Robot Heart: Sex, Religion, and Politics

Most depressing news I've read in a while.

ohfortheloveofdog:

Did you see how many comments were on the original article?  90% of them will make you think you’ve been transported to 1940.  I am so angry I could smash something right now.

The comments are jaw-dropping. First there are the assumptions that the children were misbehaving, vandalizing things, stealing, cursing, wearing dirty underpants (not even kidding), and generally wreaking havoc, even though by all accounts the children were well-behaved and most had barely gotten into their swimsuits. Some people referred to them as “thugs” and “animals.” Keep in mind we’re talking about children under the age of 6. And while some don’t out and out say that they are afraid of black people, many comment on the horrors of “inner city” children and how if parents “work so hard” to keep their white-bred suburban princes and princesses away from those monsters, then they shouldn’t be forced to deal with the inner city kids they’re so afraid of at a private pool. (Private, in America, is code for “white.”) More than one comments on how the parents [of the black children] must be ignorant and uneducated and therefore aren’t to be trusted.

There are arguments about how black people are even more racist than white people, so why should we have to do any favors for them? And if they can have black-only organizations or whatever, why should we have to include them in our (unofficially) white-only organizations? After all, look at black Miss America and BET! There are just legions of black people excluding white people! Nevermind that we’re talking about things that were created primarily because of the way blacks have been historically excluded from traditional, white-run organizations, TV stations, colleges, etc. And even many of the “black only” organizations and such are not actually black only—it’s just that, as many others gleefully pointed out, what white person would want to be a part of it? White people don’t or won’t, so it ends up being black only.

Then you get the stuff like this: “Twanda Brawley” (i.e. a white person trying to be clever) who commented:

Yo deez RACIST jerks be needn ta git rolld up on…we aint be da LIARS here, we duh vic, i knows it

OR:

It doesn’t matter whether or not these Black kids were making trouble… too many Blacks in general act like barely socialized savages in public, thus causing others to rightfully not want to be around ANY of them. Blacks need to take responsibility for their actions. They need to stop whining all the time and EARN others’ respect.

Or (and there are several variations on this person’s sentiments):

Why don’t all the whiney crybabies put their money together and build their own pool? Or form their own “club” so they can swim? It can even be all Black! It would work- because no self-respecting White would let their kids swim with ghetto trash.

Or:

YEEEHAH! TAKE BACK AMERICA! WE SHIPPED ‘EM HERE, WE CAN SHIP ‘EM ELSEWHERE!!!

And while I’d love to say that anyone could be the racists making these statements, there are endless comments about Obama, ACORN, and evil libruls, which highlight the fact that the people who harbor these kinds of opinions come from the right…and are egged on by conservative leadership with rhetoric like school vouchers (to get your precious white babies away from the black, inner city savages) and school choice (remember: private = white), the welfare queen, being tough on crime (which is only perpetrated by black people) and drugs (which are only trafficked/used by black people), ACORN (chock full of black people!) and Rev. Wright (and his crazy black church), the importance of private business and the free market (because if it’s private, nobody can force you to include black people), reverse racism and the evils of affirmative action (which allows those lazy black people to get the same privileges as white people without working for them), and so on. The thing that strikes me about almost all of the racist comments is: 1) how heavily they rely on stereotypes, and 2) how heavily politics and politicized ideas figure into their perceptions and their arguments. And you can argue all you want about how the leadership on the right isn’t really racist or pulling upon racist ideas or fears to get votes. All I have to say is that one very quick glance at the overwhelmingly racist conservative response to this piece shows that, even if you aren’t picking up on the racist undertones, they certainly are.

I’m appalled by the commentary, but not really surprised. Not by any of it. This is America, and this is a deeply-embedded part of American society…whether we like it or not, whether we want to admit it or not. But I hope that more of you who are usually willing to apologize for this kind of stuff (“there’s nothing wrong with wanting to keep your children away from poor inner city children,” “there’s nothing wrong with private business keeping black people out—it’s a private business”) are more willing to admit it, after seeing some of this…directed at small children, no less.