Obama is black.

I think Obama has moved race relations forward to an incredible degree. Prior to Obama, racism was something that whites ended up talking to each other about in hushed tones. Usually in the form of racist jokes you only tell your white friends.

After Obama, it's forced a lot of Americans to come to terms with their racism. The conservatives, always being a step behind on everything, responded to this by freaking out and they ended up getting exposed for the racists they are.

What we're seeing, I think, are the death throws of racism in America. We ain't there yet, but racism is very much over except for the shouting.

Eventually, conservatives will come to terms with their racism. The Republican party has already apologized for using the Southern strategy, and has said that this is the last election where they can use racist rhetoric to win any elections.

Though, I think I know the answer! They believe Romney will protect them, their values and way of life.  Good luck with that!!!  

decades with your simplistic, idiotic blather.

Camilla Paglia

I don't think anyone had to invent the notion of Tea Party racism. It was out there in the open for all to see. One black guy with a gun at a tea party rally doesn't change this.

Racism has been on the wain since the 1910's. Even in my lifetime, I have seen racist things that have gone from tolerated to untolerated.

No one said a peep about this when this was on TV in the 80's. It's pretty damn shocking now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaarFlq36YM

I'm not sure if you're familiar with the term the "bougeoisie", but it was a term popularized by Karl Marx to describe the middle class businessman who act as enablers for the rich capitalists. I think it's fair to say, that ain't me, lol.

Yes, racism does have a meaning. I've found that people who foster racist attitudes often don't understand it. It takes a racist who will blame someone for a lack of discipline, while assuming that person has the same resources you do, has the same options and opportunities you do, and lives in the kind of luxury you do.

That's not to say that cultural attitudes don't play into this. I'm sure it does. But it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that the poorest race in this country are Native Americans, most of whom were wiped off the earth, followed by blacks, who alone spent 500 years in slavery. Our history does and will continue to affect the future generations of different peoples.

One thing I can say is that I think it will happen in my lifetime.

A lot of progress was made on race from the WW2 generation to the Baby Boomers. Racism is often passed down from parent to child, and as the WW2 generation dies out, so will the vast majority of racism left in the in country.

But as the Boomers had kids, their kids ended up having even less racists atttitudes as their parents, and as those Generation X'ers had kids, they will be even less racist than them.

I think Obama has been very positive for race relations because it was a subject that we before as a nation were afraid to discuss. I think the fact that we're talking about race as a problem we want to solve is in itself an incredible sign of progress.

And his surragotes and apologist like you but particularly the Laffy/MSNBC/Dailycrackpots have used race as a weapon of last resort from the begininng.

Just look at how much media attention was focused on trying to buildup racism in the Tea Party. Of course the presence of black members created complications which are easily dismissed by labeling them Uncle Toms and house niggers.

Racism WAS on the wain, but Obama has given it a new burst of life. Arrogant, eductated, INSULATED bourgeoisie as Paglia calls them, of which you are one, THINK you have the perfect response...RACIST!!!!

But for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. So what are they? The tag RACIST has been dumbed down so much as to mean NOTHING anymore. And those affected by racism have come to see this boogeyman as a court of FIRST resort. If you want to solve a problem, you have to know what the problem is. When you make RACISM the prime reason for failure, it allows you to NOT LOOK at other reasons. So, lack of discipline, accountability, responsibility go out the window. THAT"s why you see so much disfunction in the innercity.

The racehustling, social strife industry, which gave us Jesse Jackhole and Al Sharlatan as "Black Leaders" has been given new life by Barack Obama, David Axelrod, Laffy, and you.

Congradulations.

i never said racism, and all its attendant impediments, does not exist. It is a fact.

It's the degree to which IT explains someone's progress, or lack thereeof. Racism and lack of "equal oppurtunity" has NOTHING to do with whether or not a kid does his homework or conducts himself properly in class. It does'nt explain neighborhoods being shot up and the cops being viewed as "the enemy".

You may not fit the textbook Marxian description of bougeoisie but arrogant, educated, and insulated do seem to describe you. What are you "insulated from"? The deleterious effects of the OVER EMPHASIS of racism as an explaination. You don't have to live with the consequences of going thru life with a chip on your shoulder, constantly believing that there is some impenatrable barrier created by skin color and which your skin color won't allow you to penetrate.

But the point is is that ObamaMania has overused "racism" as an excuse for his incompetence and people to whom it has been directed resent it. How does THAT benefit society?

therefore they don't need to change anything about themselves because their ego says God is going to destroy the earth, not humans are self-destructing.

"We have enslaved the rest of the animal creation, and have treated our distant cousins in fur and feathers so badly that beyond doubt, if they were able to formulate a religion, they would depict the Devil in human form."
William Ralph Inge

...and I don't necessarily disagree with many of your points here. I wish I was better versed in sociology to be able to respond with better authority.

I agree that racism isn't the major factor that contributes to whether an individual succeeds or fails. At least not in this day and age. But there are wilder factors. Such as racism resulting in far higher levels of poverty among blacks, and that having a compounding effect. I think poverty explains more of our societal ills than any single other factor.

The one thing I noticed when I was younger and did more volunteer time at homeless shelters was that many of the people there just had a sense of defeatism. To the casual observer, it's easy to blame them for having this attitude, but once you start going into their life history, you can see how a series of events put them in that place. It's hard to be optimistic, much less be a hard worker who seeks to thrive, if you live in a household where parents teach their children to shoplift from grocery stores to get food.

All I'm saying is that these things don't happen in a vacuum. You're not going to trust the police if the idea of fearing them has been continually reinforced in your head with examples of police brutality and selective prosecution.

I once read about a fascinating experiment someone tried in some city (I wished I remember which) that had some nasty section of town, I guess they dubbed it skid row. The street was literally just litered with crack pipes, needles and condoms because the only people who would hang out there were dealers, junkies and hookers. Somebody got a bright idea, raised some funds and got a few volunteers, and overnight they swept the place up, painted a few buildings, and their biggest focus was on planting flowers along the curb. Guess what? The very next day the dealers, junkies, and hookers didn't go there. Now, they looked out of place and were uncomfortable being there.

I understand the idea of white resentment. It's a feeling that at one point in my life I shared. So I understand it. It is frustrating to think of all we've had to sacriface and work for to solve race relations, only to see less progress than was hoped, and then be told more needs to be done.

But we do face serious problems. One could go to the inner city and notice the place looks like a shit hole. You could blame the residents for it looking like a shit hole, but would you blame the residents of a suburb if a suburb looked unkept? I realized that I had, without knowing it, adopted a double standard when it comes to the poor, to Hispanics, and to blacks.

And the left certainly isn't blame-free on this. There are a lot of people on the left who say their goal is to lift the conditions of the poor, but will criticize anyone who shops at Wal-Mart, eats at McDonalds, or pays attention to sports.

All I can say is that this is a complex issue that's not going to get solved on a hooker message board, lol.

-- Modified on 10/31/2012 11:25:28 AM

"Dance. Grow Things. Try not to be a dick". That's pretty sound advice. I like growing things. I'm often sad when fall comes because it means no more gardening for me until Spring. This year I had an idea. Why not grow things indoors? So I picked up a grow light, a used aquarium to keep things safe from my cats, grabbed a fan and some potting soil, and I'm growing basil and cilantro in my home office. If all works well, I might expand things to grow tomatoes too.

-- Modified on 10/31/2012 1:38:20 PM