Re: [Gnu-arch-users] Re: [OT] facism gaining ground in US

[Robert Anderson]

--- Original Message ---
From: Michael Poole <address@hidden>
To: "Robert Anderson" <address@hidden>
CC: "Pierce T.Wetter III" <address@hidden>, "Patrick
Mauritz" <address@hidden>, address@hidden
Subject: Re: [Gnu-arch-users] Re: [OT] facism gaining ground in US

>Robert Anderson writes:
>
>> You're being willfully ignorant and you know it.  Go into any
>> school lunchroom in any school in the United States that has any
>> ethnic diversity at all, and you'll instantly see that "tribal"
>> differences and "tribal" differentiation are the norm, not some
>> foreign hard-to-imagine concept in a fully integrated melting
>> pot.  That's just silly.
>>
>> Are we doing a lot better than declaring war on each other on a
>> regular basis?  Most places, yes.  Are we anywhere near being
>> blind to such differences?  Of course not.
>
>This is a topic where there's a "damned if you do, damned if you
>don't" mentality.  It's wrong to treat members of minority groups in
>special ways.  On the other hand, we are encouraged to "celebrate
>diversity" -- usually by doing things that highlight the unique
>characteristics of minority groups.  We want to be blind to
>differences but still remember them, which is somewhere between
>undefined and unnatural.
>
>I hope that most Americans (and most citizens of developed
countries)
>can accept their next-door neighbors as countrymen and treat them
>decently even if there is a language barrier.  I think that is the
>kind of acceptance and identification that Pierce was talking about,
>not an impossible ideal of blindness to differences.
>
>Michael Poole


The specific point he's trying to make was that Americans "don't
understand tribalism."  Which I simply don't believe is true. 
Most of us may not be fanatical tribalists, but to talk in terms
of "cultural blind spots" is, IMO, silly.

It's comforting to think that that backwards culture stuff is for
the other guys, but that tends to conflict with reality.

Bob