NationStates Jolt Archive

Cut and pasted from the old thread:

Beginning quote:

In the pathetically politically correct world we live in, something has come up gradually though time that's particularly disturbing: the idea that as a minority, you are more deserving that those of the majority.

First of all, I am not a racist, a sexist, or prejudice in any real form. I say real due to certain circumstances involving obesity, but that's not the main focus of this thread.

It seems that in today’s world, minorities of society want to have their cake and eat it too. Women glare at you for not holding the door for them, but yell at you for doing it as well, calling it chauvinistic. Many religions demand that Christian symbols be taken down across the nation, while in the meantime shoving their stars, moons, or pentagrams down your throat. The poor despise the rich, but expect the same people they can’t stand to support them through welfare.

The most horrifying aspect of my argument, however, is in regards to race. I am a true believer in racial equality, and I wish I could prove that if all social stigmas (blacks being more athletic, Asians being better at math, etc.) are thrown aside, and each person is raised similar, all people could be the same. (barring intellect naturally…but that’s just natural selection.) It seems, however, that many minorities do not wish for this same goal. For my example, I shall use the African American minority group.

Black people broadcast the fact that they are indeed black, separating themselves from society, and only fueling the baseless, but very real, racial rage against them. Most of this, as I’ve pointed out, is due to double standards. A “Miss Black America” is standard, but a “Miss White America” would be racist. “Jet Magazine” promotes black culture, but something like “Eggshell Magazine” would simply be a way of discriminating. BET, or Black Entertainment Television, celebrates African’s achievements in film, but if someone dared to make WET, they would be labeled a racist right off the bat.

Why is it that the black minority, and many others, decides to push the fact that they are in fact different, “better” in their views, “worse” in the minds of racists, instead of pushing the fact that they are equal to those around them? Is it all a big misunderstanding? No. Am I just a stupid racist with an uncommon intelligence? Hardly. It is because no ground truly wants equality. Each minority group is put in place to “one-up” the majority it is outnumbered by.

It is only when we cast aside our “black pride” or our “girl power” or our “rights of the working man” that we will truly come together as people, as humans, and not as black or white, male or female, rich or poor, or some other petty dividing factor between us. To put it simply, I’m interested in your response. This isn’t meant to be an essay, more of a rant actually, but it’s meant to inspire debate. Go ahead…post your replies and responses.


Excellent question:

I've been thinking about this topic for a while now and I've concluded that there is really a much more important question to ask--if it already has, my apologies.

The question shouldn't be why do minorities think that the majority should cater to them. In should be why does the majority think that they should be able to deny equality and fairness to the minority. Why is it that straight, Christian, white males (and there are many good ones, but they are the typical majority seen oppressing others, at least in this nation) think it is acceptable to treat other human beings as inferior just because they are not the same skin color, or religion, or sexuality? Especially when those minor cosmetic differences (and when you really think about it skin color really is only a cosmetic difference) don't affect them in the least?

Think about this:

You are a successful Christian white male living in a suburban neighborhood. You have a great job, the perfect car, a beautiful wife, 2.3 kids, a dog, a cat, and a propane grill. In next door moves a homosexual couple--one is black and one is a white Jew. They both have good jobs, they drive a nice car, have 2 adopted chidlren (who by the way are at the top of their clases in school, as opposed to your kids who were just caught smoking weed in the bathroom), a dog, a cat, and a propane grill in their backyard.

Exactly how does this family affect you? Has their happiness taken anything away from you in anyway? What have they done to deserve to be metaphorically sent to the back of the bus and denied fair and equal protections under the law? They haven't killed anyone. They've never molested a child. They are members of the Kiwanis and neighborhood watch. One of them is an attorney, the other is an architect. What have they done you?

The answer . . .

A. Big. Fat. Nothing.

Keep it clean folks.

I wish we could all just set aside our differences. Unfortunately that is not human nature. Human nature has always followed a simple principle; "us versus them".

Sucks huh?

As such, the majority will always oppress the minority for their differences, and the minority will always want special treatment from the majority because they are different.

(sigh) Humans...

Ugh! "I am not a racist, but..." :rolleyes:

what majority? No matter who you are, what you skin color is, what religion you hold dear, there is somewhere in the world where you are a minority.

what majority? No matter who you are, what you skin color is, what religion you hold dear, there is somewhere in the world where you are a minority.

And where you are a majority. Your point better not be this weak...

the question of equality is a dicy one.

In the UK it is now law that all shops must have disabled access. That means huge numbers of people have had to pay out hundreds of pounds each to fit ramps for wheelchair users who may or may not come to their shops. Is that 'equality' or are wheelchair users getting special treatement?

Another interesting one is sexual equality. Men and women are different. Would women be happy for equality in sporting events? There would be a very tiny number of female professional tennis players or golfers, because female tennis players serve softer and female golfers (at the top of the profession) drive 30-40 yards less then men.

Ugh! "I am not a racist, but..." :rolleyes:
Yeah I know... "My best friend's black."

I think that the issues of black pride (although I think blind pride in your "race" is dumb anyway...) or girl power or whatever can't be dropped until all people are treated as equal by society. We can kid ourselves all we want and say "things are better than in the past." To some extent they may be, but we still haven't achieved complete equality.

Until then, dropping things like that can only lead to a lack of awareness of social iniquities, which will lead to fewer and fewer people being involved in the fight for social justice.

It seems that in today’s world, minorities of society want to have their cake and eat it too. Women glare at you for not holding the door for them, but yell at you for doing it as well, calling it chauvinistic.
women, a minority? please, this is basic biology...!

women, a minority? please, this is basic biology...!
Oh, don't be pedantic. We're talking about people who have been/are discriminated against...

women, a minority? please, this is basic biology...!

If you consider the "majority" those with numbers always. More important than the numerical majority are those with the most tangible power, that's the true "majority". There are just about as many men as women, and given our physical superiority, if tomorrow every man in the world woke up and decided women should stay at home, there wouldn't be much women as a group could do.

I was flipping past CNN and something caught my eye. It seems some people are worried that Baseball is passing out of vogue with the Black population. Only about 12% of pro-baseball players are black; compare that with over 60% of Football players and over 70% of basketball players. This is very interesting, are blacks not accurately represented in Baseball?

No. No they are actually represented in direct proportion to their demographic population. Approx. 12% of the US is Black, and about 12% of Baseball players are black. The numbers are correct, the perception is wrong.

So my question is this, why aren't we worried about other demographic statistics when considering pro-sports? How many of X demographic play golf? How many of Y demographic go skeet shooting? How many of Z demographic play professional poker? Why are we "happy" that blacks are massively over-represented in certain sports? Why are we "concerned" that they are NOT over-represented in baseball? Is that not simply another form of racism?

This is where the "anti-PC" people jump in and start deriding the culture of minority enpowerment. These kinds of "abuses" make people question how we go about ensuring that minorities are not trampled or abused by the legal and societal framework of the majority.

I believe such questions are healthy; examples such as mine show that there may be some cause for concern, that the PC movement takes tangents or over-indulges itself in certain areas.

Okay, I'm gonna blow your mind with this one here. Ready? Here it goes!



Minority status isn't about differences. It isn't about race.
A black person isn't a member of a minority group because they are black.
A gay person isn't a member of a minority group because they are gay.
A hindu isn't a member of a minority because they are hindu.

Minority status isn't about numbers.
It is concievable that a group could make up a majority of the population of an area could still be thought of the same way we think of minorities.

Being a minority is about how other people feel towards you. Having blue eyes doesn't make you a minority because no one gives a damn if you have blue eyes.

Being a minority is about one group holding themselves above you to make themselves feel better. If people thought that a person with blue eyes was somehow less than they were, then blue eyed would be a minority.

You arn't a minority because your different. Everyone's different.
You are a minority because a group of people culturally thought of as normal think of you as less than them because of some arbitrary difference.

Human nature.

To answer Pracus' question about why the majority's opinion/actions toward the minority are as they are, human nature.

Everyone wants to feel better about themselves. Human nature. But it's also in a human's nature to be lazy (the rare exceptions of course). So rather than do what they can to better themselves and thus feel better about themselves, they look at someone "different" and say "well, at least Im not them" It's happened throughout history, Egypt and the Hebrews, Germans and the Jews, Europeans and Africans, name a country and they have had a "them", even if it's been the people next door.