Posted on 06/08/2023 7:06:27 AM PDT by Starman417
If you’re reading this and you’re black, I don’t care. Yellow or brown, I still don’t care. If you’re gay, ditto. If you’re family is from Mexico or China, still don’t care.
Basically, if you’re reading this, while I certainly appreciate your doing so, I don’t care about all of those things about you over which you have no control… and that includes whether you’re a man or a woman, incidentally, a duality that is not changeable.
Why? Do I hate minorities or people different than me? No. I don’t care because none of those things make you special. No more than me being a white, heterosexual male make me special. DNA doesn’t define us.
There’s never been a society in human history that has thrived based on any of those things. Never. Not once. Europe hasn’t dominated the world for the last 500 years because of them. South America hasn’t been an economic basketcase for a century because of any of them. China isn’t transforming into the world’s premier economic and military power because of any of them. No, none of those things matter.
That doesn’t mean they are in and of themselves inconsequential. They aren’t. They exist, and people respond to them. In Ralph Ellison’s seminal work, 1952’s Invisible Man a black man goes through life feeling essentially invisible as society doesn’t see him as the man he is, but rather sees in him their perceptions based on their own prejudices, preconceived ideas or experiences.
What Ellison was assailing was stereotyping, which, although it has a negative connotation today, was a critical element of the human experience throughout most of our existence. Stereotypes originated as a way for humans to quickly make sense of the world around them. They’re a kind of mental shortcut, reducing complex realities into simplified categorizations as it relates to others. This was particularly important when violence was a normal part of everyday life and seconds or minutes mattered. Recognizing someone as your enemy or your friend (stereotyping) in a fraction of a second and acting accordingly (discrimination) could mean the difference between life and death, and eyes are the fastest receptors of information humans have. It was at those times when someone’s skin color, hair color or the shape of their face were proxies for the friend / enemy dichotomy.
At the end of the day, stereotyping is the inverse of being informed. Human evolution and the advancement of civilization have given us far more information than we’ve ever had. And with more information we often discover that what we thought was true, isn’t or might not be. As such, stereotypes become far less important in decision making.
The result is that we now know that there are many factors more useful in the friend / enemy dichotomy than race. Things like how someone comports themselves, how they speak, what they say and even facial expressions. Of course, unlike much of human history, most of us have the good fortune to not live in situations where we have to make that friend / enemy distinction in a fraction of a second or we lose our lives.
Nonetheless, stereotypes endure, and not always without reason. For years after college I worked as a waiter in restaurants. It was common knowledge everywhere that on average black patrons tended to tip less than white patrons. That was and is demonstrably true. Some waiters acted accordingly. I didn’t. I approached every table the same way. Usually the tips comported with the stereotype, but sometimes they didn’t. Indeed, the best % tip I ever received, $20 on a $40 bill, was from a black man dining alone.
The point is, although constantly diminishing, some stereotypes persist, and until human brains have as much data as ChatGPT to draw upon, they’re likely to continue. But that doesn’t mean they have to be the criteria we use to impel our actions. Thankfully Americans have been moving away from discrimination based on stereotyping for most of our history. From the Civil War to Women’s Suffrage to MLK’s “Content of their character” to the election of a black President, Americans have been seeking to diminish the influence of innate characteristics. And we’ve largely succeeded.
While some differences persist between races or between sexes, the reality is, Americans of all stripes have more opportunity than virtually any place on the planet. Indeed, black median household income in the United States ($38,800) is higher than that of every country in the world but four, while at the same time, the poorest 20% of Americans are richer on average than most Europeans. And the “gender wage gap” is gone, too. What’s more, advancement is alive and well, demonstrated by the fact that 20% of America’s richest citizens are self made, starting their lives in poor households. The fact that 60% of are self made from the middle class or below shows exactly how much opportunity there is in America.
(Excerpt) Read more at floppingaces.net...
Good article.
Ah, buy “gay” is character. Bad character. It should never be included in any mention of ethnicity or sex.
Homosexual acts should be illegal.
The left gives lip service to Dr. King’s “content of character”.
“but gay” ... darn typos.
They’re just pandering.
unfortunately...the left has been encouraging the exact behavior that reinforces stereotypes...I won’t say any more than that
Yes, agreed, homosexuality and all of LGBTQ+ is a perversion and mental illness. They should not be affirmed and left untreated.
true. inner city schools put him up all over place, but do they follow any of it? NOPE, because they are “owed”
“Good article”
I recommend you read it walking down Martin Luther King Boulevard in any large American city—around midnight.
:-)
Great piece!
And if a couple presents a child to medical doctors/butchers and insist it wants to have gender altering medicine or surgery are the real mentally ill folks.
We lived in a “mixed neighborhood”. Most of our Black and Latino neighbors moved from the south Bronx, Bushwick and other “exotic” ‘hoods. They knew all too well what’s it’s like living in a 💩hole neighborhood and we all got along. If anything the tribalism within ethnic and racial groups is more pervasive than any lingering forms of bigotry. Caribbean and Black African immigrants v native born Blacks. Puerto Rican v Mexican. The various Orthodox Jewish sects have been known to go at it with each other at times. And among the alphabet mob there’s animosity. LGB v TQIA+,etc
ditto... in baltimore, woodlawn area... a little united nations... we got along great.
my latina neighbor helped me break up a fight between two young lady warriors one day... glad she did... they were ruthless.
It's sad to see such delusional thinking on the right
Good character doesn’t include immorality. The author and the poster are just wolves pretending to be conservative.
I distinctly remember learning about that in grade school.
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