The War On Bullshit

Tuning into talk radio can sometimes be a mind-numbing task that significantly lowers one’s IQ, but I occasionally throw myself in front of the train and risk my intellect to see what folks out there are talking about. Unfortunately, when I turned my radio on this morning, people were talking about why black Americans should just “get over it.” The caller apparently believed that since slavery ended, everything is now hunky-dory and the black community has no reason to talk about it anymore. I realize it can be hard for gun-totin’, deer-huntin’ rednecks with Confederate flags flying in their pickup trucks to understand, so I put together a little list of why African-Americans don’t just get over it:

1. Holocaust survivors get Israel, while freed slaves get sharecropping.

I’m not going to bother with the stale, old argument about which was worse, the Holocaust or American slavery. I don’t think it’s fair to compare the two – one was genocide, while the other was 400 years of stripping human beings of their rights and using them as farm animals. However, the response to the two would sure as hell piss me off as a black man.

Let’s get this straight. The Jews get a national homeland, stolen from the Arab people who had lived there for centuries, while the freed slaves got sharecropping and debt slavery on the same plantations where they had toiled as slaves. I realize the two happened in two totally different times with two totally different social consciousnesses, but I can damn sure see why this might tick off your average African-American.

2. Decent education is less available to people in majority black communities.

In the South, slaves were rarely allowed to read – this is a common tactic for keeping slaves. Keep them ignorant and afraid, and they will follow commands. Unfortunately, this did not die with slavery. White, privileged Americans tried for the next 100 years to keep black people ignorant.

First, we segregated our schools to keep those terrible, awful black kids from mingling with our ‘wiser’ race. This was a fine method for ensuring that education for both ethnicities was anything but fair and equal. Integration presented challenges for those who wanted to keep holding black people back, but clever redistricting often sent all the kids from majority black neighborhoods to a vastly different school setting then their white counterparts. This still happens today, everywhere from inner-city New York City to the rural south.

Furthermore, there is quite a bit of evidence that kids learn better from teachers of their own race, as they have more upon which to relate to their teachers. That’s a real tough goal when the vast majority of teachers are white. This is part of a vicious cycle, unfortunately. White people on average receive a better education, and thus they are more apt to become teachers, only exacerbating the situation.

3. White people in the workforce still earn more, on average, than their black coworkers.

According to information from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, white workers earn more cash for their work than African-Americans. This could be the result of less-qualified minority workers, but I’d say see reason number 2 for information on why this may be the case.

4. Black men still make up the largest number of American prison inmates.

A 2003 Bureau of Justice census reported roughly 46% of prison inmates are black men. I’ve often heard the argument that “maybe they commit more crime.” Sure, that’s probably true. Once again, see item 2. A lack of education often leads to a life of crime.

5. And finally… RACISM STILL EXISTS.

The Jasper, Texas incident happened in only 1998, for a recent high-profile hate crime. For a more personal account, there are towns in my home-state of Louisiana where black men are warned to not be pulled over if they drive through because they will be harassed, searched, and given excessive fines by the local law enforcement. A particularly telling case of present-day racism, also from my home-state, is the Jena 6 incident, where six African-American teens were given excessive charges, as adults, for a fight with a white classmate.

Conclusion

I would not argue that racism still exists in the way it did even twenty years ago, even here in the south. Nor would I argue that African-Americans should be revolting, or overthrowing the bonds of white oppression. But to suggest black people should just “get over it” is ludicrous. Nor should Jews “get over” the Holocaust. Does this mean they should be constantly angry at the so-called “white race” over these injustices? Of course not. But getting over it implies forgetting what has happened and no longer discussing these injustices, and it is never a good thing to forget the evils of the past. We can remember the injustices of the past without carrying a burden of hate and bitterness, and we can prevent future injustice by discussing the errors of human history. The darkest times in human history should be remembered better than the golden days. Otherwise, we’re bound to repeat the same old mistakes, again and again.

This may come as a shock, but most people I know think that Americans are, in general, idiots. I don’t mean idiots in the technical sense of having low IQs, but in the everyday sense of not understanding basic ideas, not reflecting on one’s own hypocrisies and falling prey to blatant logical errors. Although smart Americans do exists (I know several), the majority are perceived, by the international community, to be about as deep and thoughtful as the plot of a Michael Bay film. Here are some reasons why:

1. Stopping people from bringing too much shampoo on an airplane when you can arm a militia at Walmart.

2. Choosing to waste the world’s resources, thousands of your dollars and years of your life sitting in your car, worrying about dying in a pileup and screaming at the bastard who just cut you off, instead of just living closer to work and taking the bus.

3. Being in favor of wars and against euthanasia, because people who want to die shouldn’t be allowed, but people who don’t want to die should obviously be killed.

4. Bill O’Reilly.

5. Other assholes who pretend to be journalists to advance their own radical viewpoints.

6. Calling any intelligent person who runs for office an elitist, because it’s clearly better to have an brainless alcoholic who knows nothing about the economy, foreign affairs, war or the environment run the country.

7. Wanting big house and lawns, only to complain about cleaning the house and mowing the lawn.

8. Allowing the country to be run by the National Fascist Party, who for marketing reasons call themselves “Republicans”

9. The position that America must have a huge nuclear arsenal to protect itself, but any other country who tries to build nukes to protect itself (from America, no doubt) is “a terrorist state.”

10. Fixed News, who call themselves “Fox News” and wage an unending war on reason while Pirate Lord Murdoch makes real journalists walk the plank.

11. Believe in talking snakes (Genesis), flying bodily up to Heaven, Women shouldn’t wear gold or pearls (Timothy 2:9), don’t covet your neighbor’s slaves (Ten Commandments) and so on.

12. Anti-rationalism and anti-science – anyone who rejects ‘reasons’ and ‘evidence’ is based on this evidence, an idiot.

13. Reality TV

14. If you say something bad about Jews, you’re an anti-semetic racist fuckhead, but if you say something bad about Muslims, you’re patriotic. Meanwhile, the real-life Lord Dracula was an agent of the Pope.

15. Constantly yammering about how great America is when it’s only number one in carbon dioxide emissions and number of prisoners.

16. Thinking that people are evil because they fight back after you invade without provocation, topple their government and start building military bases throughout their land.

17. Thinking that buying lead-coated barbie dolls from china with money you borrowed from Japan will magically fix your economy.

18. Not noticing that all the “enhanced security measures” implemented by your government under the guise of protection are surely intended to control their own populace.

19. Being against stem cell research and vaccinating girls against HPV, because obviously the talking snake wants people to die of Alzheimer’s and cancer.

20. Believing that peace can be spread through violence as if life is an action movie and all Americans are played by Sly Stallone.

And finally,

21. If you are one of the 40 or 50 million Americans who can’t afford insurance, and your child gets leukemia, your little boy or girl will not get needed treatment and he or she will most likely die. But you still think that “socialized medicine” is somehow a bad thing, and besides, you’re too busy complaining about the price of a tank of gas.

That’s it. I can’t take it anymore. Every year there’s a fresh outcry about the seal hunt. And every year the same old bullshit arguments get dragged up.

1st Bullshit Argument: The seal hunt is barbaric.

There are four approved methods of slaughtering livestock in the US:

1. asphyxiation (you know, take away their oxygen)
2. Captive Bolt (i.e., whack ‘em in the head to knock the animal unconscious before you slice and dice it)
3. Gunshot to the head
4. Electrical (the black wire is positive, the red wire is negative).

How exactly is having your skull smashed by a club any more “barbaric” then any of these? I understand if you’re a vegetarian, and you’re against the slaughter of any animal, but if you’ve had a burger in the past year, you can shut the fuck up right now.

2nd Bullshit Argument: It’s wrong to kill animals for their fur

Well first off, people eat seal. Just because YOU don’t eat seal, doesn’t mean there isn’t a market for seal meat. Second, if you’re mad about fur, take it up with fashion designers and the people who wear the fur and leave the seal hunters out of it. And if you own any fur, you can definitely shut the fuck up.

3rd Bullshit Argument: They’re Killing BABIES!!!

No, they aren’t. That’s illegal. But the animal rights groups have been feeding you a pack of lies about seal pups being slaughtered. But you ever wonder why there are so many chickens and so few roosters? What exactly do you think happens to the male chicks? Think blender. So if you’ve had eggs in the last year, you can shut the fuck up.

Conclusion

Let me why there is such outcry about the seal hunt:
1) Seals are cute
2) Blood on snow looks dramatic
3) People have come to believe that their food comes from factories.

I’ve got news for you. If it’s good to eat, it used to be alive, and someone killed it. That’s how nature works. Up until the day they die, seals live a normal life. That’s more than you can say for the dairy cow, who spends its life locked in a cell with some of its tits hacked off so it fits the milking machine, or the steer that has it nuts lopped off so its meat will be a little more tender.

If you have a problem with the seal hunt, why don’t you wag your finger at yourself first, leave ruining someone else’s livelihood for tomorrow.