posted June 03, 2013 01:39 PM            

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Passion, Lust, Desire. Check out my journal

posted June 03, 2013 04:14 PM            

Also, I get the impression there are a lot of racists in Europe, but most of them are in poverty and thus wouldn't have access to a computer, even if they were inclined to speak English. This isn't so true in the US where there's a lot of "white privilege" mixed with easy access to things like computers (even if you have to use a library) and even phones can get people on the net (and I see even plenty of homeless people with such phones and even lappies). Perhaps it's a variant of that comedian who said the US was the only nation to drive to the poorhouse.

2. Many other "western civilization" countries don't have a large mix of other races so it's much less of a concern and the subject is a lot less likely to come up in the first place. However, where there are (such as America and Russia, and I believe Russia is way more racist than America, among other forms of bigotry), then you'll see more of it.

3. Some countries in Europe have become more racist as refugees come in, such as Sweden and the UK, who have seen a rise in violence. Sweden may have a serious internal rape problem but Swedes know plenty of good Swedes, not just the bad, yet when a punitive rape is done on a Swede by Muslim immigrants then that's about all they know of the immigrants other than they're soaking up their tax dollars and thus can become more receptive to racist propaganda. That's just one of many examples, I recall the UK has had more than one family from Africa who tortured their kids to death for witchcraft, too, and of course such barbarity is going to get the hairy eyeball by the more civilized nation hosting them (who are unlikely to interact with such immigrants otherwise so only see the worst that makes headlines, and the fact that many in the UK are Christian only makes it even more disturbing when many of the immigrants who torture their children to death claim to do it for Christian reasons). Oh, and btw, the backlash against Muslim immigrants was much worse in the UK over the beheading than in the US for the Boston bombing (OTOH, maybe we Americans are just more used to violence anyway...)

4. Finally, we have a history that's complicated to explain. VERY brief, when America was a slave nation (which it was far longer and more extensively than Europe) it created a unified black culture that was feared for the karma due (the Haitian Revolution really inflamed racial fears in America, too) which created an "us vs. them" sitch and the fears get passed down the generations, though diluted each one (Europeans had less to deal with and more time to dilute it) and such is why marriage came to be regulated, to keep the white race pure. Intense cheap competition with cheap foreign labor who would do more for less was also a concern (btw, fun fact, plenty of immigrants don't steal jobs, they open up businesses creating jobs and move here for tax bennies and/or things like better schools for their kids, but many don't think of them). The wounds this caused has a long time still to heal all the way.

posted June 03, 2013 07:44 PM            

For good and bad reasons.

Bad reasons: America is powerful, and people (even Americans) instinctively fear (and thus dislike and/or mistrust if not actively hate) that which is powerful. Plus, in some cases, jealousy (not that I think the rest of the world is jealous of us, but surely there are countries that envy our wealthy or even middle class).

Another bad reason is tribalism, though personally I've been exposed to a lot of "real American on fake American" (where even a privileged majority can feel a persecuted minority) hate than by foreigners.

Beyond that it's complicated. Some countries disparage us because we're tolerant of gays or allow women to drive while others do it because we have capital punishment in a society rampant with violence, corruption, draconian entry requirements even just to visit (an Australian recently emailed me saying he wouldn't have visited America again if he'd remembered what it was like at the airports and an Argentinean finds us too draconian to visit again), and lack of socialized health care. And email pals I have from around the world have questioned me about our outrageous politicians say horrible things and get cheered, such as the "legitimate rape" comment, and much worse (I know it's bad when even South Africa and Argentina find our politicians unbelievably offensive, and I agreed with them, it's a sad state that such figures can get a bunch of votes, and that they can really is a national disgrace). Just as Americans tend to feel superior to the rest of the world (and btw, Europeans get really annoyed when yet another ignorant American says we saved them in WW2), others can feel similar patronizing disdain toward us, and our obnoxious loudmouths are much more easily remembered by them just as theirs are by us.

Though interesting enough even foreigners who are fine with America but criticize our government can cause offense by Americans who are even more critical of our government with less justification. I find it morbidly fascinating.

Better reasons are that America routinely abuses its power with hypocrisy, demanding others follow rules that we don't. Plenty of countries experienced tyranny and oppression with the aid of CIA, innocent people (including Canadians, Germans, etc) have been disappeared by our government and handed over to be tortured (even sodomized at taxpayer expense) for months before let go or even informing the victim's government (Canada even put out a warning to all Canadians about traveling to America saying they couldn't guarantee their safety). And then there are our bases everywhere, and some have a bad rep that only rarely make our news (like when Marines gang raped a little girl in Japan, that actually happened more than once, and protected the confessed rapists from Japanese justice and even surrounded the ones I'm thinking of with bulletproof shields to prevent a vigilante snipers from taking them out). And btw, the rest of the world tend to get very different news than Americans, even by American media (and they get a lot more details about our military actions, gore, etc, that is usually barely mentioned at all to us).

Can you imagine if another foreign power, say China or Russia or Pakistan, had bases all over the world, in our country, using drones on civilian targets and telling us how we're going to live as well as injustice like that? I bet you we'd be bombing and beheading, too, or at least grumbling about injustices and the more obnoxious members of their military "advisers."

IOW, some people are entirely justified to hate us, because even those of us who don't actively support it still support it with our taxes and care more about Dancing with the Stars than their raped and murdered children (and children who grow up without loving adults because of us). As hard as it is for many Americans to understand, they feel just as strongly about their loved ones and sovereignty as we do about ours.

posted June 03, 2013 08:07 PM            

I was thinking of family in New Zealand, who flew to various countries to visit family on their vacation, but wouldn't set foot in the U.S. to visit us.

posted June 03, 2013 09:35 PM            

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Originally posted by PixieJane:
I'm an American and even I won't use our airports. I can understand why a family from NZ wouldn't want to either. The Australian I mentioned even finds places like Vietnam friendlier and more decent to tourists.

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posted June 04, 2013 03:05 AM            

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You will find the Treasure. The Map is within you.

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posted June 04, 2013 05:50 PM            

Still, have encountered it, with my BFF being black. It's kinda funny to me, I've seen a white lady flinch when my BFF reached into her purse, and she told me a politician freaked after being corrected on how to say her name (which she did sweetly). And an obnoxious landlady (though more of a secretary for the actual owner) said she thought my BFF was a drug dealer, and got angry when I laughed at the absurdity of it with her saying her instincts were "rarely wrong" (I wonder how much more upset she'd have gotten if I pointed out that Jesus wasn't white as portrayed on the pic at her desk?). She didn't believe me when I pointed out that not only was my BFF an administrative assistant but could make computers do all kinds of amazing tricks (she even custom makes her own bumper stickers) and can do a lot more than me (and a guy who TAUGHT computers at a community college living at those apartments actually paid me to get his vox working, and there were hilarious rumors there that I was a hacker). When the landlady looked disbelieving I offered to give my BFF a call who could give her instructions with her computer but she then changed the subject.

Still, my BFF says she's gotten discriminated against by every color, including her own who like to call her (for being her own person and especially for being so smart) an "oreo," or "white on the inside." (That's not the only thing she gets grief on.)

And a black guy I know who is brilliant himself says he's faced about the same and has come to hate the term "oreo" so much that he can't even stand looking at actual oreos, and hates it more than the n-word (a word he doesn't like no matter who says it and in what context).

posted June 05, 2013 04:55 AM            

When you're white it's so much harder to see it. I was really surprised by how racists many white people were around me (even in California, I'd actually say CA, generally speaking, is more racist than West Texas but less than East Texas) when they usually never showed that side to me UNTIL my black BFF entered the picture...and sometimes even then it was subtle enough (like being friendly to me while showing only polite acknowledgement that she was there, for example, IOW I was welcome, she was merely tolerated) that I overlooked it for a long while and my BFF wondered how I didn't see it (luckily she understands reality tunnels and understands I lack her experience and thus context to easily recognize it, and I've since learned).

But violence or especially vitriolic racism is rare (though easy to find on the internet where anonymity provides protection from repercussions).

posted June 05, 2013 07:44 AM            

While I can say that I got *no* nasty looks while out and about with Middle Eastern and Hispanic guys, when I went to a museum with a black male friend (we weren't even dating or affectionate with one another) the strong reactions came out to play.
There were a fair number of syrupy/good-natured looks ("I'm not racist! I'm giving a broad smile to this interracial couple!"), we got some real stink-eyes...mostly from older people (black and white).

posted June 07, 2013 07:52 PM            

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Originally posted by stillatlarge:
But the racism isn't coming from white people any more. Black people are much more racist than we are. That's the problem. You don't notice it so much unless you're poor and then the blacks in positions over white people are out to even the score. That's the truth as I see it and I don't care if you like it or me.

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Saying "black people are" makes me think you have some racist assumptions to be challenged within yourself if you're going to paint them all with the same brush. And I think you should as I know a guy who didn't like blacks until one he treated badly risked his own life to save him while his white friends left him to die and decades later he still feels bad for having treated him badly and having thought all blacks were the same. And it's not anymore fair than when all white people are painted with the same brush.

But I don't disagree that many black people are (and not just against whites, and interesting enough plenty internalize racism against themselves), some virulently so. I was nice to one black woman for years before she told me she could never like a white woman like me and I just left her alone after that and glad she was honest instead of letting me waste anymore time trying. And I know of much worse, such as living near areas "Elimination Zone" in Houston (4rth and 5th Ward, at least back before 2000, don't know what it's like today) where it was dangerous to be white (or anything other than black), just as there are areas where you're likely to be harassed or abused for being anything other than white. But they're not typical areas, and even in the rare areas where this is typical it's not like every single person living there supports it (though they probably have enough of their own problems to bother worrying about someone else's).

posted June 08, 2013 09:30 AM            

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Originally posted by stillatlarge:
But the racism isn't coming from white people any more. Black people are much more racist than we are. That's the problem. You don't notice it so much unless you're poor and then the blacks in positions over white people are out to even the score. That's the truth as I see it and I don't care if you like it or me.

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Can we not generalize here? And sorry but that's an opinion and not truth..

Anybody can be racist theres no x,y,z is "more" racist and regardless if you're someone who likes to put people in a box atleast categorize a person as an INDIVIDUAL, not by the whole race just because one or two people who happened to be brown behave that way.

And also, stop playing the blame game. If someone is being racist you either A) ignore it or B) try and correct them in a mature manner or show them through your actions that you aren't a stereotype and that you don't fit in a box.

Going around pointing fingers that "black people are the racists now and they're this and that and how dare "they" act like this" is never going to solve anything. You can't fight ignorance with ignorance.

posted June 08, 2013 10:28 AM            

I'm black (brown skin, natural hair and all) and even though I've encountered racist people I've NEVER let them get to me or make me think that "they" are all a bunch of x,y,z. I've encountered even an arabic guy calling my mom a n****r and I just read a recent article on an asian mother who threatened suicide if her son married a black girl. Heck theres even a article out there about a white guy being reported to the cops for kidnapping because his three mixed daughters looked out of place with him. And I can't even begin to tell you on how many occasions I've seen black on black racism especially with the whole "light skin vs. dark skin" and even in concern to interracial dating and how it seems ok for one gender to do it, yet the other one can't because they're "sellouts" "white-wahed" etc.

But do I see these situations and go "asians are this, arabs are that, and that white guy deserved it for being with a "sista", and I only talk to brown skin guys because brown skin babies are better"? Lol. Absolutely not because these instances happened because of an INDIVIDUAL, not the whole darn race as a whole.

Unless someone physically tries to harm me or gets too close for comfort, I could care less about someone being racist. They aren't the ones who determine whether I go to heaven nor are they the ones in charge of my happiness or life for that matter. When I encounter ignorant/racist people I either ignore them or let them be shocked through my actions that I don't fit in a box nor am I a stereotype.