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Tonz
3rd January 2014, 01:41
We can change things, we can make the differences , for some reason we tend to think that only the big picture can make any true difference. That is so wrong.Every day we make a difference , if we choose too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTvU7uUgjUI




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTvU7uUgjUI

Sparky
3rd January 2014, 12:53
Excellent video, tonton. Brilliant presentation of topic. Many are either blind or too selfish to care; or both as I've witnessed the extreme negative change since the proliferation of mobile phones and other techie toys.


Our lives begin to end the day
we become silent about
things that matter.
-Martin Luther King Jr.

Tonz
3rd January 2014, 13:03
Glad you liked it , Sparky.
These sort of thing are natural to me but I have to admit, their are many, even members of my own family that really need to be reminded or empathy -ised.I Feel that the all about me thing or the all about us and them thing Has to go, as it's one of the grate illusions that has /is being inbred, a poor mind set that under credits the truth about us.

We are one , how could their be anything else?

Sparky
3rd January 2014, 13:44
Family? Now that's a huge one to try to communicate and explain to them the big picture. I'm referring to siblings. We all started out in the same womb, grew up cohesively caring for each other with empathy abounding - then left the home-front for our separate ways.

Who really are these people that became so fractured, judgmental and rigid as life progressed causing them to fervently hold on to their beliefs what they were told as a child?

Religion and politics - the virus of the mind. The priestcraft was damn clever adjacent to every King/Queen ruler.

The only thing they really knew in their heart was we are all one, as expressed in daily living as children...and, how is that the only thing vanished from their thinking as they grew old?

So happy the artificial holidays are over.

BabaRa
3rd January 2014, 18:08
Wouldn't it be lovely - if every day, each one of us helped one person in need.

It doesn't have to be something big. Whatever is in front of you. Buy a homeless person a warm drink. Or as in the above video, stand up for a simple injustice happening in front of you. Thanks for the reminder, Tonton. :group hug:

Seikou-Kishi
3rd January 2014, 19:03
I wish I could say I hadn't seen this for myself. She's absolutely right, too, that white people have the ability to step in at this point. Black people can't step up for themselves as easily in such situations because any response in will be seen as "trouble-making" and just confirm every prejudice the person has. To step up and defend oneself is probably usually more hassle than it's worth, and that's sad. White people have the ability to intercede and the intercession of one with white privilege, as she calls it (it's a good term), will be different for a number of reasons, but in the main it will be different because it can't confirm the pre-existing prejudice in the mind of the prejudiced and because it has a much greater probability of success because it won't be easily dismissed as "some old black person with a persecution complex".

And just because people don't notice it, it doesn't mean they're not privileged. In fact, that they don't notice only confirms the privilege. How lucky they are that they have never had to think of such things!

Furthermore, it must be that to be judged in the way about which that woman speaks is a continual struggle: either a daily fight or a daily surrender. Perhaps when somebody who is white steps up to speak in defence of a black person (or a Hispanic person in the US, or perhaps Eastern European people in the UK, and so on), it gives that person a sense of reassurance that is easy for those who do not need it to underestimate. I think it's a general truth that the defence of another person is always more powerfully received than self-defence, for obvious reasons, but when that defence crosses racial groups and the racially "unmarked" group defends a person of one of the racially "marked" groups, it has some small power to acknowledge the imbalance and injustice inherent in the system as it stands.

There are other forms, of course, and white privilege is not universal; in China or Japan, for example, the white person would be in a similar situation. It might be revealing for white people in the West, who usually overlook their privilege, to travel to a country in which they will be without it. It might help them realise how home feels to others. Other forms include "heterosexual privilege", and anybody not heterosexual will have had assumptions made about their character before, and "cissexual privilege", which is the privilege by which non-transgendered people are able to walk down the street without fearing attempts on their lives — just look up all the transsexual men and women killed simply for being transsexual, or else attacked for using the public lavatories of their corrected gender. The same could go for religion, too, especially where the religious affiliation of a person is made obvious such as by the pe'os of Orthodox Jews or the modesty-clothing of Muslim women.

modwiz
3rd January 2014, 21:52
I wish I could say I hadn't seen this for myself. She's absolutely right, too, that white people have the ability to step in at this point. Black people can't step up for themselves as easily in such situations because any response in will be seen as "trouble-making" and just confirm every prejudice the person has. To step up and defend oneself is probably usually more hassle than it's worth, and that's sad. White people have the ability to intercede and the intercession of one with white privilege, as she calls it (it's a good term), will be different for a number of reasons, but in the main it will be different because it can't confirm the pre-existing prejudice in the mind of the prejudiced and because it has a much greater probability of success because it won't be easily dismissed as "some old black person with a persecution complex".

And just because people don't notice it, it doesn't mean they're not privileged. In fact, that they don't notice only confirms the privilege. How lucky they are that they have never had to think of such things!

Furthermore, it must be that to be judged in the way about which that woman speaks is a continual struggle: either a daily fight or a daily surrender. Perhaps when somebody who is white steps up to speak in defence of a black person (or a Hispanic person in the US, or perhaps Eastern European people in the UK, and so on), it gives that person a sense of reassurance that is easy for those who do not need it to underestimate. I think it's a general truth that the defence of another person is always more powerfully received than self-defence, for obvious reasons, but when that defence crosses racial groups and the racially "unmarked" group defends a person of one of the racially "marked" groups, it has some small power to acknowledge the imbalance and injustice inherent in the system as it stands.

There are other forms, of course, and white privilege is not universal; in China or Japan, for example, the white person would be in a similar situation. It might be revealing for white people in the West, who usually overlook their privilege, to travel to a country in which they will be without it. It might help them realise how home feels to others. Other forms include "heterosexual privilege", and anybody not heterosexual will have had assumptions made about their character before, and "cissexual privilege", which is the privilege by which non-transgendered people are able to walk down the street without fearing attempts on their lives — just look up all the transsexual men and women killed simply for being transsexual, or else attacked for using the public lavatories of their corrected gender. The same could go for religion, too, especially where the religious affiliation of a person is made obvious such as by the pe'os of Orthodox Jews or the modesty-clothing of Muslim women.

I was married to a Korean woman in my very early adulthood. She shared with me the "Yellow" view of White Westerners and it was not a complimentary one. Jingoism and heaps of propaganda have created a reality that is at odds within a larger reality.

This was in the 70's when the USA, and the Western world, still had some respect.

To this day I still eat with a tablespoon and chopsticks, where chopsticks are helpful. I have used a fork less than a handful of times in over 40 years and a knife even less. Going veggie in my late thirties made the use of these two utensils even less necessary. Forks are considered somewhat inelegant and having a knife, especially a sharp one, at the meal table is considered barbaric. For them, meat is prepared in the kitchen and served ready to eat. No need for further butchering at the table.

I obviously resonated with this view. It changed my table manners for life. I have received "condemnation" for using a tablespoon at fancy meals, especially since I either had to request one or hold onto my soupspoon after the soup part of the meal was over. Not caving into social pressure is always a challenge. One that is frequently unmet.

Getting unmarried has eliminated me being where the fit is poor. No compromises. I see compromise, as a constant, as a degradation of intent. I know I do not want my immune system compromised.

The counting of the myriad blessings that are always in our lives is an important component to happiness and humility. Choseness, on any level, makes for an ugly citizen.

modwiz
3rd January 2014, 21:56
I always look to see where I can be of assistance. If it will not step on toes, I do it. This behavior, helping others, has been met with very unexpected negative blowback. Ego stuff. It has not made me less willing to help, it has just made me better at picking my spots.:D

Sparky
3rd January 2014, 22:52
I always look to see where I can be of assistance. If it will not step on toes, I do it. This behavior has been met with very unexpected negative blowback. Ego stuff. It has not made me less willing to help, it has just made me better at picking my spots.:D

modwiz, you are so right...but, too damn late expressing it so I would comprehend.. At one time, I employed 2 black ladies, among others. One day I overheard the latest hire, dressing down the other. I immediately pounced on the new hire she would be out of here if I ever heard her talk to another person like that.

I really ****ed up! I should have told her to take her things and be gone immediately. Talking about blowback...I had the blowback 6 years for my mistake and still today for that mistake I made many years ago.

All of it would have been prevented had I followed MLK words I posted earlier.

There are times when NO ONE is entitled to a second chance. It's about knowing and accepting the choices we all make, and admitting we all make mistakes...regardless how late we recognize it.

Altaira
3rd January 2014, 23:38
https://scontent-a-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/1507186_763717606990792_339416629_n.jpg

Racism is not a contemporary disease but is an expression of the old competition for resources. The struggle and survival of the fittest. We've been deceived for centuries that all we need is material security, plenty of food and shiny lifestyle. Those who have these all are above the law and the rest of the population has to be submissive. Slavery has never been abolished just changed its terms of expression, e.g. it is called multiculturalism today, a new form of racism. Until recently the white skin colour was enough to make you superior but recently the modern social structures have been reshaped and shifted to new dimensions. Those with money are those in power the colour doesn't matter, the social status is the one that is predominant now. This is not new of course is not today's invention but the nationality and the colour of the skin are less important than the individual's wealth.

Such perceptions are embed into the fabric of society to such extend that anyone who sees himself/herself wealthier behaves as superior. Usually when people meet for the first time their starting topic of conversation is related around establishing their position within the social lather. I call them mainstream humans and try to avoid such wasteful conversations and individuals.

If you are in a situation to meet strangers, staff members while shopping dining or dealing with any services the colour matters if your clothes are cheap. However according to my personal observation as I am Eastern European and white the accent matters a lot too, as soon as the ordinary people who you need to deal with hear you speak as foreigner they change their behavior. They automatically perceive themselves as superior no matter your social or material status, after this stage follows avoidance and ignorance. I noticed that even dark coloured people who live or were born here and have established some social status look down on those who speak with foreign accent. Now is their turn to feel superior and so on..

Despite this all the mainstream people are not to blame, they have been brought up this way, they live in toxic environment, they are still asleep and kept in a docile state, they might never be fortunate to wake up in this incarnation. They cannot even grasp that we are all the same inside and for this reason they cannot feel compassion and empathy. But how they could? Those two human features are manifestation of higher soul functions, which I am inclined to think, are related to the pineal gland condition and its degree of decalcification. This is probably the disease which is carefully crafted and sustained by the elites and their masters.

Seikou-Kishi
4th January 2014, 03:14
Racism is not a contemporary disease but is an expression of the old competition for resources. The struggle and survival of the fittest. We've been deceived for centuries that all we need is material security, plenty of food and shiny lifestyle. Those who have these all are above the law and the rest of the population has to be submissive. Slavery has never been abolished just changed its terms of expression, e.g. it is called multiculturalism today, a new form of racism. Until recently the white skin colour was enough to make you superior but recently the modern social structures have been reshaped and shifted to new dimensions. Those with money are those in power the colour doesn't matter, the social status is the one that is predominant now. This is not new of course is not today's invention but the nationality and the colour of the skin are less important than the individual's wealth.

I would be willing to bet that a rich white man "outranks" a rich black man and a poor white man outranks a poor black man. Perhaps money or social status matter more (they're not the same thing), but race is still a very strong delineator. It's like the way male-preference primogeniture works: the senior line over the junior line, and within a line the male over the female, and within a gender, the elder over the younger. In this case, it would be "prefering a higher socio-economic bracket over the lower, and within a bracket, the paler over the darker"

Then there's the idea that a rich black man has to justify his wealth in a way in which a rich white man doesn't. Many bitter oiks in the white race like the Ku Klux Klan seem to have the attitude that a black man by the very fact of his skin colour doesn't deserve his wealth, regardless of how hard he may have worked for it. I was at a ball once and had a conversaton with somebody who claimed "a rich black [man] reeks of insubordination. He should accept his place; many moral failings have crept into the black spirit since we abolished the slave trade. They needed the rigour and we were kinder than we were wise."

Kinder than we were wise!

All these years on and I can't forget those words. I am not usually lost for words, but I was momentarily dumbfounded. How is race allowed to matter to some people the way it does? The way it did to him? You know, even at the most benign, how neurotic is it that this particular molehill should be made into a mountain?

BabaRa
4th January 2014, 05:27
All these years on and I can't forget those words. I am not usually lost for words, but I was momentarily dumbfounded. How is race allowed to matter to some people the way it does?

Very sad and complicated subject. Some have a deep ego need to feel superior. For others, they have been programmed since birth. It is changing here in the states, but very slowly. In the urban areas it's no longer uncommon to see mixed marriages, however, in rural areas it's usually quite different.

I imagine there is nothing you could have said to that person that would have made a difference in their outlook

Prejudice runs very deep as does stupidity - and they often go hand and hand.

Altaira
4th January 2014, 08:02
I agree with your point SK, and I forgot to say that the higher layers of our society are more conservative in this respect. The white rich wont accept easy the black rich neither the new eastern European oligarchs who are still seen as barbarians whose money can be used but that is all. Here |I think comes
Kinder than we were wise!

However i was coming from my usual daily encounters with the mainstream people who unconsciously copy the elite behavior seen elsewhere, they are conditioned by the established media outlets, programmed to serve one agenda only - control of the population.