Re: Hugo Shortlist 2008 (Sawyer)

DouhetSukd <DouhetSukd@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:

>On Mar 26, 8:36 pm, John Schilling <schil...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>>
>> >Which a good thing.
>>
>> Rearranging the list of things one is encouraged to be intolerant
>> of, is rarely an improvement.  It could be, if it were carefully
>> and thoughtfully done, but it rarely is.
>>
>
>Ah didn't mean to get recursive on this, but I guess it is by nature.
>Lemme see...
>
>Once upon a time it was cool, acceptable and mainstream to be a bigot.

John's point is that it is _still_ "cool, acceptable and mainstream"
to be a bigot - the only thing that is changed is who the societally
acceptable targets of the bigotry are.

And just like the bigots of yesteryear, the bigots of today advance
convoluted moral theories as to why their bigotry is the "correct"
attitude.

>Nowadays, you never know how strangers, even your fellow whites, are
>gonna react when you spout off white supremacist theories.  For me at
>least, that is an improvement.  Do you find that to be a problem
>yourself?

That has changed less than you might think.  I grew up in the South in
the 60's and 70's - and supremacist groups like the Klan were in fact
widely regarded and treated as dangerous loons, The two guys at my
high school who publically espoused Nazi theories were invited to shut
their mouths under penalty of having a baseball bat introduced to
their cranium.

"White Supremacy" (as understood today) simply wasn't tolerated, while
bigotry [against blacks] more-or-less was, even as the tolerance for
the latter was decreasing.

>Unfortunately, we've also gotten to the point where opinions that
>clash with PC thinking can generate a lot of unthinking backlash.  I
>find it a somewhat acceptable, if regrettable, trade off if it is
>needed to move us away from pure racism. 

Huh?

D.
-- 
Touch-twice life. Eat. Drink. Laugh.

http://derekl1963.livejournal.com/

-Resolved: To be more temperate in my postings.
Oct 5th, 2004 JDL