Monday, December 17, 2012

No, this is not a ‘racist’ society

Every day we are bombarded by reports and complaints about things people do or say that are racist. Most of that comes from our political sector because, unfortunately, it is an effective political weapon. But the net effect is to tell us, over and over that we have a racially divided society where prejudice is rampant.

Baloney! I, personally, have never been one to buy all that nonsense and I deeply resent it when some Senator or Congress woman goes out and makes ridiculous accusations, just to score a few votes in some district. But today I was at a shopping mall and while sitting in the food court ‘people watching’, I suddenly realized how absolutely absurd all of that stuff really is.

I had to go to the mall to get my glasses fixed. A screw holding one lens had dropped out somewhere. All I needed was a good screw (sorry, couldn’t resist that line). Anyway, I went in and they had my glasses repaired and cleaned in about 20 minutes so I found myself in a mall, at Christmas, with some extra time on my hands. I decided to go window shopping and then I got hungry and wound up in the mall’s food court. I walked around, looking at all the different booths with every kind of ethnic fast food known to man and finally decided on a Philly Cheese Steak and fries. I got my order and found a table to enjoy my lunch.

It was about 11:30 in the morning and lunchtime was just starting so I found myself casually watching the people wonder in. I got a chuckle when I noticed that most of the “white” people (I hate that term almost as much as “Caucasian”, which implies that white people are all from, or have ethnic roots in the Caucuses, which is blatantly false –I am Celtic, thank you very much) were stopping at either the Chinese place or the Italian place. Most of the Hispanics seemed to like hotdogs on a stick or Mediterranean food, and the Asian people were stopping at the Steakery. As I sat being mildly amused by my little, unscientific survey, I also realized something else. Everyone was blissfully unaware of everyone else’s race. It wasn’t that everyone was politely tolerating each other. They were completely unaware of each other’s race –and they could not have cared less.

If you want an example of how America really works –go to the mall. The people are from all races and financial backgrounds –and they get along beautifully (that is, until some store offers a blue light special and some of the women get a little aggressive grabbing a good deal or two….). But over all, it is a great, real life, example of how people really get along in this country –not the stuff you see on the TV News channels where there are angry people, demonstrating and stirring up trouble for their own agenda’s. 

Am I saying that there is no racial bias, no hatred, no prejudice in this country? No, of course I am not saying that. Racism and Prejudice are ugly parts of the human experience. They exist and the raise their ugly heads all too often. What I am saying, however, is that it is not the everyday way of life in this country that people wanting votes or selling news stories would lead us to believe.

We get along in this country a lot better than we give ourselves credit for!



Live Long and Prosper...

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