I never really cared, but always knew there were differences between different cultures and races from an early age. I grew up exposed to multiple religions and races with mostly good experiences. I then served in the military and had friends (or friendly aquaintences) among the different social groups that developed along racial lines.
First cracks started showing when a black senior enlisted guy gave me and my hispanic buddy poor review scores but gave great ones to other black junior enlisted. I kept working hard anyway but my hispanic friend got pissed and started slacking. This senior black enlisted got kicked out after drunken sexual harrassment of a junior hispanic enlisted and guess what: all the black enlisted guys and girls started crying while everyone of another race started quietly celebrating.
Now that was my first real encounter with a racist guy who used his position of power to his advantage (that I know of). Still, he was more of the "keep to our own" type of guy and didn't cause trouble most of the time. I could almost respect him for that, if he was able to be fair in the workplace and not sexually harrass those women he was supposed to mentor.
Fast forward many years and we have all this racial division being promoted. I understand that we, as animals, like to keep to our own. I've seen it happen organically. I've seen that we can work together if placed in a small cage in the middle of the ocean for a few months, but after the doors of that cage are opened each group prefers to go its own way. I don't fault anyone for feeling thia way because that is just how we are built. When an individual starts being a bad actor for any reason, including racial differences, that is when I have a problem.
In current society we have a lot of bad actors exploiting our racial differences. I think this is because most of us don't have a way to leave the cage and spend time with the kinds of people who make each of us feel comfortable. These unhappy people now have the huge bullhorns of media and internet and so no one can ignore them anymore.
Thanks for reading this rant, if you got this far.
Had a work order at a public inner city school today. All I saw everywhere was niglets and spiclets hanging around outside... until I noticed one very small group of white kids. They had their heads held high and were completely separated from the rest. There was a Chad and Stacy, then a couple dorks, a fat kid and a goth. Kids who would NEVER hang out together normally but you could tell they were pushed together out of necessity and all seemed happy.
I understand that we, as animals, like to keep to our own. I've seen it happen organically.
I tried to explain this to a leftist and he thought I was the most awful, backwoods, racist hillbilly he had ever encounted. I was quoting Muhammad Ali to him and he didn't even know it. Oh well.
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