Is anyone else as unmoved by this as I am?
HIP HOP LYRIC OF THE DAY:
Don't give the black man food, or the red man liquor/red man fool, black man nigga!
Lupe Fiasco, American Terrorist
I’m Gonna Have a Kid One Day O_o
-
My future cheeren have been on my mind a lot lately. What will they be
like? Will they be smart? Dumb as rocks? Reasons to be proud?
Disappointing? Asshole...
13 years ago
16 comments:
Interesting. Stories like these make me feel a sense of pity. This man went nearly an entire lifetime robbing himself of (or admitting to having experienced) the ecstasy that is making love to a black woman. He never got his ass beat in basketball by a black man. He likely never had a genuine conversation with a person of color about their unique perspective on the world. That is a sad state of affairs. I suppose we must remember that this man is simply a product of the times he grew up in. Hate was the status quo. Certainly there is never any excuse for this sort of hate. But understanding why it exists in the first place makes it easier not to hate him back. God will forgive him. Those whom he hated will likely forgive him. The question is will be able to forgive himself.
-P.S. You like Lupe now, don't you? :)
It's not about hating him back or people forgiving him for all the things that he has done. Will God forgive him? I don't know. I'm not divine enough to make that determination. But if I were a betting man, I would say...NO! I can go do some horrible things, then fall to my knees and ask Him for forgiveness. But if the sincerity isn't there, then will I get it? Who knows?
And no, I am NOT a LP fan! But what kind of hater would I be if I didn't acknowledge a great song here and there?
I see your point. And certainly his timing is extremely coincidental. But I am not so sure if he is any less sincere just because he is dying. But don't you think people get really real with themselves when their backs are against the wall...or when they are on their dying beds.
Your next blog should be something about religion/spirituality.
Oh, it's not just the timing that makes me think he is not sincere. If it were, he would at least get the benefit of the doubt from me. He just doesn't sound sincere at all. Some of the things that he says are suspect. It's kinda hard to explain.
So why are you really unmoved by the apology? What things were suspect? This article touched something in you that made you post it.
You bet God won't forgive, really? That says sooooo much more than you can imagine. Can't wait for your religion/spiritual post!
Well, that is not actually what I said. Please see below:
Will God forgive him? I don't know. I'm not divine enough to make that determination. But if I were a betting man, I would say...NO!
I read correctly what you said: "if you were a betting man", which is why I said "you bet". Semantics really.
And you still didn't answer why you were unmoved.
It just seems to me that his motives for wanting to apologize for what he has done is less based in him wanting to be forgiven for it because he is sorry for his actions, but because he believe that he will burn in hell if he doesn't atone for the things he did.
If in his late 40's he wanted to move the deceased bodies of his parents because the cemetery that they were buried in were going to begin burying black people, then it is obvious that he still had hate in his heart for black people. HE HAD A PROBLEM WITH HIS PARENTS BODIES BEING IN THE SAME VICINITY OF BLACK PEOPLE!
In his late 40's, he assaulted a white real estate agent who sold a house in is neighborhood to a black family. He demanded that the sale be rescinded. So he no longer had any ill will in his heart, but he didn't want live in the same neighborhood as them. And he felt so strongly about it that he actually accosted a real estate agent of his OWN RACE because he assisted? Let's be realistic.
He chose to use racial insults whenever his grandson talked on the phone with one of his black friends. His grandson! Meaning that he had to have been in his 50 or 60's at the time. When a WHITE neighbor complained that about him hanging a black doll from a noose on his front porch, he threatened him with an AK47!
As recently as 10 years ago, he left a church because the pastor began encouraging more black people to join. Not because the WERE joining, just because the pastor had the audacity to encourage them to join. He left the church. Left! This place that he went to commune with other worshipers. This place where he went to improve, strengthen and maintain is relationship with God. He chose to not return tot his place because he didn't like that the pastor encouraged 'them' to come and get closer to God also.
Now keep in mind that all of these incidents happened AFTER he says that he began to look at Black people as equals and stopped hating them.
Pardon my language, but he sounds full of shit to me. BUt the sad part is that I think that he actually DOES believe that since he now 'tolerates' black people, that he no longer hates them.
But again, that is just what I got out of this whole thing.
LMAO...this is getting very interesting.
I see your point and I agree with you. I think the threat of hell, death, and jail are great motivators for a person to "change." I feel the same way about T.I.'s supposed "redemption"--don't believe it for a minute, but who am I to judge.
I've never been a big believer in "pc tolerance." I tolerate alot of things but don't necessarily like them. And, while I understand bigotry is stupidity as long as he's no longer acting out violently against others, he's free to be as stupid as he CHOOSES to be. Great thing about freedom, right?
TRUE tolerance and change/acceptance has to be personal and internal not forced upon people...at least that's what I think.
Interesting. I completely agree that acceptance is an internal feeling, an internal peace. Change is internal as well.
Tolerance, however, is not the same. It is something you do in order to avoid a punishment. I think we would all do well to recognize and understand the difference.
About your statement that true tolerance "has to be personal and internal and not forced upon people"...with all due respect, um...No! There is most certainly an extent to which tolerance SHOULD be forced upon people, precisely BECAUSE you cannot force someone to like something. Racism and hate would still be as blatant and rampant as they were during the enslavement if simple tolerance was not forced on society via laws and sanctions. The white majority didn't LIKE the change. The status quo never does. But, if every outcasted groups of society (ie People of color, homosexuals, disabled, poor, women, etc...) WAITED on the more powerful members of society (namely the wealthy, the well-educated, whites, men, protestants, etc) to bestow upon them their tolerance, WAITED to be accepted and liked, the world would be worse off than it already is. Now we can certainly go into a debate about the power dynamics of this whole thing. But at the end of the day, history is replete with examples of power conceding absolutely nothing without someone demanding it and putting sanctions in place.
The guy in the article is free to be as much of a bigot as he chooses, as long as he does it in his own home and does not harm anyone in the process (which clearly he failed to do). But the point is that there will always be people who hate other people. Thats fine. That's life. But the problem comes when people let their own hate affect the lives and very destinys of other people. That is the point at which ones indivivual freedom impinges upon the freedom of another, just as valuable, individual.
So I enjoy a good discussion and will always take someone's else point of view into consideration. We agree that freedom is a great thing as long as it doesn't hinder someone else. Unfortunately, we differ on the idea of TRUE/PC tolerance, change, and acceptance. I honestly believe there is a difference. Let me clarify again.
TRUE change/acceptance and tolerance I believe go hand in hand. You can be forced to tolerate school desegregation b/c it's the law (PC); but, it's not until you befriend a black peer that the misconceptions start to diminish and you change (TRUE). You can force a kid to eat vegetables, but it's not until they understand (make a personal connection of the nutritional value)it's good for them that they enjoy it more. You can force "pc equality" but that does not mean we'll all be viewed as "truly equal."
Do not misinterpret what I'm saying, I'm THANKFUL slavery has been abolished, Jim Crow is no longer in effect, schools have been desegregated, an African American man is president. These feats were forcefully accomplished by GREAT men and women of all creeds. However, my "pc" coworker tolerates me in 2009 because she has to. Heaven forbid she look bad. But in her heart she "truly" doesn't tolerate me.
And, I checked webster.com/encarta.msn.com/answers.com and thefreedictionary.com and none of these sites had avoiding punishment as a definition of tolerance. In fact, several definition variations included the word acceptance. Please let me know where your definition comes from.
Ok, you two. Play nice!
I agree, anonymous.
Kudos for looking up the definitions of the words. But I don't think the difference, as we both seem to see it, is gonna be found in a "textbook definition" To me, its more a matter of how the terms play themselves out in the real world. The important thing, in my opinion, is that we see difference between doing something because its required, and doing it because its simply the right thing to do.
Now, on to the next topic Mr. Young Gun.
So we should recognize and understand the meaning of a word as long as its the real world application...interesting.
Where's that religious post, Young Gun?
Don't know if the my followers are ready to dive head first into the religion blog. We'll see. Maybe.
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