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zianurayOK, the phrasing on this may get changed multiple times -- instead of edits, I will likely strikethrough and retype to keep my thoughts in some sort of order.
If you know me IRL or have been reading this for more than a month, you'll know that some things confuse me that other people seem to understand almost instinctively.
Like skin.
We all have it, it comes in different colors and textures, and some people look better with more of it covered (hi! that's me!), and I've never been able to figure out what difference it makes in the overall setup what shade someone's skin IS .
So many people are either delighted or affrighted that we now have a "Black" or "African-American" President -- shouldn't the point be that we have a reasonably intelligent President that was elected by the people, that he (so far) supports science and says he wants to ease the troops out of a place they shouldn't really be (and IMO should never have been sent b/c that was based on not even faulty intelligence, but schoolyard-bully syndrome), and that he has a plan for making things "better"?
And really, shouldn't anyone be judged on what they DO versus what they CAN do rather than on skin, eye color, language spoken, age (while I do respect my elders as a group, some of them as individuals have forfeited that respect), who they love, what/how they worship (if anything). Some of the most educated people I've met have been some of the most ignorant, though they are the exceptions.
If you know me IRL or have been reading this for more than a month, you'll know that some things confuse me that other people seem to understand almost instinctively.
Like skin.
We all have it, it comes in different colors and textures, and some people look better with more of it covered (hi! that's me!), and I've never been able to figure out what difference it makes in the overall setup what shade someone's skin IS .
So many people are either delighted or affrighted that we now have a "Black" or "African-American" President -- shouldn't the point be that we have a reasonably intelligent President that was elected by the people, that he (so far) supports science and says he wants to ease the troops out of a place they shouldn't really be (and IMO should never have been sent b/c that was based on not even faulty intelligence, but schoolyard-bully syndrome), and that he has a plan for making things "better"?
And really, shouldn't anyone be judged on what they DO versus what they CAN do rather than on skin, eye color, language spoken, age (while I do respect my elders as a group, some of them as individuals have forfeited that respect), who they love, what/how they worship (if anything). Some of the most educated people I've met have been some of the most ignorant, though they are the exceptions.
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Date: 2009-01-21 02:58 pm (UTC)Ultimately, I do believe the new president will be judged by his actions, not his skin color. The furor will die down soon, I'm pretty sure.
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Date: 2009-01-21 08:19 pm (UTC)http://popfiend.livejournal.com/2542287.html
...this should provide perspective. Especially relevant it the link to Election 2008.
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Date: 2009-01-21 10:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-22 12:31 am (UTC)It wasn't that long ago, and these things still bear scars today.
The election is part of the salve.
Possibly incoherant...this too has been edited into oblivion...
Date: 2009-01-21 04:08 pm (UTC)But if you'll look back at our history, especially since the advent of televised debates, you'll maybe see that the bulk of the populace doesn't look for a candidate's C.V. until after they've looked over how the candidate presents zirself and decided whether they feel a connection with the candidate or not.
In this case, I'm thinking the election of a gentleman of colour shows progress: the general public will now accept someone who isn't white as their golden boy. Now any male human looking to get into office will have to be better looking than Nixon to inspire the nation; he won't automatically be The Repellant Other just by dint of pigmentation. This beats the hell out of the state of things in 1961.
I'm just wondering whether we're going to have to reprogram the whole nation subset by subset until nobody's The Other before everybody can be gauged by merit and treated like a human, or whether we're capable of a few logical leaps.
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Date: 2009-01-21 04:36 pm (UTC)The even more interesting thing is, they have continued experimenting, and later found that when people are exposed to more and more positive images of black people, the stereotypical dichotomy starts to reverse itself. It seems that these unconscious prejudicial attitudes rewrite themselves with more exposure to positive news stories and tv reports so that people who once took longer to resolve a dichotomy, after seeing it again and again, no longer had that response.
Which may be a wonderful thing for our country: Just the fact that we'll be seeing a strong intelligent leader who happens to be black, alongside his wonderful and positive, and above all, normal family more often means that more and more people (black and white, in the study) will come to consider that to be normal and we'll have a lessening of the level of even unconscious prejudice across the country.
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Date: 2009-01-21 05:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-21 07:55 pm (UTC)First, I deeply resent President Obama being called "African-American". He's AMERICAN. I'm totally sick and tired of these hypnenated names. It divides us as a nation.
Quick quiz for extra points. Can someone spot the difference between the following...?
African-American
Irish-American
Chinese-American
Mexican-American
Second, which is worse? A small percantage of lighter skinned people voting against a darker skinned candidate because of skin color, or a larger percentage of darker skinned people voting for a darker skinned candidate because of his skin color?
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Date: 2009-01-21 08:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-21 08:17 pm (UTC)Ice cream icon because we have show on the ground here. : (
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Date: 2009-01-21 08:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-22 08:43 am (UTC)They're separate points, mostly unrelated. I haven't heard anyone argue that Mr. Obama's skin color makes him a more capable president, and I really really doubt anyone but the nuttiest nuts thinks so. That's not what anyone's going on about when they're all gleeful and OMG Black President about things.
But just because he isn't magically competent does not mean it isn't cool that a black guy born before the Voting Rights Act was even passed is the president now. That's pretty darn neat all on its own, aside from whatever good things are about to be accomplished.