Psst, Thunderboy, AlDurr raises a good point. In this case, this instance, we are talking about the ravings of Nuthunter, so I’d be careful standing up and saying that there is no chance of racial nonsense being involved.
You have seen the type of tripe he posts.
Other than that, you’re attitude smacks of arrogance and a complete lack of understanding that certain types of compliments almost always have to be analyzed for both intent and the underlying expectation or belief.
Why? Because certain compliments fall into stereotypes and biases (or they come from people with a track record).
Believe it or not, but that is what is happening in the world all the time. You and Pookie are both sounding like naive little altar boys who have no fucking clue.
Yes, yes, I know, you admit that this happens, some mythical percentage of the time, but you deny every individual incident could possibly have any type of bias involved. Is there an issue in this case, I honestly don’t know. Neither do you!
The difference is, I think the danger of allowing racial bias (and worse) to pass unchallenged is worse than the danger of forcing people to think before opening their mouths. Sure, it’s a bit inconvenient to have people question what you say at times, but that’s an inconvenience that has been bought and paid for many times over.
So, sometimes there may be overreactions, or concern over things that perhaps needn’t cause concern, the alternate is to err on the side of letting these things slide. One is much worse than the other.
Another analogy, you are riding your bike with a very minor breeze at your back. You can’t feel the breeze, but it is helping your progress, but you’ll swear up and down that there is no wind, you can’t see the grass blowing or the leaves bending, for example.
Unfortunately, this social breeze often blows in the face of minorities. It’s just a little bit harder to pedal along mile after mile, day after day.
It’s not fucking mollycoddling to realize that as an obvious member of the majority that I’ve been blessed with an easier ride and have less things to worry about. There are a million social situations that I’ll never have to think twice about.
I haven’t been late for dates, family dinners or job interviews because I was stopped for driving while black, for example, which would make me look less reliable since I’d be seen as less punctual. A local friend of mine has. Even then, if it only happened once, it probably wouldn’t be a concern.
Whether or not thinking twice about those situations is productive, I can’t really say, but I do know that knowledge is power. Knowing someones level of bias (or worse) would seem to allow someone to sidestep it or otherwise get along if necessary to keep a job and keep putting food on the table for a family.
Mollycoddle my ass.
