MellowDem
MellowDem's JournalYep, bigotry and prejudice at its finest...
Ignorance, fear, and paranoia seem to be much of the cause.
But it's not racism. I don't say that to quibble a point or to "be technical". I just think it's useful to use the correct words to describe these things so that the correct solutions are looked at.
Showing Allen West the ample proof out there that racism as a theory is complete crap will not change his bigotry and prejudices towards Muslims, which are not based on a discarded scientific theory about a made up social construct, but which are most likely based on his personal experiences, anectdotal evidence, and general worldview. This is what creates prejudices in many people's minds, and it's far more powerful than the theory of racism nowadays, and far harder to get rid of as such. It's part of human nature to make assumptions and to categorize. So it must be addressed in a different way.
There can be no real concrete proof...
on the percentage of "racists" in the US, unless there is a poll question somewhere asking a person if they believe in the basic tenets of racism, and even that will have some room for error.
I think there is plenty of proof that there is a lot of racial bigotry and stereotyping still in the US. Studies showing how people with black-sounding names have a much tougher time getting jobs/renting places etc than white counterparts with same qualifications.
Bigotry and stereotyping will always be around. Even if the concept of race had never been invented as a social construct, there are so many ways to create tribes and prejudices, and humans tend to do so unfortunately. I think it has gotten somewhat better though, through less isolation and education. Race is just one of the ways, and no doubt the history of racism in this country has influenced the bigotry of today.
As for Zimmerman himself, I have no proof one way or the other, but I think it's unlikely that the theory of racism motivated his suspicions IMHO. I think it's much more likely that it was bigotry and prejudices that did so, given all humans make assumptions and bigotry and prejudices are so very widespread. Of course, many have already called Zimmerman a racist, and few ask for proof of it. I think "racism" is used by many to refer to almost any sort of ethnic, religious, or racial bigotry anymore, or even stereotyping, that has nothing to do with the theory of racism. It's an unfortunate misuse that muddies the underlying issues and makes finding solutions harder.
It's why African Americans tend to get the worst of racial bigotry. The prejudices and assumptions US society makes about the black community are of a very negative sort for the most part. The way the white, hispanic, even Asian communities are stereotyped are in general less negative (eg: a cop that sees an Asian and thinks "bet he's good at Math" won't likely pull him over based on his prejudice).
They're wrong...
Oil companies do not set the price of oil. Neither does Obama for that matter. The American people, like on most subjects, are terribly ignorant when it comes to oil prices. Better that their ignorance is directed against oil companies than the administration I suppose, but ignorance is ignorance, and it allows people like Moon colony Newt to claim he can lower the price of oil to 2.50.
If the administration harassed her...
over an essay, then that's inexcuseable.
The essay itself, as described in the links, is not very good at all. Blaming the education gap on white teachers or even the education system itself is incorrect. The blame lies on much bigger issues, mainly concentrated poverty and a long history of discrimination and segregation. White teachers teach quite a few students who aren't white just fine, indeed, Asians tend to do better than whites in education, even with all the white teachers.
The fact that most of this student's classmates can't read proficiently by that age is indeed sad, but that's because of the failure to the student from the day they were born in terms of their home and community environment. The biggest determinant of how you will fare in life is with your parent's income. And if you are born in an area of concentrated poverty, that's an even bigger strike against you.
Schools with concentrated areas of poverty feeding them often have little to no parental involvement, especially compared to wealthier areas, for a whole myriad of reasons. Poverty takes a toll on family stability and opportunities obviously. The home environment and parental involvement are the most important aspects of education, and a school can never be a family.
I agree critical thinking isn't encouraged. Hell, it's not even taught as a subject at any public school, even the wealthy ones. But this essay isn't a good example of critical thinking. Just the opposite really. It's more a paper written out of frusteration and looking for a boogey man. Not that a 13 year old is going to have excellent critical thinking skills anyways. Most adults don't have critical thinking skills.
To expect teachers or the education system to be able to get the same results in areas of concentrated poverty as wealthy areas is putting the cart before the horse. The issue is the poverty itself, and until that is solved, you won't see equal outcomes no matter how much money is spent on education in those areas, or even if you put black teachers there to teach black students. Perhaps the idea is that having black teachers will bridge cultural gaps, but even that's not assured, as a lot of the culture gap is deeper than just race. A culture gap being closed won't solve the much larger issues of what's going on anyways, and is not practical or possible to do everywhere, nor even helpful for the students, who will have to deal with people from different backgrounds sooner or later in real life.
EU promotional video causes controversy
This video is potentially disturbing on multiple levels depending on how it is interpreted.
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