Saturday, February 05, 2005

This Post Will Offend You

I was not originally going to cross post this one because it's not really political as much as personal, but C and his wife really seemed to like it, so courtesy Left of Center ...

White Trash, Honky, Skinhead, Redneck, Hick, Okie, Opie, Whitebread, Cracker, Nigger, Spade, Spook, Darkie, Coon, Spic, Wetback, Taco Vender, Border Jumper, Gook, Flip, Jap, Chink, Slant, Jew, Kike, Rag Head, Camel Jockey, Sand Nigger, Frog, Kraut, Dike, Homo, Fag, Fairy, Lesbo...

My family is about as ethnically diverse as it gets. I'm Hawaiian, Japanese, German, and Irish. My wife is first generation Chinese, making my daughter Hawaiian, Japanese, German, Irish, and Chinese. My stepmother is black, and I therefore have two black step brothers, three black step sisters, and one half black, half white half brother. My step father may be white through and through, but thanks to him, my closest cousins on my mom's side of the family are Mexican.

So I'm a little hyper sensitive to bigotry. Any epithet you throw out there probably insults either a member of my family, or a close friend (rounding out the mix starting up, probably my oldest friend, John Scott, is actually Egyptian. We don't see each other very much anymore since he's moved to the Middle East, but we still keep in contact through e-mails. On top of that, my wife and I watched as a close friend of our household struggled with the realization that he is in fact gay. These aren't the only examples, but I'm just giving a couple of names).

We are, none of us, the same. In his infinite wisdom, God has chosen to make us all unique; a happy blend of colors, attributes, beliefs, and orientations. And then, maybe for humor, maybe for drama, he gave us this really neat latent xenophobic tendency wherein we fear anything that isn't like us (hence all those really crappy black and white alien movies where some master race comes down to kill us all, and exploit our planet. And ID4 and Signs).

But I grew up differently, as you can see. I've never really grasped how the way someone is born can make them any less or more in the eyes of neither God nor a free society, and yet there are so many people that do see things that way. We are all people.

Still, those words at the top don't bother me as much as you might expect. They are just words, sounds that are given meaning only through their usage, and their intent. It is emotion and motive that lends them their power to hurt and attack. But they are still words.

So I understand that these words can be used without the intent to do harm. When you truly understand where the power of words lie, the usage of these words can be used to mock how ineffectual they truly are. Sometimes my step brothers and sisters would call me nigger, and I'd call them all crackers. To us, we were making fun of the ridiculous situation that we were in; siblings of obviously differing ethnic backgrounds that loved each other as though we were blood, though living in a world where we may be looked down upon for our racially mixed transgressions.

But, reading the paper the other day, I did find a couple of terms that I did not like. Each time my eyes scanned over them, I cringed. The terms were "whites," and "blacks."

Now I did not loathe the terms because they were trying to highlight the differences between the two groups because that was the point of the story which was reporting on a study that was looking at graduation rates between ethnicity and gender.

No, what bothered me was the intent behind the words. What bothered me was that the usage of those words intended to reflect statistics did the same thing that all those terms at the beginning of this article do. What bothered me was that when they had wrote "whites," and "blacks," they left out the people.

Mr. M

8 comments:

Harkonnendog said...

Nice post, but no "Haole" ??? ;)

Kyle E. Moore said...

I think I told you once, I'm part Hawaiian, but have actually never been to Hawaii. So, other than my grandmother trying to teach me, and the rare luaus, I really don't hear much Hawaiian. What is that? "White boy?"

Mr. M

Harkonnendog said...

Yeah, kind of like honkey, but not. Often preceeded with the words "Stupid f*****g," lol.

Anonymous said...

Thank you Mr. M
Kirkrrt

Kyle E. Moore said...

All I've heard, Harky, are stories (I'm still a little miffed that my grandmother took my brother home on one of her yearly pilgrimiges and never me). But if you are what i think you are, you either got your ass beat by a couple of Hawaiian brothers, or your lady doesn't have any brothers.

K, if you're thanking me for what I think you are, than... thank you.

Mr. M

Anonymous said...

No. I had written a long comment about my own situation then decided it was too personal. So I just wanted to say thank you for writing such a good piece on tolerance. Shamanic did one recently on "gay marriage" and homosexuality that was really good.
The three of you (Cernig included)are good reading.
Kirkrrt

Kyle E. Moore said...

Then, thank you K. That post was actually very personal, hence the lack of expletives and snide remarks. I've written a lot of stuff since I've started writing about politics. I've gotten some good comments, and some comments that were polite, but you could tell that the the critic was holding back.

But whether it was an attack on my logic, my facts, or my style, I had no problem letting it all fall off because while I work hard at the political writings, I don't take it personal.

To receive the kind of support I've gotten for writing this post, well, that's just the best thing in the world.

I think what really brings the anti-bigoted sentiments out in me is the fact that we all at some time or another feel left out and trodden upon. I'm a white male in my mid twenties, I'm the target demographic, but that doesn't mean that I've never felt out of place. Considering that most of my family and friends are minorities just throws the injustices of bigotry into sharp relief.

As for your comments on the three of us, that too is very heartwarming. Personally, I think the three of us are starting to develop a really great kind of teamwork, and having a reader like yourself that I see on all of the websites is really encouraging.

Thanks again K.

Mr. M

Harkonnendog said...

Mr. M,
Things aren't really like that, here. I think anti-haole prejudice is exagerated. Then again, I'm an assimilated haole, plus I'm 6'4, 250lb Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioner. In high school that stuff goes on quite a bit, though...