Godstud wrote:@Tainari88 Racism, like sexism, will always exist. It is an extremely tiny portion of the population, however. It is not the policy makers, but the same rogue morons who have always existed. Most societies on earth have advanced past racism as being anything but a fringe element that has little, or no impact, on societies as a whole.
USA is one of the least racist countries on earth and it's high time Americans realized it. You have more racism in places like Japan and Korea.
Racism had to be fought against with leaders getting their brains blown off Godstud. It took a lot of people getting beaten down, dogs deployed to attack, and people disappearing and dead bodies found months later for YEARS to deal with institutionalized racism. It is recent. And by recent I mean less than a hundred years ago that new laws have been in place stating that if you do not give a job to a person because they are black, Asian, Native American, Latino, etc. or because they are a woman or a man, etc. you are in violation of the law. Less than a hundred years. I was born BEFORE 1967. The year Loving vs the state of Viriginia said it was illegal for the state to say you had no right to be married to a person of another 'race'.
It is kind of new this new eradicating racism shit Godstud. For you to declare the world got over it quickly or it is no longer having a generational effect? Is erroneous. It takes time to get rid of institutionalized racism. It takes even longer to eradicate what is tradition and caste systems and class systems.
I disagree that the USA is one of the least racist nations on Earth. It is a nation that had all kinds of laws that prohibited interracial marriages, prohibited many black people from voting and registering to vote along with denying Chinese and Japanese Americans a right to own property, and to hold jobs and also interned them during WWII because they were suspicious. I am not going to argue with you about historical
facts. You are intelligent enough to realize I am not bullshitting you about that.
The problem is you are taking Korean history, Chinese history, Japanese history and so on and thinking it is the same as Canadian history or US history. It is not. Canada had a specific set of historical conditions in that nation and so did the USA. It had to deal with settlers and colonial settlements run from afar by the British Monarchy and British class system. It did not treat the Native peoples well. At all. It mostly killed them off to take their land. You can sit there and argue that it is in the past. That things have changed. How did it change? With Right Wing conservatives? Who love to sit on their ass and make sure only European extraction ruling class people get the Lion's Share of profit and access? No. It was the hard Lefty pain in the ass people who are always there...pressuring about equality and fairness under the law. Without that pressure? The Right sits on its ass all day and refuses to be fair or just. It is about privileges, tradition and whoever has the biggest guns and kills the opposition wins the right to make the laws, the rules and impose on the rest of society. That is REALITY. Whether you agree with it or do not agree with it.
European background people in Canada or in the USA very rarely experience the same things as people who are not European living in these societies. If they did? They would be a bit different in perspectives on many things. On history, on economic might, on social access, health access, employment status, marital status, housing access, and every aspect of significance in society Godstud.
Japan, China, Korea, are those nations full of people who INVADED and KILLED OFF the people who lived there before and then IMPOSED their culture on the rest via force, coercion, slavery for generations, and rewrote history. Did they forbid speaking Japanese in the school systems and imposed some new language on the old ones who were there before? No.
Asia is an old continent and also the nations with imperialistic ambitions like Japan are universally
hated by the rest of Asia who had to suffer the invasions of that Empire. The Chinese hated losing Hong Kong to the British. They hated being colonized. The Vietnamese hated being invaded by the French, the Americans and others. Does that make them racist? Korea is divided because of interferences from Colonial powers. Colonialism is a fucking scourge on humanity. I hate it with everything I have. Because it represents DEATH. Death to cultures, death to sovereignty, death to the people who forged a relationship with their lands and peoples through centuries of sweat and hard work. All because of some overweening selfish people intent on FORCE and KILLING to control places they never invested their own work in. Who want to get something that does not belong to them. In order to retain power. And not for the vast working people of these nations of Empire, but for the ELITE only in those nations.
It causes war, heartache, dead cultures, polluted land, greed run rampant, need for investment in arms, distrust and hatred for generations, and total and absolute DISRESPECT for the people who were KILLED by the millions for the sake of power and greed.
If you do not understand that ugly past? It is not my problem. It is yours.
If you respect a culture and love it? You learn their language fluently, you study their history, and you make an effort to sacrifice to understand it all. And you keep your own. No need to stop being Canadian, what the purpose of acculturation is ultimately in this world Godstud, is to see the human connection in ALL CULTURES. Not in just one or two of them.
Japan is Japan because the Japan is a series of islands. From Hokkaido to Okinawa and below. Diverse geographies. It had two bombs thrown on it because one was not enough supposedly. Godzilla to a certain extent is Japan's subconscious thinking about itself or about the menace from Western nations from its past history, like Russia, China, England, etc. Lol. Always wanting what the East could produce. Wanting the wealth it had. And still has.
Why should any nation that has felt the lash of attack from the Greed of Empire ever OPEN itself up to a bunch of European English-speaking types that throughout history have only proven to be full of GREED for what is NOT their land or wealth? If you want open acceptance? Be the change you want to see in the world. Be just, be fair, be open, be flexible, learn foreign languages, and learn the value of the many ways humans show their human qualities in every culture out there on planet Earth. Not making the effort because you love your privileges? Is not the way it works. If you complain that the other culture is exploiting you and treats you like an outsider? Welcome to the world of many people who are not the power group in many societies. It is the behavior of exclusion. And that is practiced by people who fear sharing their wealth, land, and social status with the people whom they consider the inferiors. They are little people with little minds.
Imperialism is going to make everyone insular. And CLOSED. I would. If all the European Empires knew how to do is dominate, kill, and take over? And then deny history. Say 'racism' has been taken care of. And lie to themselves about their deeds? How the fuck do you get past the weight of the past? By denying it? No. By acknowledging it and embracing the mistakes, taking responsibility, and then CHANGING what was done wrong and being dedicated to what is the opposite of it. Love. Respect. Equality. Fairness and a willingness to share with everyone. As equal partners.
People respond beautifully to that Godstud. It never fails. If you respect and love people, serve them without self-interest, and become a person of tremendous trust? That is the quickest way to end racism. It always will be.