Racism

Supergoober brought up a good point on the GoG's private yahoo group today about Racism.  For those that don't know, the GoG is made up of a diverse group of races that is a demographic slice of the SF Bay Area.  Seriously it is.  The group is made up of Filipinos, Chinese, Japanese, Polish, Latino, Celts and Italians.   The Group also has Catholics, Jews and other religions that I'm probably not aware of.  (Honestly with the GoG, Religion is a mute point as it's a subject that is rarely discussed and everyone's differences are respected.)  Yet in that Group of Immigrants (there's no one in that group who's ancestors came over on the Mayflower.) The Celts, Pols and Italians would be considered "White" and treated differently than say the Asians or Latinos.   Why?  The media, the mouth breathing "pundits", etc.   I've discussed this before, every Stereotype has a bit of truth to it.  I'm one of the Italians in the group.  My people are loud, we talk with our hands, we are touchy feely and tend to have no concept of personal space.  We pepper our dialogue with Italian sayings (case in point, from being around my relatives and Family all my life I, like other Italians, say the term "Madon" when someone or something makes one shake one's head.  Or when someone frustrates you.  The actual term is "Madonna Mia".  Something on TV last night made me say that and my Daughter said "why do you say that all the time?") and when we are together we get "very Italian".   I know, you are thinking "The Godfather" and "The Sopranos" right now aren't you?  Those stereotypes are true.  Am I offended by them?  Hell no.  The point of this discussion was prompted by Supergoober's response to Rush Limburger calling Justice Sotomayer a "racist".   Wow.  Hello Mr. Kettle, I'd like to introduce you to Mr. Pot.  Her statement was from 2002 when she said that (and I'm paraphrasing here) that "as a Latina she would have a better perspective on the situation than a privileged White Person."   I'm guessing the case was a case of a minority being further undermined by the law or something.   In that case, it wasn't a racist statement.  When offering opinions on laws, I firmly believe the Supreme Court Justices should first ask themselves "Who is this law benefiting?".   In a case like the aforementioned one, if it was about a minority, then yes Sotomayer as a Latina who had to work her way up from the bottom and who was able to attend Law School on Scholarships would have a better understanding of what an underprivileged Minority has to go through every day.   A WASP born into buttloads of cash who has never had to want at any time in their lives doesn't understand shit about being Poor, or a Minority.  Hell they don't even understand what it is to be White and Middle Class.  People claim there's a "double standard".  If a White Man said something similar to what Sotomayer said he'd be branded a racist and would have resigned his nomination.   As well he should.  I hate to say this White Folks, but your racist, in charge of everything asses have had this coming a long time now.   Those of you born into money with no freaking clue as to what those who have to work for a living have to go through every day are in for a big shock too.  Supergoober's comparison was this:  Take White people hating all Filipinos and then compare that to Filipinos hating all White people.  There are more Whites in this country (hell I think they are all here in Tennessee but I digress....) than Filipinos.  If there was a "battle" who do you think would win?  This was his question.  His point was that the White Hatred towards the Filipinos is more dangerous and detrimental to that Racial Group than the Filipino hatred (and yes he commented on the lowercase h..) towards the Whites.  Why you ask?  Isn't it the same thing?  Isn't hatred hatred?  In a sense it's the same thing, but only in the fact that the hate is an emotional response to actions from the other group.  That's it.  Whites have the power in this Country (even with a Black President, it's still a mostly White Congress and House.....).  Most CEO's of the big Powerful Corporations are White Males.  Money talks, and the Whites have most of it.  If a powerful and wealthy White man wanted to, with a little expenditure of cash he could make it so Filipinos are considered second class citizens.   That's SG's point.  We Humans tend to hate what's different than ourselves.   White folks have been Xenophobic for Decades now, and not much has changed.   What is changing is the old generations that accepted the "N" word as no big deal, who actually used it often and in polite company, are dying off and becoming irrelevant.  Funny how most of them are die hard Republicans...hee hee...  I saw a report that said there is an increase in the amount of interracial people in this Country.  I've always said, one day we will all be the same freaking color and be able to trace our ancestry to several different racial backgrounds.    With the generations that are coming of age (i.e. younger than me...) and their attitudes towards things, I'm not surprised in the slightest.