Students barred from anti-racism meeting for being insufficiently racialized

[Darth Executor]

I used to be a Christian who was deeply interested in theology and biblical interpretation, and who as a Christian considered myself an expert on both. A significant part of why I no longer identify as even nominally Christian was the widespread attitudes of other Christians towards gay rights. Even after I'd stopped believing the supernatural components of Christianity, I still assumed that Christianity was morally good because it taught people to treat others well, but the modern gay rights issues disabused me of that notion and led me to re-examine Christianity's role in various moral issues in history and I concluded that Christianity was in fact a significant force for moral evil in our society.

This allergy to aggression reminds me of the natives who first welcomed Columbus. They were very hospitable, which Columbus took as weakness and proceeded to enslave them all. I believe they all ended up dying of disease as a result of the process but I can't remember the exact details or the name of their tribe. It's the sort of thing that requires googling because their impact on world history has been minimal.

[Starlight]

And at the same time we are seeing a number of young people, coming from homes where their parents (or grandparents or whatever whānau member they are living with) becoming Christians.

Heck, this evening I'm fetching a bunch of high school kids from Paeroa, who aren't from Christian homes, so they can attend Youth, and these kids are regulars.

Yeah, in the age 5-19 group there seems to be a lot more religion going on, compared to either side of that age range.

I presume this is a combination of bible-in-schools, after-school programs run by church groups, youth-groups run by churches, and bible clubs at universities.

The effects of those programs seem to be wearing-off by age 20 though. Whatever the churches are doing that's causing children to write a religion on the census while a child isn't successfully translating into life-long religious commitment, and the drop-out time appears to be around age 20. This appears to have been the case for the last 20 years.

[Sparko]

That sort of stupid got discredited more than 70 years ago. I would have said no one in the present day believes that sort of thing...

I care about the future and the future of my children. It's the part where you apparently think passing on my specific genes in large amounts makes any great difference. Other people's genes are, by and large, just as good as mine.

I would note that I care far more about the future than do various Christian fundamentalists who:
- believe the rapture is highly likely to occur within 50 years
- believe we shouldn't act to prevent climate change because "God would never allow it anyway"
- look forward with excitement and anticipation to the apocalyptic destruction of humanity and life on earth via Revelation style destruction

Personally I am waiting for the Zombie Apocalypse.

[Paprika]

I used to be a Christian who was deeply interested in theology and biblical interpretation, and who as a Christian considered myself an expert on both.

You? And expert?

I concluded that Christianity was in fact a significant force for moral evil in our society.

So, no, I'm not hypocritically falling into the trap of making up stuff that I think others ought to believe without any serious knowledge of their beliefs.

Goalpost shift. You were trying to claim that Christians should not tell atheists what their beliefs entail, yet you feel free to tell us Christians what we should believe. Even if we grant your exception, how did you know that Darth didn't have serious knowledge of atheistic beliefs?

[Adrift]

Bingo and I find the same attitude works towards women too. I get very tired of the attitude, "You're a women, so you got here by affirmative action!" despite the fact that I passed the same test men had to pass too.

What are your thoughts concerning the military's strength and fitness assessments for females vs. males in Basic?

[Adrift]

Seems like a lot of the debate hinges on how people define "racism". Unfortunately, there seems to be a growing view that the correct definition is "prejudice plus power". I've read academics and civil rights advocates who believe that it is impossible for a minority group to be racist, because they lack the power to back their prejudices. I've even seen it asserted in one paper by someone who ought to have known better that simply by proxy of being a member of a majority ethnicity, one is necessarily racist... It was asserted that this was true even of children!

Its sad, because real racism really is alive and well in the US, and all these sorts of redefinitions of racism do is make it impossible to resolve real issues, or to find any sort of common denominator.

[Cerebrum123]

Personally I am waiting for the Zombie Apocalypse.

When I see certain people say certain things, I think it's already begun.

[Zymologist]

Seems like a lot of the debate hinges on how people define "racism". Unfortunately, there seems to be a growing view that the correct definition is "prejudice plus power". I've read academics and civil rights advocates who believe that it is impossible for a minority group to be racist, because they lack the power to back their prejudices. I've even seen it asserted in one paper by someone who ought to have known better that simply by proxy of being a member of a majority ethnicity, one is necessarily racist... It was asserted that this was true even of children!

Its sad, because real racism really is alive and well in the US, and all these sorts of redefinitions of racism do is make it impossible to resolve real issues, or to find any sort of common denominator.

Yeah, I've seen these exact things asserted.

Interestingly, I saw a twitter post by some black rapper (didn't know her, don't remember her name), who said, "I hate white straight men." Nope, no racism there.

Edit: not an exact quote. Funny enough, as a straight white male, I read it and didn't even care enough to remember her name, the specific words she used, or where I first heard about it.

[rogue06]

Yeah, I've seen these exact things asserted.

Interestingly, I saw a twitter post by some black rapper (didn't know her, don't remember her name), who said, "I hate white straight men." Nope, no racism there.

Edit: not an exact quote. Funny enough, as a straight white male, I read it and didn't even care enough to remember her name, the specific words she used, or where I first heard about it.

Azealia Banks (never heard of her but that doesn't mean much). The full quote is:

“I hate everything about this country. Like, I hate fat white Americans. All the people who are crunched into the middle of America, the real fat and meat of America, are these racist conservative white people who live on their farms. Those little teenage girls who work at Kmart and have a racist grandma — that’s really America.”

An obvious racist who hates racists (she must really be full of self-loathing).

She also said -- in an interview published in Playboy magazine (does anybody still read that?) -- after remarking that she has her "eye set on" fellow rapper Jay Z:

“In American society, the game is to be a nonthreatening black person. That’s why you have Pharrell or Kendrick Lamar saying, ‘How can we expect people to respect us if we don’t respect ourselves?’ He’s playing that nonthreatening black man [edit], and that gets all the white soccer moms going, ‘We love him.’ Even Kanye West plays a little bit of that game — ‘Please accept me, white world.’ Jay Z hasn't played any of those games, and that’s what I like.”

[lilpixieofterror]

What are your thoughts concerning the military's strength and fitness assessments for females vs. males in Basic?

That they are fair because they are designed to measure physical fitness levels and not to measure ability perform the job in question. I know there is no way I could do anywhere close to 60 push ups in a minute. I have a difficult time reaching 30-35, in a minute.

[Zymologist]

Azealia Banks (never heard of her but that doesn't mean much). The full quote is:

“I hate everything about this country. Like, I hate fat white Americans. All the people who are crunched into the middle of America, the real fat and meat of America, are these racist conservative white people who live on their farms. Those little teenage girls who work at Kmart and have a racist grandma — that’s really America.”

An obvious racist who hates racists (she must really be full of self-loathing).

She also said -- in an interview published in Playboy magazine (does anybody still read that?) -- after remarking that she has her "eye set on" fellow rapper Jay Z:

“In American society, the game is to be a nonthreatening black person. That’s why you have Pharrell or Kendrick Lamar saying, ‘How can we expect people to respect us if we don’t respect ourselves?’ He’s playing that nonthreatening black man [edit], and that gets all the white soccer moms going, ‘We love him.’ Even Kanye West plays a little bit of that game — ‘Please accept me, white world.’ Jay Z hasn't played any of those games, and that’s what I like.”

Yeah, that's the one. Sounds like a nice lady.

[Cerealman]

Azealia Banks (never heard of her but that doesn't mean much). The full quote is:

“I hate everything about this country. Like, I hate fat white Americans. All the people who are crunched into the middle of America, the real fat and meat of America, are these racist conservative white people who live on their farms. Those little teenage girls who work at Kmart and have a racist grandma — that’s really America.”

An obvious racist who hates racists (she must really be full of self-loathing).

She also said -- in an interview published in Playboy magazine (does anybody still read that?) -- after remarking that she has her "eye set on" fellow rapper Jay Z:

“In American society, the game is to be a nonthreatening black person. That’s why you have Pharrell or Kendrick Lamar saying, ‘How can we expect people to respect us if we don’t respect ourselves?’ He’s playing that nonthreatening black man [edit], and that gets all the white soccer moms going, ‘We love him.’ Even Kanye West plays a little bit of that game — ‘Please accept me, white world.’ Jay Z hasn't played any of those games, and that’s what I like.”

Her music is garbage and I wish she was born in a different generation.

[rogue06]

Her music is garbage and I wish she was born in a different generation.

You can hardly wait to be able to tell kids to "GET OFFA MY LAWN!" can you?

Don't feel too bad though. When I graduated High School disco was in full swing.

[Teallaura]

Her music is garbage and I wish she was born in a different generation.

Generationist!

[Teallaura]

You can hardly wait to be able to tell kids to "GET OFFA MY LAWN!" can you?

Don't feel too bad though. When I graduated High School disco was in full swing.

At least disco didn't mistake itself for art.