Response to Caution - Racism Ahead
Perhaps we can turn this situation into a productive debate on
the issues it raises.
There are a series of posts that were made in response to what I
wrote above that have been, thankfully, removed. The original
posts that Mr. Musgrave made, however, are still on the bulletin
boards. The only one that is missing had to do with "pest
control" and it wasn't a reference to bugs. That gem was
removed before I started this string. I also received e-mails to
me directly calling me a racist , a facist, anti-semitic, and a white
supremist (?)
So here are my thoughts on the topic and I welcome intelligent
discussion.
1). Although Mr. Musgrave made some interesting points, his
views were usually intertwined with hate.
2). Economics is the reason politicians go to war, and hate is the
tool they use to get the public to suport it.
3). Mr. Musgrave's gross generalizations about entire groups of
people without any supporting cites(ex. ashkenazic jews are
more educated than arabs) spread misinformation.
4). His gross generalizations about entire ethnic groups
dehumanize a "race" of people thereby making it easier to look
the other way while our military bombs them. *Brown* people
are destroying our country....some people in Iraq are *brown*..so
it's ok to bomb them.
5). Divide and conquer is the same tactic that the U.S.
government uses to draw attention away from their activities....as
in the *brown* and *asian* people are destroying our country as
opposed to George Bush.
6). Further alienating a group by saying that they do not share the
same "cultural" values. And what values would those be?
Clearly my values are not the same as Mr. Musgraves.
7). Groups like the Klan continue to exist because of our
willingness to accept and/or ignore what we deem "mild racism."
8). Hitler didn't kill 6 million people. He convinced others to do it
for him through nationalist and racist rhetoric. He talked about
the glorious past of Germany, he talked about Jews not sharing
the same cultural values, he blamed the Jews for the economic
problems of Germans. I think those same types of statments
were made in Mr. Musgrave's posts.
Now, in fairness, Mr. Musgrave did send me an e-mail that was
cordial (after lambasting me on the boards), and I thank him for
that. So my question is - what impact does racism have on
anti-war efforts and ideology?
Created By: Claire O'Connor