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Too few people grapple with this level of self-awareness. Fewer still make the hard choice when confronted with the ugly truth.
Salute, fellow investigator.
Honestly, I think everyone is a bit racist. When people don’t look or behave like you, it’s easy to treat them differently, sometimes a lot differently.
I work with people from a variety of backgrounds (race, language, nationality) and I’m married to someone with a different race, language, and nationality as well. Even so, when I read articles online, I picture the other person as my race, background, and gender, even though that’s unlikely to be the case. I also catch myself thinking less of someone who is different from me, before I catch myself and really think about what they said/did (usually it’s just the accent or mannerisms throwing me off).
I think that’s normal, and you’re doing the right thing by acknowledging it and trying to catch yourself. The next step that works for me is to build trust with my co-workers who are different from me, and ask them if I’m being insensitive or something. It takes time to build that trust, but my spouse calls me out all the time and I express my gratitude each time. I still make mistakes, but hopefully those around me know I don’t mean anything by it. I also catch my spouse being racist, and they’re a bit more defensive about it but appreciative nonetheless.
Good luck! Life is all about continually improving ourselves. I don’t think we’ll ever reach a point where racism is dead, but hopefully we can get to a point where it’s at least manageable.
I think you are describing biases, which we do indeed all have. They don’t (necessarily) make you racist, they make you human. The folks who refuse to make any attempt to acknowledge that (or who openly revel in it), and won’t do the work to mitigate those biases - those are the racists and bigots.
Right. I’m just saying that statements can be racist, but that doesn’t necessarily make me racist because it all comes down to intent. I want people to call me out because it’s not my intention to say racist things.
Being able to sit with discomfort is key to teaching oneself to be better. The hardest part is realising that there’s never a point where you have fixed the problem and can relax - the deeper you dig, the more things you find to be uncomfortable about.
The way out is in. Not around and around. ;)
Good on you for noticing, and not just going ‘meh it’s how I am’, ‘it’s how I was raised’ or a bajillion other cop outs.
Realizing you need to change, having the impetus to do so, and actually rolling up your sleeves and fucking doing something about it are three very difficult things to do. Their difficulty increases as you proceed down the path from realization to action.
It isn’t easy. You’ll fall on your face several times; you may not ever even reach your goal, but eventually you’ll look over your shoulder at the person you were and realize how far you have come.
That’s sure a lot better feeling than sitting there doing sweet fuck all about it.
Everyone owes it to themselves to try.
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So, you are only trying not to be racist towards black Americans? 😠😠😠
What about the other people?
Have you considered the obvious implication that that’s the specific demographic they had prejudice against…?
No :)
True, what about the blackest Americans.
If you are a racist, why should we care about your opinion?
Being racist is ephemeral. People can choose to keep being racist, or choose to stop being racist. The OP chose to stop being racist.
The thing you can’t teach or train, is self-inflection. If you don’t have that, you’ll likely be locked in on whatever self-discovery path you’re on right now, for the rest of your life. If it’s a good path, you’re ok. If it’s not tho, you’re like an Elon Musk, who lacks empathy for self-inflection and will likely continue down this path forever, as the OP suggests, until Musk indeed realizes that he’s a racist.
At that point, Musk can continue to be a racist, knowingly, in the open, or he can choose to change, like OP.
Some opinions are worth changing. Someone clearly thought OP was worth it, and it seems they were right.
I can look inside myself and understand that I dont feel other races are bad or inferior, or whatever. That guy for 35+ years thought less of other races. If it took him 35+ years to realize that other races are not bad/inferior, then I dont really think they have a good perspective on anything. I am glad they are getting better, but they sure as hell are not a wise person, and that doenst even get into how they would know what is Musks brain.
You can believe that to be true, and I suppose you really could be that enlightened. But most people have some degree of implicit bias, and it is wise to be aware of this and to actively challenge our own biases.
I read MonsierPatEBrown’s comment as similar to your first sentence here, but it took them 35+ years to recognize they do have stigmas towards black people that they’re now working on. That’s an accomplishment many people will never achieve tbh.
Even if you have implicit bias which you could argue everyone has, you can use your rational human brain and treat them like everyone else. He seems to struggle with not being accidentally rude to black people, which seems awful crazy to me. And I would bet that he is patronizing to black people who can tell he treats them with some kind of white savior complex. It should be as simple as treating everyone the same and not believe you have higher intrinsic value.
Sure, you can and should if you’re aware of the challenge and care enough to combat those biases. It might feel like second nature for some, but it can also be like a muscle that needs to be exercised for others. It sounds like they’re trying to do so now, and that kind of growth should be encouraged imo.
Considering how many people will either assume they’re open minded enough already without really reflecting on if there’s room for improvement or actively go out of their way to treat others like they’re inferior, I don’t see the value in dragging other folks down for attempting to be more conscientious towards others. Who knows - maybe another future former racist will read their comment and come to the same realization.
It seems like you are making a mountain out of a molehill on this one. I dont think many of the implicit bias that people may experience manifests into an action that is significant. I can see how that could be true for some of the older people where they might say things that sound a little offensive, but I dont think it is a problem that carries a lot of weight. I would say that people more want to try to solve a problem that doesnt really exist, and in doing that they can create a new bigger problem.
Part of my journey of self-discovery was realizing that people are not good or evil. The people generally doing evil things, are not doing them because they believe they’re evil, or the people they’re serving are evil.
Everyone believes they’re in the right, for one reason or another. And everyone believes they’re on the side of good. It’s like competing religions, they all think they’re “right”.
Someone like Trump’s motivations aren’t evil, even though it manifests as evil through the people that listen to and support him. Trump’s just a selfish, narcissistic dick who will step on, over, through, or kill anyone who prevents him from getting what he wants, and what he wants is to be constantly catered to, pleased, made happy, and be given what he wants and told how great he is all the time. That’s it.
The people that support him aren’t evil. They’re racist dickheads mainly, but they’re not evil. They’re scared of what they don’t understand and they’re angry at a changing world they don’t fit in and they want things to go back to a time when the color of their skin was good enough to guarantee that they had a stable life.
The truth is nobody gets that sort of life anymore. Not PoC, not Straight White CIS males, not anyone. The Billionaires and Oligarch have stolen that from us. From all of us. They are the real enemy. Not each other. They’ve spent a considerable part of their wealth over the years convincing us that the different kinds of us are the problem. It’s not a political issue, it’s not a race issue, it’s an education and class issue.
Those are the people we need to be angry at. Guys like the OP that were probably raised in a racist household, had racist friends, community influences, and traditions, actually breaking out of that and correcting it so that he’s working on addressing his systemic racist beliefs? Those guys are one in a million, literally, let me tell you.
I’ve been on the internet since Prodigy dial-up days, and people like that are rare as fuck. If you want to help solve racism in the world, you’re going to need to make some compromises from what I suspect is an ideal/perfect world you have in your head that’s black and white. At some point, if you stay on your path long enough, you’ll hopefully realize that there is no black, there is no white, everything’s a shade of gray or a different color between the rainbow. People like OP are allies worth having, they’re success stories to tell; they’re not the enemy.
Billionaires are the enemy. Never, ever let them make you forget that.
So when you seem to call most people that support trump “racist dickheads”, how can you not see the evil in that? The issue is that I dont think you truly understand what is happening with trump or biden, you are just listening to the media that either directly lies, or misleads you into believing things. Right now from what I can see, people are not allowed to disagree with your ideas without being a bad according to you.
it hurt itself in its confusion
So he had a “show” on X and now it’s been cancelled. But Don Lemon wasn’t banned from X, so the interview is on his personal account.
I guess I’m just not too informed, but what does it mean to have a “show” on X vs. just being a person who posts videos? Is there some kind of more monetization if you have an official “show” on there?
They have some kind of revenue sharing in place but I doubt it pays much seeing as the company is bleeding money and advertisers want nothing to do with it.
Yeah it’s not good.
and it should be noted actual numbers are hard to find, which is sketch.
compared to youtube’s ~55%
Ashley St. Clair saying 7 G’s for 840 M I L L I O N impressions is an “awesome payout number” and “really cool stuff” is the most out of touch shit I’ve ever seen.
eLon goosed the payment for Mr. Beast or something did he?
It didn’t even get canceled because of the content he wanted wanted to produce, he was demanding like an $800 million dollar salary and a brand new Cyber Truck, lol.
Source?
That’s the sort of hard hitting journalism we expect from Don Lemon. Billionaire with daddy issues is thin-skinned, more at 11!
I don’t think many people equate Lemon with journalism, hard-hitting or otherwise. He’s a pundit and a talking head, or at least was at CNN.
Here, it seems he did engage in some constructive interviewing. Which is a good thing. But he certainly does not have a meaningful history of such behavior.
Hopefully this willingness to directly criticize and question power will continue, and will apply to other global oligarchs as well in addition to Musk
Elon is quite obviously emotionally stunted. Probably from drug abuse.
I think the more likely explanation is that he’s a nepo baby who has never had to account for his actions, and who surrounds himself with people who tell him how great and smart he is.
Never having to experience any consequences for your actions is a hell of a drug.
At this point I genuinely don’t know whether to say he needs more or less drugs.
Both.
i mean, are we concerned if he becomes a vegetable? I’m not, but are we?
Then again, I’m not buying that guy drugs. Like buying gold for King Midas…
He has apartheid brain
#JustAfrikaansThings
What drugs did he use regularly? This is the first time I’ve heard anything along these lines.
Some of the more obvious symptoms of addiction are disruptions to an individual’s external life, including their relationships, family, jobs, friends, and economic struggles. It is clear that drug and alcohol abuse damages a person’s overall health, but addiction also stunts internal factors like emotional growth and social development. When an adult is an addict, society still expects the individual to act a certain way and be responsible. Adults are supposed to be wiser and more aware of the consequences of their actions and their impact on other people. Unfortunately, most adult addicts make decisions that would not classify them as responsible adults. When adults are deep in their addiction, they usually do not weigh the consequences of their actions. With this mindset controlling their actions, individuals struggling with addiction live according to their emotional age, not their actual age. Not worrying about other people’s emotions, let alone their own, makes addicts emotionally unaware and unable to act their age.
PHYSICAL AGE VS EMOTIONAL AGE What is the difference between emotional and physical age? Physical age is predictable and backed up by science. For example, general age can be classified through stepping stones like losing baby teeth, the age when your bones stop growing, and when women experience menstruation and menopause. Overall, physical age is inevitable and will progress. Emotional age, on the other hand, is not guaranteed to grow.
Emotional age is dependent on the individual’s life experiences and responses to situations and the consequences of their actions. As with all individuals, emotions are unpredictable and adjustable. Individuals who abuse drugs or alcohol, however, are at risk for stunting their emotional growth because they continue with harmful behavior and immature and unacceptable actions. For most addicted individuals, emotional upset stems from their childhood. Many begin to use drugs or alcohol to mask their problems and avoid dealing with difficult situations upfront. This makes it more difficult for addicted people to handle the circumstances of their actions and leaves their emotional growth stuck in the same spot as when they started using toxic substances.
The “drugs” in question, at least as mentioned in the interview, are a ketamine prescription which he takes for treating depression.
Drugs are good. Don’t blame the drugs.
Drugs ARE good
Drugs are great
Elon can’t handle his shit is all
Drugs can be awesome. Drugs can be terrible. I’m confused that Elon managed to get really into psychedelics without developing the tiniest bit of self awareness. Like the man needs some seriously challenging trips, and maybe some ego death even.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhsfjBpKiTw
It’s on YT if you want to watch it.
It’s incredible how within 10 seconds Elon looks like an absolute moron.
Talking about racism and Elon saying he does not agree with it being a massive factor in the country and Don argues to the contrary only for them both to agree that the US has handled it the best is just laughable.
