Thu, 5:42: You can't reasonably expect everyone in the world to find you attractive. If you believe you are, however, a surprising number of people will agree with you.
Normally I hate grandstanding posts like this but this is just too important. I had a bit of a rude awakening this morning, a reminder of how easy it is for people -- well, white people -- to forget how close to home overt racism really resides.
An extended family member posted one of the great many willfully wrong-headed memes declaring Colin Kaepernick "not a true patriot" as compared to another black veteran who served for his country, more of this "Kaepernick is disrespecting the flag" bullshit. This is eye-roll-inducing moronitude that I have been tolerating for ages. (Maybe try reading through this instead of deliberately distorting the message: goo.gl/hixy5Z -- an accounting confirmed by snopes.com by the way.)
But then another relative posted a comment on that family member's post, critical of Kaepernick and using the N word. This relative was someone I had already quietly un-friended some time ago because of his penchant for viciously personal direct insults. It was still the first time I had seen a family member use that word in ages -- decades -- and it was both deeply depressing to see and unsurprising.
And another relative chimed in, agreeing with him and using the word *again.* I felt sick to my stomach. This is literally the most offensive word in the English language, arguably by a wide margin, and we simply don't live in a world where there is any excuse for not understanding that. I don't give a shit how old you are, how "different" things were when you were younger, how conservative you are, how legitimate you think your differing political values are, or how many "black friends" you think you have, there is no excuse for it at any time in any place at all ever.
And incidentally, there is some real, dark irony in declaring a black man's peaceful protest is "disrespectful" just before reducing him to the basest racial slur in existence. How, exactly, does responding to perceived disrespect by denying him his very humanity in any way elevate public discourse?
My initial, knee-jerk reaction was to un-friend both the commenting relative and even the family member sharing the original post, who clearly tolerates such language. This is something that should not ever be tolerated. My only regret was that I did not first leave my own comment saying such language is never acceptable under any circumstances. I went back to the family member's main page to try and find the post again -- and, now that we were no longer Facebook friends, it was no longer visible, among many other public posts. Hmm, what might it say that this person did not have the balls to share that publicly? 🤔
I still want it made explicitly clear that, sure, you are within your rights as an American to use such language. But with it always come consequences. I'm all for respectful differences of opinion. But if you are willing to use that kind of language, we are clearly far past the point of having anything left to say to each other. I'm not here to explain why it's unacceptable. It's the 21st century, for fuck's sake -- you already know why, and pretending you don't tells me everything I need to know about you.
Thu, 13:20: How the fuck did I have no idea Burt Reynolds was already 82 years old? His "comeback" role in BOOGIE NIGHTS was in 1997. 21 years ago. He was 61 in that movie.
