The Presidential Election & Racism

Off-topic
1

Is America fraught with white racists and black racists ready for this contest for America’s highest office? What kind of unrest will there be if Obama wins or if Obama loses. If Obama wins will everything he does be construed as racially motivated by both blacks and whites?

I have a concern that this election may cause a higher degree of racial division.

Time will tell how this all plays out. My hope is that no matter which way it goes ultimately America will achieve a greater degree of racial harmony. My expectation is that racial harmony will only be achieved through great birthing pains.

2

From a foreigner’s point of view, the Americans do appear to be obsessed with race. It seems that most of the reports about the US elections are about getting the “black vote” or the “hispanic vote” or similar, or that people in a particular area are unlikely to vote for Obama because “hispanics don’t vote for African Americans”. I’m not saying there are no racists in my country (there certainly are) but normal people are not so utterly obsessed with race, certainly not in mainstream politics. As far as I’m aware, you actually have separate “black advertisements” and “black TV channels”, which really does seem blatantly racist (whichever side you’re looking at it from - it’s not only white people who can be racists) - is that still true?

Perhaps a non-white president may help with this, but I suppose it could easily go the other way if he does something people don’t agree with (which he’s bound to at some point) and people just say it’s “because he’s black”.

But IMO anybody’s got to be better for the world than another extreme right-wing religious fundamentalist type, which is what the other candidate comes across as.

Rob

3

Most people in the real world here do not sit around and talk about race with any frequency. The media wants to whip up an issue…it sells advertising space.

4

Tim, do think it is at all possible that your perception is influenced by the fact that you live in a town where the black population is one half of one percent?

5

Is it racist to have a channel dedicated to a certain culture? On cable TV, there is a black entertainment channel, a women’s channel, and a channel that has a lot of programming about gay culture. Is it discrimination to target a certain culture like these do?

Is a unicycling forum discrimination towards bicyclists?

6

Yes. I know mine is.

But I don’t really see race being that big of an issue in the news, either. There are some people who are blatantly racist, yes, but I think that number has dwindled as it has become generally unacceptable from a social standpoint.

And in my little town where the black population is less than one half of one percent all signs point to the majority voting for Obama.

Though, I must remember that we average something like 20% of people voting independent. We’re not a really good representation.

7

I think this election is more fraught with republican bigots and democrat bigots than racists. More and more these campaigns are drawing high fevered and vocal enthusiasts who try to collect support by hate and fear mongering. In the end, neither of these federalist parties can do anything to bring about any real change in a government with such an enormous rest mass. When among each other they try to accentuate their almost nonexistent differences and then try to sell hate and fear to their cohorts in the same way that racists, sexists, homophobes, and anti-semites do. When viewed from a rational distance the two federalist parties are identical. It’s as comical as watching any behavior involving bigotry.

8

That’s probably true. That’s why I said “from a foreigner’s point of view” - it’s just the impression we get from what we see. I’ve not been to any part of America myself so that’s all I’ve got to go by.

I suppose not if you think of it in the same terms as those other things you listed, but if there was a “white only” channel it would be considered racist wouldn’t it?

Against bicyclists surely? But no, I don’t think that’s discriminating against non-unicyclists. A forum (or anything else) aimed at a group of people with the same interest is not the same thing as assuming all people of a certain race are the same, IMO. Using the advertising example, if somebody wants to sell me a widget I won’t refuse to take notice if the person isn’t on a unicycle (or doesn’t have the same racial background as me) - it’s completely irrelevant. If they’re selling a unicycle I’m more likely to take notice of a fellow enthusiast; if it’s something culturally related perhaps the race of the person would be relevant, but not so generally. That’s how I see it anyway.

Rob

9

That depends on the size of the margin. If we’re to believe the current polling numbers, it’s not looking to be that close though they keep reminding us that the polls tighten up close to the election.

Only the racist ones.

I think it will be the opposite. If Obama is our next president, it will be another little step of American culture “growing up.” Are we immature? Yes, if our founding documents say one thing and yet we do another (not let certain people vote, for instance). We still have much to learn.

As I see it, the major pains are over. What remains is more like smoothing out the wrinkles compared to the Civil Rights movement and the fight(s) against slavery.

These are demographic groups that can be measured by various polling methods and statistics. And if you can measure a group, you can cater to it in your campaigning or ads. If you’re doing fine in the general polls but showing weak numbers among certain demographics, you can focus more attention on them.

Neither are we, but we’re still “growing out of” the 1960s and long-held beliefs (by some) that some people are inferior or different due to their color. Many people in this country still find it socially acceptable to be openly racist, but their numbers are slowly dwindling. The only way to get rid of some of them though, is to wait for them to die off. And hope they don’t raise any more kids or grandkids to believe their un-American nonsense.

It’s true, but I don’t think it’s considered racist. A TV network like BET (Black Entertainment Television) is just based on a theme, no different from the Science Fiction Channel or the Documentary Channel. There is no exclusivity on who can watch it, or on the programming they can show. It’s just a collection of stuff that’s expected to be of interest to Black Americans in general, so I don’t have to be black to watch that, nor do I have to like science fiction to watch the SF channel.

I think the same is true for advertisements. Many ads are targeted at certain demographics. How come household cleaning supplies are always advertised toward women? Sexist? Yeah, I guess. But it’s more common these days to have various ethnic groups represented in all sorts of general advertising.

Most of the world outside our borders seems to agree with you. I wonder how many Americans are aware of this? Probably not Sarah Palin, even with her binoculars trained on Russia’s shores…

Amen to that. I’ve been fed up with both parties for a long time. Partisanship is what keeps our political system stopped up like a bad set of pipes. People need to go back to listening to ideas. Wouldn’t that be nice?

10

You people are all racist…against FREEDOM!!!

11

Good research! You will also notice that Hamburg is a part of the greater Buffalo area… the stats in this context are quite different. Forrest from the trees.

12

Not many black people voting for the white guy. Even the rich ones that will have to pay more taxes. (Making more than $100,000)

I find this for amusement purposes only.

I hope we can all be happy together.:slight_smile:

13

Donna Dubinsky the former CEO of Handspring, a one time competitor to Palm, had this to say in October 2000 in explaining her support for Al Gore:

“I’m sitting here, I’m in this, you know, this top 1 percent that George W. Bush is promising to give, you know, fewer taxes to, and I don’t think I need it. I have plenty of money, and if there is a tax break, it should go to the lower income levels. I just think that the focus is in the wrong place in the Republican Party today.”

Those black people may just have some good reasons for voting for Obama.

14

Class warfare is one of the oldest political tools there is… and about as successful in practice as Handsping.

15

Are you saying that blacks are just smarter?

16

And the working class and middle class have lost under Bush.

Under Obama, class warfare will end, and everyone will play fair, paying for some of what the government has made possible for them.