All things being equal...or not.

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

Are you suggesting that there aren't any rich black people who might want to join a golf club that can't get through the 'Membership Committee"?

 

Take augusta for example. They don't let ANYONE in, not even Bill Fuggen Gates. One of the things about private organizations in this country is that they can let whoever theyw ant to join the club, wouldn't you agree?

[Simon]

Is this is an entry on your resume or something? Who gives a ****?

 

1979-present. Kinda dmub.

1981-present: Never said !@#$.

Thanks for making me choke on my ice cream.

[jjamie12]

Take augusta for example. They don't let ANYONE in, not even Bill Fuggen Gates. One of the things about private organizations in this country is that they can let whoever theyw ant to join the club, wouldn't you agree?

I totally agree that it is their right. The question being posed in this thread (well, not really... I mean, nobody's posing questions in this thread, we're all just spouting our opinions ) is the 'right-ness' of that, isn't it? We still live in a country where it is not totally uncommon (certainly in spots in the deep south... I have my own anecdotes) where overt racism is out in the open.

 

I have my own take on this stuff, and I fully understand that I'll get flamed and what not for feeling the way I do. The 'racism' stuff is overblown. Prejudice, however, is alive and well (for fairly obvious reasons... Everyone is prejudiced, by definition, right?). I think that we spend alot of time seeking out opinions that are similar to ours. For example, this place sounds like an old-ish, white guy, echo-chamber most of the time. There's validity in that sentiment; we all (for the most part... I truly believe that) hope for a paradigm in which we are all judged on our ability, not on our parent's percieved stature. In essence, we all hope for a meritocracy, in the best sense of the word. I don't doubt that for a second. The problem I have is that we dont' *really* live in a meritocracy. We live in a world of prejudice, a world where contacts matter; a world where it *matters* where you grew up, where you went to school, who your daddy's friends are... We live in a world where the unqualified can potentially get opportunities that the qualified don't get. It's about time that we recognize that, isn't it? It's not just *black*. It's also white kids from small podunk towns all over the place whose mothers and fathers try their best to give them a better life; try to give them options that they themselves never had...

 

To deny that black people have it harder than white people, even with all of the social programs we have put into place to try and even the playing field is just sort of silly, in my opinion. It's not an indictment of you, Joe in Macungie... it's an indictment of the institutionalized racism that pervaded the culture for a number of years. It's too easy to say: "Get over it." There are real social and psychological ramifications to what went on in this country from its inception to the 1960's. We all need to try and understand the *other* guy's point of view for a change. You don't have to agree with it, but you should try and see where people are coming from. That goes for white folks AND black folks. For example: black folks shouldn't hold Joe in Macungie accountable for what happened 100 years ago. It's not his fault. He didn't do anything back then. At the same time, it might be nice if you recognized that, in general, black folks have a tougher time of it than white folks, given the same pedigree.

[OCinBuffalo]

I totally agree that it is their right. The question being posed in this thread (well, not really... I mean, nobody's posing questions in this thread, we're all just spouting our opinions ) is the 'right-ness' of that, isn't it? We still live in a country where it is not totally uncommon (certainly in spots in the deep south... I have my own anecdotes) where overt racism is out in the open.

 

I have my own take on this stuff, and I fully understand that I'll get flamed and what not for feeling the way I do. The 'racism' stuff is overblown. Prejudice, however, is alive and well (for fairly obvious reasons... Everyone is prejudiced, by definition, right?). I think that we spend alot of time seeking out opinions that are similar to ours. For example, this place sounds like an old-ish, white guy, echo-chamber most of the time. There's validity in that sentiment; we all (for the most part... I truly believe that) hope for a paradigm in which we are all judged on our ability, not on our parent's percieved stature. In essence, we all hope for a meritocracy, in the best sense of the word. I don't doubt that for a second. The problem I have is that we dont' *really* live in a meritocracy. We live in a world of prejudice, a world where contacts matter; a world where it *matters* where you grew up, where you went to school, who your daddy's friends are... We live in a world where the unqualified can potentially get opportunities that the qualified don't get. It's about time that we recognize that, isn't it? It's not just *black*. It's also white kids from small podunk towns all over the place whose mothers and fathers try their best to give them a better life; try to give them options that they themselves never had...

 

To deny that black people have it harder than white people, even with all of the social programs we have put into place to try and even the playing field is just sort of silly, in my opinion. It's not an indictment of you, Joe in Macungie... it's an indictment of the institutionalized racism that pervaded the culture for a number of years. It's too easy to say: "Get over it." There are real social and psychological ramifications to what went on in this country from its inception to the 1960's. We all need to try and understand the *other* guy's point of view for a change. You don't have to agree with it, but you should try and see where people are coming from. That goes for white folks AND black folks. For example: black folks shouldn't hold Joe in Macungie accountable for what happened 100 years ago. It's not his fault. He didn't do anything back then. At the same time, it might be nice if you recognized that, in general, black folks have a tougher time of it than white folks, given the same pedigree.

This is an excellent post. Too bad that not enough here will read it...since it isn't a one liner...and even less will understand it.

 

The problem, just like with environmentalism, is that the REAL issues get crowded out by a political horsecrap. Make no mistake, there are REAL examples of racist policies in both the private and public sectors. Anybody who has ever seen the modern day chain gangs in the South, and knows about the drug-related entrapment that goes on regularly in order to provide the "resources" for those gangs, will tell you this. That's a real racism problem, and it knows no political party. Essentially, they have found a way to re-legalize slavery. Except this time? It's the government doing it, not some rich land owner, and the slave labor they have created means they don't have to raise taxes to pay for public works projects.

 

But instead, we are distracted by people playing politics crying "racist" amongst the Tea Party people? WTF? Some dude holding a poster sitting in a lawn chair is not oppressing anybody. Real people who are really concerned about real racism have to stand up and tell these people to stop crying wolf and keeping us from focusing on the real problems. Unfortunately, for far too many...it's simply easier to go along with the idiot MSNBC haters.