Project much? You really read what you want to. Please show me where I said I was a victim of racism, not to mention being the only victim of racism. Education is not going to eliminate racism or sexism or bigotry. societies oppress and draw arbitrary lines to differentiate people and to put one status above another. People have different values and motivations. So to write off all racism as "ignorant" or a lack of education is very simple minded and THAT is insulting. Cute little slogans and empty saying don't mean a damn thing. Socities can do things to limit "isms" and you have historically seen progress over time. However ultimately another "ism" tends to replace it.... Be it gender, money, religion, culture. Some people will not change, don't want to change or their motivations are dependent on not changing the status quo .... Oppression can be a fruitful business.
Racism is about power and superiority - not stereotypes. When you say Asians eat fried chicken because they like it. That doesn't mean anything. When you say Asians eat fried chicken because they are dumb, you're making a racially charged remark. Hate is a feeling. You don't have to hate a group of people to be a racist. But if you do hate a group of people based on race, you are a racist because hating a group of people requires you see them as beneath you. Prejudice is an irrational bias against a group. That bias requires a sense of superiority in some form. Prejudice against a group of people for their race is racism. Removing symbols will not turn racists into non-racists. But it might make people think about race and the symbols they hold dearly and foster a conversation. The problem with race is that despite desegregation, there is still way too much segregation. I don't think you can change people's minds much. But you can help form them when they are young.
So how does a a small minority of people influence a larger group to think this way? Do they snap heir fingers and poof it's done? They use propaganda, false information, etc to educate them. Remember the Nazis? I am sure there are still Nazis there but as a country, they denounced this type of behavior and even some of the leaders were remorseful of what happened. Racism, prejudice and hate is a construct of the mind. We all derive our conclusions based on the information we gather. On a healthy mind, your definition of what is good or bad behavior is influenced by your experiences and other things you learn in life . I am sure that we have all changed our minds on certain things that we felt strongly about and this is due to new information we just learned. Again, if you can learn it, you can unlearn it.
So education is how we increase racism? I thought it was how we fix it? Maybe there is another answer.
You are REALLY stretching it. If you can learn it, you can unlearn it? That applies to almost anything in life, it is not unique to racism/sexism/bigotry. You are naive. Nazi Germany knew exactly what they were doing. They didn't get any wonderful insight and education suddenly. They lost the war, they no longer were profiting off of exploiting other groups of people. Also, which high level nazi showed remorse? Albert Speer? The nazi that later proved to have lied about his level of involvement? He had no issue with groups of people being slaughtered as long as it benefited his career. Do you think that slave owners didn't know that their slaves were human beings? They made excuses to live a good life style. They didn't suddenly change their opinion because of education. People do things that are in their best interest, and if they are told it is okay, or there is a mob mentality, they are willing to go even further. From Reginald Denny getting a brick in the face, to slave owners twisting the hell out of the Bible, to Islamists throwing homosexuals off buildings; it isn't a lack of education in some cases.
I hear what you're saying, Lou, but: Stereotypes are forms of racism when they're negative or help narrow or try to determine that some race is the only one that does or is what the stereotype says. Neither of those is true. This is right based on anything besides race. Hate is hate no matter what kind it is. You could be prejudiced against people with certain traits or certain things but it still isn't right. I agree. I think that's what the image is portraying. If kids grow up seeing that Confederate flag, they're not really growing up racists, you know what I mean? Removing it won't make the people who grew up as racists LESS racist... in my opinion. It's up to them to change.
Stereotypes are not always racist, and content is key. Let me give you an example. Thinking Indians like to become doctors and computer programmers is a stereotype. Like many stereotypes there's an element of truth (there are many Indian doctors and computer programmers). By itself it is not a racist stereotype. But if you extend it to saying Indians are only capable of analytically minded fields and can not think creatively, you've created a stereotype with superiority - and that is a racist stereotype. It is prejudice. Stereotypes are just broad generalizations of people. Sometimes they are innocent and harmless, sometimes they are very damaging especially when applied to individuals. I don't think hanging the confederate flag makes one a racist at all. But I do think it's curious that they choose to rationalize the symbolic meaning of the flag to blacks and the clear association with slavery. You'd think people would be able to find a better symbol to represent the south than a flag of sedition and a war fought to defend slavery. But hey, it's up to people to change.
You'd be the surprised at the power of persuasion and coercion. When your actions would get you and your family killed you could possibly do anything in that situation.
The issue is your interpretation versus another. You view the Confederate flag as a racist symbol since you associate it to the Civil War, in which you associate the Civil War with slavery. Some view it as a symbol of pride of the south while others view it as a symbol of rebellion. The Dukes of Hazzard was about rebellion, not keeping blackie down. Using the Confederate Flag as a sign of racism is disgusting and we shouldn't encourage this behavior by trying to erase it from history. That said, it shouldn't be raise on any government property unless its for historical sense (museums and such). Up until this incident, here in the dirty south I rarely saw anyone flying a confederate flag. Thanks to the liberals in an uproar, half the rednecks are flying them from the back of their pickup trucks.
I just said that it wasn't a racist symbol to me. Sounds like you are just projecting your view of liberals onto me. Whatever you believe - the Civil War was about slavery. No legitimate historian can dispute that without twisting the truth into a pretzel. It wasn't about state vs. federalism so don't push that. It was the flag of an illegitimate nation created to keep blacks slaves. That is the fact.
Our actions do define how we treat people, but the actual treatment is just the end result of the thought. The crime starts in our heads/minds/thoughts whether we actually act on it or not. Catholicism/Christianity says it's wrong to even entertain such thoughts. Rehab preaches a relapse occurs before you actually do the drugs again. So, it's wrong to entertain such thoughts... it's even worse when you act upon them.
Hate can also stem from jealousy and envy... You know, haters. People can find anything to be prejudice about. For example... Ben Carson could actually be the 1st Black President but black folks don't support him because he's a conservative. As far as racism... In this country it's the institutional racism and the socially constructed racism that's creating issues.
Don't blame the liberals because some jackasses decide to fly the confederate flag. It's nobody's fault but their own for flying it.
While both sides are obsessing over the racism aspects of a 150-year-old flag, they overlook the biggest racist in the United States, Barack Obama. Example, Obama called the families of all the black victims from Ferguson to Baltimore, as well he should have. However, when a white woman is slain as the result of his policies ... crickets ... not even a telephone call to the Steinle family. Is it because they are Jewish?
Because... they are Jewish? You do know that Obama has had a number of Jews in high positions in his administration..... Rahm Emanuel? David Axelrod? Ben Bernanke? Elena Kagen? David Cohen? Jack Lew? Tony Blinken? Try harder.... Obama doesn't hate Jews.
From my understanding the perpetrator of the crime had an ICE detainer on him. So if the officials would have notified ICE before they released him (like they were supposed to) they would have arrested him when the jail released him. And unfortunately the victim's family may not be able to sue. But I don't think you can play the race card with Obama when his mother is white.