Racism

I say that anyone who uses the distinctions of race to argue, judge, excuse, blame, criticize, politicize, incite, agitate, allocate, study, educate, etc. is a RACIST !

Anyone !

Using the distinctions of race separates those of one race from the rest of humanity & that which is common to ALL humanity gets lost in the process. That is, after all, what distinctions do!

One has to rise to the level of ALL humanity to enjoy the brotherhood thereof & NOT sink into the quagmire & machinery of blame, anger, jealousy, despair, victimhood, irresponsibility & lack of dignity which RACISM provides.

I can identify with the problems that mothers & fathers, brothers & sisters, sons & daughters have: their toils, angst, anxiety, pain & suffering as well as joy, exhilaration & happiness. When you separate yourself from me by racial distinctions you cloud my perception so that it's next to impossible to have that experience.

There is a natural tendency in the machinery of the human being to avoid being wrong, to make others wrong & to always be right (or at least not wrong). We're stuck - the machinery is very good at what it does - perhaps only a Zen Master can get around it. Evolution may need another thousand years or so to get rid of this programming & live by the Golden Rule, but by then, evolution will probably have rendered the racial distinctions moot!

I say that it's time to quit using them NOW in our communications. They are really NOT needed. One can cry with deep empathy for the sadness, despair & poverty of other human beings like those whom Hurricane Katrina has made sick & homeless. Let us remember our humanity before we remember our various separateness.

Comments

Seth says
Amen to that !

Mark de LA says

seth 2007-04-14 08:58:27 714

I say that anyone who uses the distinctions of race to argue, judge, excuse, blame, criticize, politicize, incite, agitate, allocate, study, educate, etc. is a RACIST !

Imho, "study" should be removed from this list. Take for example the knowledge obtained by using racial distinctions in medical studies. You cannot understand the anatomy, develoment, and maintence of the human body if you are blind to racial distinctions. Doing those kind of studies does not make you a racist.

Maybe. I allow for things like the police & homeland security looking for say, a Korean or Arab to specify Korean or Arab in their APB's & wherever else the specificity is absolutely necessary, etc. The same would go for medical endeavors. There are millions of other examples where it is not absolutely necessary. Most of those are governmental support for the "race" industry. I also allow for extremely delicate use in discussions such as this one as needed to make examples. Soon maybe even those won't be necessary.

Mark de LA says

For those who can hear the scriptures Luke VI, 40-42 is good inspiration & a good guide for conduct!

Mark de LA says

seth 2009-05-29 13:32:14 714

If you narrowed your categories to negative behaviors (like excuse, blame, incite, agitate) then you would be closer to a workable criteria for the crime of racism. But making distinctions without restrictions should always be a part of the positive behaviors (like argue, judge, criticize, allocate, study, and educate). But even then this is a merely a semantic quibble and a excuse to call somebody a racist, and that is exactly how it has been used.

You missed the point again. I think that what you refuse to give up is that there must be something special about your race (rather than just being a member of the human race). Furthermore, I suspect that you want to elevate some to special priveleges above others due to perceived grievances in the past; probably more like just a fad surrounding the current president. My definition stands. You even would like to assign criminality to racism - perhaps a hate crime. I would not. To me, it is a problem that has a solution which is a corrolary of the Golden Rule. Judge not lest ye be judged! (positively or negatively). MLK said something similar in:

source: ...

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

...

I guess these dreams are too big for Seth!

Mark de LA says

seth 2009-05-29 16:17:50 714

source: MR above
I think that what you refuse to give up is that there must be something special about your race (rather than just being a member of the human race). Furthermore, I suspect that you want to elevate some to special priveleges above others due to perceived grievances in the past; probably more like just a fad surrounding the current president. My definition stands. You even would like to assign criminality to racism - perhaps a hate crime. I would not.

Well certainly there are experiences that are unique to each race ... to think otherwise is to be childishly idealistic. Sonia Sotomayor talked about some of the experiences that were unique to her... ones that you from a Caucasian culture did not experience. I'm sure that she thinks those are special, just like you think you early experience in Esoterica are special to you. But you didn't get that word usage from me, nor did you hear me ever talk of wanting to "elevate some to special privileges above others due to perceived grievances in the past" ... apparently you totally made that up. Our system of laws does assign criminality to certain crimes intentionally perpetrated against a race; and, yes, they are called "hate crimes". You had better not break them or you will be going to prison for a long long time.

Your foisting beliefs on me are disingenuous in the extreme ... your arguments would be more convincing if you used true sentences. Your definition stands only in the space between your ears.

Well the so-called hate crimes are just ordinary crimes where someone notices that 2 different races are involved. That a hate crime exists is only in the space between your ears while your head is up your ass. That someone is a racist is not criminal. When you get your head out again & wake up then you might make some progress. There are those on your side that would like to make it a crime, but unless a crime of some other kind is committed what is internal to a person's thoughts is not a crime. The rest is generic to some in the race-baiting, poverty pimp industry.

Mark de LA says

seth 2009-05-29 17:08:08 714

MR 2009-05-29 16:36:44 714

Seth: ... Sonia Sotomayor talked about some of the experiences that were unique to her... ones that you from a Caucasian culture did not experience.

...

What were those experiences that a Caucasian couldn't experience?

Point is not "couldn't experience" ... the point is "didn't experience".

Nobody experienced the exact life that anyone else experienced. Your point is vacuous and vapid, Bozo.

Seth says

To not see my statements as "vacuous and vapid" you might due me the honor of addressing them in context ...

source: Seth above
Well certainly there are experiences that are unique to each race ... to think otherwise is to be childishly idealistic. Sonia Sotomayor talked about some of the experiences that were unique to her... ones that you from a Caucasian culture did not experience. I'm sure that she thinks those are special, just like you think you early experience in Esoterica are special to you.

Like it or not, people of Hispanic origin comprise the nation’s largest race or ethnic minority ... it is a time that they had a voice on our highest court. Sonia's talk showed how a Hispanic justice would bring different experiences to the court. No we do not accept they are "better" experience leading to "better conclusions", but they are different. We should at least be able to accept that simple fact with no semantic quibbles.

Btw, there is something about the way you are putting pictures in your comments that is breaking the HTML and making fluid dialogue tedious. Was that intentional?

Mark de LA says

seth 2009-05-30 10:51:42 714

To not see my statements as "vacuous and vapid" you might due me the honor of addressing them in context ...

You could not explicitly say anything in Sonia's speech or her background as a "Latina Woman" which would assist in making wise judicial decisions. Instead, you worshipped at the altar of Diversity & Indentity Politics.

Something about the script doesn't work right. It is not intentional by me.

Mark de LA says

seth 2009-05-30 11:03:43 714

source: MR in 12025
My exhortations are about individuals & what they can do to solve racism.

Actually i don't see any prescriptions of how to solve racism in this item. All i see is a definition, a criteria ... a semantic distinction. Even this semantics lead us in the wrong direction. Case in point is how you, yourself, have used it. You have used it to call people racist. How is that solving racism?

In the Country of the Blind the One-Eyed Man is King!

You refuse to see it!

Mark de LA says

seth 2009-05-30 11:43:49 714

MR 2009-05-30 11:27:35 714

seth 2009-05-30 11:03:43 714

source: MR in 12025
My exhortations are about individuals & what they can do to solve racism.

In the Country of the Blind the One-Eyed Man is King!

You refuse to see it!

Perhaps if you would give an example of how this famous item how has solved any racism, i might see the point.

I never said it solved the racism situation. You have to do something. Like a violin, if you refuse to take it up into your hands & use it you will never become a violinist. If you were to adopt the personal dictum & behavior of leaving racial distinctions (as per 714) out of your discourse & conversation you would "like the old woman that pissed in the ocean" do you part in removing some racism from your part of the World. You would begin to see the real people behind your racial distinctions & commonality rather than differences. If you convinced others to do the same you would begin to pay it forward such that in a short time racial distinctions would begin to leave the mainstream. If the president, with his bully pulpit, adopted such a strategy he could by the end of his term make a vast difference in racial relations in this country & beyond. Unfortunately, he seems to be going in the opposite direction & you seem to have adopted ignorance as a Devil's advocate against the proposition.

Seth says

MR 2009-06-01 06:34:50 12025

Sotomayor belongs to La Raza, an interesting organization (which means "THE RACE") - see the Wikipedia.

source: ...

La Raza ( the Race) is sometimes used to denote people of Chicano (i.e. Mexican American) and Mexican descent and the Hispanic world, as well by mestizos who share Native American or national Hispanic heritage.

The term originated in the 1925 book La Raza Cósmica, which translates to "The Cosmic Race", written by Mexican writer José Vasconcelos. He described La Raza Cosmica as the product of gradual racial mixing that was already underway in the Hispanic world. Vasconcelos believed that eventually all of the people within the Spanish Empire would be completely mixed into a new race.

Hispanic people all around the U.S. have also started using this term to identify themselves. Nonetheless, the term and idea associated with it have been mainly adopted by some Mexican people in the United States to express pride in their nation. In general usage, La Raza implies dignity and pride for these people regarding who they are and their places of origin.

The term is also used by the Hispanic civil rights group known as the National Council of La Raza.

...

Some have said that "La Raza" is better translated "The Community". But there is no doubt that it is a organization founded to promote the interests of a ethnic community. There are many such organizations including the NAACP. These type of organizations have done some good work in behalf of minorities who would otherwise have no group power. Their word does tend to level the playing field of power. There are also pleanty of old boy networks which do substantually the same thing for the ruling factions. This is part of our country. I know that you want item 714 to suddenly claim these kinds of groups to be racist. However my point of view is that it gives you a prime example of why item 714 simply does not work.

Mark de LA says

seth 2009-06-01 11:57:51 714

MR 2009-06-01 11:32:14 714

Here is Google's translation page for the Spanish word raza. BTW, as far as groups that promote the group's power how about the Aryian Nation, Hitler's Nazis?

714 simply does not work for you because you refuse to make it work in your own mind & in your own distinctions. I would have expected you to have a good chance since you have a mixed marriage. Apply the same arguments you have for selecting Sotomayor to your mate & see how far you get.

Well one reason that 714 does not work for me is just because it would require me to consider groups like La Raza and NAACP as racist. But in my estimation they are not. Now i suppose that in a ideal Utopian world where racism did not already cause unjustified discrimination, such groups would be unnecessary. But we don't live in that world. If the ideal is equality for all, then there are steps that need to be taken to get us from here to there. Groups are the tried and true method for powerless individuals to effect change. It would not be right to deny them that right. Their tactics are in no way comparable to white power groups and Nazis.

I don't see any pertinence to your patronizing comments re my marriage, so if you have some real point there, you will need to restate it.

As long as you come from separateness, division & differences & you refuse to see the problems from common ground (as your president keeps emphasizing on other issues) you will never get the point. You must have somehow overcome such kinds of separateness in order to have a mixed marriage - that was all I was saying. Such organizations as the NAACP, Black Panthers, La Raza & people like Rev. Wright are racist because they blame their problems & seek advantage based on differences rather than the more inclusive common ground of the human race. If there are problems such as poverty or rights they should be addressed at the level of human rather than reassigning the blame somewhere else. When you address the problems at the level of human beings then you get answers & help from all human beings. When you address problems at a racial level those that are not of the same race have to rise to the level of humans to address the issues or they go away saying "it's not my problem", "I don't give a shit!" That is real World not theory. 714 is all about losing those differences in order to find common ground. Luke 6, 41-42 is appropriate.

Mark de LA says

seth 2009-06-02 08:59:40 714

Well i actually don't need you to lecture me on common ground. I have lived day to day in a mixed family for over 20 years, and i can assure you that brown skin is just as human as white skin. We joke about many things, jokes that you probably wouldn't even get. But twisting reality, like lumping La Raza and the NAACP, with Black Panthers and Skin Heads, would not be something that we would do ... we know better ... we can tell the difference. Nor do we deny people their human rights to ban together for common purpose.

Mark, yes i get item 714. Trouble is it is too idealistic. I can agree with you that in the distant future community groups based upon ethnic origin will have no political reason to exist. We have come a long way and have a ways to go yet. But we are not there yet and there is nothing to be gained in terms of that progress to start jeering at those groups now ... and certainly not to call them racist as an excuse to deny their representation on the Supreme Court.

Well the tone of your response, is clear. I suspect that your karma is to live with race consciousness for an incarnation or two more. Too bad... I reject it wherever it occurs. No need to respond on 714 anymore. A brick wall is a brick wall is a brick wall......

(to racism).

Mark de LA says

seth 2009-07-08 14:46:49 714

seth 2009-07-08 14:23:15 714

seth 2009-07-08 12:32:55 714

This vote might be interesting to track in the light of this item. Was, perhaps, Rep Steve King's reason to vote against this history plaque that he is advocating for this color blind world #714.

Update source: "Last night I opposed yet another bill to erect another monument to slavery because it was used as a bargaining chip to allow for the actual depiction of 'In God We Trust' in the CVC. The Architect of the Capitol and liberal activists opposed every reference to America's Christian heritage, even to the extent of scrubbing 'In God We Trust' from the depiction of the actual Speaker's chair in the U.S. House of Representatives."

... petty, petty, petty. Can't the good people of IA find a representative who can keep his eye on the important stuff?

Just in case you want to see what real racism looks like, read this.

Yep, that's the kind that is really easy to spot. I wouldn't be surprised if there is already a lawsuit brewing on that very incident. OTOH, the kind that Sotomayor promoted with her ruling on the firefighters is the kind that looks like it is something it is not. It looks like fixing racisim while actually being racist!

Mark de LA says

I will now use a Biblical reference to help with the meaning of this item about which much has recently been said which is not true about it's intent.

source: ...

John 13:34-35 (New International Version)

34"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

...url http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+13:34-35

Now if Jesus Christ was who they say he was, as God, he could have forced the issue without cooperation, presumably; no laws, policemen, no courts, no Congress, no newspapers, no politicians, no special task forces, & no presidents or kings were required. In fact he was speaking to that which was & is inside mankind. I speculate (with some ground) that in the future it will be impossible not to feel an other's pain & state of soul. But, for now on our way to freedom we are allowed to lie & be ugly to each other with the consequences, however, that we get to experience what we have done to each other someday either immediately or otherwise. You may recognize the ugliness as racism or anything else you can perpetrate as evil. The Golden Rule is the way out of racism & most of mankind's problems. It can be in our conversations & in our deeds & penetrate into all parts of our way of life. The core of our freedom is that we can evolve our way out of the ugliness ourselves at least for those of us who want to go in the direction that humanity is going.

Mark de LA says

seth 2009-08-21 08:41:19 714

Today we learn ...

source: hotair
The rest of Beck’s comment, asserting that Obama has “deep-seated hatred for white people of the white culture,” should be easy for the President’s defenders to disprove. All they have to do is cite one positive thing Obama has said or written about white culture. Anywhere. Ever

... Let me get this straight:

You are a racist if you argue or educate against a race
You are a racist if you do not argue or educate for a race

LOL, these people are seriously

confused.

Seriously off target, seriously old news! Item 1 is obviously racist. Item 2 is a non-sequitur from Beck's tirade. Beck is obviously unaware of this item. A question still remains whether the bold statement points to a truth or not. By my definition, however, such a statement would be racist. You should probably put this comment on an anti-Beck item instead of here.

Seth says

What issue was i supposed to address?

Mark de LA says

seth 2009-08-21 10:02:15 714

What issue was i supposed to address?

The essence & spirit of 714 is about the subtleties of racism & my sense for what makes sense to cure the problem by rising above the level or race to the level of human. The Golden Rule is the essence of such a change or transformation. To do some Beck bashing & then in some mental gyration accuse me of racism with an out of date gotcha on Beck twisted back on me is not in any of this spirit. I want to keep this item rather pure & separate from your usual political slant & RWG.

Mark de LA says

seth 2009-08-21 09:38:32 714

hmmm ...

source: hotair
All they have to do is cite one positive thing Obama has said or written about white culture.

source: MR above
A question still remains whether the bold statement points to a truth or not. By my definition, however, such a statement would be racist.

Yep writing pro-race statements, by your definition, is racism. By the same token seeking pro-race statements is just as much racism. So if you are still seeking the truth of that bold statement, then you too are a racist by your own definition. Of course i don't believe it because i think that 714 is seriously off target. Personally i could care less about the existence of any Obama's pro-white writings. I am quite content to hear his frequent pro-American writings. From his speeches alone there is no doubt in my mind that he loves this country - he loves it more than i do. I think the kind of person who has pro-white writings is probably a skin head.

I'm really surprised that your not calling out hotair on this, but rather seem to think they have asked a legitimate question.

I knew when I wrote it you would not address the issue, but firmly shove your head up your ass. I did not seek pro race statements. Read my statement. In fact I said such an answer would be racist. Because you have your head so far up your ass on this one I will delete the whole thread when I get a

Fair warning! Put it somewhere else. An especially good place would be where your head is.

Mark de LA says

MR 2009-08-28 09:56:10 714

MR: ... I say that anyone who uses the distinctions of race to argue, judge, excuse, blame, criticize, politicize, incite, agitate, allocate, study, educate, etc. is a RACIST !

... this can be further simplified more in alignment with the Golden Rule to

I say that anyone who uses the distinctions of race to gain advantage over another or disadvantage another is a RACIST !

Mark de LA says

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYXJfuBONZQ&feature=share collects all the thoughts about racism & other differences which generate strangeness beyond our shared values as humans.

Thanks to CJ & this facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/notes/mark-russell/party-party-/216875288361740#!/TRYINGTOMAKEADIFFERENCE/posts/156612051090804

...

Mark de LA says

choy 2014-10-11 12:24:56 714

Those with a vested interest in RACE will never understand this point of view. If you are one of those people look at your objections & ask cui bono? for a viewpoint I have not expressed here. That will be your vested interest.

Look for whatever forms in your mind after the words but ....

Si says
Mark says …

“I say that it’s time to quit using them NOW in our communications. They are really NOT needed. One can cry with deep empathy for the sadness, despair & poverty of other human beings like those whom Hurricane Katrina has made sick & homeless. Let us remember our humanity before we remember our various separateness.”

The interesting thing about that is, that in all of it, he is using right there, the very things he is asking to quit doing. He is trying to be right about what he is saying.

LOA, as well as Zen masters, teach us one very important thing … that is, the only way to quit doing something is to do something else. To change you have to do one very specific thing, you have to change … and that always means doing something other than the thing you are doing … always.

In other words, one cannot stop arguing by arguing for stopping arguing.

As Abraham would say, go sit on a beach, watch a sunset, play with a dog, do anything else other than argue about what you want, and then, you will have changed, and so will have your experience.

Life happens, happen with it.

~ the tig – facilitating your changes to your reality

Mark de LA says
Conversation forked to thought 21349

Si says
This is not flotsam mark. This is the one true cure for racism and should be here for others who may happen along. Your way is clearly not working. It would be good for a different opinion, one that does work, to be allowed.

Mark de LA says
It didn’t say anything, really – besides the already-always Abraham-Esther-LOA propaganda.

I’m saying lose the race distinctions & assume & rise to the levels of HUMAN! You know how to do that – do it NOW as an example in everything you do.

Si says
👍

Mark de LA says
Wrong direction in the news this AM (PC though

)
UPDATE: Classes on ’white fragility’ sold out...

Tolerance for ’racial stress’...

College bulletin board denounces white, male, Christian privilege...

Mark de LA says
Want to get rid of racism ?
Frame all human problems, news,challenges & memes as ……

HUMAN!

Racism

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John 13:34-35 (New International Version)

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