It Goes Without Saying

 

A groundswell of anti-racism flags and position statements seems to be taking over many public and social media venues. My Amazon shopping app now opens with a statement that “Amazon stands in solidarity with the Black community” and invites shoppers to “read about what we’re doing” on a specially designated landing page. My neighborhood NextDoor.com CEO has issued a strong statement that the Nextdoor community will not tolerate racist language in our community networking posts. And you can validate for yourself that many other examples abound.

As to the Nextdoor position, my wife, alarmed that such a statement needed to be put forth did a quick check over the history of posts to our Nextdoor site and found no such language ever being used. Maybe it had been used and deleted? I’m doubtful.

Has Amazon ever not stood in solidarity with customers of every color?

Nobody I personally know or have known for decades has ever uttered in my hearing a racially disparaging remark. And I would recognize one if I heard it. I was a child in the early ’60s living next door to a man who was quite racist and didn’t pull any punches when talking about non-whites. My parents used him as an example of what not to be, think, and say. It was the easiest lesson I ever learned because it made complete sense and stood in stark contrast to the smallness of the neighbor and his self-righteous posturing. Something even a seven-year-old could understand and know; that this man was wrong to speak so ill of people simply on the basis of their skin color.

At the risk of being canceled or put in a time-out of some kind, I feel the need to say that in a mature and respectful society, something like this should go without saying. The fondest desire of Dr. M.L. King was that men would be judged by the “content of their character” not the color of their skin. Judgment goes both ways. We have no right to judge a person inferior or superior by virtue of their skin color. We are all pigmented in some way and I find it frustrating that our current gatekeepers feel a need to signal virtuously about anything relative to race.

In my formative days, the cry was for us to be “colorblind.” I took every opportunity in my education, work life, and social life to assent to and pursue that glorious ambition. And over the years, it has felt wonderful to aspire for good for every brother and sister of the human race without a colorized finger on the scale of value.

I know some would say that I am probably self-deceived and that my race-privilege prevents me from seeing the sinister dysfunction still alive in our communities. But I can’t help but mourn that so many in public positions feel a need to colorize us again and do so in the subversive way of forcing our language, making us feel we have to say one half of what should be patently obvious. If we value the human race, all lives matter.

OK, go ahead. Slap me around.

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  1. Hoyacon Member
    Hoyacon
    @Hoyacon

    I not only won’t slap you around, I’ll try to help in my usual minimal way.

    If you sign up for Amazon Smile–a virtuous effort to donate a minute percentage of your purchase to a charity–you can enter through the Amazon Smile page and bypass the crap on the main page.  I have yet to see a downside to this, and they actually do give money to your charity.

    • #1
  2. Gene Killian Coolidge
    Gene Killian
    @GeneKillian

    These companies crack me up. How many African-American directors or C-Suite officers does Amazon have? You can check it here.

    • #2
  3. DrewInWisconsin Doesn't Care Member
    DrewInWisconsin Doesn't Care
    @DrewInWisconsin

    zandertunz: In my formative days, the cry was for us to be “colorblind”. I took every opportunity in my education, work life and social life to assent to and pursue that glorious ambition. And over the years, it has felt wonderful to aspire for good for every brother and sister of the human race without a colorized finger on the scale of value. 

    Surprise! The rules have changed, and to be colorblind is now racist!

    I have recently been lectured about this.

    I lectured right back. But you can’t convince these bright young things.

    • #3
  4. Hoyacon Member
    Hoyacon
    @Hoyacon

    DrewInWisconsin Doesn't C… (View Comment):

    zandertunz: In my formative days, the cry was for us to be “colorblind”. I took every opportunity in my education, work life and social life to assent to and pursue that glorious ambition. And over the years, it has felt wonderful to aspire for good for every brother and sister of the human race without a colorized finger on the scale of value.

    Surprise! The rules have changed, and to be colorblind is now racist!

    I have recently been lectured about this.

    I lectured right back. But you can’t convince these bright young things.

    I think that I would’ve liked to be a fly on the wall.

    • #4
  5. Locke On Member
    Locke On
    @LockeOn

    Hoyacon (View Comment):

    I not only won’t slap you around, I’ll try to help in my usual minimal way.

    If you sign up for Amazon Smile–a virtuous effort to donate a minute percentage of your purchase to a charity–you can enter through the Amazon Smile page and bypass the crap on the main page. I have yet to see a downside to this, and they actually do give money to your charity.

    Unfortunately, that isn’t true, at least the BLM crap shows up on my Smile home page. 

    And as long as it’s there, I’m not buying anything. 

    If enough of us do that, they WILL notice: Amazon has some of the most sophisticated web analytics out there.  The BLM blast has already moved from the top of their banner rotation to a side box.  Join me, and help drive it off the page.

    • #5
  6. JoelB Member
    JoelB
    @JoelB

    I take these like I take the Covid 19 announcements and the privacy statements.

    • #6
  7. EB Thatcher
    EB
    @EB

    Gene Killian (View Comment):
    here

    That would be 2 out of 15.  Not so great, Jeff!

    • #7
  8. Hoyacon Member
    Hoyacon
    @Hoyacon

    Locke On (View Comment):

    Hoyacon (View Comment):

    I not only won’t slap you around, I’ll try to help in my usual minimal way.

    If you sign up for Amazon Smile–a virtuous effort to donate a minute percentage of your purchase to a charity–you can enter through the Amazon Smile page and bypass the crap on the main page. I have yet to see a downside to this, and they actually do give money to your charity.

    Unfortunately, that isn’t true, at least the BLM crap shows up on my Smile home page.

    And as long as it’s there, I’m not buying anything.

    If enough of us do that, they WILL notice: Amazon has some of the most sophisticated web analytics out there. The BLM blast has already moved from the top of their banner rotation to a side box. Join me, and help drive it off the page.

    I apologize for any misinformation.  The URL I’m using goes directly to a “dashboard” that provides an accounting of how much I’ve “contributed” to the charity and how much Amazon has given to that charity.  Nothing about BLM. 

    • #8
  9. Kozak Member
    Kozak
    @Kozak

    • #9
  10. Kozak Member
    Kozak
    @Kozak

    DrewInWisconsin Doesn't C… (View Comment):

    zandertunz: In my formative days, the cry was for us to be “colorblind”. I took every opportunity in my education, work life and social life to assent to and pursue that glorious ambition. And over the years, it has felt wonderful to aspire for good for every brother and sister of the human race without a colorized finger on the scale of value.

    Surprise! The rules have changed, and to be colorblind is now racist!

    I have recently been lectured about this.

    I lectured right back. But you can’t convince these bright young things.

    I’m a lot less color blind than I used to be.

     

    • #10
  11. zandertunz Member
    zandertunz
    @zandertunz

    Kozak (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin Doesn’t C… (View Comment):

    zandertunz: In my formative days, the cry was for us to be “colorblind”. I took every opportunity in my education, work life and social life to assent to and pursue that glorious ambition. And over the years, it has felt wonderful to aspire for good for every brother and sister of the human race without a colorized finger on the scale of value.

    Surprise! The rules have changed, and to be colorblind is now racist!

    I have recently been lectured about this.

    I lectured right back. But you can’t convince these bright young things.

    I’m a lot less color blind than I used to be.

     

    Sad, IMHO. I guess we all get educated with our own cohort. It’s not like math where 2+2 always = 4. When the teachers change in this field, so do the “truths”. 

    • #11
  12. Hoyacon Member
    Hoyacon
    @Hoyacon

    EB (View Comment):

    Gene Killian (View Comment):
    here

    That would be 2 out of 15. Not so great, Jeff!

    Thirteen percent is a rough approximation of the number of African-Americans in the U.S.  Amazon is nothing if not calculating in the literal sense.

    • #12
  13. Full Size Tabby Member
    Full Size Tabby
    @FullSizeTabby

    DrewInWisconsin Doesn't C… (View Comment):

    zandertunz: In my formative days, the cry was for us to be “colorblind”. I took every opportunity in my education, work life and social life to assent to and pursue that glorious ambition. And over the years, it has felt wonderful to aspire for good for every brother and sister of the human race without a colorized finger on the scale of value.

    Surprise! The rules have changed, and to be colorblind is now racist!

    I have recently been lectured about this.

    I lectured right back. But you can’t convince these bright young things.

    The past several weeks is putting me on a path to actually becoming a real old-fashioned racist. Black Lives Matter and their allies (corporate and social) are telling me that people with dark skin are incapable of conforming to the basics of civilized society, and are so incapable of “normal” behavior that we have to put them in a special category and treat them in special ways. If people are telling you and me that being colorblind is “racist,” those people are telling me that black people are incapable of participating in society on the same terms as everyone else. Those people are validating “racism” in the old-fashioned sense. If Black Lives Matter and their allies think black people are incapable of regular participation in society, why shouldn’t I look down on black people?

    The people and entities jumping onto the Black Lives Matter bandwagon may be increasing racial tension, not decreasing it. 

    • #13
  14. Randy Webster Inactive
    Randy Webster
    @RandyWebster

    zandertunz: The fondest desire of Dr. M.L. King was that men would be judged by the “content of their character”, not the color of their skin.

    That’s a really racist thing to say.

    • #14
  15. DrewInWisconsin Doesn't Care Member
    DrewInWisconsin Doesn't Care
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Full Size Tabby (View Comment):
    The people and entities jumping onto the Black Lives Matter bandwagon may be increasing racial tension, not decreasing it. 

    That’s what I keep telling my friends who are jumping on the bandwagon. That they’re doing more harm than good. But they don’t see it. They are, after all, the white saviors that black people need. (Although they use the term “white ally,” it means the same thing.)

    • #15
  16. Randy Webster Inactive
    Randy Webster
    @RandyWebster

    EB (View Comment):

    Gene Killian (View Comment):
    here

    That would be 2 out of 15. Not so great, Jeff!

    I make that to be about 13%, about the same as the black proportion of the general population.  Probably on purpose.

    • #16
  17. Hoyacon Member
    Hoyacon
    @Hoyacon

    DrewInWisconsin Doesn't C… (View Comment):

    Full Size Tabby (View Comment):
    The people and entities jumping onto the Black Lives Matter bandwagon may be increasing racial tension, not decreasing it.

    That’s what I keep telling my friends who are jumping on the bandwagon. That they’re doing more harm than good. But they don’t see it. They are, after all, the white saviors that black people need. (Although they use the term “white ally,” it means the same thing.)

    Being the eternal passimist, I’m assuming at some point this is going to stir up some of our white lunkheads, who will feel the need to “stand up for our race” by running around with swastikas and the like.  This of course will be my fault as well.

     

    • #17
  18. DrewInWisconsin Doesn't Care Member
    DrewInWisconsin Doesn't Care
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Hoyacon (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin Doesn’t C… (View Comment):

    Full Size Tabby (View Comment):
    The people and entities jumping onto the Black Lives Matter bandwagon may be increasing racial tension, not decreasing it.

    That’s what I keep telling my friends who are jumping on the bandwagon. That they’re doing more harm than good. But they don’t see it. They are, after all, the white saviors that black people need. (Although they use the term “white ally,” it means the same thing.)

    Being the eternal passimist, I’m assuming at some point this is going to stir up some of our white lunkheads, who will feel the need to “stand up for our race” by running around with swastikas and the like. This of course will be my fault as well.

    As far as the left is concerned, all we are now is just members of racial identity groups. Some of us warned that this was a dangerous game to play, and it should come as any surprise when white people want to play the game, too.

    • #18
  19. Randy Webster Inactive
    Randy Webster
    @RandyWebster

    Hoyacon (View Comment):
    Being the eternal passimist, I’m assuming at some point this is going to stir up some of our white lunkheads, who will feel the need to “stand up for our race” by running around with swastikas and the like. This of course will be my fault as well.

    They can run around with swastikas and the like all they want.  It’s when they start running around with guns that I get concerned.

    • #19
  20. EB Thatcher
    EB
    @EB

    Hoyacon (View Comment):

    EB (View Comment):

    Gene Killian (View Comment):
    here

    That would be 2 out of 15. Not so great, Jeff!

    Thirteen percent is a rough approximation of the number of African-Americans in the U.S. Amazon is nothing if not calculating in the literal sense.

    Actually, I was counting “people of color.”  One of the 2 directors is from Chennai, India.  So if we are talking African-American, it’s 1 out of 15.  So he needs to up  his game to qualify as “pure.”

    • #20
  21. Hoyacon Member
    Hoyacon
    @Hoyacon

    EB (View Comment):

    Hoyacon (View Comment):

    EB (View Comment):

    Gene Killian (View Comment):
    here

    That would be 2 out of 15. Not so great, Jeff!

    Thirteen percent is a rough approximation of the number of African-Americans in the U.S. Amazon is nothing if not calculating in the literal sense.

    Actually, I was counting “people of color.” One of the 2 directors is from Chennai, India. So if we are talking African-American, it’s 1 out of 15. So he needs to up his game to qualify as “pure.”

    Well that blows my theory.

    • #21
  22. Kozak Member
    Kozak
    @Kozak

    zandertunz (View Comment):

    Kozak (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin Doesn’t C… (View Comment):

    zandertunz: In my formative days, the cry was for us to be “colorblind”. I took every opportunity in my education, work life and social life to assent to and pursue that glorious ambition. And over the years, it has felt wonderful to aspire for good for every brother and sister of the human race without a colorized finger on the scale of value.

    Surprise! The rules have changed, and to be colorblind is now racist!

    I have recently been lectured about this.

    I lectured right back. But you can’t convince these bright young things.

    I’m a lot less color blind than I used to be.

     

    Sad, IMHO. I guess we all get educated with our own cohort. It’s not like math where 2+2 always = 4. When the teachers change in this field, so do the “truths”.

    Since my nose is constantly being rubbed into the matter of race and color, it’s hard not to notice.

    • #22
  23. Kozak Member
    Kozak
    @Kozak

    Full Size Tabby (View Comment):
    The people and entities jumping onto the Black Lives Matter bandwagon may be increasing racial tension, not decreasing it. 

    There is absolutely no doubt about it.

    • #23
  24. Randy Webster Inactive
    Randy Webster
    @RandyWebster

    Full Size Tabby (View Comment):
    The people and entities jumping onto the Black Lives Matter bandwagon may be increasing racial tension, not decreasing it. 

    Of course they are.  That’s the point.

    • #24
  25. CarolJoy, Above Top Secret Coolidge
    CarolJoy, Above Top Secret
    @CarolJoy

    Randy Webster (View Comment):

    Hoyacon (View Comment):
    Being the eternal passimist, I’m assuming at some point this is going to stir up some of our white lunkheads, who will feel the need to “stand up for our race” by running around with swastikas and the like. This of course will be my fault as well.

    They can run around with swastikas and the like all they want. It’s when they start running around with guns that I get concerned.

    The goal is to have BLM be the dominant force over the liberal mindset over the months leading, hopefully, to our Nov 2020 election. My  fear right now is that if the top people on  the Left have their way, elections will be seen as racist!

    It is well planned, well organized. I just posted a major revelation of how BLM came about, who they are, and what they want.

    The information is inside this youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AW-WDSiJWng&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR2RnpdOLW6y34AyAUUJiKuOiBPRtIxYuidIan_K18dUz_wtmdksobh-u5s

    • #25
  26. CarolJoy, Above Top Secret Coolidge
    CarolJoy, Above Top Secret
    @CarolJoy

    Social media will eliminate a post if it sates “All Lives Matter” – that is how extensive the censorship is.

    Please realize that Amazon is loving censorship. The COVID over reaction-hype shut down so many small businesses. Then Amazon takes up the slack. For instance, I no longer could buy any of my organic rice flours from the grocery store. So I had to buy them from Amazon. This means the grain company that normally gets 100% of my purchase price, minutes the minor commission to the grocery, now pays 50% to the gigantic tentacles of Monster Amazon.

    Amazon stands with those who brought forward the COVID hype. Part of that hype was furthered when Facebook and twitter take down posts with the term “hydroxychlorqouine.”  Amazon is standing with the censorship, as the more censorship, the more it grows.

     

     

    • #26
  27. Barfly Member
    Barfly
    @Barfly

    zandertunz:

    My neighborhood NextDoor.com CEO has issued a strong statement that the Nextdoor community will not tolerate racist language in our community networking posts. And you can validate for yourself that many other examples abound.

    As to the Nextdoor position, my wife, alarmed that such a statement needed to be put forth did a quick check over the history of posts to our Nextdoor site and found no such language ever being used. Maybe it had been used and deleted? I’m doubtful.

    You will be have been made to have been racist. 

    I see you’re beginning to learn your place.

    • #27
  28. Housebroken Coolidge
    Housebroken
    @Chuckles

    zandertunz: Nobody I personally know or have known for decades has ever uttered in my hearing a racially disparaging remark.

    I’m glad.  But six years ago we were looking to relocate and one possibility we liked was around Bristol, TN:  But looking for property out in the country I noticed a couple of white supremacist signs.  Because I love my daughter-in-law , and she is most definitely black – as are three grandchildren – out of what may well be an excessive degree of concern I just crossed that area off the list of possibilities.

    A couple of years before that, living and working in the West Palm area, two nice fellows I worked with published a letter that was extremely disparaging of anyone with black skin.  I was seriously surprised because I’d never seen any indication of such a mind set. When I spoke to them about it, I was told the letter went public by accident, and that they have always kept silent because it wasn’t acceptable.  Pre-PC PC, if you will.

    And right now I occasionally hear statements starting out like “There was this black woman…” and “Henry is a black man and…”.  Frequently this comes from someone I’m pretty confident has no significant or conscious racial bias. In no case does skin color affect the story in the slightest.

    • #28
  29. Eugene Kriegsmann Member
    Eugene Kriegsmann
    @EugeneKriegsmann

    The part of all this that gives me the most discomfort (sort of makes me want to puke) is the virtue signaling. I think that is because for so many years I saw it demonstrated in workshops I was required to attend and in faculty meetings which for much of my career I was allowed to avoid.  It was that very thing that ultimately pushed me over the edge and into retirement. 

    For some strange reason, my principal suddenly got a wild hair and decided that I needed to attend faculty meetings every week. I hadn’t for a very long time. The first one I attended under orders was the coup de grace for my career. I don’t think I was sitting there for more than 4 or 5 minutes before I realized that my BS filters were becoming clogged, and I had the sense that I was suffocating.  I think it was when one of the administrators stood up and said, “There is something I need to share. ” That term, share, used in that context had become so repugnant to me because it generally preceeded some stupid statement or anecdote which was meant by the speaker to enhance their sense of goodness. The administrators had all gotten that extra portion of “goodness” from the classes that they took at the University of Washington School of Education, a veritable hotbed of virtuosity. Just thinking about it makes my gorge rise.

    Anyway, you will pardon me if I choose not to participate in the virtuous behaviors and continue to social distance, something I have striven to perfect since retirement.

    • #29
  30. Randy Webster Inactive
    Randy Webster
    @RandyWebster

    Housebroken (View Comment):

    zandertunz: Nobody I personally know or have known for decades has ever uttered in my hearing a racially disparaging remark.

    I’m glad. But six years ago we were looking to relocate and one possibility we liked was around Bristol, TN: But looking for property out in the country I noticed a couple of white supremacist signs. Because I love my daughter-in-law , and she is most definitely black – as are three grandchildren – out of what may well be an excessive degree of concern I just crossed that area off the list of possibilities.

    A couple of years before that, living and working in the West Palm area, two nice fellows I worked with published a letter that was extremely disparaging of anyone with black skin. I was seriously surprised because I’d never seen any indication of such a mind set. When I spoke to them about it, I was told the letter went public by accident, and that they have always kept silent because it wasn’t acceptable. Pre-PC PC, if you will.

    And right now I occasionally hear statements starting out like “There was this black woman…” and “Henry is a black man and…”. Frequently this comes from someone I’m pretty confident has no significant or conscious racial bias. In no case does skin color affect the story in the slightest.

    Our son dated a black woman for 6 or 7 years.  Both Lynda and I really wanted them to get married.  But it never happened.

     

    • #30
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