>=20 > On Jun 9, 2011, at 11:03 PM, RussellMc wrote: >=20 >> Thanks for your words of support and I even found your racist comment >> touching. >=20 > Hmm. Could have been taken that way. That went through my mental > filters untouched. > "Minorities" seems to be an "if the cap fits wear it" perspective - > and of course can be something for racism to hide behind. >=20 > A problem is that some cultures and some religious groups (not an > exhaustive list) as a general rule take certain well enough defined > attitudes to certain well enough defined "provocations". As such > cultures can have a tendency to be ethnically aligned, and as many > religions, to a variable extent, also tend to correlate with > ethnicity, then comments ( "...-isms") which describe a perceived > societal or religious norm may also be seen as applying to some > racial groups more than others and so be able to be described as > "racist". >=20 > As an extreme example, you are far more liable to catalyse physical > violence if you parody Allah in Saudi Arabia than if you do the same > of Jesus Christ in New Zealand. Commenting on the former may be seen > as racist, even if many would see the parody as fair and honest > comment. Whatever. >=20 >=20 > Russell I was accused ( and convicted ... since I lost a job over this ) of being r= acist and 'creepy'. In the classroom I was talking to two students ( one m= ale and one female ). They were good looking and had 'dark' skin. =20 " Are you black ?" I asked them. =20 "Yes" , they said. =20 "What makes you black ?"=20 "Well just look at us" , one said..... "I see two attractive looking students ... but I don't know what makes you = black. Can you explain what makes you black ? " It was a """white""" female that jumped out of her seat and said I was a br= own-noser.... that I was acting like a twelve year old. I did not know wher= e that was coming from but this female had hated me from the moment I start= ed teaching. I felt she was confusing me with someone from her past. Sinc= e I am a """fat, old , white guy""" there could have been a lot of candidat= es. I told her she was restricted from personally attacking me. She did n= ot like this so I asked her to leave the class. She said no she did not ha= ve to. At that point class was over anyway......... Anyway, I got the heave ho rather rapidly and secretly. My accuser was all= owed to remain anonymous. Guess who it might be ? Actually , I don't care= who it was. Don't imagine there is any due process at a community colleg= e. I am now considering the best way to take this situation and make the s= chool squirm. I do have some video that was taken with a spy pen. Adminis= trators are so cute. So ..... am I racist for failing to acknowledge that someone is "black". C= an everyone demand that I scan their personhood for clues as to " what they= are " ? I have an acquaintance who qualified for "minority" contractor st= atus... He looks essentially like me ....""" a fat, old, white guy""" ...= ... go figure. 99guspuppet --=20 http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist .