Skin color...

[Pervertedneighbor]

I have been accused of being a racist a great number of times, for a great number of reasons, but it doesn't hold water.  I treat all people the same and I expect to be treated the same back.  I don't believe in race.  I believe people have different skin color/hair/cultural beliefs due to their origin or upbringing.  But basically we are all the same inside, bleed red.  Of course, idiots and ath-holes come in all colors.

[Katiebee]

When you criticize a person, and include his race, ethnicity, or religion when it has nothing to do with the issue, then yes, you are being a bigot.

If you restrict your criticisms to the actions without reference to race, ethnicity, or religion, you will not be accused of bigotry.

[Pervertedneighbor]

There's that word again.  Anyone who believes there are separate races believes in separate playing fields.

Furthermore, I don't criticize people using their color, creed, ethnicity, nationality, or religion.  I don't praise them using these things either.

[IdleBoast]

You are conflating "race" with "species".

They are both scientifically valid terms, but with different meanings. "Race" is two taxonomic ranks below species:

Genus > species > sub-species > race

(Darwin wrote about the races of cabbage.)

[Pervertedneighbor]

Okay, whatever... you can throw whatever bullshit line you want at me about who said what.  My niece and two nephews  and my brother's step kids don't fit into your fucking definitions, ok?  Because you make it sound like they are aliens.

[Jed_]

There's that word again.  Anyone who believes there are separate races believes in separate playing fields.

Furthermore, I don't criticize people using their color, creed, ethnicity, nationality, or religion.  I don't praise them using these things either.

So why bring it up, ‘the first black president’, as if it was relevant to the topic of the ACA?  It implies that you believe both he became president only because he was the first black one and that somehow the ACA is tainted by that?

[Pervertedneighbor]

Because so many liberals I knew celebrated him as such, and if I dared attack any of his policies, I was labeled a racist.  When I used the term "first black president" I was quoting a whole lot of fools.

[Katiebee]

And by putting him into the argument you deflect from his policies.

[Athos_131]

Because so many liberals I knew celebrated him as such, and if I dared attack any of his policies, I was labeled a racist.  When I used the term "first black president" I was quoting a whole lot of fools.

You're really bad at this, aren't you?



#Resist

[Jed_]

Because so many liberals I knew celebrated him as such, and if I dared attack any of his policies, I was labeled a racist.  When I used the term "first black president" I was quoting a whole lot of fools.

A milestone such as that should be celebrated.  It showed many in this country had become colorblind when it came to chosing our leaders.  He was the first black president, and it was significant for about a year, and after that he became simply ‘the president’.  To harp on ‘liberals’ celebrating that significant event nearly a decade later just shows how incredibly obtuse you really are.

[Jed_]

Because so many liberals I knew celebrated him as such, and if I dared attack any of his policies, I was labeled a racist.  When I used the term "first black president" I was quoting a whole lot of fools.

You're really bad at this, aren't you?

#Resist

I know.  It’s almost funny, if it weren’t so sad.

[MissBarbara]

I have been accused of being a racist a great number of times, for a great number of reasons, but it doesn't hold water.  I treat all people the same and I expect to be treated the same back.  I don't believe in race.  I believe people have different skin color/hair/cultural beliefs due to their origin or upbringing.  But basically we are all the same inside, bleed red.  Of course, idiots and ath-holes come in all colors.

On the one hand, I agree with the basic premise in your OP. Our national obsession with race has grown to a fever pitch, leading to silliness and absurdities being proffered on a daily basis. And this is wonderfully ironic, since the obsession over "race" has increased in inverse proportion to the decline in actual racial distinction. Americans of only two or three generations are becoming more and more "mixed," yet the insistence on racial specification grows. In the U.S., "others" aren't really "other" any more, and yet the constant pointing out of "otherness" denies acceptance of others.

On the other hand, I disagree with the basic premise in your OP in the context in which you wrote it, i.e., in response to criticism you received for a parallel OP in another thread. You chose to introduce Obama's skin color -- and everything that goes with that -- so you earned the criticism you received. No matter what you think on these topics, Obama was the first Black president, and that is a noteworthy historical fact. And yet, regardless of your intentions or professed color blindness, by introducing Obama's skin color where his skin color is completely irrelevant, you invited criticism.

You can't have it both ways.

[Pervertedneighbor]

Before Obama was elected and right after he was elected, I was questioning his policies.  For questioning his policies, I was labeled a racist by (former) friends and by my mother-in-law.  I had no issue with his being black or white or whatever.  Obviously, they did.  Not being able to discuss issues with me rationally, they would say, "Oh yeah? Oh, yeah?  Well, you just don't like him cauz he's black.  You're a fucking racist."

Have a friend trying to get back together with me, a bass player who used to jam with me, can't seem to remember why we stopped being friends.  Hmmm.  Interesting, since I didn't pull the plug, since I wasn't the one who called him a whole bunch of nasty names.
"I don't remember" he says.  Quite convenient.

The only reason I used the phrase "first black president" in my post is because it seemed like so many people at the time repeated that phrase over and over again as if Obama were the second coming and as if his being the first black president made him untouchable.  Of course, he turned out to be just another lying politician.

I am sorry if it offended anyone here.  I know you are all so touchy.

[Athos_131]

The only reason I used the phrase "first black president" in my post is because it seemed like so many people at the time repeated that phrase over and over again as if Obama were the second coming and as if his being the first black president made him untouchable.  Of course, he turned out to be just another lying politician.

I am sorry if it offended anyone here.  I know you are all so touchy.

If you want to be taken seriously, maybe you should stop using the phrase.  It seems despite many people saying this you can't stop.

#Resist

[Jed_]

If you come across here as at minimum borderline racist with so many of your posts, I have no doubt you do the same with your verbal proclamations in your real life.  Whine all you want about people calling you racist and any ostracism you feel you get as a result, but if it walks like a duck. . . . . . .

[MissBarbara]

Before Obama was elected and right after he was elected, I was questioning his policies.  For questioning his policies, I was labeled a racist by (former) friends and by my mother-in-law.  I had no issue with his being black or white or whatever.  Obviously, they did.  Not being able to discuss issues with me rationally, they would say, "Oh yeah? Oh, yeah?  Well, you just don't like him cauz he's black.  You're a fucking racist."

Have a friend trying to get back together with me, a bass player who used to jam with me, can't seem to remember why we stopped being friends.  Hmmm.  Interesting, since I didn't pull the plug, since I wasn't the one who called him a whole bunch of nasty names.
"I don't remember" he says.  Quite convenient.

The only reason I used the phrase "first black president" in my post is because it seemed like so many people at the time repeated that phrase over and over again as if Obama were the second coming and as if his being the first black president made him untouchable.  Of course, he turned out to be just another lying politician.

I am sorry if it offended anyone here.  I know you are all so touchy.

Here's the problem, PN: In many of your posts, there's a strong disconnect between what you mean and what you actually write. This has happened time and time again: You write something and post it on this Board, people respond to what you wrote and posted, and then you get all bent out of shape because people didn't understand what you meant. You then lash out at those who responded. We can only judge by what you actually write and post. If you wish your actual meaning to be viewed and judged, then write what you mean. It's really that simple.

If you wish to criticize those who gave Obama a pass solely because he's Black, why not just say that? If people deem you a racist because you criticized Obama's policies, his race notwithstanding, then those people are morons -- and, I hasten to add, not at all representative of Obama supporters in general. Most to the point, as others have pointed out, if you lost friends because they believed you to be a racist for criticizing Obama (again, race notwithstanding), then perhaps they really weren't friends in the first place.

Besides, complaining about something ten years after the fact that happened a decade ago is hardly the source of fruitful discussion.

In the end, your complete lack of clarity, especially in the post in a separate thread that engendered this new thread, opened you up to the criticisms you are now whining about.    Write what you mean, and these problems will disappear.

[Jed_]

Miss Barbara gave a more detailed response than I did.  But essentially people can only go by what you write (here) and what you say (in your real life).  If you feel the responses you get from people don’t reflect what you were trying to say, then learn to express yourself better.

That said, I think most people have you pegged fairly accurately.

[Pervertedneighbor]

Guilty on all counts.  After all, if you fine judges of character want to label me a racist based on one phrase  I was only using in sarcasm, then I must be.  I am not going to pore over my other posts to find evidence of racism.  That is a case I don't have to prove.

[Jed_]

Guilty on all counts.  After all, if you fine judges of character want to label me a racist based on one phrase  I was only using in sarcasm, then I must be.  I am not going to pore over my other posts to find evidence of racism.  That is a case I don't have to prove.

That’s actually in my opinion a fairly reasonable and rational response to the criticism you’ve received, and you’re probably justified in chiding us a little sarcastically as ‘fine judges of character’.  I’ll be the first to admit I too have flaws I need to work on.

[staci]

At last. A detractor that admits their own flaws. Woo