Re: Willow Palin's homophobic Facebook rant

> Certainly. The same could go for terms like "hick" or "redneck". If
> it's one to another, that's one thing, but if it's an outsider
> wielding the term, the receiver can't help but wonder what they
> *really* mean.

Sure, I get that. Perhaps it's just because I'm thick skinned that I
have very little tolerance for such oversensitivity. Like lots of
other kids, growing up I was mocked for being fat, for being a
Bible-thumper, for being a homeschooler, and -- yes, even for being
white. (Our church was located in the most, uh, "urban" part of the
inner city.) When these insults were meant to hurt, they often did.
When they weren't meant to hurt, they didn't. I knew who my friends
were, who was teasing for fun, who was being mean, and who was just
ignorant. I understood these things as a *child,* and it's hard for me
to suffer adults who lack the same sort of understanding. (I'm not
touting this as a virtue of mine, by the way. Just musing aloud.)

> Oh, certainly. That doesn't mean we don't try to avoid
> misunderstandings that might arise. I mean, look at
> your example! Your *friends* misunderstood you. What
> can you expect of people who *don't* know you?

I can expect people who don't know me to not make judgements about my
character.  :)

> My 6-year-old daughter learned the word "darky" from the Little House
> on the Prairie books. The word has only come up twice and it is (I
> believe) innocent enough (it's not used in a derogatory way, it just
> comes up in conversation), but I've had to explain to her that people
> with darker skin don't like being called that, she shouldn't use the
> word. She was truly confused, she didn't get it, because she's about
> as non-racist as you can get. But I do really want to spare any
> misunderstanding that might happen if she wasn't warned.

Heh. Your daughter is reading "Little House" at six? That's fantastic!

Your story reminds me of a troubling episode I had in the car this
week. I was driving my kids home, and my five-year-old son likes to
make up songs and sing them to me. This particular evening, he was
singing about Jesus, how awesome he was, how nothing can defeat his
"powers," and then came this line, sung as innocently as you can
imagine:

"And even though he was Jewish, he was still a good person..."

Wait... WHAT?

We had to talk this one through, and by the time I dropped him off, we
still hadn't reached an understanding. For some reason, he was under
the impression that Jesus didn't *know* he was Jewish, and thus wasn't
"acting bad like a Jewish person." I assume the confusion comes from
Sunday School lessons or something, where the Bible talks about how
"the Jews" would conspire against Christ, or whatever. It was
disturbing, to say the least!

-- 
-pcg
 [email protected]

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