Race: is our racism similar to a college rivalry ?

We are all familiar with some school related sports rivalry, most likely a college or a high school rivalry.

These rivalries can be personal and heated with respect to the teams: “we are gonna stomp you”. And, true, every 5 years or so the rivalry actually renders itself as real acts of aggression, especially in the world of international soccer.

But for the most part the personal and heated passions are superficial: certainly a Clemson Tiger fan would graciously offer a Carolina Gamecock fan shelter in a pouring rain, knowing that the heated comments of past game-related slurs were simply jargon acting as a rallying cry for something as superficial as team colors. And when the pouring rain stops and the Gamecock exits the comfortable home of his gracious Tiger host, the Tiger says, “I’ll kick your ass you piece of crap,” and the Gamecock returns the volley over his shoulder as he heads down the driveway.

I wonder if the type of racism that we have in America might actually be similar. Maybe white people ( maybe even myself ) consider themselves to be on the White Team, and Chinese folks consider themselves to be on the What Team, and black people consider themselves to be on the Black Team. And maybe that is the extent of it.

Maybe racism is nothing more than rivalry-ism, and, accordingly, superficial.

Obviously, 200 years ago the racism was real.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Capitalism: does it stimulate ‘pecking’ psychology ?

There is a concept in the animal world known as ‘pecking order’. This concept is contrary to the ‘love thy neighbor’ concept that religious people will be familiar with.

My question: does capitalism, with all of its positive attributes, possibly stimulate individuals’ sense of pecking?

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Socialism: can it foster capitalism ?

Imagine a government that pays for a program.

Imagine that the program is a small business incubator.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

The point is: socialism may not necessarily be the end of all things freedom such as, in this case, market freedom.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

America: when did we go wrong ?

I believe that our problems began in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s, when two events happened simultaneously:

• our world-renowned success in WWII,
• the development of hyper-consumerism.

These two events led to two syndromes:

• blind nationalism,
• indiscretionary consumerism.

I believe that many of our problems arise from these two syndromes.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Race: is a little racial jabbing healthy ?

When the movie “White Men Can’t Jump” came out in the early 90’s, I thought to myself, “Damn, they got me.” And when a black person teases about rhythm difficulties for white people I have the same thought.

To a sensitive white person either of these comments could be considered racist, but they are not; they are stereotypical, but kind of accurate, and painfully funny.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

So why is it a problem if I say ‘black people eat fried chicken’ or ‘Mexicans eat tacos’?

True, these are racial stereotypes, but are they injurious enough to be considered racist? Isn’t the problem with racism the injury that it causes? If a racially-based comment is NOT injurious, is it racist?

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Remember back to the days of Fred Sanford and George Jefferson and how much grief they gave us honkies. It was not injurious, but instead healing … and maybe even culturally valuable.

It seems to me that as a country we might be ready to graduate from the era of hyper-sensitivity. It seems that although there are still a lot of black people living within a struggle that is certainly the result of the racial oppression of yesterday, the tide of racial fairness is clearly moving in the right direction, and that to continue to be hyper-sensitive is counter-productive at this time in our history.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………