Today's Tangle is sneaky brilliant and you might not pick up on that at first reading. Isaac comes down uncharacteristically hard on the left. One line in his "My Take" truly resonated with me: Few things aggrieve [me] more than being accused of racism. Perhaps, as the scurrilous Michael Harriot claims, it really is a matter of definition. For him, racism is not a belief, it is the root cause of any unequal outcome. Don't believe me? Read his statistics. The left worships equality of outcome and will settle for nothing less. I grew up in a majority black neighborhood, went to majority black schools, fell in love with a black girl, and had almost majority black friends. Am I racist and don't even know it? Damn. How the hell did I get that way?
Another great contribution, Shawn! Thank you for sharing your personal life experience, which I believe counts as very valuable. You've walked in the shoes (neighborhood, school, dating and love) that so many will never experience.
Life experience teaches what books cannot. Just because a person knows "about" something does not mean they "know" the intricacies of it. And that's where "the rubber really meets the road"!
My parents taught us, "Don't judge a man until you have walked a mile in his shoes." That has proven invaluable in my life.
Thanks again for sharing your personal experience. God bless!
You are too kind, Rita. There those who seek to rule us, and they are using the time tested tactic of Julius Caesar: Divide and conquer. An obvious way to divide is by race. Another is by wealth. Yet another, by gender, and there are many more. The only way we can prevent them from ruling us is by staying united and not dividing. We must hang together, said Ben Franklin. Do you know what he went on to say?
Just speaking the truth the way I see it.😊 I always enjoy the wisdom you have to share!
No, I don't know what Ben Franklin went on to say. I could look it up, but then only I would have the benefit of hearing the answer. (Or maybe I'm the only one that doesn't know! 😄) Please share!
I believe humans are tribal and will always work for the benefit of whatever tribe to which they believe they belong. This can be positive in the sense of building community or very negative in that you try to build your group up by exploiting or putting down another. It shouldn't be a zero sum game.
When I was growing up, whites were a huge majority. I was in high school before I actual met and interacted with a black person. I had seen blacks working as porters on trains and in the airport. I very occasionally saw black businessmen and other blacks in passing through transportation terminals.
That changed greatly over time and I have had black bosses and employees and knew them as individuals -- same as other co-workers. It has changed too for my kids.
When they were in school, they were the minority. More the 70% of their classmates were what are called in Canada ironically, "visible minorities" (who are actually a majority of the population in Toronto).
For the first 10 or 11 years of their schooling, these kids all played together and would come to birthday and other parties in what seemed to me to be utopian racial harmony. When they got to high school that all seemed to change. Their black classmates seemed to disappear first and then the Asians. Sure they'd still say hi on the street, but at parties there was less and less heterogeneity each time.
If you were on the wrestling team or football team you would still have more mixed events but the teens seemed to stick together in racial groups more and more. I tried to get an answer to the why from my kids but they said the other kids wanted to "hang with their own".
This is just an observation. I know that racism has caused inequities that take time to overcome and its a hard slog. I know that Canada still has to improve on its equality of opportunity as well. I do like to remember the 10 year old's all playing together like an old coke commercial. Sigh.
Today's Tangle is sneaky brilliant and you might not pick up on that at first reading. Isaac comes down uncharacteristically hard on the left. One line in his "My Take" truly resonated with me: Few things aggrieve [me] more than being accused of racism. Perhaps, as the scurrilous Michael Harriot claims, it really is a matter of definition. For him, racism is not a belief, it is the root cause of any unequal outcome. Don't believe me? Read his statistics. The left worships equality of outcome and will settle for nothing less. I grew up in a majority black neighborhood, went to majority black schools, fell in love with a black girl, and had almost majority black friends. Am I racist and don't even know it? Damn. How the hell did I get that way?
Another great contribution, Shawn! Thank you for sharing your personal life experience, which I believe counts as very valuable. You've walked in the shoes (neighborhood, school, dating and love) that so many will never experience.
Life experience teaches what books cannot. Just because a person knows "about" something does not mean they "know" the intricacies of it. And that's where "the rubber really meets the road"!
My parents taught us, "Don't judge a man until you have walked a mile in his shoes." That has proven invaluable in my life.
Thanks again for sharing your personal experience. God bless!
You are too kind, Rita. There those who seek to rule us, and they are using the time tested tactic of Julius Caesar: Divide and conquer. An obvious way to divide is by race. Another is by wealth. Yet another, by gender, and there are many more. The only way we can prevent them from ruling us is by staying united and not dividing. We must hang together, said Ben Franklin. Do you know what he went on to say?
Just speaking the truth the way I see it.😊 I always enjoy the wisdom you have to share!
No, I don't know what Ben Franklin went on to say. I could look it up, but then only I would have the benefit of hearing the answer. (Or maybe I'm the only one that doesn't know! 😄) Please share!
"We must hang together, or we will surely hang separately." Benjamin Franklin
Thanks for sharing, Shawn. Team work: We must find a way to save our country!
I believe humans are tribal and will always work for the benefit of whatever tribe to which they believe they belong. This can be positive in the sense of building community or very negative in that you try to build your group up by exploiting or putting down another. It shouldn't be a zero sum game.
When I was growing up, whites were a huge majority. I was in high school before I actual met and interacted with a black person. I had seen blacks working as porters on trains and in the airport. I very occasionally saw black businessmen and other blacks in passing through transportation terminals.
That changed greatly over time and I have had black bosses and employees and knew them as individuals -- same as other co-workers. It has changed too for my kids.
When they were in school, they were the minority. More the 70% of their classmates were what are called in Canada ironically, "visible minorities" (who are actually a majority of the population in Toronto).
For the first 10 or 11 years of their schooling, these kids all played together and would come to birthday and other parties in what seemed to me to be utopian racial harmony. When they got to high school that all seemed to change. Their black classmates seemed to disappear first and then the Asians. Sure they'd still say hi on the street, but at parties there was less and less heterogeneity each time.
If you were on the wrestling team or football team you would still have more mixed events but the teens seemed to stick together in racial groups more and more. I tried to get an answer to the why from my kids but they said the other kids wanted to "hang with their own".
This is just an observation. I know that racism has caused inequities that take time to overcome and its a hard slog. I know that Canada still has to improve on its equality of opportunity as well. I do like to remember the 10 year old's all playing together like an old coke commercial. Sigh.
Hard-hitting coverage! Thanks for this issue.
I included the wrong link to the death penalty in today's edition - sorry about that. Here is the proper link: https://www.readtangle.com/p/death-penalty-examination-pros-cons