Theos-Talk Archives (June 1997 Message tl00426)

In a message dated 97-06-16 20:23:56 EDT, Kym wrote:
(quoting me here)

>  >As an African-American, I think I know what is or is not racist, thank
you.

>  Lynn?  How do you know what race I am?  Or anybody else on this list?

Huh? After re-reading my own sentence ten times, it *still* looks like I said
what race I am, not what race you or anyone else on the list are!!!
Sheeeesh!!!!
>
>  Why are you "thanking" me for you knowing about racism?

Should I give you the benefit of the doubt here and assume that this is an
example of your humor? Or is this some sort of game where you're feigning
ignorance of a commonly used idiomatic expression in an attempt to get me to
waste mental energy in responding to it?
>
>  And is is not possible for someone other than an African-American to know
>  about racism?

Of course it's possible. However, the remarks that you made about minorities
in militias don't impress me with *your* knowlege of it, at least not from
having experienced it and therefore in terms of trying to avoid experiencing
more of it. (See below for further explanation of this.)

>  >Claiming that most militias use their nonwhite members as trophies is
> stating
>  >that the nonwhite members of militias are incapable of making these
>  >judgements for themselves, therefore your opinion of their intelligence
> must
>  >be quite low.
>
>  It is?!  Firstly, how do you know they're not choosing to be used as
>  "trophies?"

I'm using Occam's razor. Most people don't chose to be used! And many of us
African-Americans (which is why I made my earlier statement about being one)
recognize when we *are* being used and wouldn't voluntarily put ourselves in
a position where we would be used because it's just downright masochistic. So
the simplest explanation that fits the facts is that they are NOT being used.
This is what I meant when I said above about knowing about racism from having
experienced it. Most minorities would not voluntarily join with a bunch of
people who hate them, regardless of how much they may hate yet another
group!!!! Your explanation is downright insulting because it implies that all
or most of these individuals are stupid masochists. Now, I'm using Occam's
razor. What are *you* using other than a political agenda?

>Secondly, one doesn't have to be white to be racist.  For
>  example,  in one interview I read, an Indian gentleman and an
>  African-American gentlemen claimed they belonged to a militia because that
>  militia "recognized the Jewish threat."  They openly admitted that the
>  members of the group, racially mixed as they were, didn't particularly
like
>  each other, but their common and strong hatred for the Jews served a
>  powerful bond.

I agree with you (for once) that one does not have to be white to be racist.
Racism in any form is absolutely despicable, regardless of the races
involved. But, based on this one interview you read, you have extrapolated
this sick situation to nearly all militias and minorities in militias? This
is not logical because most white racists hate blacks and Indians as much as
they hate Jews. The KKK, for that matter, is anti-Semitic. Do you see blacks
wanting to join it (even if they could)? It is therefore not logical that
this situation you described where blacks and Indians joined a nonblack
anti-Semitic group would be very common. (Note that I said "nonblack" so that
you won't try to confound this particular point by bringing up black
racist/anti-Semitic groups, which I know exist and strongly disagree with.)
>
>  Do I doubt their intelligence?  HELL NO!  It's their very high
intelligence
>  that is so dangerous - if militia members were stupid we'd have nothing to

> fear.

Huh? This sounds like a reversed version of the Illuminati fears of some of
the fringier militia groups. Sinister intelligence... ooooooh...... ;-D
Seriously though... If militia members seem to be so intelligent to you,
could it perhaps be that some of what some of them are saying makes sense to
you? ;-D And what's to fear about freedom many militia members espouse?
Ooops. Forget that I asked that. Freedom is very scarey to those who prefer
the security of being told what to do and of being "taken care of".

In another post, I'll address that whole issue about those parallels Bart and
I made that you so vehemently object to. I won't bother to respond to those
questions that sound like game-playing rather than sincere attempts to have
intelligent interaction on the subject.

Lynn