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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sam who wrote (94890)	11/8/2008 7:19:35 PM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 541777

It isn't simply racism. In fact, racism is in a way a distraction from the real issue. The real issue is that we as a society tolerate wide disparities in opportunity and in living standards. Then make it about poverty, not about racism. Yes, racism is a distraction. We should quit yapping about it or being politically correct about it or blaming everything on it. Let's move on to poverty if that's the next issue. In fact, we not only tolerate it, many of us think it is "right," that it reflects the virtue or the competence or the abilities of individuals. Do you really think that the virtue and competence of individuals do not affect one's standard of living?

To: Sam who wrote (94890)	11/8/2008 7:35:45 PM
From: spiral3	Respond to of 541777

Claiming that just because an African-American has been elected President means that blacks are no longer victims of the American past I never read it that way. My takeaway was more in the vein of what the guy said here… "Barack doesn’t resolve any of that, but how can you not be proud of an America that would put race aside and choose him?" The real issue is that we as a society tolerate wide disparities in opportunity and in living standards. This will always exist to some extent. Can take a bunch of folks to the same rest or rant, they won't all eat the same thing. In fact, we not only tolerate it, many of us think it is "right," that it reflects the virtue or the competence or the abilities of individuals. Yup, the formula misses half the story. There's nothing left to chance, so it doesn't describe reality. It's the political equivalent of intelligent design, which ignores all outside influences. It's the opposite of evolutionary theory.

To: Sam who wrote (94890)	11/9/2008 8:11:26 AM
From: epicure	Respond to of 541777

Much change needs to occur, but - imo- the discrimination is NOW on a person to person basis. It is pretty clear that systemically our system is pretty "healthy", where race is concerned (though I would never say it is perfect- nothing is). And all racists can now feel much less comfortable, knowing, as they must, that the country has come so far a majority (and a fair sized majority) trust a mixed race man to supervise the country. That does not mean there is not still discrimination. There will always be racists who discriminate. People who insist on telling racist jokes, and people who laugh because they believe them. People who call other races derogatory names. People who wouldn't hire a black, Hispanic, whatever. But these are now personal battles more than they are battles against the government. That's huge, imo.