Today's reason why there is no God: Strom Thurmond.
While not the biggest asshole to ever walk the Earth, he was certainly one of the more powerful. Consider the power of his assholishness:
I went to his birthday party, and said "wow, wouldn't it be nice if Strom won when he ran for President." Then I got fired because everyone says "Strom Thurmond is a gigantic asshole, and a huge racist, you support him - die, miserable scum." Yet he was a member of Congress for 48 years, constantly reelected, managing to somehow not get assassinated, despite assassinating his colleagues' political careers. What a dick, huh?
We're talking about a guy who staged a filibuster against the Civil Rights Act for 24 hours and 18 minutes, who hates gays, who loves what the confederate flag stands for, and a complete womanizer. Here is a guy who votes to limit appeals for death row inmates. Here is a guy who wants to develop chemical weapons. And, oh yeah, he wants to spend $75 million teaching kids not to fuck. Strom Thurmond married a 21 year old when he was over 60. Even Trent Lott says that introducing him to Britney Spears would be a very bad idea. Literally, "Down, Strom."
There must be no God for this dickhead to be in congress for 48 years. Then again, he finally died. Maybe God just thinks Strom Thurmond is funny. I think it's funny that there are high schools named after him. Anyone up for arson this weekend?
OK, maybe this isn't as definitive of a reason as I would like, but I think it's still a really stupid construction, and if we're making an assumption that God created everything, then he created this, and therefore also spawned all of these ridiculous problems associated with race. To begin with, race doesn't *do* anything, it alone has no power or bearing on anything aside from appearance, and even then it only works on the most broad level possible. All of its power comes from what people have read into it, the importance that they grant to it.
Most people will agree to this, and will go out of their way to censure racism, but I'll go a step further and talk smake about race in itself. In what other way would we be able to eliminate so much that is flat out wrong about society? Hell, people can still look different - variety's great. But drawing conclusions based on these superficial experiences is not acceptable, and the notion of race reenforces this. It's really baseless, and bothersome. What we ought to be drawing conclusions on is how people behave, what people believe, and so on and so forth. Race is such a touchy issue, it's difficult to talk about it and stay within the realm of what's politically correct, what's not going to piss the ever living fuck out of people. There are even politically incorrect facts. And why is this? Race.
It is a fact that African Americans score lower on the SAT on average than any other group of people. But why do we care? Why are we looking at African Americans as some sort of separate group? What's important isn't where their ancestors came from, but where they are now, and what influences their behavior and belief structures in ways that are meaningful. And, of course, there are African Americans that are in all walks of life, with a plethora of distinct behaviors and belief structures. It's more fitting to draw conclusions based on culture, but culture is not race, and doesn't even have to be sensitive to race.
Consider, for one, the culture embodied by Puff Daddy. I really dislike Puff Daddy, in just about every way there is to dislike someone. He's talentless, ostentatious, utterly devoid of style (especially that vile name) and quite possible a criminal. People who aspire to be like Puff Daddy are probably not going to want to be friends with me, and likewise, I'd prefer to eschew all contact with them. Once again, this is completely independent of race. If you're going to wear a giant gold chain with a pendulous dollar sign, I don't care if you're from the outer moons of Jupiter, that's fucking stupid. The mistake here is to say that's popular African American culture. Race is not the issue. And I think that it's a blunder to bring it into focus, and it really bothers me in particular, because I don't like the culture of Puff Daddy, and that does not in any way, shape or form make me a racist. I'm sick of feeling like a racist because I pass judgment on these cultural facets normally associated with race.
Of course, there are people who will pass judgment on people of a certain race, and while it's utterly ridiculous, it still happens. What means to people have to combat it? Usually to come together as a race, to be proud to be Hispanic/Black/Asian/Whatever. Consider the Million Man march, people organizing solely on the basis of being Black. I'm sorry, but I disagree. Race ought not be an issue for anything, for anybody, and it simply should not exist. Even if this is a reaction against racially geared attitudes, what will it do to promote the idea that being Black doesn't define your actions, doesn't mark your identity? It should not, and I can say with some degree of certainty that unless people stop giving a shit on both sides, the war of race will continue for the rest of time. My aunt said something to me once, that I feel is important in defeating this notion of the great importance of race. Next time you have to fill out a form that states your race, check other. Human.
