There is a fair amount of hub-bub on the Facebook side of this conversation. There are folks who are glad I said something about the initial statement made by "Sam" but there are plenty of others who think it is unkind to publicly disagree with someone's point of view (particularly if it is one they agree with).
However, here is THE perfect example for why I wrote what I wrote. One commentator said on a later status update of "Sam's" concerning this issue:
"Are you talking about the comment you posted about dial 1 for english? If so then I am 100% in agreement w/your comment. In fact, I copied it and posted it myself and had to step back and laugh at the ruckus it caused. The thing that got to me was that the comment was true and so many people took offense to it."
Copied it and posted it herself.... glad the love is being spread around the world.
Here's the thing, if someone is making bigoted comments, does it help to point it out? Probably not. You will go blue in the face trying to alter that worldview. However, if there are a group of people listening and these ideas are being spread..... Yes, I believe it is a moral imperative to speak. Keep it calm, be polite, .....
.... but speak.
_________________
On a related note, I find this video extremely funny. It is a great example of how people can talk past each other concerning racism and bigotry. F-bomb and racial slurs dropped regularly, so you have been warned.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2DxyAGzGxM
3 comments:
**if someone is making bigoted comments, does it help to point it out? Probably not. You will go blue in the face trying to alter that worldview.**
I'm wondering if one of the reasons for the difficulties in altering that worldview is how bigotry is perceived today. Even one hundred years ago, bigotry would've been a lot more accepted. It wasn't bigotry, it was simply the truth. It wasn't a bad thing to judge people based on culture or skin color, because those judgments were simply true.
These days, there is a wider acceptance that bigotry is wrong. It's not what "good people" do. So if someone who considers themselves a non-bigoted person makes a bigoted statement, it would be harder to convince them of the bigotry, because they're not a bigoted person.
That is a very good point OSS. Perhaps why he and others are upset is because I am in effect calling him a bigot, when he and those defending him "know" he is not.
Andrew,
I have wondered it this week myself. I had three extended family members make out and out racist comments about Haiti on Facebook.
Everything in me said to rip their heads off.......and I can do that pretty good with just words :)
But it won't do any good .Sadly a lot of family (and my wife's) is racist. They hate black people. They always have, just like my parents did, and just like I did until I realized how evil it was.
One family member wondered why we should help Haiti because they didn't help us during Katrina, :(
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