While I wouldn't have made this thread, I would have noted the same personal disdain that I did. But hey, I'm not the kind of person who makes entire threads about this anyway. Though frankly I didn't actively know what race coolestkid was until it was brought up in this thread anyway. I've got the same feeling that Bruce wouldn't have cared either way.
First off, I still feel pretty clever about my jibe.. I'm not immune to problems with my vision, and I've pretty much been at the mercy of glasses/contacts since I was 8 years old.. It's gotten much worse in the last 20 years and I expect it to continue from here on.. I can read somewhat clearly 1" from my face (with one eye closed) without my contacts in- CAPS don't help me. Racism is wrong, and that's the meat of what I'm saying. My assumption is that sometimes comments are taken as racist when they know that someone is 'white'- that's wrong. When you ASSuME that Patrick is associating two races with a cockroach infestation because it's 'not for him' - that's wrong. Calling him out as an unapologetic bigot is completely over the line. He's a young kid who wants to be around the girls that he finds attractive. He wants to be around people that share a common bond and upbringing. It's the SAME REASON that certain people congregate at certain colleges, join frats, social clubs, religions, etc.. he just happened to be unfortunate enough to explain his personal reasoning on a public forum and let it be open to the interpretation of 15k+ people of various backgrounds (who may hold grudges that they've never personally encountered). Keep arguing with me, really.. I grew up in the biggest melting pot in the world and my ethnicity is made up of quite a few oppressed groups throughout the last 200 years. I'm on page one of this book. C.
I am reading this and LMAO !! as though you all buggers are saints , haha. I have my prejudices too , I sometimes coudn't care less about being PC. Its being PC that causes most of the trouble anyway. Everyone afraid of saying what everyone else knows as being true , so its all under the surface. Bull. step back and reflect .... you guys are going way off base here.
Good for you. Bruce prefers his posts that way, so I obliged. Perhaps you aren't aware that there are conditions that can affect visual acuity that are not amenable to simple refractive correction ? You claim racism is wrong. Then you claim that my characterisation of CKE as a racist bigot is wrong. Do you even know what racism is ? It is the prejudgement of a group of people based on their ethnicity. CKE very strongly implies he doesn't want to go to an institution that has a lot of Asians and Jews. He has prejudged these people as being undesirable in large numbers purely because of their ethnicity. Is this correct ? Is this not racism ? Is it "over the line" to call him on it ? Of course, he later backtracked by claiming that he didn't favor the institution because of other considerations. But if he hadn't felt strongly about the race issue, he just wouldn't have mentioned that, it would've been a non-issue. Personally, I think it's good to experience mixing with good people from different cultures from a young age, but, hey, that's just me. Then you of all people should know the merits of mixing with people of different cultures and outlooks. Don't expect that being a minority, or of mixed heritage makes you immune from criticism for racist comments, though.
On some of the message boards I visit, CKE's comment wouldn't even raise an eyebrow. I don't think some of you realize how clean and civilized F-Chat is comepared to some of the other message boards out there on the WWW (yeah, even the car boards). Wrong as he was, Patrick appears to be extremely polite and well spoken for his age. What needed to be said has been said, so let's move on.
Perhaps they would be considered mild on some boards. I've browsed through boards like that, and they're not places I would ever hang out at. I simply don't like people who think that way. I do know for a fact that at my WRX board (since I'm a mod there, and take action against this sort of thing), that comments like this would be grounds for serious censure. I honestly don't think his politeness or his eloquence has any bearing on this matter. But I do realise that my initial post may have been harsh, and I apologise for it. Racism touches a nerve with me, because I have been at the receiving end of it. I still don't like CKE's views about certain races, but I was wrong to reply in such a strident and reactionary fashion. With that, I'm ending my participation in this thread.
TURBOFLAT AND OTHERS..THANK YOU FOR YOUR KIND WORDS.. BOTTOM LINE ON THIS THREAD.... THE YOUNG FOE MADE A MISTAKE ABOUT HIS CHOICE OF WORDS ON A PUBLIC FORUM I FOUND IT, BROUGHT IT UP, POINTED TO THE HARM OF IT, GAVE HIM A LITTLE SLAP ON THE TUSH, AND HE APOLOGIZED...THATS GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME,,, I EVEN RECEIVED A KIND ,WARM PM FROM PATRICK...ITS OVER.. AS SOME PEOPLE KNOW ME HERE, IM HAVE NO TOLERANCE FOR SOMEWHAT "RACIST" STATEMENTS, AS SHOWN IN THE NY TRI STATE AREA... YES, WRITING IN CAPS HELPS ME SEE BETTER, AS MY LEFT EYE IS 1/2 BLURRED DUE TO DIABETES, AND IF YOU KNOW ME HERE, IM NOT SHOUTING AT ANYONE, JUST HAVE BEEN DOING THIS SINCE MY INCEPTION ON F CHAT BTW, SJB509, I SAW YOUR COMMENTS YOU SENT PAT IN A PM, I HAVENT HAD THE LAST WORDS WITH YOU YET,....... HOPE THIS SETTLES PEOPLE DOWN, REMEMBERING BEN, COREY, JENS, AND AMIR.... BRUCE
I guess it's important to remain as open minded as possible at college, knowing that things will only worsen with the time.... As Andenauer used to say : You should accept people as they are, since there are no others.
Patrick might not have intended it to sound so racist, but for it to come out at all shows somewhere inside him there has to be those feelings. Lets hope he changes with age
Guys, He made a mistake. He admits he made a mistake. Let it go and move on. We all have said and done stupid things in the past.
Which you just added to!!! And "one racist comment" or one thousand, racism can't be tolerated and if we have to flog it to death, then so be it! DM
Speak for yourself. Oops, that might just be part of the problem. And that's all she wrote for me. I'm outta here!
I was not pleased with Patrick's post and stated such. If Brother Bruce is a big enough man to offer total forgiveness, we should learn from that and do the same. It's tough to turn the other cheek some times. I'm with Bruce.
patrick is 17, he may be young but i think he is a good kid. the post was wrong but he admitts his mistake. i have met pat and my impression is he is no way a racist of any kind. i think he should forgiven and lets move on.