of labelling Anglo-Americans as racist and then moved to a position where powerful and wealthy Anglo-Americans were racists. The facts are, I believe, more complicated than this: it is surely true that wealthy and powerful Anglo-Americans are sometimes racists, just as working and lower-middle class people are sometimes racists but the reverse is also true. I do believe that many powerful white male supremacists are calling the shots and they (and their lies) do influence less powerful and economically disadvantaged people but they are not the entire picture of wealthy and power people. LIkewise, many poor and lower-class people are easily swayed to racist points-of-view but not all. One could argue, I suppose, that people with solid Christian and Judeo-Christian beliefs denounce racism but even that is not uniformly the case as those supposedly guided by religion may veer towards racism and never consider the contradiction this inherently poses. (One cannot logically espouse treating everyone as your brother/sister and then advocate treating people of a different race/ethnic background/religion) differently. I believe that racism is essentially an enigma and I do not know if we will ever get to the bottom of it and solve the puzzle on the side of what Bernie Sanders termed The Good. However, the enigmatic nature of racism is no reason to give it a pass and not attempt to deal with it for the good of all, that is, in order to ensure a more perfect union. We have to keep striving to communicate and act towards each other with respect and as individuals. We will not succeed completely, I don't believe, but perhaps the effort is what counts. A work in progress, you might say.
If I recall your post correctly, you discussed Anglo-Americans as a uniform block of racists until you decided to focus on wealthy and powerful Anglo-Americans, letting members of the block off the hook. So you started from the position of labelling Anglo-Americans as racist and then moved to a position where powerful and wealthy Anglo-Americans were racists. The facts are, I believe, more complicated than this: it is surely true that wealthy and powerful Anglo-Americans are sometimes racists, just as working and lower-middle class people are sometimes racists but the reverse is also true. I do believe that many powerful white male supremacists are calling the shots and they (and their lies) do influence less powerful and economically disadvantaged people but they are not the entire picture of wealthy and power people. LIkewise, many poor and lower-class people are easily swayed to racist points-of-view but not all. One could argue, I suppose, that people with solid Christian and Judeo-Christian beliefs denounce racism but even that is not uniformly the case as those supposedly guided by religion may veer towards racism and never consider the contradiction this inherently poses. (One cannot logically espouse treating everyone as your brother/sister and then advocate treating people of a different race/ethnic background/religion) differently. I believe that racism is essentially an enigma and I do not know if we will ever get to the bottom of it and solve the puzzle on the side of what Bernie Sanders termed The Good. However, the enigmatic nature of racism is no reason to give it a pass and not attempt to deal with it for the good of all, that is, in order to ensure a more perfect union. We have to keep striving to communicate and act towards each other with respect and as individuals. We will not succeed completely, I don't believe, but perhaps the effort is what counts. A work in progress, you might say.