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Wednesday, March 21, 2012

can't we just get along?

so I'm not sure who actually reads these blogs of mine, but I suppose I write them as much for me as anyone. I am sitting here with free reign of the TV since Dad's drunkass has already retired for the evening.

Usually, I just turn the damn thing off, unless there is a sporting event (typically college ball) on, I will turn it off or maybe switch to one of the music channels. I tend to check the movie channels we get and the box gets shut down because nothing appeals.

However, tonight "Remember the Titans" was on. I have seen it many times and it's a good flick that I do enjoy watching, so tuned in.

It's a feel good movie, but it's powerful because of all the socially driven context it addresses. It was a different time and racism was much more rampant than it is today.

Sadly though, nearly 40 years after the time frame of the setting of this movie, we as a society, haven't really progressed much. I have lived in the deep south most of my life.

Racism is something that I am not oblivious to. I see way too much of it. I don't get it, but I am in no bubble either.

I hate racism! HATE IT! I do NOT understand how you can have preconceived notions about a person before you have met him/her just because of the fact they are different from you.

The word "individual" is just that! Each person deserves the opportunity to let you down before you determine he/she deserves disdain. Why should you judge a person because of some group they belong to you whether that group wronged YOU or not?

How shallow is that? How come nearly 150 years after the end of the "Civil War" (ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS!!) we cannot get past this hatred? It baffles and sickens me!

This isn't just a black and white thing, though. It's not just race, it's culture. Take Muslims. MOST of them are NOT Jihad lunatics. Yet, we as Americans have a mindset about Asiatic cultures -- stereotyping is a bad thing.

Some of those folks DO have hateful intentions toward us, but not the majority. One bad apple and all that ...

Prejudice knows no bounds. Why can we not break down this wall (as a species)?

It is great to see that blacks and whites can get along. When I was in college (only a decade ago) I shared an apartment with two other guys who were best friends.

One was a white guy, the other a black guy. I was tickled to see this. This has been showcased more and more over the past decade through the media, and I think it is a good thing, but it still remains in some fashion.

I suppose the landscape has changed to where it's not so much black and white as it once was, but we still have that predisposition to judge someone by their culture in a wholistic rather than individual approach. That sucks! When we can accept each PERSON as a PERSON and not part of a group we will ALL be better!

Maybe one day the human race can just get along and agree to disagree on things and it be cool. Right now, not so much.

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