Just a random opinion...

[deadly_diabetic]

I usually don't get into political posts, actually I usually don't post, but all the recent talk of racism has got me a little sad so I thought I'd share some observations. I wish that people would stop calling the actions of the federal government racially motivated. Don't get me wrong, I think they royally botched the job and I'm not a fan of W, but it is by far one of the least intelligent comments I've heard in a long time. Furthermore all it does it hurt those that really are the victims of racism, it's "Chicken Little" syndrome. By definition racism is when one group of people receive different treatment (either positive or negative) based solely on their racial makeup. In this case, no NOLA citizen has received anything that resembled good treatment regardless of race. Beyond which, the communities in MS that were hit by Katrina and are predominantly white in demographic have received no better treatment than those in NOLA. If one wants to say that it is “classism” because only the poor were the ones that suffered then I can certainly get behind that but to say that it was racially motivated seems to define logic (at least as far as logic is applicable). To me the word racist should be a word that makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. It should cause my blood pressure to rise and my cheeks to turn red. I believe that it should become such a visceral reaction that anyone given the label should cause a ferocious rage just at the mention of their name. Instead, tragically, it gets tossed around so loosely that it holds barely a reaction at all anymore and that is a travesty to all people who suffered in the name civil equality. I feel a large sense of remorse for those that gave it all for the beautiful ideal of equality just to see our generation use the description of the vile conditions they endured so flippantly. Whether or not you like Bush (and there is plenty not to like about him) I would urge people to seriously consider what the label "racist" means and never forget those that suffered so that it could someday, hopefully, be lost to the antiquity of time.

I know that I’ll probably be flamed for this by someone claiming I've drank the presidential kool-aid but this post really is not meant to be a defense of George W. Bush or any of his (in)actions.

-DD