Yay, I got an awuuurd!, aka award. Thanks to
Steph at Watching Airplanes! Thank you! Wish I could meet her, and a few others in real life, that would be a.w.e.s.o.m.e.
I'm just gonna pass this on to one person this time...cause it will tie in with the Spring Swap that I am doing...so, this will go to...
Mimi @ Living In FranceMimi is my swap partner! I'm sooo esssited! This.is.going.to.be.fun! Be prepared Mimi, I have some cool and fekkin' funny shiz in mind!
Now last, but not least, Missy aka Nuke Girl at
Everything But The Kitchen Sink has granted me permission to re-post one of her posts. It deals with racism...and where do I stand on racism?...I can't stand racism. There is good and bad in every color, and your color doesn't matter to me, I'll luv ya no matter your color, what matters to me is who you are as a person. I think it's way past time for it all to end. So, here is her post...
I finally finished the two week-long School Of Ship yesterday. Thank the good Lord, because if I had to endure being cooped up in that tiny ass, stuffy little room with all those numnuts for one more day... well, some heads were going to roll.
For all the training and lectures we get spoon-fed about how the Navy is ethnically diverse and you have to learn how to work together in harmony with people who are different than you, there sure are some racist mofos out there that still just don't get it.
One of my top three pet peeves in life is racism. If you really want to make me see red, act like an ignorant bigot in front of me.
In this School Of Ship class, four or five African-Americans ~ all of them about 19 years old and none of them higher-ranking than E-3 ~ segregated themselves in the back corner of the classroom on Monday morning; and spent the rest of the week blatantly ignoring the briefs and lectures while they chatted, texted, flirted amongst themselves and were altogether disruptive.
When a PO2 finally told them nicely to stop and that they were being disrespectful and needed to be quiet, one girl sneered and said, "Oooooooh, nuh-uh!" while one of the guys looked straight at the second-class and said challengingly, "Why don't you mind your own damn business?" and then muttered softly under his breath to the girl next to him, "Stupid white bitch."
OMG. See, people like that guy are the ignorant people I referred to earlier. The PO2 wasn't mean or snobby about it, and she had every right to tell them to shut the hell up because she outranked all of them. She didn't single them out because they were black, but rather because they were being loud and rude.
It was the most ignorant thing I've witnessed in a while.
However, a second later I was even more shocked. The entire room fell silent as the cute, tiny African-American girl sitting right next to me ~ who was also a PO2 and had heard what the guy whispered ~ turned in her seat, stared at him coolly for a second, and then unleashed on him. I mean, she absolutely shredded him a new asshole about showing disrespect to a petty officer, and then called him out on his racist comment right in front of the whole class.
It was the most applause-worthy thing I've witnessed in a while.
Now, I'm not pointing fingers at him or anyone else. Whether you're slightly prejudiced or a full blown card-carrying member of the KKK or the Black Panthers, no one is innocent. Everyone has said (or thought) something racist or made some passing remark that had an ethnic slur attached to it. I dare someone to tell me that they've never said something that had racist overtones, even if was repeating a funny joke you heard at work.
We're all guilty, myself included. But the older I get, the more I start to realize that it will never stop unless people start taking action to break the vicious cycle, like this girl did.
My personal take on the race issue is this: I harbor prejudice against ignorance. That's it. I don't care if you're white, black, green or purple; if you wear your ignorance on your sleeve for all the world to see, I'm going to treat you like an ignorant fool. If you treat me with courtesy and respect, I'll do the same.
Theoretically in a perfect world, we should all treat people with courtesy and respect no matter how badly they treat us. Right? The Golden Rule? "Turn the other cheek"? Unfortunately, this is not a perfect world; and that is much more easily said than done.
I feel like America is more segregated now than it ever was 150 years ago. Or hell, even 50 years ago.
Back then, at least racism was a prominently displayed open wound; no one hid their racism behind a mask and pretended not to be a total bigot. Slavery. Slave owners. Socially acceptable mistreatment of ethnic minorities. Indian reservations. Segregated schools. Segregated churches. Segregated buses. That's your side, this is my side, there's the line in the middle, don't you dare cross it. It was the norm and it was reality in a very physical sense.
Nowadays, racism runs just as rampant. But instead of an open wound, it's like festering sore that has a Carebear Band-Aid slapped over it so no one has to see or be bothered by the sheer ugliness of the infection. For the most part in our paranoid, increasingly timid, politically correct society, racism is no longer something bold and open. Hell, even people who aren't racists are scared to call "bullshit" on someone for fear they'll be accused of being racists and get sued. No, bigotry today thrives on in society as a snide remark here, or a muttered comment there. It's there, and it's real, and everybody knows it, and most people are too apathetic or afraid to do anything about it.
What's the world coming to when a person can't ask his neighbor to stop leaving trash on their shared lawn without said neighbor then freaking the fuck out, shouting obscenities and racial slurs at him, and threatening to sue him for harassment and discrimination?? (That really happened to my co-worker last week.)
Unfortunately, when someone makes a derogatory ethnic slur at you, your human nature, your "knee-jerk reaction" tells you make one right back. Put them in their place. Show them what's up. Show them you're not gonna take that shit, especially from a stupid, ignorant piece of [insert ethnic slur] trash who's just a [insert ethnic slur] anyways.
What makes anyone think they're superior to anyone else based on the color of their skin? Or what country they come from? At pure face value, I'm no better or worse than you. Just different. What is so wrong with that?
Oh, and the worst part? Terms that are considered highly derogatory if coming from someone of a different ethnicity are used as endearing nicknames and are perfectly acceptable if coming from someone of the same ethnic minority. "Heeeey, what's up, you stupid redneck? I haven't seen you in forever!" That one was overheard from one white guy to his white buddy in the mall the other day. Also heard in the same mall on the same day from one young black guy to his buddy, "Nigga, please, you don't even know what you talkin' 'bout! Hahahaaaahahaaa!"
WTF. Seriously.
I could rant on about this topic all day, but quite frankly.... it's exhausting.
I wish we could just end all the racism and prejudice completely. It seems impossible, doesn't it?
It's not. Some things are improbable, yes; but nothing is impossible.
So the next time someone makes an ignorant slur at you, or you witness one directed towards someone else, or that one dude in the office tells the funny racist joke that's not funny for the millionth time...
Fix them, since they're too ignorant to fix themselves.
The next time you have an ethnic slur on the tip of your tongue....
Fix yourself. Bite your tongue.
Break the vicious cycle."Written By Missy and Re-Posted by Rose"
