It saddens me to see how much racism there is out there... (Rant)

It comes out especially on the internet where the wall of anonymity allows peoples true faces to show. You can talk to people in real life day after day and build nothing but a positive image of them. Get them alone for 5 mins in a discussion forum and bring up any topic that has even the slightest racial significance and you will see their true selves. I can't tell you how sick I am, I feel almost physically sick, of reading post after post on forums where people run their mouths off spewing hatred. And I'm not talking about right wing forums, I'm talking just about any forum. The worst part is it more often than not comes not from the ignorant teenager or laid off factory worker (people you could at least say are truly ignorant or have been wronged in some fashion) but from the engineers, the doctors, the lawyers, those who have been through the education system and *supposedly* are "educated". Not that this means anything when it comes to racism of course, I wasn't born yesterday, I know racism knows no boundaries but it's still saddens me greatly.

It's the sly, slippery, coy attitude of their posts that really gets my blood boiling. There is no direct mention of race, no racial slurs, nothing of the sort. Just an overwhelming sense of racial superiority and entitlement. Often it's a lot more subtle than you might realise too. Something about their first few posts smells funny but your not sure what. Push them a bit and they reveal a little more. Push them further and out come the sly remarks, their deeply held beliefs of axiomatic truths about races. "I'm not racists. It's not racist to say most blacks are criminals. It's a fact, a statistic, here just take a look at the numbers (link to some demographers statistics)". Even an admission like that is rare. It's usually couched in other language to make you believe that we are really having a discussion about border security, about the education of our children, about family values, about politics, anything but race. Bring up race and suddenly your the racist.

I can't tell you how sick and tired I am of these reptilian, shape shifting, slime balls that have the temerity to call and think of themselves as educated, worldly wise, civilized people. I say fuck you these people need a taste of their own medicine!

it never fails to shock me when I see/hear/read it

view of the world. I've been able to walk both sides of the street so to speak. My mother is Chinese and my father is Caucasian. Though I do look 1/4 something most people just take me for white and would never guess that I'm 1/2 Chinese. I've had some interesting and depressing conversations with people. People say things to you when they think you are white that they wouldn't say to people of other races. And being 1/2 Asian I can also feel not just imagine the sting of racial discrimination.

I am 1/2 black and 1/2 Asian, and people mistake me for everything from Mexican to Persian to Hawaiian to Ethiopian to Portuguese....anything and everything but what I am! We could probably talk for days, you and I. I hope we can keep in touch!

trends in society. Never before have there been so many interracial couples and families. I'm blessed to live in a particularly multicultural city, Vancouver Canada, and see people of all races and walks of life walking down the street chatting on a daily basis. In my day to day life thankfully racism isn't an issue, I tend to see it far more when I venture onto the internet or in any other setting where anonymity lends people the ability of complete freedom of expression, both positive and negative. It's always a disappointing shock to learn that say, that friendly old lady down the street who waves hello to you every day would campaign to have your parents removed from the country.

I am white as this background (English/Norwegian) and cannot believe the stuff people tell ME, assuming I am as bigoted and ignorant as they are! OMG I am never quiet - I hit back and I hit back HARD.

especially when I was younger and less adept at setting someone straight.

Next time you hear something like that, give them a message for me, will ya? Tell them black folks are here and we ain't goin' nowhere, so racists may as well get with the program and start living in the 21st century. You can quote me if you like.

I do think that, especially in uncertain economic times, insecurity brings out people's worst instincts and fears, and they look for scapegoats. Anyone who says something that overtly racist probably has never had any kind of relationship with anyone who is black, or they'd think twice about what they say.

I don't know. I'm just surmising. I don't think I think like a racist, so I don't really know how that kind of mind works. I agree, the kind of language and sentiment you talk about is truly disturbing, and it is prevalent in more places than we'd like to think.

I appreciate your sensibilities, Locut0s. I'm assuming you're white, but I guess there's no specific reason why and it doesn't matter anyway. But I wish I could clone you. Really. :hug:

when, if a person was a racist, there was no ambiguity about it. I don't think racism is in a decline, I just think people hide it better now when it's no longer socially accepted.