"I start by saying racism, sexism, homophobia, whatever other -ism you want to discuss has always and WILL ALWAYS exist."
Absolutely - but it doesn't hit everyone equally. It's convenient to say "oh, we should treat everyone as individuals" when that has never been the pattern before. Oppression has always been based on race, class, gender, sexual preference, etc. without regard to the merits of the individual. Now that the worm is turning a bit, we should abandon that and start judging as individuals? Too convenient.
"This is exactly why racist retaliation doesn't end racism, it perpetuates it. Sexism will always exist so long as people who were abused in the past use it to abuse those in the future. Mental illness will continue to grow, so long as we deny its existence and call it a pretty euphemism."
Blaming the victims. "I've kicked the shit out of you for centuries, but now you're kicking back - so you're the reason there's still problem!"
"Your example of racism against white people, sexism against men, and Christian-bashing is not only prominent today, it is CELEBRATED by millions of people instead of demonized and considered shameful."
You kick a dog every day, it's going to bite you eventually. You're blaming the dog. Attacks by white Christian men have been celebrated for centuries, now when the shoe is on the other foot it's somehow terrible? In any abusive relationship, the onus in on the abusers to clear the air and steady the ship, not the abused.
You're asking oppressed people to "be the bigger man" and be better than the people who've oppressed them. Doesn't seem fair.
"The GOP is based on abortion and LGBT bashing?"
I don't need to talk to anybody. Read party platforms, listen to politicians speak, read the laws coming out of legislatures. I'm almost 60, abortion and gay-bashing have been the central organizing tenets of the GOP for my entire adult life.
"We get passed all of this only when we stop judging people in arbitrary groups (skin color, genetalia, political party) and judget them on the INDIVIDUAL level. Their character, their morals, how they treat others, etc."
That sounds fantastic - when are the straight white conservative Christian men going to start? Or do the various oppressed groups have to go first and hope their abusers follow suit?
