Thursday, April 5, 2012

Racism and the Trayvon Martin incident

The Daily Show with Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Racist Timeout
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We had a big discussion at my last post on the Trayvon Martin killing, so I thought this was an interesting perspective. There is so much we don't know about it - and may never know, with only one person left alive to tell his side of the story - that interpretations are all over the place.

Generally speaking, my point of view is that, as Larry Wilmore says, the court of public opinion was the only court willing to take the case. If I jumped to conclusions in that last post, as a commenter charged, what other option was there? Zimmerman was not charged with anything, so there wasn't going to be any other court.

The idea of a racist timeout is funny, but you really can't get away from race here. We're a long way from a colorblind society, here in America. Not to say that we haven't come a long, long way - let's give ourselves some credit - but we're not there yet.

So let's not pretend otherwise. Let's deal with the real world.


6 comments:

Tango Juliet said...

I learned long, long, LONG ago that jerks as well as angels, come in all colors. Engaging in identity politics and giving preferential treatment to some groups in an effort to correct the past isn't the way to approach it.

Oh but what a world it would be if we all could live Dr. King's immortal words.

But that apparently takes too much thought and effort. Making assumptions about others is a common major flaw in humankind, regardless of what politics we happen to subscribe to.

Bill Garthright said...

Hmm,... are you replying to this post, Tango Juliet? "Engaging in identity politics and giving preferential treatment to some groups"? Where did that come from?

Is this just a hobbyhorse you trot out for everything, or does it have something to do with this video clip or my commentary about it?

Really, I welcome your comments, but I don't know what you're talking about, so it's kind of hard to reply.

Tango Juliet said...

Well, practicing identity politics and government sanctioned discrimination won't create a colorblind society.

It's having the opposite effect in many ways.

Bill Garthright said...

My question was how that comment applies to this post, Tango Juliet.

It's not that it's not an interesting topic. In fact, I'd really like to blog about it. But it's not going to happen right now. I'm just too busy.

But as a comment to this post, or to this video clip, it didn't seem to make any sense. And it still doesn't.

Well, this isn't a big deal. I welcome your comments, and I'm sure I'd be a lot more willing to go off on tangents if I had the time to deal with them. Unfortunately, spring has sprung, and I just don't.

Tango Juliet said...

You want a colorblind society. So do I.

The Leftist/Liberal/Progressive policies that we're told will make life "fair" (as if that's possible) stand as an impediment to that goal IMHO.

Two wrongs don't make a right.

Bill Garthright said...

What does make a right? One wrong and one... what?

I don't know what "Leftist/Liberal/Progressive policies" you're talking about, but as I said, that doesn't seem to be a comment that applies to this post. So I suspect that it's just a hobbyhorse.

But your comments did cause me to think a bit about a "color-blind society," so I wrote a separate post about that.

Note that I didn't get into those Leftist/Liberal/Progressive policies, not yet. I'd like to write a follow-up post, when I can find the time. So, for right now, I'm not suggesting anything other than recognizing the obvious.