We are driving each other crazy!
Thousands of examples are available, more every day. These examples I am talking about illustrate racial animus, a person or persons of one race expressing antipathy and displeasure with a person or persons of another. Often these expressions of displeasure are violent, sometimes deadly. It does no good to point out specific examples of violence of one race against another. They are too numerous and ubiquitous on all sides, African American, Caucasian, Hispanic, Asian, all ethnicities, and all races. It does no good to point our fingers in any one direction. I had egregious examples lined up, but I won’t use them. You already know them. You hear the media reports every day. They are very hard to ignore, but I suppose some do.
We are adept at over-reacting to racial animus directed at us while ignoring and de-emphasizing it when it impacts others. Many choose to mentally emphasize some reports and discount others, but that only exacerbates the problem. In fact, that kind of selective acceptance of the problem aggravates our debilitating national animus.
Many people recognize that we have a national mental health crisis. Few of us want to discuss the fact that our mental health crisis is rooted in deep seated pockets of racial animus.
My friends on the right mistakenly claim that the Quote/Unquote media (always portrayed by the right as a monolithic and malicious liberal entity) buries and somehow condones African American violence against whites. Then they point out false examples of reverse discrimination and obstinately wail about their disappearing rights. The usual response from the right towards the real difficulties of African Americans is to say something to the effect that African Americans should stop complaining and instead do something more to curtail the high levels of crime committed by the less law-abiding elements of their race. Finger pointing!
My friends on the left mistakenly blame the system, incorrectly blaming institutionalized racism for our problems. The problem is not in our institutions. It is in us!
Proposed: Let’s stop pointing fingers, and let’s stop demanding that the world instantly conform itself to our expectations!
Proposed: If you reside on the ideological right, stop getting angry every time someone says we need to have more thoughtful and healthy discussions about race and the feelings and concerns of other races. Colin Kaepernick let his feelings be known. He didn’t commit treason. Discussions about race problems are going to continue, yes, possibly even in our schools. Buckle up and go with it. Your angry denials about the importance of those discussions doesn’t help and does, in fact, the opposite.
Proposed: If you reside on the ideological left, stop pontificating! You don’t have all the answers. You just think you do. When you say nothing will work except a complete restructuring of society, you are wrong! Overly simple answers always are!
A song comes to mind. You know the one: Get Together – The Youngbloods – with lyrics – YouTube
Rock and Roll Genius!
My Easter wishes for us!
“We are driving each other crazy!” you exclaimed. I don’t know who “we” includes. Individuals who feel this way can either not interact with the drivers, i.e., quite a job or a relationship, or they can try to change their interactions.
About racial animus, you wrote, “You hear the media reports every day.” I do not. What have you been listening to?
Shop at Sam’s Club where you will find people of multiple ethnicities shopping in perfect harmony where never had I heard a discouraging word. This is the product of Adam Smith’s Invisible Hand, where people come together of their own free will to voluntarily exchange the fruits of their labors for real fruits and other goods. Liberty is morally superior to the alternative.
The alternative to liberty is dictatorship by the political class. “Institutional racism” is a lie created by the racial socialist faction of the Democrat Party. Hillary Clinton in 2016 slandered, “Republicans are doing all they can to deny the vote to people of color.” Today the racial socialists claim there is a lack of voting rights, a lie often repeated on NPR.
“Many choose to mentally emphasize some reports and discount others, but that only exacerbates the problem.” Discriminating between reports and judging their biases and assumptions is an important cognitive skill. The problem of over-reporting some things while ignoring others is solved by having multiple sources of information.
“…we have a mental health crisis.” I disagree. Another alleged crisis is another opportunity for the expansionist political class to get its bureaucratic claws deeper into our lives. The real crisis is the recent 43% increase in violent crime among blacks in the inner cities run by Democrats for decades.
“…the Quote/Unquote media (always portrayed by the right as a monolithic and malicious liberal entity) …” you wrote. No, while there is much in common with the Communist Party USA website and NPR, CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, etc., they are not identical.
“Finger pointing!” You exclaimed. It is a fact that different ethnic groups commit crimes at different rates. We should include this in any “thoughtful and helpful” discussion.
“The problem is not in our institutions. It is in us!” You exclaimed. Nope, it is not in me. Sure, I prefer to socialize with some and not others, it is based on mutual interests, not ethnicity. The vast majority of people in the USA seem to act likewise. People find their own neighborhoods, towns, and nations.
And you exclaimed, “let’s stop demanding that the world instantly conform itself to our expectations!” I never started. While I do complain about neo-marxist machinations and vote against them, I can’t demand instant conformation with my expectations, that would be crazy.
Critical Race Theory is neither and does not belong in public schools. History should be taught, warts and all, with the focus on the people and events that made the biggest changes.
Richard: Because I tried to talk about a problem without giving any specific examples, I ran into a lot of push-back. Thoughtful contributors, like you, took my commentary personally and assumed incorrectly that I was being critical of them. I apologize for not making myself clear.
The African American, Frank James, who recently triggered smoke bombs and shot up a NY city subway car is reportedly an example or racial animus spilling over into violence.
Three white thugs in Knoxville who attacked some stranded African Americans with car trouble is also an example of racial animus spilling over into violence.
Incidents like those happen every day.
It does no good to try to minimize the importance of such things.
It does no good to falsely claim that the MainStream Media is somehow aggravating the problem by the way these issues are being covered.
Do you not agree that something should be done?
At the very least, a light should be shone on these dark corners of our communal existence.
Is it not so?