I firmly believe that the term “racism” has reached the point where it is essentially meaningless, at least in a formal “words have meaning” sense.
In essence, people know that being racist is bad and that it involves something between one race and another. In attempt to establish the high road, they label their opponents as that bad thing, never understanding what the term means.
The most recent example is North Carolina’s voter ID laws. These laws, so say the opponents, are examples of racism. The data shows that minorities and the poor are most likely to be burdened by voter ID requirements. And therefore, laws demanding ID are “racist”.
Hardly.
I suggest something different. I suggest that the very thing that leads to poverty is the thing that leads to an individual not having an ID.
When turned 16, the VERY day I turned 16, I took my driver’s test and passed. I obtained a license. When the plastic came in the mail, my father sat me down and explained what a driver’s license meant. He taught me that I needed to never leave home without it, ever. That it needed to be correct and up to date. When I moved, it needed to reflect that move.
Further, when I turned 18, he did the same thing with my social security card and birth certificate. He taught me where they were kept, where I should jeep them and how I could obtain replacements in the event they were lost.
In short, a picture ID, a social security card and a birth certificate are mandatory elements to a fully functioning citizen in the United States. To not have one of these things was seen as unacceptable and delinquent.
So I ask you, what is more racist?
- Expecting that a fellow man be responsible enough to live in modern society in the EXACT way and manner that my father taught me and I my son?Or
- That we diminish expectations of modern life based on race?
Given that minorities and the poor suffer more from lack of ID, is the ideal solution to:
- Pass laws that make such reasonable and responsible behavior meaningless
- Admit that we don’t have dads teaching sons that keeping ID, birth certificates and SS cards is a reasonable requirement of all responsible people.
When I was in southern Georgia I was with a client working with the mayor’s office in a small town. They were looking to survey residents regarding a new strategic plan for a population of about 20,000. On a tour through the town by the client, it was there that I had my first experience of really being “on the other side of the tracks” (which was almost literal), seeing black people in houses with no running water, and no power. I was surprised (and not surprised) to have learned that many of the white councilmembers had never even driven to this part of town to see how people were living. On the other side of the tracks, of course, you’d find all the nice brick houses and the two Mercedes in the driveways.
These people got their government checks by mail, took them to the local bank and cashed them, and then went to the grocery store and the post office and went about their usual day. Most people I saw were seniors, although some did seem in their 40’s, but since the bank employees all knew them by name, there was no problem cashing their checks and I suspect, no problem with them voting locally since likely all the election officials knew them, too. The local church volunteers were the ones to help them with their tax forms every year.
So what was stopping these people from getting official ID? “Racism”? Nope. Nothing I could see or even they could see, just the lack of necessity to have picture ID. Everyone knew them. That’s why I don’t get the argument for these voter ID laws. There’s nothing prohibiting someone right now from going and getting the ID they need to properly vote, and yet they want to say that “we” (white privileged males) are somehow trying to keep them from voting due to some “racist” motives. Nice try.
As for racism in general society, until we see someone from the black community other than Bill Cosby come out and chastise their own for being lazy, stoned, screw-happy, and enamored with the “thug” lifestyle (which, if you read the conspiracy theories is simply just more white oppression that they’re buying into, anyways!) the social problems they have at large in their community will continue to thrive. And what are the chances of that happening? For one, there’s no money in it, and for another, look at how criticized Cosby was for speaking out as he did. Chris Rock said it best with his “put the d–k down” speech!
Thugs like the ones who shot the baseball kid or those who killed that 88-yr old war vet have turned their back on their own heritage and culture, not to mention any sort of basic system of values and we’re supposed to apologize for their calculated choices? Not a chance.
We in civilized society didn’t take that system of values away from them, or take away any opportunities for them. They simply made a choice to reject what was there in the mainstream and attach themselves to another that equates with escapism, laziness, hedonism, and victimhood. As I continue to spend actual time in these impoverished communities working with visible minorities, I continue to see individuals who no matter what the circumstances, individuals tackle them without any excuses and rise up above them to become something better. The ones who have all tell me that the problem really exists within their own community regarding how they see themselves and each other, and what options they convince themselves that they have. THAT’S the starting point, not where some government handouts or apologies begin.
It’s a choice as to how we think and to how we choose to see the world, and a choice as to whether that worldview serves us productively to move us forward or not. All these people constantly crying racism over everything are making a choice, I believe to simply pass the buck on their lives and not get off their ass.
Either way, until racism stops being used as an excuse, it will never be allowed to be addressed as a problem.
VR Kaine | August 24, 2013 at 1:26 pm
VERY well said.
Thank you, sir.
[[[The difference between the ostensive meaning, what they point at, and the nominal ostensive meaning or the dictionary meaning, what they say they point at, is the lie.
The word “racism” illustrates this. The ostensive meaning, what it is actually used to mean, is an insult term for white, like “cracker” or “honky”. The nominal ostensive meaning is KKK Hitler slavery. The nominal meaning, what people claim they mean by it, what dictionaries say they mean by it … is incoherent, incomprehensible, and differs from one source to the next, because no one really cares or pays any attention.
The lie implicit in the word “racism” is therefore that all whites are guilty by original sin of KKK Hitler slavery, that blacks suffer because whites exist, that merely by continuing to breath, whites harm blacks. For example, by thinking evil thoughts about blacks, whites cause blacks to underperform, (stereotype threat) and devastate black run cities such as Detroit. The logical implication of the word “racism” is that non whites need to eradicate whites, because evil white magic is causing non whites magical harm.]]]
http://blog.jim.com/culture/words-and-meanings.html#more-3682
The nominal meaning, what people claim they mean by it, what dictionaries say they mean by it … is incoherent, incomprehensible, and differs from one source to the next, because no one really cares or pays any attention.
I refer to this universal ignorance of the meaning of the word as:
The Urban Dictionary Definition
If anyone on the Left refers to any policy as racist, it is a sure sign that they have no idea of the meaning of the word.