Caring What People Think

Is this kind of attitude helpful for anyone's cause? This was posted by a Black rights group on Facebook.

This was my response:

"Why wouldn't you say "stop caring what racists think"? Racists aren't only white. As you've proven with this post. But then what do you care what I think? Hate is hate, and I see a lot of it here. Hating people with progressive attitudes, who believe that our future is in our hands. You're not helping yourself."

One of the hallmarks of the idiotic Rump supporters is their inability to use the language correctly. The lowest common denominator. They routinely include misspellings, wrong words, bad punctuation and structure, and generally make themselves look uneducated.

In general, I find that the more eloquent, well-spoken people tend to be more progressive.

In the comments under the above post I noted similar generalities, such as those whose message was clear and accurate tended to be more progressive, saying that such statements as this are racist, hypocritical, and unhelpful. Another common tendency of the apparently-educated is that they accept some of the responsibility for the lack of equality we see to this day.

Other comments, some extremely racist, some very hateful and merciless, are filled with narrow-minded viewpoints and awful written communication skills.

I am not in a position to point a finger at who is responsible for the civil unrest in our nation. Obviously, early blame rests squarely on the shoulders of the white Europeans and later the Americans. Since then there has been a lot of talk, a lot of fighting, a lot of bloodshed, over the topic of racial equality. 50 years ago it seemed like we were making progress, with many well-educated Black activists, artists and writers making great strides in proving that race or color does not predetermine your destiny, and that anyone has the capacity to be successful regardless of it.

In the past 50 years a lot has changed, but the racial divide still exists, and manifests itself in horrifying ways, especially now that the 45th "president" has made it "acceptable" to be racist again. I am disgusted by just about everything this charlatan has done in his lifetime, let alone in his presidency. I do not stand with the white supremacists, and clearly and loudly decry any statements he or his Nazi followers make regarding race and superiority and entitlement. White people have no claim to this land, and opportunities should belong to anyone willing to take them.

Just as whites don't need to keep down other races in order to live their lives, other races should be able to rise up and claim their own destinies regardless of white people and the oppression they try to inflict. White people are not the problem. Racism is the problem. And it's on both sides. All sides. I truly believe that most Asians feel superior to all other races. They like to stick together, stay true to elements of their culture, and help each other out. Is that racist? Yes, I think so. Some white people are hesitant to hire Black people to work at their businesses. What are they afraid of? That the person won't be reliable? That the person might steal from them? That the person would be lazy and not put effort into the job? Is that racist? If they decide/fear all these things simply because the person is Black, then yes, that is racist. If they think these things based on a cavalier attitude of the person, on an employment history of two-week jobs and being let go, then no, that is not racist. That is judging someone on their conscious behavior. That is a valid reason to not hire someone. As many of the educated Black activists keep saying, Black Americans need to get out of their own way.

Well-spoken and educated Blacks are often telling others that their behavior has a lot to do with how they are treated by the rest of America. Many young Blacks seem to fall into the trap of believing that they are oppressed, that they will not be allowed to do something or to succeed at something, because of the fact that they are Black. I am not suggesting that racism doesn't exist in America, or that true equality has been realized; there are many hateful people (on all sides) who I do not side with. There are many like me. But unfortunately many of these young Blacks use racism as an excuse to not try. They seem to hide behind the logic that "the man" is going to hold them back from being able to succeed at anything, and so they sit around complaining and f*cking around rather than getting out there and doing their best. These educated, well-spoken Blacks who tell the others to take responsibility for themselves, to stop blaming "whitey" for not giving them opportunities, and to just go out and get them, are sadly dismissed as "coons" and not taken seriously by the masses. We have all these people today who believe in (part of) the message of giants like MLK, yet at the time they would have dismissed him as a "coon" because he was willing to talk with, reason with, and make concessions to whites and other races.

It upsets me greatly to see the situation our Black American brothers are in, and just as much as that it upsets me to see that they have so much more power than they think they do. Their power is not in fighting and defying whites, their power is their ability to rise up, to succeed and find their own joy, in spite of others.

I don't go around worrying what any particular type of person thinks about me, I just try to do my thing without stepping on anybody else. I care what "people" think, insofar as I don't want to upset anyone, but in general I'm not overly concerned with what anyone thinks of me, white, Black, Asian or otherwise. So to single out a group as one that you should specifically dismiss the opinions of gives more power to that group than they deserve, and it also is quite racist.