There are 'extremes' in any sphere of conversation though, remember.
:wink:
Nobody with a sane mind would contest that the fella there in your picture is an utterly obnoxious individual.. a despot, basically.
He's not the first, he'll not be the last.
But he is, by definition, an extremist.
Of course its not 'wrong' to use the word 'old' !
.. 'Old' is very often a very positive thing ... an old guitar for example, will 'play' far nicer than a new one of the same exact model..
Equally 'old' can apply to something which has served well, but has come to a time where replacing it would be a sensible option.
Your use of the word, whether you realised / intended it or not,
was a bit derogatory, don't you think ?
That 'call' is made by the reader, 100%
How do you conclude that Racism is more prevalent amongst older people ? Is that your opinion, or do you base that on some factual evidence... ? I'm not 'contesting' your statement with any basis of fact, ... because I don't have any - It's a genuine question as to how you would arrive at that conclusion.
Its my 'observation' that there's a kind of 'acceptable reverse-racism culture' in the world.. and I'll quantify that...
Have you ever watched TV and seen ( forgive my terminology here, its perhaps not the best ).. " Dedicated Specific Afro-American Stand-up " ?
-- For example, comics like Chris Rock.
A very funny guy.. there's no doubt about it ... but a lot of the humour is very 'anti-caucasian', and very 'in yer face' in the process of being so. Check the panning shots of the camera, across the audience. It is almost always in every instance I have seen.. 100% coloured.
Not a problem, and I find the guy funny... but - and here's the kicker, reverse that, and have a white comic doing the same gags about coloured people, and the TV station would be shut down within minutes. Double Standards, see.
-- I'll continue with another example, noted when I was in Oshawa, where large automobile manufacturing takes place ...
-- A coloured worker was disciplined for a workplace misdemeanour.
Every other coloured worker in the plant walked out in support of their colleage. Admirable enough, one could argue.. until you heard the 'interviews', during which, without exception - each striker had walked out in support of their colleage, based
entirely on the fact that he was a black worker.
The relevance of whether his 'crime' was defenceable, or not.. whether he was in the right or in the wrong, had gone utterly out of the window. He was a 'black man wronged' ( in the view of his colleagues ), and they came out the gate in unanimous support.
Again - reverse that same mentality to a white bloke.. and it all of a sudden takes on a much more unpallateable demeanour, dont you agree. ? Double Standards.
If at 'middle age' - you're somewhere approximating the same age as me ( I'm 44 .. born 1965 ) ... we were fortunate enough to have missed the atrocities and horrors of WW2, by a margin just about big enough for it to have 'faded from memory' in relative terms, of the common culture that has prevailed since. -- However, there are still to this day, people who remember it all too well, -- I can cite an example of an older lady, sweet old dear she seemed, in whose house I was working + who had just collected her new spectacles, and brought them home. All was fine until she saw that the spectacles were 'made in Germany'.. at which point all hell broke loose. She told me why.
At first.. I found this to be 'incredible'. ... beyond my understanding.
She explained what had happened to her family members during the conflict. Horriffic. Did I understand then , why she detested the German race so strongly, that she was going to return the Spec's and insist on an alternative. ? Yes. That
defines her as a racist. Do I have any discriminatory views - no. But can I
understand hers ? yes, of course I can.
But again.. this relates to what we can know to be 'extreme' circumstances. Commonplace at the time, granted.. but War, by definition is extreme. In the widest stretch of my imagination, I couldn't say I felt her reasoning to be 'an excuse'. It may indeed have been very alien to me, but these scars ran very deep with this old lady - to the point where 'forgiveness wasn't, and would never be, even considered. Justifiable ? possibly... bordering on 'probably'.
Nations have done terrible things to each other over the centuries.. that is a fact of life. Thats history, and as we know, you can't change that.
Should you or I be 'publicly apologising for Colonial Slavery', which was 'demanded' by a gentleman on a radio interview a few months back ?
Of course we shouldn't. what an utter 'crock' - the buffoon demanding it had no more knowledge of slavery, than I do.. which is Nil.
A band-wagon jumping silly person, that should not have been dignified with air-time. But that sort of lunacy continues to propagate similar nonsense as time rolls on. That will ensure more than anything, that racism is something that won't disappear in any great hurry.
If i may quote you : " Its too simplistic to say old is good ".
-- Just how far out of context of the original comment would you like to take something ? :wink:
-- I'm not an educated fella, by any manner of means. In fact, to look at me, I look like I'd struggle to string a sentence together, ear-rings, tattoos, shaved head yada yada yada.. but 'simplistic' is perhaps not a description that I'd say was one that I'd been linked with all that often.
The use of the description, in context is anything but simplistic. - but that of course, is only my opinion.
Do you find that you have a lot of suppressed anger ?
You do come across as being of that 'leaning'.. keen for a bit of confrontation if the opportunity arises
If so, its maybe very justifyable... I don't know.
A holiday in Scotland in the spring can 'chill a fellow out' .. come smell the heather and have a look at the OLDEST mountains in Europe, up in the Northwest Highlands. Do a bit of fishing, soak up the tranquility... its good for the soul. You would return a 'happy and contented' man, guaranteed.
Take it easy Man..
don't bust a gut.
Life's too short to get overly het-up
All the best,
