Comments on The Burd Report: This is the kind of rubbish that should be outed!

I have lived & worked in the multi-cultural ca...

2008-12-06T00:40:00.000-05:00

I have lived & worked in the multi-cultural capital of Canada (aka Centre of the UnitVerse) for 35 years. Every day of my working life I have spent with "people of colour", eaten with them in their home, in my home, enjoyed lovers of assorted skin-colours, and cultures, argued with assorted folks of all textures and learned to the marrow what stereotypes can do.

People with white skin are not exempt. Equality is equality. For almost 30 years I have lived in one of Toronto's original three housing co-ops. My best neighbour is a draft-dodging Quaker Jew; we have taken care of each other during sickness, and he knows that I am far removed from being a pacifist.

Am I critical of Islamists? Very much so. I learned to direct my criticisms from Muslims, including Tarek Fatah, the founder of the Cdn Congress of Muslims & author of "Chasing a Mirage" and with whom I am acquainted personally. (Watch my Wal-Martyr performance on my blog poetency.blogspot.com.

I am an avowed atheist, so I have no respect whatsoever for anyone's religious "beliefs" and feel free to mock dogma. Am I an Islamaphobe? Yes, I am. Islam is not a person or a people. Islam is a belief. I hold it in as much contempt as I hold the beliefs of Christians. Whatever mockery Monty Python dumps onto Christian beliefs, should also be free to mock Islamic beliefs.

Stereotypes include the assertion that white-skinned people can't dance, white-skinned people can't jump, dark-skinned people are built for football, dark-skinned people shoot other dark-skinned people, white-skinned people are hockey maniacs.

I have often found that those who call for others to be sensitive to the feelings of immigrants and other "protected peoples", are less sensitive to the feelings of white-skinned people.

I know that I am a full-fledged enemy because I am white, anglo-saxon, protestant upbringing, blue-eyed, straight male (although I have twice had some sex with a man). People like me are guilty of world slavery, colonialism, capitalism, genocide throughout the world, sexism everywhere and throughout history, and the list goes on and on. All of this is confirmed by the Canadian Human Rights Commission which has convicted only white-skinned people in its 30-plus years existence.

The overwhelming stereotype is that only white-skinned males are racists and sexists. I've been hearing it all my life.

I spent a few years during the late 80's working with Romany (Gypsy) people, on both sides of the Iron Curtain. I remember being "gyped" from time to time. The stereotype is so subtle. We are aware that it is not right to say "I was jewed", but fewer are aware that "I was gyped" is the same.

Stereotypes are not a positive way to regard people -- sadly, Ben Burd doesn't get it. There are people who regard stereotypes as racist, etc.

It is absolutely wrong to believe that Muslims are terrorists. It is accurate to say that most terrorists in our current age are driven by Islamic ideology which hates the West. During the late 60's, early 70's, most terrorists (Baader-Meinhof, Red Brigades, Red Army Faction, etc.) were driven by communist ideology which hated the West.

During the 80's I used to travel in and out of the Warsaw Pact countries, smuggling in and out hard currency, human rights docs, dissident art, dissident literature, dissident music and collaborating with peace activists over there.

Blah blah blah self-extol...

Ah - old white guys. That's kiind of a joke with m...

2008-12-05T17:03:00.000-05:00

Ah - old white guys. That's kiind of a joke with me, being of the same vintage. Some of them are awful, and achieve old white guy status in their twenties; others are some of my favourite people. My dad was an old white guy, and he was lovely. Ben is an old white guy, and lovely at least some of the time.

If I have offended any old white guys, including Wally, I do apologise. Like I said, some of my best friends are old white guys and I have no particular bias against them. It's a phrase I use in an attempt to be humourous and no harm was intended.

You can find my posts to the TorStar labelled as "grumpy old girl" by the way, the female equivalent term.

DJO

Do you think it might be those "old white guy...

2008-12-05T16:28:00.000-05:00

Do you think it might be those "old white guys" that are slashing tires?

I mean I'm 61 so I would certainly fit the profile of being an old white guy. I have never slashed a tire in my life, however, I once poured sugar into a motorcycle gas tank in retribution for the biker & two of his biker friends who beat me up in front of the Hoo Lee Gardens because I was a long-haired hippie -- but then again, it was an "old white guy" who kicked me out of CDCI-WEST and denied me an education because my hair came down to my ear lobes.

It's not easy being an "old white guy" -- I'm continually having to plead innocent to all the accusations based on association on the grounds of my age, sex, and skin-colour. Profiling. I empathize with the vast majority of Muslims who feel resentment about being profiled as terrorists.

But then again, I'm an "old white guy" regarded as a dinosaur in some circles and trianles.

After reading the log entry posted by Ben I can on...

2008-12-05T15:35:00.000-05:00

After reading the log entry posted by Ben I can only say it underscores the concerns I talked about earlier regarding irrational and hateful people.

Whoever this is, he is making me nervous. Sometimes I think people want to be anonymous because they are afraid of what might happen if one of the irrational and hateful posters figures out who they are and looks for retribution.

When I think of Liberal supporters in Toronto having their car tires slashed and other acts of vandalism perpetrated against them, I think the potential exists for the kind of individual who is sending these messages to go off the deep end entirely.

It's a strange and scary world, apparently especially for New Democrats. I wouldn't know, having not been a party member for 15 years now.

DJO

Ben Burd posted: "Here we have outraged conservati...

2008-12-05T13:24:00.000-05:00

Ben Burd posted: "Here we have outraged conservatives, phoning into call shows, describing themselves as 'ordinary Canadians' funny how they all sound white..."

Ben Burd replies: "Sure I used stereotypes and I don't apologise for it."

DJO comments, "I just hope there are no fist fights between outraged and overly excitable old white guys..."

Those comments were made by NDPers, no one else. It is quite clear that the issue is contempt for white-skinned people. To point out that political merits are based on skin-colour is odious rubbish.

It can be quite unsettling to read too many posts ...

2008-12-05T13:21:00.000-05:00

It can be quite unsettling to read too many posts commenting on politics, whether they appear in this blog or at the bottom of a newspaper story.

Who would have guessed so many people are this ignorant, this irrational, and most worrying of all, this hateful? I was taught to respect others' opinions, and that while it was ok to disagree and say so, it was never ok to belittle, insult or tell lies.

As my handsome spouse often says - we are all going to hell. There seems to be nothing we can do to stop the decline in human values and decency.

DJO