Preconcieved notions & jumping to conclusions

[AlecBGreen]

Ive been wanting to post this for some time and another thread I was replying to get me motivated to finally write it down and see what yall think.

One day I was driving home and I became fixated on the thought of prejudging and jumping to conclusions. I was sitting in my car and had an innocent thought: "What would someone think if they pulled up next to me and saw me? What would they think?"

Im a white, southern, Christian male so clearly I must be a Republican. Im not!

Im driving a Prius so I must be an urbanite. Im not, I live on a farm in West VA.

Im wearing dirty, stained overalls so I must be a blue collar worker. Im not. I teach.

Im skinny so I must be weak. Im not. I weigh 140 lbs and can outwork and outlift youngsters half my age.

Im chewing Red Man and listening to country music so I must be an uncultured hillbilly. Im not. I think the term redneck is a badge of honor and I have no problem with it. I enjoy country, LOVE bluegrass but old-school dub reggae is my favorite. (Im listening to a scorching Phish concert right now ;) )

Im a Biology & Earth Science teacher so I must be an atheist. Im not. I believe in God and evolution. I believe the earth is 4.5 billion years old and Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. Thats a hard concept for some people.

Im a born-again Christian so I must be a fundamentalist. Im not. Im a Lutheran and I believe the church should reach out its hand to all people. Homosexuals are not abominations. My brother is gay. An abortion is a horrible decision for anyone to make and the church and government should keep its stinkin nose out of it. The earth is the Lords. "To harm the earth is to heap contempt on its Maker."

I have an Obama/Biden Moveon sticker on my car so I must be a bleeding heart liberal. Im...not. I AM a die-hard progressive Democrat who thinks affirmative action is a joke and who agrees with Charleton Heston when he said they can take my guns "out of my cold, dead hands..." I hunt (there are blood stains in the back of my Prius) and fish for fun and to fill my freezer. I shot a rabbit when I was 10 just for the hell of it and its to my everlasting shame.

I have an "Eat Fresh Eat Local" sticker on my car so I must be a vegetarian. Im not. I love meat, humans evolved to eat meat, and I see nothing wrong with eating animals for sustenance. Factory farms are evil incarnate. Grass-fed livestock have the potential to heal sick bodies and transform degraded farmland.

I have a Chinese flag on my car so I must be a communist. Im not and they're not. My wife is Chinese. I think capitalism is good but not perfect. There is nothing wrong with socialized medicine and I think single-payer universal healthcare is the way to go.

I can go on but Ill spare you. I just hope people realize that pigeonholing others is wrong. Dont do it :)

[intheflow]

1. Nice!

:kick:

and congrats on your marriage--what a lovely wife you have!

[AlecBGreen]

9. thanks!

i certainly think so!!! here is a favorite pic of mine when she was all gussied up for St Pattys day. This always brings a smile to my face ;)

[N7255Q]

2. Who's that cute guy with you there?

:D

[A HERETIC I AM]

3. Very nicely said. n/t

[redqueen]

4. "affirmative action is a joke"

I agree with so much of your post... but this is the part that jumped out and rattled my brain.

How do you mean that? In what way is it a joke?

[AlecBGreen]

5. I see why it was created

but to me it IS descrimination, they very thing which it is trying to undo. If candidate X and Y are equal in every way, we'll give the job to the one who belongs to the race or gender who has been descriminated against. To me it is straight out of Orwell. "All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others."

[redqueen]

7. You do realize the purpose though, right?

It's not done to undo discrimination, it's done to try to balance the scales. In some ways we've made great progress... in others we've made hardly any. Just MHO.

Thanks for the post though... good points.

[AlecBGreen]

8. yeah, i do know the purpose

and its hard to argue with providing a helping hand to those who have had boots on their necks for millenia. Even so, to me it IS a form of discrimination. Who was it that said "Waging war for peace is like f***ing for virginity!" Its not that bad lol but it just rubs me the wrong way

[Caliman73]

10. Yeah that got me a little as well. It is an excellent post though.

I can see where you would think it is discrimination. Technically it is. There should be no need for affirmative action as all people should be considered on their abilities and performance. However, studies show that people are still discriminated against based on appearance and on their surname. Those stereotypes that you are fighting against, have been used systematically and still persist and influence people's decisions in hiring or accepting people into schools. It is not the race or gender that HAS been discriminated against it is still the race or gender that IS discriminated against.

You are fighting stereotypes that are offensive to you personally, which I think is great and I praise you again for your post. However, Blacks, Latinos, Asians, and historically Women, the Irish and Italians...and Jews have been fighting stereotypes and racism, that has kept them from being considered human beings fit to live in society for decades. It was only 50 to 60 years ago that Blacks were really given the universal right to vote without systemic obstacles. Hell they are still targeted as seen in the elections in 2000 and 2004. Women got the right to vote in 1920. The stereotype that many of us non-White, and Women folk are fighting is that White men are inherently superior and should dictate the norms of society. If only all animals were truly equal, we would not need legislation to compel civility and equal dignity.

[rvablue]

6. K&R. Awesome post and I'm only afraid it will be lost amongst the subjet du jour...

You should send this to some papers.

People are so easily judged into one box or another nowadays and your story disproves that all of us are much more complex than some label someone might slap on us!

Very well done!

[bvar22]

11. K&R

:patriot:

[omega minimo]

12. and you're a white male who thinks "affirmative action is a joke"

so you are blind to your white male privilege, as some have pointed out to you already.

Which makes it quite funny, the whole premise and presentation of your OP, as if you are defying boundaries and expectations.

It's a great post otherwise. My first thought was "This is why some of us are at DU. To hear from diverse voices in all their forms on a huge board."

My second was "Phish can scorch?" :wow: :spray:

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and story. You are a darling couple.

Maybe some of the voices here can help you understand affirmative action better, too.

:toast:

[AlecBGreen]

13. thats quite a leap

I think that affirmative action is, fundamentally, unjust. It is a form of discrimination that seeks to undo centuries of discrimination. While the intent is noble and the need for equality is real, it is, in a word, hypocritical. I fail to see how that makes me "blind to white male privilege." I am nothing but aware of my social niche in the world. I am a white male born into the most powerful nation on the world. White Mans Burden and all that. Its real and its not a good feeling. Im not crying into my beer, shouting how unfair it all is. Im not equating myself with those who suffer from continued oppression. Just want to offer my own perspective.

And yes, Phish can burn your earlobes. Id be happy to reccomend a song or two :)

[omega minimo]

14. Isn't being a white male who thinks Affirmative Action is a joke hypocritical?

:shrug:

[AlecBGreen]

17. a hypocrite is some who says

do as i say, not as i do. I say judge a man based on the work of his hands. Luke 6:44 "For every tree is judged by its fruit." If someone is worth hiring, hire them. If not, dont.

[omega minimo]

20. Does he have to be a man?

:think:

[AlecBGreen]

22. lol

of course not. Only if he has a penis and calls himself a man ;) Force of habit and laziness. I dont like writing he/she him/her his/her all the time, or when discussing God, Him/Her/It. A book I just read portrayed God as a loving grandmotherly black woman. I love that image, and Ive always wanted a big black grandmother. What form of love is greater than the feeling of a youngn being wrapped up in a big ol bosomy hug by grandma, followed by a huge feast? Still, I call God HE. I guess its just force of habit. Im sticking to it tho :P

[Ms. Toad]

16. The problem is that equality isn't always equal

You might have an easier time grasping why it is not unjust to take race into account it if you think of it like a sprint around a racetrack.

The center lanes in the track are filled with individuals for whom attendance at college has been expected for generations, individuals who were able to devote full time to studying because their parents did not need them to work to put food on the family table, individuals who went to private schools - or whose families were able to move to the choice suburbs with strong competitive school districts. The positions in the outer lanes of the track are filled with those first generation college graduates, those whose families could barely make ends meet and have been working to put food on the family table since middle school, those who attended schools in academic failure which offer no more than courses required to meet state minimum standards.

In a spring, if all are treated equally, and made to stand behind the same starting line, by halfway around the track those in the outer lanes in the track will be far behind because their position in the track works against them. The only way to stay even with those in the inner circle is to run faster than they do - unless we give them a staggered start (i.e. acknowledge that not all lanes are equal and treating them as if they were just perpetuates the inequality.

In long distance run (several laps or generations in terms of overcoming the impact of slavery and decades of discrimination), everyone has a chance to cut to the center lane so the disadvantage of starting in an outer lane is not so devastating. In a sprint, however (what each of us faces in a single lifetime) it is very difficult to overcome the disadvantage of being born to the outer lane unless the start is staggered.

Obviously the characteristics I listed in the second paragraph are not specifically racial characteristics. I am using them as a stand-in, because there is unfortunately still a strong correlation between those characteristics and race in our country.

[AlecBGreen]

18. thank you

that is the best arguement ive heard for AA. Thank you :) “Therefore speak I to them in parables,” He said, “because . . . this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed;" (Matthew 13).

[Ms. Toad]

21. You're welcome. Glad it was helpful. n/t

[tblue37]

23. I have a pro-affirmative piece on one of my websites entitled

"Can Affirmative Action Be Defended?":
http://salvoblue.homestead.com/affirmativeaction.html

You might like to read it.

[AlecBGreen]

25. I will :)

Thanks for the link

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

24. I see your point.

It would be nice if there was a way to level the playing field without discriminating against anyone. I believe after the recent Supreme Court decision affirmative action will be fundamentally different in the future. Good post. I enjoyed reading it. It is a nice reminder that we are a big tent party and better for it when we don't let preconceptions get in the way.

David

[TexasObserver]

15. You're alright, bro.

recommended

[masuki bance]

19. Someone could see white male and cop and think, must be a racist. nt

[sabrina 1]

26. Or they could just see a cop regardless of

color and think 'arrogant with no sense of responsibility to respect those who hired them'.