Quote:
I CANNOT permit a person to blame the historic past misdeeds against groups for his/her current individual shortcomings.
you're killing me here, fatman. your argument hinges on the assertion that racism is ended, that it's no longer a thing we need to worry about in our brave new world. race-based discrimination is not a thing that holds people back anymore, and on the off chance that a freakish anomaly does occur, that our collective sense of righteousness will correct the problem, if only it is brought to our attention. (who's attention do you mean, by the way? i have to assume you're talking about white people here. judge joe brown, maybe?)
ideology is not a conspiracy, which makes it even more insidious. there is no secret cabal of old white men sitting in a room manipulating things to keep the black man down. it would be so much easier if it was. society itself is set up to perpetuate these ideas. we all grow up in the same america, and we all receive the same messages. it's extremely difficult to break out of the roles we are assigned to play. it's scary and uncomfortable to leave these comfort zones. (if you've seen the episode of the wire where bunny takes namond and them to the fancy restaurant) it feels wrong, because everything we've learned our whole life tells us who we are. (this is why, i'm sure, hav2cit can't even begin to fathom my argument. it goes against common sense- think of the example he brought up about black men coming out of college or prison, or why 50 cent or akon could be defined as "real", when all their so-called "realness" probably only relates to some white record executive's idea of what black people are "really like") try to imagine being black and everything you see around you, every single day of your life, tells you that you are nothing. black people are necessarily defined as "other" in american society. as in, not the norm, not the ideal. nothing. why do you think clueless white kids latch onto black popular culture? because it's other. it's a game for them to play, to be "the other." you can participate in the "exotic" lifestyle of the american negro, with none of the baggage that goes along with actually being black. i would submit that living in a country where you are "other" at best, and invisible at worst, is some fairly crushing racism to have to contend with.
but this is just my knee-jerk reaction. 
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They're all human beings, and though she may be a liar and a manipulator, it's probably because she doesn't know any other way to survive.
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