Hmm. On racism and media.

[kickaha]

So I ran across this... http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americas/01/21/chavez.ap/index.html

In it, Pres. Chavez of Venezuela apparently said "Go to hell, gringos!" in reference to the US in a radio address.

Okay. So he's unhappy, and he even probably has good reason to be.

So where's the outcry that would happen if a US politician said "Go to hell, wetbacks!" in reference to Mexico or any other Latin American state?

In case you couldn't notice, I'm not one that ascribes to the (to me, idiotic) idea that only whites can be racist, and only men can be sexist. Racism and sexism are endemic across races and genders, IMO, and equally stupid and moronic in whatever form they pop up.

Now, one could argue that gringo hasn't the punch that other racist names might have... but I'm not so sure, having grown up in a Hispanic-Anglo racially tense area. Gringo was spat with the same venom as wetback, in my personal experience, which makes this just...

*shakes head*

Idiots, idiots, everywhere, and not a brain to think.

Comments

[kickaha.livejournal.com]

Agreed. I just keep waiting for *anybody* not associated with the right-wing (present fiscal-only conservatives excluded ;) ) to stand up and say "CRAZY MAN TALKING!"

[actsofcreation.livejournal.com]

Frankly, I think it's the distinction between the knee-jerk anti-socialist and sober minded realists who look at Chavez and see him running Venezuala towards a cliff. Most of both the left and right wing are basically knee jerkers. They don't *REALLY* understand what's going on, they just know which side they are on...

I swear, it's the blues and the greens all over again... didn't we learn this lesson in the 1500 years ago... :(

[georgmi.livejournal.com]

I think knee-jerk reactions are what we've evolved to favor, actually. When confronted with a large carnivore, survival and reproduction went to the primates who immediately decided to "run!" or "attack!", and almost never went to the primates who asked themselves, "what are the long-term consequences to the environment of my possible actions?"

Of course, now that we've pretty much solved the immediate-survival problem, the hardest part of the job is getting people to understand that we need them to step outside of the short-term. Add the fact that most political parties and special interests have figured out that they need to keep people *in* the short-term, and "sober minded realists" of every stripe are kind of screwed.