OT: Jason Whitlock disgrace

[kllrbee]

Race....ignorance....derogatory....blah, blah, blah.

People need to lighten up!

I swear nothing gets people more fired up than racial talk (maybe religion) and Im totally sick of it.

I got my Bachelors in Biological Anthropology. 99.9% of biological anthropologists (ie...experts on the subject) as well as most if not all scientists who work in the broader field of life sciences agree that the term "race" is not even applicable for the physical differences we see in human beings.
If the religious right would back off and let the educational system teach evolution thoroughly in school, then this "race" crap would not be such an issue. Simply because it would be understood that the color of ones skin is so small a difference in our genetic makeup, that it would be deemed insignificant in "classification" of differences in Homo sapiens.

Im not just saying this to be PC, this is what I truly believe. I am 100% certain of the validity of evolution. It is not a so called "theory" to me, but more of a proof, such as E=mc2 or pythagoras theorem.
No matter what u believe, the fact is we are ALL related.

Also, people throw around the word ignorant all the time. I think they are ignorant of the definition of the word itself. It simply means to not know about the subject at hand. So when someone says something "racist", it does not automatically make them ignorant as well. They might know a great deal about the people or culture they are making the remark about. It just makes them an A**hole.

Ultimately, unless you all drop the term race from your vocabulary and realize that by evolutionary standards, we as Homo sapiens are all the same, you are all ignorant.

Now, lets talk vintage cards!!!!

[kcohen]

Gee. Must be a huge burden to bear to always be the smartest guy in the room.

[freakhappy]

Originally Posted by kcohen

Gee. Must be a huge burden to bear to always be the smartest guy in the room.

Must be a huge burden to make ASSumptions about other people...

[autograf]

+1 Kcohen...........

[Peter_Spaeth]

As was said of Joe Louis, he was a credit to his race -- the human race.

[kllrbee]

Yeah, maybe I went too far with my post....haha.

I just get tired of all the racial BS so I thought I would rant.

Fwiw, I agree Whitlock is an incredibly huge douche!

Also, I am not ALWAYS the smartest guy in the room. Most of the time, I feel like the dumbest....haha.

[barrysloate]

A good rule of thumb is not to discuss race, religion, or politics in any kind of public forum, because it will always end in rancor. Take the high road and conduct yourself intelligently at all times, as you can never lose.

[drc]

But you just did right there, Barry.

I'm a curious person and ask people about their national backgrounds and religions-- in a friendly. non-judgmental way. I don't have to subscribe to something to be interested in learning how it works. Notice, I didn't say politics.

There are good sportswriters who say intelligent things, but there sportwriters and commentators who are specifically picked to stir the pot and get 'hits' for the web site. I mean, come one, do you think Fox Sports hired Deon Sanders as a commentator for his intellectual insight? I promise you, Terrell Owens will be hired as a tv football commentator sooner rather than later.

I'm somewhat familiar with Mr. Whitlock's articles. I think he does provide some interesting and different viewpoints to current stories (in a sea of bandwagon jumpers), but his job clearly is to stir the pot and be controversial and contrarian. I'm sure in his contract it states somewhere "The undersigned agrees to be controversial and contrarian."

[vintagetoppsguy]

Originally Posted by kllrbee

If the religious right would back off and let the educational system teach evolution thoroughly in school, then this "race" crap would not be such an issue.

Let's look at it from another angle. If the lefties would back off and let the religious right teach Christianity in school with the premisis that we ALL descended from Adam and Eve, then race wouldn't be an issue either, right?

Edited to add: I'm not looking for a discussion on religion as this isn't the place for it. I was just giving another point of view to the comment that I quoted.

[Runscott]

[Leon]

Guys- lets don't go down the religion path please. We are not going to come to any conclusions concerning evolution, or creationism, on this board.

A couple very minor points. Who is this Jason guy? Did he play for the '27 Yankees or what? (j/k)

Did you know that many, if not most, African Americans take offense at them being described that way? They say they aren't from Africa. I generally use the term light green or dark green, just as we did in the Marine Corps over 30 yrs ago. We are all green in that respect.


Also, whomever mentioned the word "ignorant" and the way it is used 98% of the time is correct. When someone calls me ignorant I will answer them with a yes or no. If yes, then I don't know about the subject. If no, then I explain that I do know about the subject and they would be better served by just calling me "stupid". There is a big difference.

[barrysloate]

I'm a lefty and we would prefer to be called southpaws.

[steve B]

A couple small tales to encourage thought and maybe lighten the mood a touch.

I know a teacher who has a pretty diverse class and somewhat large class size. And the various groups are constantly making insensitive comments to each other. Finally fed up they had the class line up by color! It was then pointed out that it had become very difficult to tell who was in what group. The bickering was greatly diminished.

The other was a caller to a show I listen to occasionally. The caller had nearly been kicked out of college his first week for checking "African-American" on one of the forms. This was a problem, as he was white. Of course the full story was that he then explained that he had been born in South Africa and was a naturalized citizen. So the term was technically entirely correct.(Yeah, maybe he made it up. It's still funny.)

Steve B

[packs]

I use the word ignorant to describe a person's complete lack of self-awareness. I do not believe I am using it incorrectly.