Note to conservatives:
Not long ago, Chester A. Hurdle opened a newspaper and read a commentary by a man who opposed paying reparations for slavery, partly because he believed that the victims and their immediate descendants were dead."I guess I'm a ghost," Hurdle said to himself, "and so is my brother and my sister."
Shut the fuck up.
Oh, I've made this request before?
Well, it bears repeating.
From WashingtonPost.com | Aging Sons of Slaves Join Reparations Battle. It's theliberalmedia, and it's about the lesser races, so I expect you'll just ignore this, as usual. Or worse:
David Horowitz, a white conservative analyst, is perhaps the most vocal opponent of reparations."This will isolate the black community," he said. "Look at what reparations does. It says to the rest of America, 'You're involved with slavery and discrimination. Now, racists, first apologize and give us money.' Anyone with half a political brain knows this is not the way to go about things. Beyond all the merits of the claim itself are all these political problems."
The political problems are, obviously, insoluble, and therefore the issue should not even be discussed in polite company.
No one has ever confused David Horowitz with polite company.
And, um, when exactly did the black community stop being isolated?
Blogdex currently shows one reference to this story, at sic semper tyrannis. About what you'd expect:
They ["We" for me, but y'know, write for your audience] are hardly alone or unique in this. Virtually every group in the United States has had to suffer at some point in their history, and usually at the hands of their fellow-citizens. What about the millions of children of Irish, Italian, and Jewish immigrants?
I'm in a foul mood today.
What about them?
No, really. What the fuck happened to "millions of children of Irish, Italian, and Jewish immigrants" at "the hands of their fellow-citizens" that compares to slavery?
The author, predictably, mentions "no dogs or Irish allowed" signs. Wow. Horrifying. How did people ever survive? No wonder Irish immigrants used to try leaping overboard to their deaths rather than be brought to. . . oh, that's right, they didn't.
At least, not that I'm aware. Perhaps I was asleep in class that day.
There's also that charming phrase, "now-favored minority group."
Which is right up there with theliberalmedia, wimmenandminorities and gassedhisownpeople in convincing me the speaker/writer has nothing worthwhile to contribute. So I appreciate the usage, since it saves me time otherwise wasted looking for a point.
Bored now.
Yeah, it was so bad over here that the Irish came in droves. Literally. I need to find that bit of immigration statistics again.
Have I ever mentioned that I hate being used (even by proxy) to prove a point, especially an erroneous one?
At least you're not a model minority. That must really suck.
Came in droves? They were Drovers?
Huh. "a person who herds cattle or sheep to market or pasture." Guess, technically. . .
Maybe I've had too much coffee. Or do those words in that order even make sense?
... Oi. Yeah. That's. Something, isn't it? Wow.
Well, yes, there's a reason I used that word, and not just because I like it. It sounds neat.
1 : a group of animals driven or moving in a body
2 : a large number : CROWD -- usually used in plural especially with in
And, really, the first is applicable, too.
There's no such thing as too much coffee, unless you're kd.
My dad used to use this ploy to my face . . oh, how HARD it was be an Italian in east Detroit in the sixties. When I went to college, I met a wman whose father was Puerto Rican and mother caucasion, and she described having spent her Long Island adolescence passing for Italian. It was a real eye-opener for me. My childhood milieu was not what you might call 'diverse.'
I love this whole idea that somehow one person's suffering (however minimal) negates the existence of another's. Is this just our Protestant heritage coming back to bite us? Italians and Irish suffered and died that wimminandminorities might live?
Anyone who might be offended, I ask your pardon for the borderline blesphemy -- I'm quite serious about the connection. Is proxy suffering embedded in our thought because of America's Christian roots?
I'm the very model of a nonoffensive minority?
I'm a geek and us geeks have suffered, especially in high school. the wedgies, the wedgies!
i think reparations are well deserved. my thought, which may seem absurd, is that they don't go far enough. i think we should tear the whole damn system down and feast on its corpse, because the robbery and theft and exploitation, like, you know, never really STOPPED. but, when that particular feast does begin, i will gladly get the hell out of your way and let you be first in line. right now i'm just thinking of all the goddamned taxes they've stolen from me since i entered the workforce. i then try to imagine having my name, religion, culture, language, etc. stolen from me and i think...yeah, pay up, you sons of bitches! i think it's a great idea, particularly since there are identifyable corporations who provably hold these assets, and the accrued interest is staggering to think about. if the full debt was called in those bastards would go down like the titanic. so it's no wonder some people are scared of the idea. but look at what big tobacco has had to pay, and that battle isn't over yet. that gives me a tiny bit of hope.