All posts tagged: Racism

Canada: The new racism

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In 2021, a white student attending a high school in Ontario, Canada tried to sign up for a summer program. He was rejected because apparently the program was only intended for black students. The Financial Post explains what happened next: In June 2021, an Ontario high school student tried to sign up for a summer program. He was rejected because he was white. The “SummerUp” program, sponsored by the Ontario government, was open only to Black students. His father filed a complaint with the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal alleging racial discrimination. Last November, the Tribunal dismissed the complaint, saying the quiet part out loud. White people, wrote the Tribunal, cannot claim discrimination. READ: Bruce Pardy: Human rights tribunal says the quiet part out loud

Apparently, good grammar is racist

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There is an old saying that when everything is important, then nothing is important. And recently we have seen a flood of things that the woke are calling racist, which after a while literally devalues things that actually are. The latest comes from a woke teacher, from not surprisingly California, who allegedly stated that good writing and proper grammar are racist, and vowed to make changes in her classroom the next term. According to Fox News, Marta Shaffer, who teaches English at Oroville High School in Northern California, made this claim in a recent TikTok video. Shaffer added that ‘white supremacy’ runs deep in public schools stating: “What do I mean by that? Well, let’s look at how we write essays: Start with an introduction that includes a thesis; always cite your sources; use transition words like ‘however’ and ‘therefore.’ They are all made-up rules. They’re arbitrary. They were created by Westerners in power.” She also described proper grammar, as the ‘language of power.’ Now, to be fair not everything that Shaffer said was completely …

Repent of your white privilege: Is racism the original sin?

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You have probably heard of “whiteness” the offense of being part of the dominant majority, that discriminates against minorities with different skin colors. If we consider the whole world, light-skinned people, whose ancestors came from Europe, including people who still live in Europe, form a large minority. In the world community, Asia and Africa have huge populations. I remember learning in school, about the explorers who sailed from Europe and conquered and settled North and South America, and Australia and New Zealand. The new nations that grew from this prospered and sometimes dominated the world. In the southern United States and Brazil, and the Caribbean, large slave populations were imported from Africa. From that division of society, Europeans and Africans, racism tends to be defined by skin color. The United States had a violent civil war, and many civil-rights protest movements. “Whiteness” and “White Privilege” were ideas that fuelled academic discussions. Now, with protest groups like “Black Lives Matter” that protest against “Whiteness” and try to change it, the argument has gone public, and onto …

COVID Anger: Is hatred of anti-vaxxers the new racism?

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I know people who are really afraid for their futures. Their ideas may sound like a conspiracy theory, but they believe that a new intolerance is coming on us. The official orthodoxy is that everyone should get vaccinated, and disagreement with this official position can lead to abuse and loss of freedom. The people who I know, who are really worried, are mostly opposed to vaccination for COVID. It’s like the new racial intolerance. One of the best known opponents of COVID vaccination is the musician Eric Clapton. He developed health problems after being vaccinated, and he blames the vaccine. He says that he has lost friends because of his opinions. I have seen some abusive statements aimed at Eric Clapton. READ: Eric Clapton sings ‘enough is enough’ on new COVID policy protest song ‘This Has Gotta Stop’ I should give a disclaimer here. I personally don’t want to be on one side of the argument, so I won’t give a one-sided opinion about COVID treatments. I think we should encourage open discussion about the …

The War in the Woods: Whose god will win, Racism or the Environment?

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In British Columbia, the western province in Canada, environmental protesters are blocking loggers who want to cut down trees. That is not surprising. The activists would probably tell us about climate change, if we could talk to them. Also, in that part of the world, “Racism” is often presented as discrimination against native people. The natives are the “people of color” in that region, and they are concerned about their place in society. They also own the trees that the loggers want to cut down. The loggers are working for them. The native community spoke up to say that they have “always harvested and managed our forestry resources” … [and] “We do not welcome or support unsolicited involvement or interference by others in our territory, including third-party activism.” In modern activist thinking, people who oppose the natives could be labelled as racists. Without choosing sides, this is a clash of titans: A common word in the news these days is “racism.” Anti-racist protesters can be violent in the streets, and careers can be ruined by …

Was Jesus a racist? Should we cancel Him?

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Was Jesus a racist? Some people claim that He gave a racist put-down to a woman who asked for help. If the accusation sticks, Jesus might be cancelled. One label that we all don’t want is “racist.” It’s the new mark of shame. Statues are being pulled down and schools are being renamed, and careers are being terminated. The Royal Family is being severely criticized, and books by Dr. Seuss are being cancelled from publication. My concern is that racism will no longer be a social issue if everyone is called a racist. The label needs to be applied with care, or there will be push-back and denial. Also, people can learn to keep quiet when they might be judged, without changing their ideas. I know someone who is a manager in the radio business, and he will not tolerate any jokes that make fun of groups of people. I don’t think he is racist, but he is also extremely careful to avoid a label that might ruin his career. Prejudice and bigotry exist everywhere, …

The Solution to Racism: Maybe God knows something.

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One word is the modern translation of the Bible word “sin.” The new word is “racism” In the Bible, one word “sin” describes anything wrong that people might do. We have ten commandments, and many other warnings, and the offence is always against God. If we hurt other people, we are offending the God who made them, and loves them. There are many ways to hurt other people. The hyper concern for racism makes one offence really matter, while other things might get overlooked. For example, it’s possible to be extreme and violent if the other person can be accused of racism. The U.S. Air Force Academy had a strong reaction to crude racist messages on their campus, and then investigators learned that one of the victims wrote the messages. The incident might be described as a stunt, but the possibility of racism required a severe correction. READ: Air Force Academy Prep School: Black cadet admitted to writing racist remarks on dorm doors I believe our concern for racism is in part based on the …

Is God Racist?

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Does the Bible support racism? Some say it does. They might base their decision on the Old Testament story of Israel becoming a nation. Or perhaps the tower of Babel story. The story of Israel actually reflects the story of all believers in Jesus to some degree. Although this predates Jesus’s appearance as a human, the Israelis were a people trying to follow God. Christians also try to follow God. The Israelites are God’s chosen people and so were called to be holy and separate from the other nations of this world. The Old Testament is to a large degree the story of how Israel lived out this chosen relationship. This holy separation was not racism. The conflicts and wars were not based on hatred of other nations as much as a desire to follow God on the path towards holiness. Christians are called to be holy and separate from other people of this world as well. It is a decision to live for Christ by not getting caught up in the sin and the …

Boomer, Doomers, and Systemic Racism

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In history, when armies fought on a battlefield, each side had a flag. A flag is only a piece of cloth with colors, but it is a symbol of something one side loves, and the other side hates. We have flags today, made with words: Systemic Racism, Defund the Police, Black Lives Matter, Hey Boomer. These slogans are used to rally people on one side of a struggle, and to make the other side hostile and angry. There is not much analysis, mostly just angry emotions. In the demonstrations, the flag words are written on signs and shouted. The news is also full of stories about violent demonstrations and ruined careers, when famous and privileged people offend someone with their words. These are dangerous times and it is dangerous to have an opinion different from a flag. I often visit a town called Killam, and I have a standard bad joke, “On Friday I’m going to Killam.” It sounds funny to some people. I was not there on the day, but people in the area …

So Much Racism: How Many Ways Can We Hurt Our Neighbor?

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Are you a racist? Just answer “no” unless you are. The great sin of our modern world is called racism. We don’t use the word “sin” anymore, and this new name for hatred is a serious thing. Some governments have threatened to cancel the rights of citizens who are openly racist. In politics, people on the political left believe that they are free from racism, and they like to assign the sin of racism to “right wing extremists.” That means, the other side can’t even speak because they have a label that makes them unworthy. This explains a lot of the political bickering in the news. We don’t argue about what we believe, we argue that some people should never speak, and our side should always get the microphone. In these modern times, we have something called “new racism.” This can be many things; systemic, personal, micro-aggressive, environmental, legal and there are many other definitions. Apparently, talk about the Coronavirus is racist against people in China. This complicated and poorly defined racism is popular in …

Credit: Taema/Flickr/Creative Commons

White Privilege and Lido Pimienta

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Are people with white skin privileged? Do we need to give special treatment to people with dark skin? People are talking about this. On October 19, 2017, a singer named Lido Pimienta went on stage at the Halifax Pop Explosion music festival to sing. Halifax is in Nova Scotia, Canada, and Lido is a woman, originally from Colombia, South America. Before she sang, she told white people and men in the audience, to move to the back, and she instructed women with dark skin to move to the front rows, close to her. Some people argued that this was racism, and a female photographer with light skin stayed near the stage to take pictures. She was ordered to move to the back several times, and then security removed her from the festival. Organizers have since apologized to Lido Pimienta for the photographer’s overt racism. RELATED: Halifax music fest apologizes for overt racism at Polaris winners concert Arguments have ensured. One quote from the discussion in the Global News article is: “I’m sorry but isn’t that …

Charlottesville, Virginia protest August 2017 Credit: Evan Nesterak/Wikipedia/Creative Commons

Riots in Charlottesville … and Darwinian Evolution?

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We know about the demonstration in Charlottesville Virginia. Groups described as Right Wing gathered and demonstrated for their beliefs. The trigger was a threat to remove monuments to leaders of the Confederacy in the American Civil War, more than a century and a half ago. That war was fought with muskets and sabres and horses, and the good guys won. The demonstrations were ugly, with symbols and language that related to Hitler and the Nazis, and the Klu Klux Klan. Counter demonstrators gathered, including some dangerous violent people. It all ended when allegedly a car driven by a man with a history of mental illness rammed into a crowd of counter demonstrators, killing a woman and injuring 19 others. Two police officers also died when their helicopter crashed as they monitored the demonstrations. It was a terrible day. To understand what was happening, some researchers brought up Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. Really. A survey was sent to members of the alt-right supporters asking for their opinions about human evolution. Related: Psychologists surveyed hundreds of alt-right …