posted February 22, 2014 02:16 AM            

quote:

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Originally posted by aquaguy91:
The notions that men are inherently more privileged than women and whites are inherently more privileged than minorities is a myth that needs to go the way of the dinosaur. This is coming from a white man who has been a victim of the system.

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posted February 22, 2014 02:19 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by aquaguy91:
Now many of you on this forum have implied or outright accused me of being a misogynist. Now I will readily admit that I may seem a little callous when it comes to these subjects , but you have to understand where I'm coming from to understand why I feel the way I do. I am writing all of this now because I'm bored at work and have nothing better to do, most of you probably don't care but here goes. First off, I am a 6'4 white male with blonde hair and green eyes. Some of you would probably assume I am the vision of the mythical "white male privilege" but this is not so. Most of my life I have been poor and have struggled greatly . When I was a teenager me and mom lived in the projects and I was regularly harassed by the cops for no reason other than the fact I was poor and lived in the wrong neighborhood and they saw me as trash. One time I was even brutalized and arrested for no reason! Again, I was poor and lived in the wrong neighborhood. My treatment had nothing to do with gender or color, it was a matter of economic status. Well off= good and poor= automatic criminal. The high school I went to even discriminated against me because they knew I lived in the wrong neighborhood. My teachers and principal were mean to me because I lived in low income housing, therefore I was a bad kid in their eyes. Even thought the reality was I was a shy quiet kid who didn't bother anybody. I dealt with a lot of bullsh*t and discrimination back then because I was poor, I was far from privileged! Now that I live in a surburban subdivision I don't deal with this nonsense nearly as much . This is why I roll my eyes when I hear the media or liberals twisting everything into a sexist or racist issue. My personal opinion is the power struggle is not between black and white or male and female, it is between the rich and poor. Quiet simply if you have money you don't have to put up with the bullcrap that poor people do. I think the powers that be try to deceive us by making us think sexism and/or racism are the real issues when they really aren't. Now I'm not saying those don't exist , but the real issue is whether you have money or not. A rich person of color is a lot better off than a white poor person and a rich woman is a lot more privileged than a poor man. The notions that men are inherently more privileged than women and whites are inherently more privileged than minorities is a myth that needs to go the way of the dinosaur. This is coming from a white man who has been a victim of the system. So perhaps now you can better understand where I'm coming from.

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I do understand your view point AG about people with money these days, it does seem like the more money you have the more you can get away with. Those that have many zeros in their bank account are really privileged, and can get away with just about anything. I remember watching a show a few years back on some obscure heiress who was incredibly wealthy, and she had personal designers and interior decorators working for her 24/7 and one of them managed to get into an altercation with her over something so dumb as the look of one of her rooms and it is said she ran him down with her car killing the poor guy. Long story short, she got away with it. And you know darn well if she didn't have all that money her butt would quickly be thrown in prison where it belongs.

posted February 22, 2014 03:07 PM            

To start off, I'm not here to discredit your experiences of discrimination based on your class.

However, the fact that you believe that racism and being privileged doesn't exist is comical. What you don't seem to understand or grasp is that you can easily change your class and not experience discrimination due to being poor but you cannot change the color of your skin. Even if a black person were to become wealthy, there is always still going to be discrimination based off of race. Now, I'm just using black as an example for this because I'm black (surprise surprise ) but like YTA stated in his post this affects all minorities.

Feel free to check out these posts too:
http://thinkspeakstress.tumblr.com/post/65206627474/welcome-back-to-shaming-r acists-the-halloween

http://ukulelerave.tumblr.com/post/11744127711/such-a-needed-campaign-i-wish-theyd-have

posted February 22, 2014 03:57 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by YoursTrulyAlways:
You've got to be kidding. I told you that it's a daily occurrence for me. I have my 4th Amendment rights violated all the time... unreasonable searches and seizures for no reason whatsoever. I get stopped by the police just so that they can check my drivers' license and make sure that the car isn't stolen. Last month, I got a warning ticket for drinking coffee in my car.. coffee.. at a stop light while the vehicle wasn't even in motion.

A cop once asked me while I was just innocently parking my car: "Is this car yours? Show me the registration and your license." His hand was right on his service 9mm pistol as he was talking to me. It wasn't even a traffic stop.

I got hassled in my driveway in my house and the cop took a walk around my car just to make sure that nothing is illegal. That's a violation of my 6th Amendment rights... Why? Some anonymous neighbor didn't like that I was vacuuming my car interior in the middle of a sunny day in my driveway, and the person is White... well, nobody else living on my street is *not* White.

I was once pulled over and handcuffed without reason, face down on the asphalt, boot on my shoulder, wearing my office suit simply because there was an armed robbery in my neighborhood and the suspect was supposed to be Asian. Turned out the apprehended suspect was 30 years younger than me, 2 inches shorter and 4 inches smaller in the waist. I just look like Wing, Wang, Wai and Wong. Never mind they just got Wrong Wong.

Sorry for your suffering as a kid. You don't have a monopoly on suffering and you haven't cornered that market.

Discrimination goes in all forms and manner. Kids on the street poured their bottled water on me as I walked to my office. Even then, I asked them if they were hungry and bought them coffee and bagels. Even as they can't stand the fact that I have a job and throw snide remarks at me. They don't have a meaningful job because the economy sucks sh1t. Not their fault. But it's also not my fault that I worked hard for what I have, busting my azz everyday, working 15+ hours a day.

You're not getting anywhere as long as you keep feeling sorry for yourself. I suggest that you put on your steel toe boots and kick the crap out of the competition and make your own name for yourself.

I'm not telling you explicitly to "grow up," but I am sort of doing so anyway. You can feel insulted, and I'm sorry if you do. At the end of the day, please just... grow.

I promised myself that I wouldn't post ever again, and I have broken that promise to myself, and also to Ami. I'm posting this last bit just for you because I have hope for you and believe that you will make a success for yourself. You can tell me to F myself if you like. That's ok with me. I just wish you well.

Cheers.

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posted February 22, 2014 08:52 PM            

Security follows me in the Walgreens, and they do the same in Tiffany's. I couldn't go to a mom and pop store without being held under suspicion of shoplifting.

Never mind about the women. It's just tough dating outside your race, period. Black, Latino, White, Green, Blue, whatever. I've gotten crap dating "their" women.

Regarding race and gender, watch this video about stealing a bicycle from the ABC TV show called "What Would You Do?" by John Quinones. White guy, Black guy, and then pretty White girl.

posted February 22, 2014 09:50 PM            

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Want To Ask Any Question About Bible Prophecy? Go For it. It is Free, of course.

posted February 22, 2014 11:05 PM            

California is a haven for Asian-middle eastern-hispanics-african americans.
It's hard to fit in if your not colored it seems LOL.

posted February 23, 2014 02:49 AM            

Also, the closer you get to the Mexican border the more likely you'll find all races generally finding common ground in disliking anyone from Mexico (though they have their large communities so it's not like they need to fear much, generally speaking, it's more of a shunning, and again, I'm speaking generally, not as in "no exceptions"). In other places white and Asian Americans tend to bond over a dislike of black people, and of course the stereotypes tend to be much more forgiving of Asian Americans than African Americans, though Oceanside was the birthplace of the White Aryan Resistance that still focuses on mostly Mexicans and Asians to this day. I once lived in an almost gated community that was very careful about how they allowed minorities in and thought my friend (black) was a drug dealer, the landlady called me and my partner in to talk about that (among other hateful things). And the ABSURD reactions some people have had to that same black friend by white people have been plentiful (and even more passive racism).

I know it's a small thing but one thing that really grinded my gears was how many children poured out their hearts in a contest doing sidewalk chalk art for the Fourth of July, and 2 girls did one with Obama in it and some jerk carefully washed away that art which I found the next morning, not even 12 hours after being finished. Not sure if it was actually racist or not (whoever did it would say it wasn't regardless), but I'm sure that would surprise many who have this weird idea of what California as a whole is like.

One myth that needs to die is that of California being some liberal oasis of tolerance, or at least political correctness. Aside from some notable (if significant) exceptions the state leans conservative, some more than others (Bakersfield made me think I was back in Texas), and people seem to keep forgetting that Prop 8 passed here (and my area was filled with "prayer groups" for it to pass including a Catholic Church 2 blocks from me at the time that was more packed than Easter). Our courts threw it out as unconstitutional (as they have in much more conservative states) but the majority still passed it, and hate crimes do happen here...me and a girlfriend of mine were confronted by people threatening to kill us after we caught them writing our license plate (and many others) down at a lesbian club which allowed me to get a CCW permit in an area very hard for that though my blasian girlfriend also threatened was arbitrarily denied such a permit, and that racism in the system is something the 2nd Amendment Foundation still fights. And less said about the gun range I joined right after (and rubbed some insanity in my face, including homophobia and racism) the better. Less than a year later I caught a white girl tagging our garage door with a racial slur against my blasian girlfriend--and this was a neighborhood in which whites were a very small minority, though some of them were openly selling drugs, and unlike racial minorities it took the cops months to raid them despite constant complaints.

posted February 23, 2014 03:28 AM            

For example in college the prof in an entrepeneur class pretty told white men not to bother as the class was designed to help "women and minorities"..which was nice of him

Have seen black racists, and gay racists, chatted with them and we got on, however the idea that only white ppl can be racists deserves the hole in the desert meant for it.

Other thing that strikes me is people ignore the main antagonist in racial strife, the State..I find it immensely funny to hear the stories of oppression, however the State itself is of course..blameless

posted February 23, 2014 10:05 PM            

In NYC, I get called the usual stereotypes, and I just play along with the humor. Wonton, eggroll, whatever. I've heard it all. I do return the jests on occasion with the KFC and Popeye's.

But the one I object most is being called "Platanos," which is just Latin for plantains. It's the symbolism. Yes, I'm "yellow" on the outside, but they are saying that I'm "white" on the inside.

What they are saying is that I'm "trying to be white," having a White wife, having a "White job," driving a "White car" (and actually my car *is* white, but Chinese folks are partial to white cars!).

posted February 23, 2014 11:50 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by YoursTrulyAlways:
I don't think you understand that richer minorities get crap too.

In NYC, I get called the usual stereotypes, and I just play along with the humor. Wonton, eggroll, whatever. I've heard it all. I do return the jests on occasion with the KFC and Popeye's.

But the one I object most is being called "Platanos," which is just Latin for plantains. It's the symbolism. Yes, I'm "yellow" on the outside, but they are saying that I'm "white" on the inside.

What they are saying is that I'm "trying to be white," having a White wife, having a "White job," driving a "White car" (and actually my car *is* white, but Chinese folks are partial to white cars!).

I work freaking hard all my life for everything I have and to feed my family to the best of my abilities. That is not "trying to be White," or "trying to not be a minority." I'm extremely proud of who I am, and I kick azz everyday, whether White or otherwise.

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Oreo etc, I'll go out on a limb here and speak up for the South. I know the stereotype is "redneck racists" and that does exist, generally among the impoverished.

Now co workers from the North who migrated here..wow..it is blatant, shockingly so.

I've lived in the South for 30 yrs now, have heard the N Bomb dropped in anger and intent..twice..and that was 25 yrs ago

PPL I met and hung out with from NJ..-0- problem just being racist as one can imagine.

posted February 24, 2014 01:46 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Padre35:
You have had so many experiences, this may or may not be a truism for you:

Wealth w/bad parenting is a disaster

Parents who cannot say "no" lead to children/young adults who cannot say "no"

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I grew up in an extremely affluent suburban area where the parents never saw the children because they were always off working somewhere. Now... I may have had a great time in my friends' swimming pools, but we were completely unsupervised most of the time. School was awful! It was like we were being raised by wolves. No adults present whatsoever. I saw classmates with bones sticking out of their arms after "play fighting" in the fifth grade, the school yard was a war zone. Most of it was invisible, but I have been choked, kicked and hit. I was threatened with a knife by a classmate when we were 6. I wasn't bullied either, it was what everyone did to each other. Too many kids with too many issues and too little control. Most of my classmates grew up all rights and I haven't really heard of anyone getting into the trouble with the law or anything... But they were and are brats. I seriously doubt they are much better off than you Aquaguy, despite their wealth. They had horrible homelives after all, and were also subject to many of the same things that you were. Their wealth only enables them to be selfish and entitled. I doubt they are much happier than you are.

I understand that the American system is screwed up. I agree. But seriously, if you don't like the system - beat it. I absolutely hate it when people complain about the system but don't do anything about it. It's your country and your job. No one else is going to do it, after all. The people who benefit will try to uphold it, so it is the people like you who fall victim to it that will have to instigate change.

By the way...

posted February 24, 2014 02:01 PM            

No. Being poor sucks.

The solution to that is to not want to be poor. The answer is to do better in school than the rich kids and be great at the game of success.

posted February 24, 2014 03:59 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by YoursTrulyAlways:
All I hear is "rich people suck."

No. Being poor sucks.

The solution to that is to not want to be poor. The answer is to do better in school than the rich kids and be great at the game of success.

The more you work at it, the more likely your kids and grandkids will become the "rich kids," and the more the present rich kids will fade into obscurity.

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I agree with you YoursTrulyAlways, but I have also seen the way money corrupts children. I think most people who grow up with smaller or adequate means make great rich people... But their children? Often not so much. People whom themselves grew up poor but became rich later in life have a tendency to spoil their children. It is important to strike a balance, and not everyone knows how to do so.

I think it is also important to recognize that money doesn't automatically make you happy. Sometimes it just brings on a whole range of other issues...