Xordelia (dot) COM

It is weird to use a phrase that Bill O’Reilly coined, but it is very true. Racial Witchhunter (noun) – one who tries to find racism and discrimination in the most petty things.

I saw the following comment on Facebook today and couldn’t help reply. I admit, I did not know how they meant their statement, so I did jump the gun a bit on assumptions, but I still stand to my comments.

Racial Witchhunter: “Cali is most def. not the place for me…it’s more racist folks here than it is in the backwoods of Mississippi! At least down south you already know wat the deal is…people are just so damn IGNORANT”

Me: “I hate to be devil’s advocate here, but everyone is racist in some way. I know a lot more black people who hate white people than the other way around. And yes I know that my ancestors enslaved them, but I didn’t personally so for them to hate me is pretty silly. But overall I think CA is a lot more accepting than anywhere else. Except for the idiots in like Lakeside and Santee I don’t know of too many overly racist people here.”

Racial Witchhunter: “michael first off you really do not know wat the hell you are talking about! i did not say anything about YOU or YOUR ancestors, or anybody hating you or white people for that matter and you have know idea wat i experienced or went thru o make any comment on the matter… I am the last one to blame the entire white race for wat happened in the past. your comments are without merit and furthermore not everyone is racist, period. And you also made an assumption that I was talking about white people, so the next time you decide to coment on an issue you know absoutely little to nothing about, DON’T!”

Me: “I did not accuse you of having any of those sentiments, I was generalizing racism as I see it in California and in the US. IE: my opinion, not a fact. I am sorry you are so angry but people disagree on things it is part of life. It’s pretty childish to explode on them.”

Racial Witchhunter: “Actually its pretty ignorant to go in or comment on any situation in which you have zero to little knowledge. I do not disagree with you because you have no grounds to stand on. I could say that I know plenty of white people who hate black than you know black people who hate white people, but THAT would be childish of me. And f.y.i, just because the observations you partake in within California does not negate the experiences other peole go thru let alone negate the fact that it exists. Obviously your world is much more sheltered than me and for that you must feel O SO LUCKY!“

Me: “It does exist and it sucks. I felt it every day at CPH being the huge ethnic minority. But you’re right, I don’t know the background on your comments and making assumptions is obviously bad, so I apologize if my musings offended you.”

I should have known better than to comment on something about racism coming from 1) an African-American female and 2) someone with the political views “if it ain’t Obama, it ain’t no good” but I couldn’t help myself. I’m used to educated people who can listen to other people’s opinions even if they disagree.

The facts as I see them: everyone is prejudiced in some way be it sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, weight, age etc. Society programs us to favor straight 20-something fair skinned upper-middle-class males.

If not prejudiced or “racist” in some way, this racial witchhunter is at least very hostile with a lot of bitterness toward people who disagree with her. But I would go as far as to say has some kind of hard feelings toward white middle-class males since she reacted in the way she did. Perhaps males in general. She reminds me in so many ways of Chima from Season 11 of Big Brother on CBS.

She accuses me of making assumptions about her but then turns around and makes assumptions about me that I am 1) accusing her individually of being racist and 2) accusing her of thinking all white people are evil for enslaving her ancestors. I said no such thing, I was speaking in a generalization of racism in California and America as I see it.

Next is her comment that I know nothing about “racism”. I went to a predominately hispanic high school where I was discriminated against every single day. Walking down the halls I would be called things like “pinche guero” (fucking whitey) every day. On top of that I am gay, so I know a lot more about being discriminated against than she does. She can at least get married and have children legally.

Next is a personal attack on me. She assumes I am sheltered because I have different opinions than she does. Honestly, I did have a sheltered life, but I’m a pretty cultured person as well. I have traveled a lot, I have friends from all different walks of life, many of them African-American friends. I worked with a friend on an African-American clothing line and I voted for Obama. I was raised to be color blind and I still am. I judge people on ignorance and rudeness, not color or any other factor out of their control.

In the end I was the bigger man and apologized if I offended her. Life is too short to get so upset over something so insignificant. It would have been fruitless to continue the virtual argument because it would have only got me deleted from her Facebook account.

Based on this huge overreaction I would say her “racism” is more due to ignorance than her race. If she blows up on people for disagreeing with her and hates other groups (which she obviously does) then who can blame people for being rude to her?

It is ignorant to call California a racist place; it is more accepting than anywhere else in the United States that I have been. It has more opportunity than anywhere else I have been. But the sad reality is that no matter where you go, not everyone will like you. People will always find something wrong. Such is life, get over it, accept reality, move on and enjoy life for what it is: an awesome adventure.

Wow it feels good to be back to blogging! Anyway, here with go with social commentary.

Let me preface this with saying that I am taking a Communications class this semester as part of my humanities requirement for my major. I signed up for a Saturday 8am class which usually means you get a monotone adjunct professor. However, I got lucky and got this awesome guy who is completely profound. And pretty damn entertaining too. His background is in Anthropology which is super interesting anyway, so he definitely adds a Anthropological and Psychological theme to the class.

Anyway, today we had a conversation in class about how our society is inherently sexist. And he proved it. The professor drew a square on the board and inside of the square was 4 squares. He labeled the two columns as male and female and the two rows as “sexually active” and “not sexually active”. He then asked the class to shout out words, however inappropriate, for each category.

For women who were sexually active, they shouted out things such as slut, whore, skank, bitch, ho, tramp, etc. For women who were not sexually active, thing such as prude, goody-goody, nun, etc were shouted out.

For sexually active men, things such as “the man”, pimp, stud, etc were shouted out. Men not sexually active were labeled as pussy, fag, sissy, Momma’s boy, etc.

The general theme was that men who are sexually active were judged as attractive and good. Men who were not sexually active were judged as bad. Women were judged as bad regardless.

The insults for men who were not sexually active were words relating them to women such as pussy, bitch, sissy, momma’s boy, etc. Therefore it was pointed out that the biggest insult you can call a man is something that related them to a woman. To the point where a lot of them would attack you if you called them such things.

He then went on to explain that the stereotype of a gay man is someone who is feminine, knows about fashion, has sex with men (like women), etc – and that since a gay man is related to a woman, he is looked down upon and socially inappropriate.

The finally major shocking point was when the professor asked the girls in the class to raise their hands if they have ever looked at another woman and called her a slut in their head. The entire class raised their hands. He then told them that they were using the same words and phrases that are used to oppress them, against other women, showing them that they contributed to their own social stigma.

To me, the most interesting part of this is, that no matter how much we say we are open minded, well rounded, do not judge, love everyone the same – we really do not. Women themselves are guilty of the same things as men – thinking as their culture and social norms have programmed them to think. No matter how much we try or would like to, culture is impossible to escape.

Pretty profound, huh?