How to tell if you're a racist. . . .

[there buster]

1.If you think Obama's the most liberal member of the senate you...may be a racist.

2.If you object to Obama raising your payroll, capital gains and estate taxes you...may be a racist.

3.If you'd prefer a president have at least some foreign policy experience you...may be a racist.

4. If you're in favor of drilling for oil and building nuclear power plants you...may be a racist.

5. If you think "Vero Possemus" is Latin for "Massive Ego" you... may be a racist.

6. If you wonder why Obama was hanging around William Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn you...may be a racist.

7. If your pastor is nothing like Rev. Wright or Father Pfleger you... may be a racist.

8.If you don't want the majority of justices on the Supreme Court to be like Stephen Breyer you...may be a racist.

9. If you're not impressed with Obama's 100% NARAL rating you...may be a racist.

10. If you're not sure whether Obama opposed or supported FISA reauthorization you...may be a racist.

11. If you don't think America is a "downright mean" country you...may be a racist.

12. If you think Obama should've visited wounded troops at Ramstein and Landstuhl you...may be a racist.

13. If you think the surge is working and that's a good thing you...may be a racist.

14. If you oppose racial preferences in employment, school admissions and contracting you...may be a racist.

15. If you think "we are the change we've been waiting for" is a line from a Monty Python skit you...may be a racist.

16. If you prefer that a president have a smidgen of executive experience you...may be a racist.

17. If you're appalled that Obama voted against treating infants born after an abortion attempt the same medically as other infants born alive you...may be a racist.

18. If you were proud of your country even before Obama's candidacy you...may be a racist.

20. If you don't think American troops are just "air raiding villages" you...may be a racist.

21. If your grandmother isn't a "typical white person" you...may be a racist.

22. If you don't think rural, working class people are bitter and "cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them" you...may be a racist.

23. If you're not sure invading Pakistan is a particularly good idea—what with their nuclear weapons and all— you...may be a racist.

24. If you don't want the president to meet without precondition with the leaders of state sponsors of terror you...may be a racist.

25. If you don't care how Hollywood or the European elite think you should vote you...may be a racist.

[Stan]

Wheww... came clean on that one....

[lazarus]

How about this considering this before you cast your vote?......anyone....not just you Stan.

http://www.wikihow.com/Tell-if-You-Are-a-Racist

Are you a racist? Here are some things to think about.

Steps

1. Consider your judgments of what people wear, their hairstyles, headscarves etc. Are these thoughts negative or justified?

2. Gauge your fear of being around people who are not of the same race as you.

3. Note the frequency of your racial slurs and jokes.

4. Think about your upbringing. Are your parents what you would consider racist or extremely prejudiced? Many racists learned their behavior in childhood from the influence of relatives.

5. Consider the following questions:

* Do you think of all people of any particular race in the same way?

* Do you always refer to people's race in your description of them or do you deliberatley leave out the obvious so as not to offend?

* Do you ascribe certain negative behaviours to people of certain races and insist that only they do this?

* Do you think all people of a particular race look alike?

* Do you dislike other races, or do you just love your own?

Tips

* Try spending time learning cultures of other races to be more developed and open to other ways and styles.

* At the same time, don't treat people as tokens. Doing so is patronizing and rude.

* Know that your understanding of racial dynamics may be severely limited. If any one person finds themselves caught in a racial situation they're not comfortable with, be understanding. Don't brush their concerns off or react poorly.

* Do not let others label you as racist due to how you talk, where you are from or what you enjoy.

* Don't be afraid to call others on their attitudes and assumptions. Likewise, be able, willing, and appreciative to listen when someone calls you out on similar things.

Warnings

* Be aware of your own upbringing, background, and social status in life so as to avoid applying expectations to others. Everyone deserves equal treatment, regardless of their race or social status.

[Taylor]

Well said lazarus.

[Jeannieb43]

With all due respect, Ichabod, I see that list as a propaganda piece for the Republicans.

[Dr. Shane]

I think the original post is tongue-in-cheek. Anyone that might be offended by it should avoid watching late-night shows like David Letterman or Saturday Night Live.

[Dr. Shane]

1. Consider your judgments of what people wear, their hairstyles, headscarves etc. Are these thoughts negative or justified?

2. Gauge your fear of being around people who are not of the same race as you.

3. Note the frequency of your racial slurs and jokes.

4. Think about your upbringing. Are your parents what you would consider racist or extremely prejudiced? Many racists learned their behavior in childhood from the influence of relatives.

I don't like seeing guys walking down the street with their pants hanging below their underwear. Does that make me a racist?

I did feel a little fear when I got on a subway in Atlanta and I was the only white guy in the subway. Part of that could have been being in a strange city or not being accustomed to using the subway. But perhaps there is a little repressed racism there.

I never use racial slurs or tell racial jokes.

My upbringing was filled with songs like "Jesus Love The Little Children" and the Heritage Singers' "What Color Is God's Skin?" While my home was quite dysfunctional my parents went to great lengths to teach me all races are equal.

I am wondering however... How can blacks or other minorities tell if they are racist toward whites or other minority groups? I haven't seen that set of questions yet. I suspect a black or Hispanic pastor probably carries that set of questions in his back pocket since he ministers to minorities and would be most concerned about members of his own congregation being racist themselves.

[there buster]

The campaign so far makes it clear that if Obama is elected, we will be treated to at least 4 years of unceasing charges that anyone who disagrees with him on any subject is racist.

[John317]

I don't like seeing guys walking down the street with their pants hanging below their underwear. Does that make me a racist?...

No, certainly not. It's not really about race but about gangs. That's considered gang-related in the places that deal with juvenile delinquents. I've had to tell thousands to "pull 'em up" and if they defiantly pulled them further down like some did, I had to write reports on them. That is all races. NO SAGGING.

[olger]

I believe Jesse Jackson should get a job. I guess I'm a racist.

:)

[Bravus]

So far I'm still hearing *far* more about race from Republicans trying to protectively pre-empt any possible Democrat charges of racism than I am hearing actual Democrat charges of racism. I'm hearing almost none of the latter - but maybe that's just because I hang out in the wrong places. But given that I mostly hang out where liberals do... perhaps the Democrat accusations of racism are about as real as the War on Christmas.

[Kountzer]

The ultimate way to tell if you are or are not a racist is if you make it to heaven. There won't be any racism there, praise the Lord.

[John317]

I honestly don't care if I am called a racist by people who don't know me. I would not even spend a heart-beat denying it. That's about how much importance I give it.

One thing I know is that all the laws passed and all the talk people do won't take that out of a man or woman if they got it somewheres deep down in 'em in the first place.

[there buster]

Martin Luther was quite anti-semitic, but I anticipate he will be in heaven.

As far as 'not hearing' charges of racism from Democrats, that's not surprising.

Christians have long held that knowing the truth is not a matter of perception or of intellect-- but of the will.

It's clear Obama supporters will not hear anything he doesn't want them to. Will not.

[Tom Wetmore]

I think the original post is tongue-in-cheek...

"Tongue-in-cheek" is just a variant of humor and wit, an effort to be clever or funny or make a joke. So as a result we are to excuse the blatant distortion of reality sort of political propaganda, insensitivity, implied racism, etc. because it's just a joke? Sort of like telling fat jokes in front of your overweight sister, and when she gets upset tell her, "Oh lighten up, it's just a joke."

Tom

[Dr. Shane]

Humor is an integral part of politics. The Daily Show, Saturday Night Live and late night talk shows thrive on political humor. Anyone participating in the exchange of political ideas is going to have to deal with the humor that is out there.

I think it is pretty much a consensus that Obama has played the race card. He did it quite effectively with Clinton. Saturday Night Live had some skits about Clinton getting all the racists to vote for her. It is pretty hard to deny that Obama used the race card against her. As I stated before, I understand his paranoia. However McCain doesn't want Saturday Night Live doing skits about him being a racist. After seeing what Obama did to Clinton, it is understandable why McCain would want to call Obama out right away for using the race card on him. Hopefully we are beyond it now. I would like to see race become a nonissue but that may be simply wishful thinking.

[Kountzer]

You keep chanting the race card, the race card...give me some examples of where Obama played the race card?

Also, in his own way Bill Clinton was very adept at playing the race card too, in his own way. Race, as it relates to politics played an integral part in getting him elected prez for two terms.

DB

[Dr. Shane]

In June, Obama said Republicans were going to run against him saying: "He's young and inexperienced. ... And did I mention he's black?" More recently he has said Republicans would try to "make you scared of me. You know, 'he's not patriotic enough, he's got a funny name,' you know, 'he doesn't look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills.'"

That seems clearly to be the race card to me. Now I understand that because of the injustice done to blacks in denying them jobs and promotions due to their race that Obama has some justifiable paranoia but it is still unfair for him to insinuate that McCain is a racist and ready to run a racist campaign.

[Tom Wetmore]

You keep chanting the race card, the race card...give me some examples of where Obama played the race card?

Also, in his own way Bill Clinton was very adept at playing the race card too, in his own way. Race, as it relates to politics played an integral part in getting him elected prez for two terms.

DB

It's just a race to get race in the race.

What you see happening on the Republican side of things and by the Republican sympathizers on this forum is precisely the point mentioned in the Race Card entry on Wikipedia:

"On the other hand, George Dei, Karumanchery, et alia in their book Playing the Race Card argue that the term itself is a rhetorical device used in an effort to devalue and minimize claims of racism."

Tom

[Kountzer]

Exactly. I need to read that book.

[olger]

The tragic thing is that many blacks are conditioned by the age of 4-5 to believe that they are "held down" by white people. This is simply not true, and there are solid examples to the contrary all over our country.

Michelle Obama's rhetoric is merely a cleaned up version of Jeremiah Wright's.

[Kountzer]

Personally i was conditioned to understand that the devil was trying to hold me down. White people, racism and all that comes with that was and is a secondary issue. Why spend and inordinate amount of time being concerned with someone whoe eats, sleeeps, defacates, lives and dies the same way I do. White people are just as finite as any other race of people on this planet.

I was watching Shawn Boonstra on it is written last night. He was talking about the planet in peril. He was comparing the 2nd coming of Christ with birth pangs, and how signs could be seen in economics, in wars being waged between countries, in the rise of natural disasters. Social unrest was a part of that whole dynamic, but only a part. Racism would fall in that area I suppose. What i'm trying to get at is Obama's campaign, what Michelle Obama had to say, allegedly, and who is or who isn't racist on CA(only you and your Lord knows for sure) are small potatoes when you look at the big picture.

DB

[Tom Wetmore]

The tragic thing is that many blacks are conditioned by the age of 4-5 to believe that they are "held down" by white people. This is simply not true, and there are solid examples to the contrary all over our country.

And there are examples all over the country that would tend to confirm the idea. The fact that it is not true of some doesn't mean that there is no truth to it at all.

But there is the real tragedy that some whites are conditioned by the same age to believe that blacks or anyone else different are inferior, less intelligent, lazy, etc. - barely better than animals. And as your hypothetical explanation of the origin of the infamous T-shirt illustrates, they are conditioned to see nothing wrong with comparing them to monkeys and to even find it amusing, but also to ignore the long history of discrimination, abuse and hatred that should so easily explain why it is so offensive.

Tom

[olger]

Dearest Tom. Olger made no explanation of the Curious George Tee-shirt, and he cheerfully acknowledges your penchant for all things liberal.

Kountzer. You (and Shawn) make a good point. The larger issue is a spiritual one and lies outside of the distrations of race & environmentalism -- which for some has become their religion.

The Man in the Big Yellow hat,

`oG

[Taylor]

Tom is liberal in all areas? Interesting.