"Hey you there!" Dept: Rum and Racism

Bet you never thought you'd see this one on a respectable forum. But this forum is hardly respectable, and neither is rum! This section is for the forbidden: rum and religion, politics and sex. Here's to Frank Zappa and Catholic Girls!
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Capn Jimbo
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"Hey you there!" Dept: Rum and Racism

Post by Capn Jimbo »

If you go to the main site (by clicking on the frog above)...


You will image after image of the commercialization of racism through the years as evident through especially the older rum labels, which oddly enough we admire in a sort of kind and distant way.

That's everyday racism, to be distinguished from the institutional kind. Check out this video first...
http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/ra ... l_20150323

It is a sad case that the plutocracy and politics once again reflect the mores of the last century. Today's mega-corporations are more like the robber barons of then, our American South never forgot their loss or their white privelege, but no matter. These days a literal handful of unimagininably wealthy, mostly white men are in charge.

They thrive by breaking us up over wedge issues like gay marriage, abortion and yes, racism. They promote tinkle down economics, causing each of us to fight among ourselves for the scraps in a media world that promotes individualism and profit rather than community, unity and peace.

We are constantly at war, mostly with brown people. But that's institutional. What this brilliant young man speaks to is what he calls "everyday racism". The kind that despite our best efforts infects all of us. I'm serious.
If we take a fresh look at ourselves - however non-racist we may think we are - we are likely to find that yes, there are some biases that we have taken on almost without being aware of them.

What say you? Please do watch this video and comment...
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The Black Tot
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Post by The Black Tot »

Great video, and very true.

One of my favorite quotes about racism comes from the excellent Warren Beatty movie Bulworth, where he says "Black people have more in common with white people than they have with rich people."

That works in reverse as well.

Totally agree on the divide and conquer strategy that corporations and gov't have been so good at tying our progress up with.

Discussions about racism are very frustrating in the US, though (I'm originally from Canada). People seem to have no concept of the grey area between racism and other motivations. If race is involved in the discussion, it has to be number one, it can't even be talked about as a minor element within a confluence of other causative factors.

Pre-judgment is about more than just race. Race is an element, but more is involved.

This is not to say we shouldn't all be striving to eradicate racism, which we certainly all should, and hopefully we all are.

This video talks about micro-racism, which is good. The idea that racism can be "micro" and also present in the mind of minorities themselves is productive to the discussion, particularly in the US, where racism has a hard time taking the "micro" position in many people's mindsets.

Racism is a huge problem, obviously. But let's give ourselves a LITTLE credit, too, as a culture - none of us today who were raised after that era would stand for the ignorant shit that went down in the 1950s.

And it's still moving in a good direction - I've heard good things from teachers about how modern kids are really a bright light for the future in the don't-even-understand-racism area. We're raising some of the least racist children America has yet seen.

You can say the plutocracy is mostly white male, but it's almost irrelevant that they're white or male. What they are is super-rich. If you put a black woman in charge of Koch Industries and gave her a gazillion dollars, she'd still be lobbying gov't to keep the poorest people poor and the richest people rich.

It isn't inherently white to oppress people. It's inherently rich. At least, it's generally the pattern of the richest people in the world. The rich people of the world do plenty to screw poor white people as well. Rich people will accept anything disgusting if it results in a social order that they can be and stay at the top of.

It's hard to take action on curing racism, since it's tough to assess where it really lives inside us and why. When we find it, we should definitely think about it until we figure out why it's inappropriate and find a way to philosophically exorcise it. But we also need to commit to fair discussion, that allows for a few unpopular things to be said (and yes, also heard, and considered) without knee-jerk witch-hunt style finger pointing, overreaction, and the tired recitation of militant party lines which seem to be doing a good job of KEEPING us apart.

It's easier to address economic injustice (not that it's happening at the moment), which is also a factor in creating the underlying tension that prevents us from relaxing long enough to grow as a culture.
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