Is America less racist now than at any time in it's history?

[Fred Sanders]

Yes.

Chris Rock is right, it is.

I think it is much less racist.

I am with the camp that theorizes Obama's election brought them out of hiding, the GOP saw a source of votes and mendaciously encouraged and then embraced the rising racism triggered by the historic election of a black man. Voter participation rates among the racist segment must have leaped as much as they dwindled among the non-racist segments of American voters. More folks do not vote as do, so it was a clever plan, one that liberals still seem to be confused by...appeal to the unlikely voter and give them a reason to vote. Appeal to the base, get them to the polling places, it is not rocket science.

The corporate media in 2009 saw conflict they could fill their endless hours and endless pages with, anything but the liberal policies promised by Obama, can you imagine a guaranteed income for example, and deliberately inflated the racist's influence and credibility. And the racists themselves, smaller in number than ever before and being swept into the dustbins of history, they are given megaphones by a manufactured right wing media, hallelujah Fox News and Daily Caller, that shouts its insanity directly into the bloodstream of a homogeneous, corporate media that then pretends they heard something worthy to report on. The overall cacophony this creates helps ask and legitimizes the very bad question..."is racism wrong?". Yes, they do ask, yes, somehow they have manged to resurrect race conflict in America even as, perhaps because of, the twice elected black man in the White House.


In the meantime both the local folk and the general local police folk became militarized, armed to the teeth with more weapons than warm bodies, while the whole mix is being terrorized by a mass media already heavily into fear, now going all in in fear and fear as a ratings tool without shame. Fear, fear, fear, and more fear, cheaper by the dozen, easier on the corporate bottom line. Fearbola, ISIS, brown men on the border, remember all that? Am I wrong?

Racial encouragement and inflation and racial incitement and deflection, all leading to justice protests, justice for the racists and for the victims of racism, militarization of a nation, anger at being manipulated like this, manipulated into pervasive pessimism and terror by the GOP, by the NRA, by the Press Club, by unlimited free speech that costs exactly as much as grateful ad execs set per 30 second time slot, you all did build that.

This carefully constructed matrix of fear, hate and deflection can not be changed, I think, it has to be forcibly deconstructed.

[clydefrand]

1. I have to say,

I agree that Obama being elected brought it all out. It has been there, just not talked about so much.
SO MANY whites HATE any NON-white (blacks especially) that would love to show hatred to the president, but know they will never get the chance. Therefore, they take it out on the nearest black (picking on a young person who is unarmed seems to work best for them) and to hell with everyone who disagrees.
WHAT I'VE NEVER UNDERSTOOD IS WHY DO WHITES HATE BLACKS (as well as many other non-whites).

[Fred Sanders]

2. Racism is a by product of self loathing, I have made up my mind firmly about that. Project the

self hate onto an easily defined target, make yourself loathe oneself a little less.

[VanillaRhapsody]

8. Its about the need to feel superior....

they must see someone else oppressed to feel good about themselves....

[pipoman]

3. Yes

People's opinions aren't likely to change. As the baby boomers die off, the last generation of racists and those promoting racism are dying with them. Baby boomers are the last generation that lived during a time when racist jokes and stereotypes were the norm. Gen X "baby busters" (1965-1980) remember the boomers racism but were the first generation who were taught that racism is wrong and unacceptable.

[HereSince1628]

6. I'm always surprised baby boomers are blamed for such things...

Maybe this depends on what part of the country someone was in. Maybe that has to do with the frustration of coming to age in a world full of awful things created by folks already here.

Boomers began coming of age in the early 60's. As new generations typically do, they tend to challenge the status quo...at least some of us were appalled at the shit about to be handed down to us by "The Greatest Generation".

The generational orthogonality led boomers of which I was part of in n. Illinois to be in historic order:
pro-civil rights,
anti-nuke/anti cold war,
anti-vietnam war,
pro-war on poverty
pro-environment,
pro-equal rights amendment

Of course, we didn't get to those "progressive" positions on our own. Not all of the previous generations were entirely ignorant racists anticommunist tree-cutting, Cuba invading rascals.

The civil rights movement although including many 20-30somethings had a variety of adult leaders who were depression era babies.

The environmental movement was really put in high gear by Rachael Carson and Gaylord Nelson both products of the Greatest Generation.

The anti-nuke anti-cold war global peace movement was a theme of the Beatniks...who were mostly either war babies or depression babies.

Of course Lyndon Johnson and his war on poverty which emerged in the 60's were products of politicians of the Greatest Generation...really the last great moment of people who had seen the power of a united nation to fight the misery of the great depression.

Much of what the anti-government anti-regulation oligarchs are pushing back against reflect values held by a majority of the boomers I grew up with.

[Arkansas Granny]

9. Thank you. People tend to forget that many of these battles

gained traction because of the boomers.

[Turbineguy]

4. It probably is

But the part that is racist is being squeezed and so has to compensate.

[Fred Sanders]

5. The GOP encourages the racist voting block because Obama encourages this:

[Bluenorthwest]

7. Chris Rock, with whom I almost always agree, would not support your opposition to free speech or

And I don't either. Interview with Rock:

What do you make of the attempt to bar Bill Maher from speaking at Berkeley for his riff on Muslims?

Well, I love Bill, but I stopped playing colleges, and the reason is because they’re way too conservative.

In their political views?

Not in their political views — not like they’re voting Republican — but in their social views and their willingness not to offend anybody. Kids raised on a culture of “We’re not going to keep score in the game because we don’t want anybody to lose.” Or just ignoring race to a fault. You can’t say “the black kid over there.” No, it’s “the guy with the red shoes.” You can’t even be offensive on your way to being inoffensive."
http://www.vulture.com/2014/11/chris-rock-frank-rich-in-conversation.html

I just don't care for the exploitation of any person by piggy backing onto their celebrity a view that they would find objectionable.