Mia's Blog

Well there's still segregation in some places.

I used to live in Toronto, though, and believe me it's a whole other story.

I come from a small town in British Columbia called Chemainus, and racism is there, although it's not to the point that you described above. Usually the Native Americans would keep to themselves, although not all of them were like that.

And of course, there were the jokes, which drove me batty. Some people were really crass about it.

Interesting read.

I grew up in the suburbs of Buffalo... very white town. The inner city of Buffalo? 30% black.

I just had an interesting discussion with my GF about a similar topic last night. The current politically correct term for "African Americans" is now "People of Color." Frankly, that pisses me off. Why make a distinction in the first place? Certainly, a distinction is needed on an aggregate scale (e.g. investigating if skin color makes a difference in salaries, etc.) for analysis, but for day-to-day stuff? No thanks.

Luckily for me, I've had good ethnic experiences. I used to be on the ballroom team at my old school, and it was one of the most multicultural experiences in my life. Seriously, we had Chinese, Koreans, Africans, African Americans, Latinos, generic white guys, and a smattering of Jews. And we all got along with each other. But I think I was fortunate in that matter...

Fun fact, btw - Jewish male DNA is more similar to Syrian and Palestinian DNA than it is to European DNA. Female DNA is more based on regional DNA patterns. Judaism, it would seem, is more than just a religion

Racism is everywhere no matter how much we try to hide it and say it don't exist. I grew up in a small town with Zero (that's right no other races) minorities and I always heard and/or told some politically incorrect jokes. (I will not lie about it because I know that alot of us have and that we are grew up enough to admit to our own faults in life.) When I got out of High school I moved to a city and started dating an African American girl. When we used to go out to the clubs or go to a pub people would just stare at us and I would even get told to stick to my own kind by African Americans or other white guys. That girl was the most interesting girl I ever dated and I enjoyed getting to know her roots. (Her father was from South Africa)

Personally I don't care what color you are or where your from. We all breath the same air, drink the same water and look at the same sky. Get over yourselves.

The current politically correct term for "African Americans" is now "People of Color." Frankly, that pisses me off.Why make a distinction in the first place? Certainly, a distinction is needed on an aggregate scale (e.g. investigating if skin color makes a difference in salaries, etc.) for analysis, but for day-to-day stuff? No thanks.

I agree 100% with you about that.

I have to agree with you. We're all people. I don't even bother with separation of colors and such, it is only when an African American friend starts making the distinction that I recall in the first place that they think there is a different when I just think they're a friend. Still couldn't get over the shock of seeing a 21 year old African American seriously complain to me, a white person, about his disgust of dancing with a white girl. The irony makes my head hurt badly.

Political terminology always has me confused. And sorry but I am not going to call them "People of Color" ever. That is just strange. I have a hard enough time with figuring out whether calling them blacks or African Americans will get them mad. Some of them get mad when I call them African Americans, others get mad when I call them black.

Also

Fun fact, btw - Jewish male DNA is more similar to Syrian and Palestinian DNA than it is to European DNA. Female DNA is more based on regional DNA patterns. Judaism, it would seem, is more than just a religion tongue.gif

I didn't know that. And I am Jewish so that makes my DNA weird? Interesting though.

Personally I don't care what color you are or where your from. We all breath the same air, drink the same water and look at the same sky. Get over yourselves.

lol this is exactly why when I create players for soccer management games, I try to have people from every nation I can. Still can't find many Turkmen names though

Personally I don't care what color you are or where your from. We all breath the same air, drink the same water and look at the same sky. Get over yourselves.

lol this is exactly why when I create players for soccer management games, I try to have people from every nation I can. Still can't find many Turkmen names though

lol well your slowly changing the world.

Eh, ethnic divisions are natural because people are factionalists. People inherently see things from an in-group/out-group perspective. They not only see themselves as different from those of the out-group but consistently look for (or make up) further divisions between the two (we like coke, you all like pepsi, you're different and wrong, let's fight!). Belonging to an in-group provides self definition and gives them group cohesion to ply their power against the out-group.

Just as some people are, at one end, xenophiles, or at the other, xenophobes, cultures themselves display those same traits. Consider the the "hippy movement" or globablists who feel everyone is family and contrast that with aryanism, the belief that only those of a Nordic ethnicity are of worth. Orthodox Jews have a very firm in-group/out-group division, if you're not Jewish, you're not in. The Japanese have an even stronger division, beyond race, even if you are Japanese, even of the same social class, if you're not in the circle of friends, you're the out-group and only by invitation will you be on the inside. They have entire division of language that separates how you speak to those in the in-group and how you speak to others.

People who say things like, "you should date your own race" or other such nonsense are only displaying their fear of having the boundaries of their in-group dissolved, threatening their own self-definition and specific cultural values.

And while many examples of in-group definitions revolve around ethnicity (like white power or some such), this cultural phenomenon transcends biology.

Anyway, I support opening one's mind and reaching out to experience other people and their culture, so keep up the good work. And down with racists, those people are stupid.