Racism used to mean something

[nobody's_hero]

'Racism' doesn't carry with it the sting of stigmatism that it used to. We have probably come full circle. 200 years ago practically no one cared if you were racist because no one really talked about it. Today, few care because there's too damn many people talking about it, usually needlessly.

Why do I not care if someone is a 'racist'?

Maybe there was a time when you might have convinced me to put down the potato chips and set aside the keyboard to rally against racism, but frankly it takes too much energy anymore to:

(A) validate whether the claim of racism is true (this is the most critical hang-up, because I'm skeptical of damn near every accusation now, thanks to the wolf-criers)

(B) spend so much energy to try to vilify someone else for holding misguided beliefs. Being a racist in and of itself isn't exactly a crime, you know, but it doesn't seem to stop people from wailing about it until it is (see Great Britain, or any other Euro nation, and how far they are down the rabbit hole of enforcing hate crimes and hate speech laws).

(C) It even takes too much energy to try to distance myself from those who are said to harbor racist beliefs. It's hard for me to give a f*** what people who know me, think of me. It's an exercise in futility to give a f*** about the opinions coming from people who don't even know me.

And here's your wake up call: The people that pull the strings don't actually care if you (yes, you) are a racist or not. Someone like Rachel Maddow or John Oliver who is given a script to read in front of millions of viewers is not leading some noble crusade against racism and bigotry. They accuse you of racism and bigotry because, at least up until this election, it has been the most convenient way to demonize their opponents. For that reason and that reason alone, it is good that racism means nothing anymore. Perhaps we can now move on to matters of real substance, having kicked away the 'crutch' they lean on.

Our society overused, abused, and mis-used the accusations of racism to the point that the concept of 'racism' is essentially meaningless. Most threads or posts where the author diverts from matters of substance (i.e. policy), to matters of race are no longer incensing to me. They now come across more like petulant rants coming from people who have nothing better to say, looking to take intellectual shortcuts to stifle opposition and get their way. For example, you can't have a thread on this very website regarding immigration without someone blowing the discourse by mentioning some perceived hatred of 'brown people,' then walking away with a huge grin, patting themselves on the back as if they just made some groundbreaking and deeply profound argument.

The saddest part of it all, is that someone who is truly a dyed-in-the-wool racist could be let off the hook of public scrutiny, thanks to people who have flung, and continue to fling, the accusation so recklessly. If racism should ever return to the point of institutionalized policies that prevailed prior to the end of the Civil Rights era, those people, the 'wolf-criers', will have only themselves to blame for the apathy they have generated in advance of its return.

[RJB]

I remember as a kid seeing "news" that Reagan was a racist. My dad told me that was a bunch of %#@&%*@#$%. Each year the dems claimed every Repub was the most racist ever. I knew it was bull$#@! in the eighties. I'm glad most people are finally figuring it out now.

Now if they could just see through the rest of the crap.

[osan]

'Racism' doesn't carry with it the sting of stigmatism that it used to. We have probably come full circle. 200 years ago practically no one cared if you were racist because no one really talked about it. Today, few care because there's too damn many people talking about it, usually needlessly.

200 years ago the concept as we know it did not exist.

Why do I not care if someone is a 'racist'?

Perhaps for the same reasons I don't: it is everyone's right to dis/like whatever they want on whatever basis they want, or for no reason whatsoever.

Someone throws that non-word at me, I blithely respond with, "so?" It completely screws them up, which I find rather droll.

Maybe there was a time when you might have convinced me to put down the potato chips and set aside the keyboard to rally against racism, but frankly it takes too much energy anymore to:

I never bought into that stupidity, even when I was a child. If I don't like you, I don't like you. It matters no whit why. Black? Catholic? Breath stinks?

Anyone who doesn't like my preferences may kindly go home and shoot themselves through their temple for all I care.

(A) validate whether the claim of racism is true (this is the most critical hang-up, because I'm skeptical of damn near every accusation now, thanks to the wolf-criers)

Ask yourself, "why?"

The answer for me is because it is a non-issue.

(B) spend so much energy to try to vilify someone else for holding misguided beliefs. Being a racist in and of itself isn't exactly a crime, you know, but it doesn't seem to stop people from wailing about it until it is (see Great Britain, or any other Euro nation, and how far they are down the rabbit hole of enforcing hate crimes and hate speech laws).

Well you know what? When I hear a black man call a white man "cracker", I say OK... at least he is honest and giving the world useful information. The same goes for when someone calls a black man "reggin". BTW, this censoring of the dreaded "n-word" is not only silly, but counter to what I understand is one of the raisons d'être of this site, but do as you will, of course.

(C) It even takes too much energy to try to distance myself from those who are said to harbor racist beliefs. It's hard for me to give a f*** what people who know me, think of me. It's an exercise in futility to give a f*** about the opinions coming from people who don't even know me.

Some of the more interesting and intelligent people I've met in this otherwise idiotic human world have been racially biased. Why, oh why, pray tell would I want to make the world an even drearier place than I already find it by kicking interesting people from my life? That would be idiotic. I don't have to agree with you in order to accept you into my circle. Only mental thimbles do that.

So that's my position on this non-matter, more or less. Love/hate whomever you want for whatever reasons, valid or otherwise to my eyes. I don't give a damn so long as you treat me with proper courtesies, and the respect which I aim to earn.

The rest of the world can $#@! off and die.