In Reply: "Just because we wrote a play, it doesn't mean he's obligated to dutifully perform the part we wrote for him..." (Trayvon Martin)

In reply to "Trayvon Martin and The Case of Yellow Journalism" (A post (editorial cartoon, to be exact) that has since been deleted from The Daily Texan website.)

"Don't give me your BS idealistic answer . Tell the TRUTH. You KNOW the answer. Don't you fucking tell me you don't hold your belongings just a little closer when you see a black man walking towards you at night."

But is the real problem here the black man walking down the street, or you/my/our response upon seeing him? Even if the statistics are all true, and not biased themselves by the attitudes of police officers, judges and we jurors (the same attitudes you describe, ironically, creating a self-perpetuating cycle of justification), isn't the real problem here that no matter how many black men commit crimes, we are not justified in being prejudiced against that particular black man on our street, who is an individual, and not beholden to behave according to the biased stereotypes we created for him and for black men in general?
Just because we wrote a play, it doesn't mean that he has to become an actor in it, dutifully performing the part we wrote for him and his kind.

He isn't the problem. We (or more specifically, our biased attitudes that make us hold our belongings closer) are.

(And I say this as a guy who does sometimes tense up when I see certain folks dressed or behaving in certain ways...)
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Posted (& subsequently deleted, along with everything else at that post) 03/28/12 08:11 PM

In Reply: Similarity Breeds Familiarity

In reply to a comment at the Daily Texan post "Trayvon Martin and The Case of Yellow Journalism," an editorial cartoon that was subsequently removed from the site, along with all commentary about it.
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Most of your rant is just downright disgusting and not worthy of reply, but I was intrigued by your comment about human nature... (which as best as I can recall, was that people are racist by nature.)

I agree that there is a certain bias for tribalism--to have a more positive view of those like you (which implies a less positive view of those different from you)--but I don't know that I'd call it racism or bigotry, necessarily. A lot of the time, it's just a matter of being able to more easily identify with folks with whom you share some common trait...

Look at national politics, where the accepted common wisdom is that Mormons will support the Mormon candidate, women will vote for the woman, Texans will vote for the candidate who is (or ever was) from Texas, Irish for Irish, gay for gay, same college, and on and on..., (There's even evidence that the bald are more likely to support the candidate with the least hair, plumbers the one who once worked as a plumber, etc.)

It's the same in most other aspects of life, too... ...and most people don't even give it much thought... Similarity breeds familiarity, I guess...

It is a bias, but I don't think it's necessarily bigotry or racism (though it can become that, of course...) It's just that like naturally attracts like, and people have an affinity for people who "mirror" them in some way.

To say otherwise is to suggest that those Mormons who support the Mormon candidate and Texans who vote for the guy who was born in their hometown (or the next town over) in Texas are bigots for doing so, and I just don't agree that that's the case...
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Posted (and subsequently removed, along with everything else at the post) 03/28/12 07:46 PM