52% intelligent. 9% modest. More monkey than bear.

Wednesday, November 17, 2004

Racism is a weapon of mass destruction

I have read some terrible drivel this evening. Again. In my opinion some of the stuff in this blog is just racist. This time it's somehow worse than all that "raghead" stuff because it hides behind a veil of 'evidence' and is presented as a well argued case (which is of course different to BEING a well argued case).

Well done to the Urban Fox for waging a very civil, reasoned case against this person (she quotes Leviticus for heaven's sake, always the last resort of the bigot).

In response to the eminently reasonable claim that Jesus was "the most tolerant, left wing figure in history..." we get this:
Jesus, was perfect. The son of God and the redeemer of man. That is how the Christians think of Jesus. Yet, you claim that he is "left wing". In other words, you think that Jesus was a liberal. Correct? That’s what Americans call "left wing". The left wing believes in same-sex marriage and abortion....
What do you say to that?

Well, Fox (and others) were brave enough to tackle this head-on. It's not an argument that you can win, but it's good to see people not letting this kind of thing lie. If you're interested, here is as good a place as any to start.

This blog salutes you Fox.

Final word on this and other things this blog has been moaning about recently to Faithless:

Whether long range weapon or suicide bomber
Wicked mind is a weapon of mass destruction
Whether your soaraway Sun or BBC 1
Disinformation is a weapon of mass destruction
You could a Caucasian or a poor Asian
Racism is a weapon of mass destruction
Whether inflation or globalization
Fear is a weapon of mass destruction
...it sounds better when Maxi Jazz says it (ideally with Sister Bliss kicking a bass drum in support - see the video for details)

---

On a completely different, and much more interesting note, here's something I've said before, but bears repeating as he is back and blogging again....

Before the start of the Beijing Games in 2008, John McClure is going to be taking part in every single Olympic event he qualifies for.

Why? For charity.
Clearly insane, he needs all the support he can get, so get your lazy arses over there and offer him some moral support. Better still, if you are a pole vault coach, offer him some tips. If he manages that lot (100-odd events) then he really will be the Ultimate Olympian.

Almost as important as all of the above is that he is a very thoughtful, funny and intelligent blogger and his site is well worth a read.

6 Comments:

  • At 2:30 am, Blogger OLS said…

    Wow. That girl is really... wow. I find it a little surprising the number of people who seem to go out into the blogosphere looking for an argument. I'll happily state my opinion in the comments section if I disagree with someone, but I'll either back it up with statistics from a reliable source, or I'll state my own experience. When I first ready Katy's blog, I thought she must still be a high school student because her point of reference seems very narrow.

    Anyway, I agree with what you and Urban Fox have said. And then you quoted Faithless and linked to a site with photos of Maxi Jazz... mmmmm.... that is one beautiful guy... anyway, back again.

    I visited the Ultimate Olympian a while back, but he wasn't updating back then and I gave up. I'm glad you linked him so I found him again. He's got a heap more stuff up there now.

    - OLS

     
  • At 9:15 am, Blogger Teresa Bowman said…

    Man, I shouldn't read stuff like that first thing in the morning. It's not a good way to start the day.

    What's frustrating is that, yes, you're right, it's not an argument you can win. When you're dealing with a person like that - who believes they are absolutely, unquestionably and unassailably RIGHT - no amount of carefully considered, articulate reasoning will make them see things even slightly differently. And the more you argue, the more frustrated you feel.

    If I encounter a person like that my automatic reaction is therefore just to clam up and/or walk away. Which I know is hardly very constructive, but I'd rather keep my sanity.

    Still, that's what you get for spending any great length of time looking at the internet. Just like a sewer, really: if you want shite, it's the best place to look.

     
  • At 9:39 am, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Before I'd comment on anything related to racism in the USofA, I'd need to know the actual crime statistics broken down by racial characteristics per state;
    I'd like to know exactly when racial integration was finally "legal" - because IIRC it wasn't until recently that african-americans were allowed to mix with wasp-americans;
    I'd like to know what the actual statistics (if any) are for the genocide or segregation and destruction of the original-amricans (i.e. american-indians) by the wasp-americans;

    Basically, I think that America is still institutionally on a Mission. It hasn't yet grown up and moved on from the Mayflower mentality of destroying all that differ from the settlers.

     
  • At 4:19 pm, Blogger John McClure said…

    The diatribe to be used in response to anyone quoting the bible to back up anything:

    "I'm interested in selling my youngest daughter into slavery as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. She's a Georgetown sophmore, speaks fluent Italian, always cleared the table when it was her turn. What would a good price for her be? While thinking about that, can I ask another? My Chief of Staff Leo McGarry insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly says he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself or is it okay to call the police? Here's one that's really important because we've got a lot of sports fans in this town: touching the skin of a dead pig makes one unclean. Leviticus 11:7. If they promise to wear gloves, can the Washington Redskins still play football? Can Notre Dame? Can West Point? Does the whole town really have to be together to stone my brother John for planting different crops side by side? Can I burn my mother in a small family gathering for wearing garments made from two different threads?"

    [from the West Wing - Aaron Sorkin lifted the bulk of it from an anonymous e-mail that was doing the rounds at the time he wrote it. He was never able to find out who wrote the original and credit them]

    Thanks for the big-up and the links, mate!

     
  • At 8:47 pm, Blogger Damo said…

    Ms Wombat's cat bit me once. In fact, he has bitten me lots of times. So I should hate all cats now, right? :-)

     
  • At 9:47 pm, Blogger Jenni said…

    Wow...that Katy girl is unbelievable. American media has run stories the past few days about how we aren't as divided as we seem to be, but when you read things like that, it's hard to believe there isn't a very clear line dividing Americans, particularly on moral issues.

    Also, I want to let everyone reading this know that although Katy states on her blog that we Americans don't care about what the rest of the world thinks, that isn't true. Many of us realize that we live in a globalized society and that what happens here impacts life elsewhere, and we DO care about it. And trust me, we're doing our best to convince the Katys to care as well.

     

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