The not so Great Racism in Canada Thread

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by Andy6

Do you not agree that, other things being equal, someone who is married to a person of a certain race is relatively less likely than other people to hold racist views with respect to that race?

I would agree. Which is why his views and outlook betray so much.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by Black Star

Well...I’m Married to a Muslim Black Girl.

She laughs at all this stupid Racism bullshit. She is an educated Doctor who came here 20 years ago. Full stop with this I’m so oppressed shit. We live in a free country jack, and she knows it.... keep it real dont twisted it. She has never had it better. In Afghanistan....it was horrible. Her Dad was killed by the Taliban. Sooo shut the hell up about your white oppression shit...

I've literally never heard a viewpoint from a non-white person discussing their time in a majority-white country without some level of racism or prejudice. Even minor stuff.

[Architype]

Originally Posted by someone123

This goes both ways though. Maybe Canadians as a group shouldn't bashed or condemned because Justin Trudeau did something boorish in 2001 that he has apologized for or because there were minstrel shows in Canada long before many of us were born, that few of us have ever seen...

Well, I have seen lots of minstrel shows, but they all targeted gay men. That was considered socially acceptable until well into the 2000's.

Likening them to minstrel shows is an apt comparison, but this brings up a lot of other issues though. Where are the lines, when is it okay to make fun at or ridicule someone, either different or the same as you. Can gays make jokes about other gays, blacks about other blacks, and how black, or how gay must you be? Being a stand up comic today must be essentially navigating a minefield of PC culture bombs. The 21st century version of "Father Knows Best" is simply "No One Knows Best".

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by someone123

My complaint has more to do with the quality of discussion than Black Star. The skin colour and country of origin of his wife are not interesting or relevant.

SSP is at its best when people are sharing photos, quality information or articles, or interesting, honest, informed opinions (always a crapshoot). It's at its worst at times like this. Sort of creepy, and uninteresting regardless of the outcome.

The phenomenon of focusing on subjective experience and feelings goes beyond SSP and afflicts many debates of issues like racism or follow-on questions like whether we should reduce police funding. I think it is socially toxic to argue that people can't find common ground or articulate experiences outside of their identity groups, and it's impossible to base good public policy on feelings because there is no consistency. It's not realistic to aim for zero offensiveness or universal permanent feelings of safety for everybody.

Anyone on here can claim to be whatever they want, or say anything about their spouse, friends, etc. There is virtually no way to check but, as you say, it's largely irrelevant.

I admit to doing "diversity dropping" (similar to name dropping) on here from time to time, but it's always been in response to people being dismissive of my comments because of their perceptions or accusations that I have no exposure to people who are different from me.

If the discussions didn't go in that direction so often, I'd be more than happy to let my views and observations stand for themselves.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by rousseau

That's good to hear. Too many uneducated doctors around these days. I honestly don't know how they get licensed.

Here they all drive taxis though, they aren't allowed to practice medicine.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by theman23

I'm not really interested in the colour of his wife, TBH. Going through his flickr profile is probably a bit much.

But he's full of shit and its just too easy to call him out on it.

Anyways, I'll stop.

There's a huge difference between accusing him of being a liar (like some have done) vs pointing out he's not using "black" correctly i.e. it's not interchangeable with "POC"/nonwhite.

[lio45]

OMG, Acajack's favorite "pinnacle of nuttiness" example is now a reality. St. John's now has a Black Lives Matter Chapter!

(Are those Royal Newfie Constabulary guys even armed? And when's the last time they killed anyone, let alone a black person (they'd have to manage to find one first!))

[SignalHillHiker]

Originally Posted by lio45

OMG, Acajack's favorite "pinnacle of nuttiness" example is now a reality. St. John's now has a Black Lives Matter Chapter!

(Are those Royal Newfie Constabulary guys even armed? And when's the last time they killed anyone, let alone a black person (they'd have to manage to find one first!))

Last time they killed someone was a member of the Premier's security detail. Buddy posted something anti-government on Twitter, so officer went to his house alone on a Sunday and shot him dead.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/joe-smyth-don-dunphy-asirt-1.4742503

You can laugh at us all ya want, but we do big city shit as well as anything else in boring Canada. ( Not really, but we're seriously close. Especially for crime/corruption stuff. Only New Brunswick can beat us, which is basically an Irving family fiefdom in Canada.)

This video is five years old now, but immediately after this one...

• Video Link

They released a full riot-gear, tear-gas, etc. video and everyone here lost their minds like, "WTF is this?" so they deleted it. I wish it still existed to share it. It was basically movie-style footage from America today. But here lol For absolutely no reason.

Video is gone, but some of the media coverage of the uproar is still online:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundl...hard-hitting-recruitment-video-1.2807330

And one of the videos mocking it (combining our tourism ads with that RNC ads) still has some footage of the offending one:

• Video Link

[Architype]

Originally Posted by lio45

OMG, Acajack's favorite "pinnacle of nuttiness" example is now a reality. St. John's now has a Black Lives Matter Chapter!

(Are those Royal Newfie Constabulary guys even armed? And when's the last time they killed anyone, let alone a black person (they'd have to manage to find one first!))

It is symbolic at least, to show support, but when I lived there decades ago most of the workforce POC were professionals who were higher income than the average person. I believe the RNC are armed these days.

[dreambrother808]

Originally Posted by Architype

Likening them to minstrel shows is an apt comparison, but this brings up a lot of other issues though. Where are the lines, when is it okay to make fun at or ridicule someone, either different or the same as you. Can gays make jokes about other gays, blacks about other blacks, and how black, or how gay must you be? Being a stand up comic today must be essentially navigating a minefield of PC culture bombs. The 21st century version of "Father Knows Best" is simply "No One Knows Best".

I think that if you’re open-minded and paying attention, it’s not that hard to figure out right from wrong in these situations. That being said, some areas are grey or lose/lose. Like anything in life, you’re never going to please everybody.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Last time they killed someone was a member of the Premier's security detail. Buddy posted something anti-government on Twitter, so officer went to his house alone on a Sunday and shot him dead.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/joe-smyth-don-dunphy-asirt-1.4742503
.)

And when you think about it that's not even a question of a law enforcement officer killing someone during the course of their duties. It's a civilian murder.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by lio45

OMG, Acajack's favorite "pinnacle of nuttiness" example is now a reality. St. John's now has a Black Lives Matter Chapter!

)

Life imitating "art".

[dreambrother808]

Originally Posted by theman23

I think Black Star brought this upon himself.

Yes, he lacks credibility because he has shown time and time again that he will say anything to defend his point of view, like a dog clinging to a bone.

[Architype]

Originally Posted by dreambrother808

Yes, he lacks credibility because he has shown time and time again that he will say anything to defend his point of view, like a dog clinging to a bone.

SSP forumers should be properly vetted.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Anyone on here can claim to be whatever they want, or say anything about their spouse, friends, etc. There is virtually no way to check but, as you say, it's largely irrelevant.

I admit to doing "diversity dropping" (similar to name dropping) on here from time to time, but it's always been in response to people being dismissive of my comments because of their perceptions or accusations that I have no exposure to people who are different from me.

If the discussions didn't go in that direction so often, I'd be more than happy to let my views and observations stand for themselves.

I think my favourite is the classic dismissal that I am just an old guy who is out of touch because I am in my 50s (only barely so, though).

And yet I live with teenagers and young adults and my house is ground zero for that demographic in my neighbourhood and my kids' circle of friends. I also talk my kids' friends and the kids of my own adult friends all the time.

Since SSP's demographic is predominantly male and childless with an average age in the 30s, and disproportionately gay, I wonder how many people here actually have as much real-life access to teens as young adults as I do. If you do have frequentation similar to mine and your family situation isn't similar to mine or you don't actually work with young people, that's probably a bit creepy.

I think one of the only people on here who'd fall in that category is MolsonExport, who I believe has teens of his own and also teaches at university - mostly to people in the first half of their 20s.

[Architype]

Originally Posted by dreambrother808

I think that if you’re open-minded and paying attention, it’s not that hard to figure out right from wrong in these situations. That being said, some areas are grey or lose/lose. Like anything in life, you’re never going to please everybody.

This has always been the case of course, but it seems you hear more of "as a single black woman parent I believe this", or "as a gay man, I can say this". This indicates that truth now depends upon who you are, making the line drawing quite dubious and subjective. When the lines themselves become PC militarized though, the consequences of crossing them accidentally can become much more treacherous.

[SignalHillHiker]

I'm sure black people have protested here at some point before in our history. We had literal slave ships here... but in a contemporary sense, this is our first black-led protest ever.

And they even socially distanced.



The feeling in the air tonight... I hope this leads to permanent improvements.

A friend's half-brother is visibly black. That guy's white-passing son posted this after the rally:

[someone123]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Since SSP's demographic is predominantly male and childless with an average age in the 30s, and disproportionately gay, I wonder how many people here actually have as much real-life access to teens as young adults as I do. If you do have frequentation similar to mine and your family situation isn't similar to mine or you don't actually work with young people, that's probably a bit creepy.

I'm not sure this is a good way to look at it though. Usually the accusation is that one is behind the times and out of touch with contemporary progressive thinking. LGBT social groups lately tend to be very progressive if not on the fringe. Sometimes they are really out there.

There also tends to be more intergenerational mixing in gay communities. Basically whoever is legal bar age. It's not the most common scenario but it's not unusual for a 50 year old to talk to a 22 year old in a gay bar.

The progressive stuff is usually in the universities first. It's not the little kids formulating new ideas; teachers transmit them to kids (and education departments of universities tend to be very progressive now). Maybe there's a bit more synthesis in the 18-25 year old post-secondary environment.

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally Posted by Corndogger

It kinda of comes across as an affirmative action move to me.

Not really because anyone in the running for this position will be wealthy. It's not a move that helps anyone at a true disadvantage. The publicity of it all that a white person need not apply is exactly the fear and angst that is the basis of most racial tendencies and elects openly racist orange people like Trump after 8 years of Obama. Of course, race wasn't a huge play in Obama's candidacy. It became one once president and is proof nothing will change as long as the political spectrum continues to go their separate ways dominated by old, wealthy individuals with a lot to lose by gambling against the status quo.

The protest will die and nothing will change. I have much faith in the top percentile of young millennials. They really see the world differently. It's just not their time yet.

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I think one of the only people on here who'd fall in that category is MolsonExport, who I believe has teens of his own and also teaches at university - mostly to people in the first half of their 20s.

One teen and one pre-teen. Otherwise you are very close in your prediction. I mostly teach graduate students (and some undergraduates), so I get them from early-twenties to their mid thirties. We may have been born in the same year.