Quote:
Originally Posted by low
No. The world has become too PC and too soft. I don't understand why everyone wants this guys head on a platter for some things he said 7(!) years ago. You all act like he physically abused puppies and stole from the elderly only 7 weeks ago. When I was 17, I made fun of gays and called them "fags". I'm 40 now. I've grown up and no longer care. I think the most gay thing you can do now is care about what some other guy does with his penis. Get over it. Grow a backbone. Sticks and stones. Move on. I'd be more worried about all the other negative BS going on right now. Doesn't our society have better things to do than to try and dig up dirt on what a guy said when he was a teenager? C'mon...
|
Of course, if you were on the receiving end, you would feel very differently. Especially if you were a racial minority who cannot escape the pressure by "passing."
I would normally accept the (very true) argument that people do things in their youth that they would never do once they mature.
But as the current climate in the US gets increasingly hostile toward black and brown people, I'm inclined to have zero tolerance for racists. No matter how old they are or were when they showed racist behavior or used racist language, why should I care if those chickens come home to roost?
White supremacists, who have become more and more bold in this country since 2016, would erase me, an African-American, from the face of this earth if they could. They would do the same to my wife, who is an immigrant from the Philippines. We are scared, and because I resent having to live scared, I just shrug when I hear a story like the one that is the topic of this thread.
What bothers me is that we apparently have not progressed very far in the US since the 1950s and 1960s, when well-meaning people, black and white, were killed--imagine that!--simply for trying to register people to vote. It surprises me that someone still uses racist or homophobic language in the 21st century. It surprises me that some innocent white folks don't know one of the most basic rules of racial harmony in the US: do not EVER, under any circumstances, use the "n-word". Even if your misguided black friends use it, it is not acceptable for YOU to use it.
Maybe some good will come from it if Hader sits down in private with some black guys and just talks to them. Learning about somebody who is not like you is a good thing.
It's not being "PC" and "soft" to respect the sensitivities of others. Maybe when you are in the minority you will understand better when someone aims certain language at you and tells you to "grow a backbone" if you don't like it.