"White People": A Racial Slur

 Greetings,

There has been quite a bit of conversation, especially over the past years, about people identifying as one nation or another, identifying with their "roots" especially. There has been identification of "First Nations" people, within the boundaries of various current national boundaries. However, when it comes to "white people," they are overlooked. 

In fact, I would state that "white people" in itself is a racial slur. Why? If you examine all of the "white people" within a national boundary these days, you will find many different cultures and many different languages. It is important to recognise the original inhabitants even if they were white as well. Further, it is important to recognise that due to immigration you will often find a lot of different cultures within a national boundary, even if they are all "white."

This term, "white people" is offensive in the same way as any other generalisation of culture is offensive. It is merely not recognised by most because "white people" are the dominant, "white people" were the "conquerors" and "settlers." This is primarily used as a slur to categorise negative attributes or actions, either historical or current, which are being implied, what needs to be recognised is not all "white people" are committing these offences. There are all sorts of "white people." Then again, the same applies to "black people."

We should not say "black people" in the same way, for the same reasons. Under the heading of "black people" there are people of African descent, people of Pacific Island descent, and people of Australian indigenous descent, and likely others. They all certainly do not have the same cultures, as they did not live under the same environmental conditions, and they did not develop the same way. Categorisation by colour of skin, shape of face (Caucasian, Negro, etc.), all of these things may be biologically possible and tell us something about our roots, and common roots, in prehistory, but they should not be used to generally categorise people in a socio-cultural sense. Wouldn't it be nice if we were just all "people," without the necessity of the socio-cultural tags?  

There are discussions of "cultural appropriation" in regard to certain cultures. "Cultural appropriation is the inappropriate or unacknowledged adoption of an element or elements of one culture or identity by members of another culture or identity." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_appropriation) There seems to be a lot of regard and concern for some cultures and not others. It would seem that European cultures "white" cultures are ignored when it comes to this, because they are the "dominant culture," but offense can still remain. We need to be careful about how we deal with all cultures, regardless of where they originate, regardless of their time period, regardless if they are "dominant" or not. We need to be respectful of all cultures and how we present them.

Now, there are those who are going to claim that I am some sort of "white supremacist" or "Nazi" for making the statements that I have (likely, because I will be classified as "white"), and I consider these individuals foolish beyond words. To them, you have missed the point of what I have been saying. I am a firm believer in levelling the playing field in all aspects. The same care should be taken with all people and all cultures, regardless of the colour of their skin, nation's origin, or religious beliefs.

Maybe I should've changed the title to: Why can't we all just be "people"?

I apply the same to gender and sexual orientation for that matter. Care needs to be taken how we address one another as individuals, and as groups, even how we think about one another.

We need to begin to understand one another so we can begin to heal. This is the way forward. Hopefully then we can begin to see ourselves as "humanity" and work toward a better world.

Cheers,

Henry.

Written Within the Pages

 Greetings,

If you do not read the books, you do not know what is contained within the book. Thus, you have no right to assume to know what the author thinks or has written. This can be applied to those who love to quote aphorisms from authors and then go on to attack them, as much as it is to those who claim that this or that writer is of this or that particular political leaning, due to what they have written. How would a person know what their political leaning is, if they have not read what the author has written?

People need to open their eyes. They need to open their eyes and realise that if they do not at least look at these books and authors they hate so much, they will be unprepared for those who use the writings within them. 

The Nazi Party in Germany did not just sprout from the ground, its popularity did not just grow over night it took time and persuasion of people. It was only when people's rights were being infringed upon, when people were being attacked and murdered that some people realised that something was wrong, but the mass of people didn't. The actions that the Nazis took were legal, they were passed by law. Think about that for a moment, those who hid Jews were breaking the law, those who murdered them, homosexuals and disabled people, were doing it legally according to the laws of their country.

How can you defend against a political standpoint if you don't know how it grows?

How can you defend against an ideology if you don't know what its tenets are?

How can you prevent the same things from happening if you don't know how it all started?

Erasing history because it's ugly, or because it makes people uncomfortable is not a good thing. It is criminal because it leaves people unprepared for the same to happen again. They are unprepared because they don't see the warning signs. The threat is not from the idiot skinheads in the streets marching about, it is from those who keep their feelings hidden, who keep their ideologies to themselves, but make small changes to our society to gradually twist things their way.

People complain about eugenics programs. How about the eugenics program by default that is happening in the world right now as a result of price increases? What happens when the poor cannot afford to eat? What happens when people even on benefits from the government cannot afford to keep themselves alive and eat? They die. The prices go up, more people die. It is eugenics by social class, by wealth. If you are not healthy enough to work, or do not have employment, you are priced out of LIFE.

Sounds crazy? Well who controls the ability to change inflation? Who controls the ability to give people on payments enough money to live rather than having them on the poverty line, or below it? Yes, that's right the government. Who do they act in the interest of? Their rich friends, no the so-called "people". Tax breaks do nothing for people on benefits.

What are the policies of these people? What are their true ideologies? How many of those match up to the ideologies of the fascists that people claim to be fighting by preventing people from reading books? Our oligarchical society, I say oligarchical because it takes thousands of dollars to run for office and not everyone has that money, only the top of the money piles, makes pitiful concessions to those below them while hoarding the riches to themselves. 

They complain about the cost of welfare, that the people on payments are not giving back to society. Well have a look at the Nazi policy and how they felt about the disabled, it is pretty much the same. The problem with the budget does not come from those from below, it comes from those from above. If the billionaires and millionaires actually paid any tax, rather than getting tax breaks, the budget would be a lot healthier. Our politicians look at things from the top, they have no clue about the people they represent. They are the enemy that, so-called politically-enlightened people, are ignoring because they foolishly believe we live in a democracy.

They would understand our actual state if they actually read some of the books they are so frightened to read. They would understand what's happening to their society, and what's happening to the people that they are supposedly defending while they are failing to do so, if they picked up the book and read it and understood what's actually happening.

Read the book. 

Yes, it will be ugly. 

No, you won't like it. 

That's not the point.

Get an education.

Learn how you can actually do some good.

Cheers,

Henry.