Racist

[freakycheeseman]

I'm a racist

Comments

racist?

[anonymous]

Is that really racist, though? Would your feelings change if the victims were white/black/Asian/Hispanic? Or is it that this hits harder because it's close to home, it's your fellow citizens, and it's more likely to be people you know (or people they know).

I don't think it has anything to do with race, just with that violence close to home is scarier because it seems more real.

Re: racist?

[freakycheeseman]

It all depends on how you think of races, I suppose. Maybe ethnocentric is a better word, but it's still the same thing.

[theloneboy]

shut up ne! your not a racist, you just don't want to die.

[freakycheeseman]

What the hell does not wanting to die have to do with anything?

[theloneboy]

The people that where getting killed came closer to you then you thought they could and this drastic shift made you realize your own mortality. Because your suddenly faced with the idea that you may suffer a rather pain full death at any moment. And guess what you’re afraid.

[freakycheeseman]

Sorry, but you're way off. First off, I've been aware of my own mortality for a while now. I don't like it, but I couldn't say I'm afraid. That just wasn't what I was thinking when I learned about this.

Secondly, even if you were right, that wouldn't make it any less racist. Suppose you were right, and this event had reminded me of my own mortality. Why didn't the bombing in Baghdad?

[jadedoto]

So when I hear all this news, I sit back and think "huh. That sucks." and then I go back to whatever I was doing.

Does that make me a blissfully ignorant alien? :)

[freakycheeseman]

Actually, I think that makes you better adjusted than the rest of us. It might seem cynical, but people die all the time- 33 people gunned down won't make this day statistically special.

[jadedoto]

Better adjusted... I think Huxeley tried to warn us about the dangers of ignorance in Brave New World. How can we appreciate how special every moment is if we never really have it?

[jadedoto]

And for the record, I'm racist too :)

[yashabk]

Hmm...but do you have a greater reaction to Virginia Tech than to American soldiers dying in Iraq?

If so, then you might have a greater reaction to Virginia Tech than to those other things for similar reasons, rather than racism.

[freakycheeseman]

Good question, but not one I can answer- this many of our troops haven't died in any single event, and even if they did, it's the job they signed on for- makes it less shocking.