After the recent fiasco on a mailing list where people seemed to think that "tolerance" extends to racism, I was so fed up that I wrote an essay explaining why I feel that silence is wrong. It's only a rough draft and I don't know that I'll post it to the list; the people who need to read it probably won't. It's very "Portland" oriented and the song "Bela Lugosi is Dead" is by a band named Bauhaus that's very popular with the local Goth scene.
Support
da on 2002-11-08T21:41:59
(Gee, my previous comment today was in support of
jdavidb
's anti-sexist statement vis-a-vis HOWTO Encourage Women in Linux. Guess I'm on a roll.)
I'm glad the club cancelled the bands. I'm sorry to hear there are racists on your Goth list. I hope that if you post your response, they will listen to the truth behind your words.
Re:Support
Ovid on 2002-11-08T22:24:26
Thanks for pointing me to that link. I had seen it, but hadn't read it yet. It was good stuff.
Incidentally, I found out later that the club only cancelled one of the two bands. The band that played had members who were a bit more discreet about their racism. Douglas Pearce gave a disgusting interview where he made "banana eating" references and, while he beat around the bush quite a bit, came out and made his background clear with this quote:
Thule, or Atlantis are much more attractive and feasible alternatives than a disease-ridden jungle as a former place of abode for my ancestors.
Yup, that's from the lead singer of the band that wasn't cancelled.
Note: if you don't get the "Thule" reference, you can search Google for "Thule" and "Aryan". Be forewarned: there's some nasty stuff there.
Bravo!
wickline on 2002-11-09T16:32:58
Well said (err.. typed)!
There's one typo I spotted:
> If you believe that racism doesn't have to violent
(word "be" missing) but very well-written.
This may be my own prejudice speaking, but I tend to think of bigots as an unreasoning lot, which leads me to doubt that any of them would get anything from your prose, but I do have hope for you audience: the "see no evil" crowd.
One problem with silence is that it's infectious. If Alice (a white non-racist) hangs with a crowd of folks who avoid the whole discussing racism, she might think that Bob is not a racist, or that if he is, he isn't vocal about it... at least not in front of her.
...and Bob seems to be a decent friend, so there's no point bringing up such a hot issue because doing so could reveal that they have different views, and cause her to loose Bob as a friend.
And if Amy won't bring up the racist violence on last-night's news, then maybe Chris will think of Amy as Amy thinks of Bob. Better not discuss it. Silence won't cost me my friend.
I say talk. Yes, you might loose some friends, but on the other hand, those friends you loose might come to see that their hatred is what is separating them from the community. If they thought hate was cool, then open discussion might show them that it's only cool among haters, and they might change their views. If they'd rather have the population of racists as their community, I don't want them as my friends.
If these people give up your friendship to join a community of haters, then they better watch their backs. One never knows what accident of ancestry or rarely-vocalized belief will be enough to focus hatred. Haters are a fickle lot, and I feel a bit sorry for those who must watch their every step trying to fit in with that crowd. On the other hand, they're getting a dose of their own medicine, so I can't feel too bad.
I don't think reasoning will work with racists, but I think personal rejection might work with some of them... those that hate because it gains them membership in a community. They want human companionship, and they need to learn that hating works against them in that regard. It also limits their economic opportunities, and their capacity to appreciate most of good people and good works on this planet, but now we're getting into reasoning... which I doubt holds much currency with most haters.
-matt
