Quote:
Originally Posted by fatso
This thread has gone completely off the rails. Here are a few of the strands I can decipher...
1. I think everyone feels bad for West Karma and is sincerely glad his/her father will be ok. No doubt about that.
2. Is there a systematic bias, enabled by the government that disadvantages First Nations peoples? yes, absolutely... whether it's "hand-outs" (as some so naively put it), reservations, failure to address historic economic inequality, straight-up racism, etc., I think everyone can agree that First Nations people are in a tough spot and need some better social support and leadership. We can debate the terms of that assistance 'til we're blue in the face, but there is certainly a cultural problem that needs to be addressed - a problem that negatively impacts all Canadians.
3. West Karma's father got beat up by some "drunk Indians". IMO it is fundamentally racist to draw a link between the violence and their race. The presumption that someone is the way he/she is because of their race is racist, because it delimits that individual's character to be a singular expression of their race. Why is race an issue here as JiriHrdina asked, but no one addressed? Is it because "indians" are inherently violent drunks? Is it because "indian blood" carries some kind of social misfit gene? Or maybe it's not about race directly... maybe it's about poverty? And what about those "indians" who are law-abiding, model citizens? Did they beat the Indian gene? Are they the exception to the blood rule? Or maybe they had more opportunities in life or didn't fall through the cracks?
Race may be a valuable descriptor of an individual, but it's not - and should not be - a determinant of, or a criteria through which we pre-determine, their character. At least, that's what racial equality means to me.
4. As always, there's a camp that's adamant there is some politically correct conspiracy to prevent people from speaking the truth. Come to think of it, has there even been a thread in the history of CP that raised race, that did not degenerate into a whinefest about the tyranny of political correctness?
flame away...
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I was kind of hoping this thread would just die a natural death, but these comments are worth quoting and endorsing.
With respect to point 4, I'd say it's the one thing about the CP membership - which generally is composed of very intelligent and thoughtful people, especially when compared to the bulk of the interweb - which has consistently proved disappointing. Whenever a thread deals with crime, poverty, or race, a nasty streak emerges from this board. Perhaps the best case in point is the thread on Harper's apology speech to aboriginals. One might have expected the thread to contain posts by people saying "it's about time," or "I hope this helps everyone move on," but instead there's this strange defensiveness and attacks on the notion of apologizing at all. There's an arrogance and a sense of entitlement which emerges and isn't befitting the general character of CP. It's the type of thing which people in BC would describe as "redneck Alberta" and which, until recently, I would have said simply wasn't true of the city I grew up in. But it does seem to be there: a lack of willingness to sympathize, or even attempt to put oneself in the shoes of another.
As far as this thread is concerned, I think the OP's initial reaction is completely understandable: this event was personal, emotional, and highly despicable, and was also, it would seem, tied to race through the comments of his dad's attackers. But I'd like to think that, with a cool head, anyone would be able to divorce race from these types of behaviours. I have no problem with people genuinely discussing issues facing identifiable groups of any stripe, but I think it reflects very badly on this board when a thread degenerates into broad racial stereotyping backed up by little more than personal anecdotes.
Thanks to Fatso for trying to broker some peace here.