Wednesday, April 01, 2009

Ok. So Maybe People Who Accomadate, Excuse or Enable Racists are Not Literally as Evil, but They are Evil.


That much should go with out saying. And if you are one of the few people who have been following my blog, you know that is a core value and belief I hold. But why am I revisiting the the racist enablers?

Well I did make a post a few days ago about some sickening thread going down at the Hannity board. It involved the racist moderator who gave the official seal of approval to some other racist for using a photo shopped image of President Obama's face superimposed on the Disney character Uncle Remus. And that image of the "I's be happy to be a slave, yassir," Uncle has been such a source of embarrassment for the corporation that they have been suppressing the film here in America for decades. The stereotype of the happy slave is perhaps not universally reviled, as remarks on that thread show, but most reasonable people would find it repugnant.
Correction. That should be considered one of the tests of being a reasonable person. You can't have a reasonable view of race relations in America unless you find that happy slave stereotype to be repugnant, per se.

So that is the background. And I originally went way-long about the shit that went down on the Hannity board, but I just deleted all that because I wanted to skip to the chase (and spare you the misery.)

So here is the chase. As a result of those events I had the opportunity to analyze this not exactly new, but disturbing line if reasoning used by by some to excuse racist acts, and by extension, racists. Despite the normal rules of usage of the English Language, and the actual meanings of actual words, some folk will go way out of their way to interpret lack of intent to be a racist. And what I really want to do here is show how fallacious this, for lack of a better word, reasoning is. And I will resort to borderline (at least) sarcasm to make my point.

If you see a person who is standing up, and putting one alternative foot in front of the other, and moving in some direction, do you ask yourself whether or not the person actually intends to be 'walking?' No. You observe the behaviour that is known by the term 'walking' and you move directly to the conclusion, that person is walking.

If you see a person pick up a pen, and apply the tip of that pen to paper, and use it to form letters into words, and words into sentences, do you ask yourself whether the person actually intends to be 'writing?" No. You observe the behaviour that is known by the term 'writing' and you move directly to that conclusion, that the person is in fact 'writing."

So if you observe a person deliberately using a racially offensive if not flat out racist image, and further, expressing a subjective and insulting opinion about the majority of one of this Nation's racial and or ethnic groups, should you ask your self whether they are acting like a racist deliberately, or do you just observe the racist behaviour and move directly to the conclusion they are a racist?

You all know what I do. When it comes to racist shit, if it flunks the looks, smells test, that is that for me. I do not waste my time delving into my own mind's construction of the construction of their mind's purpose. I just take them as I find them and/or observe them. Like the good doctor said, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. Most of the times, a cigar is just a cigar, actually.

So why did I bother to type and post this? I did it to show how the enablers work. It was to show how they think. And I did not touch on the why, but here is the most slack I can give the folk who do this. Do I think they are consciously furthering the conspiracy of the cause to diminish the sting of the charge of racism, in an attempt to make the nation a safer place for Republican Racists? Nope. But do I see them as acting in a self serving manner? Do I believe that even if they likely don't think they are racists, they know, not too deep down, as you don't have to dig deep to find it, they harbor plenty of racist views and opinions? Do I believe that despite their being sorta sufficiently able to control their true beliefs, they rather grant slack to others hoping they will get the same treatment when they slip up and show their true colors?

Now that is what I believe. And that is why I really really want to say that there is not a lick of difference between those you see actually acting in racist ways so much that it is no stretch to call them a racist, and those who make excuses for them.

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