It's ridiculous because almost none of the reports are true. Police shootings of blacks are being called "race motivated" and "brutality" even when they aren't. Other forms of discrimination are exceedingly rare, but that doesn't stop agitators from bringing up racism at every opportunity.
"Discrimination" should be the last thing people blame when they don't know the facts. Doing otherwise runs the risk of spreading "Little Boy Who Cried Wolf" syndrome. Real discrimination, when it occurs, will then be obscured in the haze of false claims.
That's what bothers me.
There's also this: The way the media portrays minority views of whites is making ME far more critical and less trusting of minorities than I ever used to be. I'm aware of it and I therefore try to guard against it in myself. People are INDIVIDUALS and should always be evaluated as individuals, liked or disliked for their thoughts and deeds, not for the things they cannot help. I remind myself of that frequently.
I'm further aware that what the media is doing is affecting other people's judgement too, and claims of racism are turning into something of a self-fulling prophecy. Lie about race-hatred often enough and loudly enough, and race-hatred is spawned. Sad but true. People who aren't racists don't like being called racists and ultimately react to the way they're being treated. Does it matter that the racism was just a a media-propagated lie? Yes, when speculating in a clinical, purely analytical, laboratory kind of way - but *NO*, not in the least when one is walking past a group of minority teens who have been taught to hate others based on their color. And that's what our politicians, media and entertainment industry are teaching them today.
If race wars of the literal variety ever erupt, I'll be happy that I'm in New Hampshire. For whatever reason, there just aren't many minorities in the Northernmost areas of the country. (Seattle and Minneapolis/St. Paul are the two big exception I can think of.) Given what seems to be brewing, that may one day be a considerable advantage.
Here's FEELING for the rest of you. You're going to be in the thick of it for a long time to come.
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