Racism against whites

[kedawa]

I sort of agree with his general point, that the winter games are only relevant to people of certain regions, and lack the inclusiveness of the summer games, but his attack on the legitimacy of the sports is just ignorant.

[Fe 26]

Thats kind of subjective really. What really makes a sport a sport? Skill? Stratagy? Something that makes you tired? What?

I'd rather watch ice skating any day over football. Watching twirling panty shots is more enjoyable than two groups fighting over a ball, imo.

NOW, if football was played by hot 20 year old girls in their undies, now THAT would be a sport to watch.

[JMET]

Fuck Gumbel, he is whiter then half this damn board.

[g0zen]

and white interest groups haven't raised hell because THEY ARE NOT ALLOWED TO EXIST.

I'm sorry, but I don't really care what assholes like the Aryan Nation think about Gumbel's comments, even if he is wrong.

[Fe 26]

Does anyone care what any hate group has to say?

[g0zen]

Oh I'm sure sphere79 does.

[Jester]

As a person who has encountered discrimation because of my skin color here in Japan, I'll try to answer these questions.

1. It depends. The discrimination comes in all varieties. The good kind and the bad kind. Both can wear on my nerves. I didn't come here to be famous, but I don't like being treated like a second class citizen either.
I feel angry that people treat me like an animal sometimes, people staring at me if I ever eat in public (which I 've almost completely given up because of this).
It also makes me sad, to think that after all these years that this retardedness still is so prevalent.
It also makes me feel bad about myself, even though I know I shouldn't, it has a way of dehumanizing you after a while.

2. What it means to me is that I should do my best to make people feel comfortable around me. Sorta passive eductaion through familiarity. Smile more than I normally would, try to be couteous, even if culturally our courtesies don't line up.
However it is impossible to always be positive in the face of such a continual negative onslaught. And ideally it shouldn't be necessary, but even though change is a constant, sometimes it still needs a catalyst.
It also makes me more sympathetic to other's claims of racist behavior. I grew up in a poor inner-city neighborhood. My neighbors were mostly white in my imediate area, but one block in any direction would take you into a predominatly black or predominatly mexican area. As such I grew up comfortable with other races and I always used to butt heads with friends of different ethnicities about racist treatment because I felt I had experienced more in my situation (being white in a mostly non-white school) than what they always claimed (the man keeping them down etc.). But the few isolated incidents of racial backlash (as I define it now) that I experienced in Amercia is nothing compared to the outright second class treatment in Japan (of course there is the occasional case of instant superstar status that comes from being the odd man out, but that fades over time once people get used to your existance and you become just another minority, same thing happened when I went with a friend to a black church, and my sister's exboyfriend said he felt the same way when he went to our white church).
So having experienced the racism in Japan and talked it over with black friends here and at home they always say that I now know exactly what it's like for them in America. So I'm definatley more aware of what the general feeling is, and although I think a lot of it is exaggerated (and I know it has to be in my case, it just simply can't be that bad) I totally understand where the accusations and feelings about racism come from.
So lastly it also means that when I come home for good, I'm defiantely going to stop pretending it dosen't exist, I'm not going to act like it is isolated incident and definately not going to wlak around with my head up my own ass like Yoshi above. It's not about handouts, it is about being treated normal. Next time I'm not going to let it slide when some white guy feels like he can comfortable say "nigger" around me. I'm not going to complain about racial backlashes (affirmative action, anti-white sentiment) but I'm going to treat that exactly like I would any other form of racism, acknowledge it and attempt to make people familiar with the alternative. I'm definately going to be more proactive and try to prevent the self ghettonization that always seems to happen in large mixed ethnicity groups by making a conscience effort to mingle with other races (I've often considered this racist in the idea that it considiers "race" at all, but dammit, race is always considered even if I've ignored it till now).

3. This one is the easy question. It comes from ignorance. Prejudice is making a judgement before considering the facts, and that is ignorance in action. So if you can give/be an example to people it's more effective than teaching or telling them what the truth is, it's showing them.

[gamevet]

Though obviously it's not a personal attack on me perse, I am angered at Bryant Gumbel's recent comments on his HBO show "Real Sports".

Here's the transcript:

“Finally, tonight, the Winter Games. Count me among those who don’t like them and won’t watch them.... Because they’re so trying, maybe over the next three weeks we should all try too. Like, try not to be incredulous when someone attempts to link these games to those of the ancient Greeks who never heard of skating or skiing. So try not to laugh when someone says these are the world’s greatest athletes, despite a paucity of blacks that makes the Winter Games look like a GOP convention. Try not to point out that something’s not really a sport if a pseudo-athlete waits in what’s called a kiss-and-cry area, while some panel of subjective judges decides who won.... So if only to hasten the arrival of the day they’re done, when we can move on to March Madness—for God’s sake, let the games begin.”

Does this fall under the "racism against whites" category? Well, he can not like the fact that there are few blacks in the Winter Olympics but his attacks on it are uncalled for. You can bet if there was a black couple dominating figure skating he'd keep his mouth shut. Sure, I don't like figure-skating and it isn't a sport in the same way a "men chasing a ball around" type of sport is. But there clearly is skill, accuracy, and athleticism there, and for him to basically discount it because it's "too white" is wrong. Well, at least the lack of media attention offering a couterpoint is wrong.

We know there'd be flack if white folks were to discount a mostly black sport, which certainly wouldn't be done by a person of Gumbel's stature, and if it was they'd either be instantly fired of if they're lucky be allowed to grovel for apology. Black rights groups would quickly organize and boycott, and the media blitz would be never ending. Gumbel's comments on the other hand have drawn little to no criticism / media attention, and white interest groups haven't raised hell because THEY ARE NOT ALLOWED TO EXIST.

And another thing Gumbel - there aren't alot of black people ANYWHERE IT'S COLD you moron. It's a genetic thing, their bodies just don't handle cold as well as people originating from natively colder climates.

My point is there's a blatant double-standard, many white sports commentators have been instantly fired for saying controversial things.

I'll bet he never mentioned Debbie Thomas or the Jamaican bobsled team, in his rant.

Then again, you have the first African-American to win Gold in the Olympics, this year.
http://www.nbcolympics.com/speedskat...tml?qs=pt=espn

Davis became the first African-American man to claim an individual gold medal in Winter Olympic history Saturday, winning the 1000m speed skating race and justifying his decision to focus on himself first, his team second.

[Jester]

Case and point, america fucking rocks. Racism is like 4000 millions times worse over here than in the states.

Try talking to a black person, they'll tell you that what you get here in Japan, is exactly like what they get in America. It's 4000 millions times worse for white people in Japan, it's actually better for black people in Japan than in America. But America still rocks harder and longer than anywhere else.

[Fe 26]

I was thinking today about how culturism helps breed racism in the US. Back during the civil rights movement black people just wanted to be apart of the world around them, the US culture. However, now it would seem that many black people, especially youth want their own thing. They are creating a counter culture to what they perceive as "white" culture. This seems to only screw things up more when nonblack people reject this culture. The problem only compounds itself when more counter culture is made to "reject" those that have rejected them.

And to be honest I can't say I've never done that. I'm not a big fan of pop rap and the shit that goes with it. Who I am as a person cannot connect with the materialism, anger, and objectification of women that is found in a lot of mainstream rap and the urban scene that goes with it. As a result it’s really hard for me to find any kind of common ground. For the most part I don't even bother anymore because that sort of shit goes against the majority of my own ethics so much I imagine it will only lead to arguments. I imagine people pic that up and don't care to much for it. No one likes to be ignored or rejected, regardless if they are right or wrong in the way they are living their life.

Do kids that prescribe to the entire urban black badass shit have any idea how hard it makes for the rest of the country to be their friend? Or do they even care?

Try talking to a black person, they'll tell you that what you get here in Japan, is exactly like what they get in America. It's 4000 millions times worse for white people in Japan, it's actually better for black people in Japan than in America. But America still rocks harder and longer than anywhere else.

I think some of it just misunderstandings. An example would be like my room mate the other day calling the guy in charge of the building over some guys above us making noise while he wanted to sleep. Mind you, we've cut these guys a great deal of slack in the past. Its a normal thing to be woken up at 4 am by them fighting, cussing, and the smell of drugs. Anywho, I could imagine it would be really easy to chock that call up to my room mate being racist. You know, becuase he is white, and they are black. But in reality he just wanted some sleep.