Ian On The Red Dot

The answer is no. The answer is not always. Here is why.

I read this blog post outing another supposedly racist blogger. There is a general feeling online that if you are a racist blogger, you are immediately more childish and less mature than me a non-racist blogger.

But I wonder. And I wonder. And I don’t think it is always the case.

Why?

Let me defer to my much more intelligent and articulate friend thegreatsze who said it best in this blog post. I shall reproduce excerpts of the post below. I also suggest you read the comments for the post.

Racism is a form of discrimination. There are many kinds of discrimination in this world: sexism, ageism, superficiality, etc. One form of discrimination is not, and *cannot* be more egregious than another. This is simply because they are premised on the same foundation - preferential treatment due to wholly irrelevant (and some might say irrational) considerations. Who is to say that racism is worse than sexism, and vice versa?

It is impossible to live life free of bias. We are products of our environments, and different environments will necessarily produce different prejudices.

If you are against racism, it means that you are also logically bound to be against all other forms of discrimination (since they are of the exact same genus).

or so says thegreatsze.

In another humorous post that uncomfortably holds the mirror in front of us (which we probably do not notice because we are looking over it and beyond), thegreatsze has once again, in his words, helped us reach Nirvana, Enlightenment and John 3:16 all rolled into one.

Some might condemn this ostensibly reprehensible behaviour. “Is this what we have evolved to become?” they cry. “Socially maximizing robots with nary a thought for the socially awkward man?”

Well. This is hardly true sympathy. Quite simply, this is Loserspeak at its most unadulterated - your usual grasping brand of “If You Can’t Beat Them, Complain About Them”. If these whiners were just a whit better looking or talented, they’d be screwing your girlfriend behind your back in a heartbeat. But they aren’t, so they won’t, or rather can’t. So they complain.

Do not be fooled by them; or worse yet, succumb to joining them. Stick to your guns. Talk to the most important, most happening people at parties. The rest are wallpaper. Once in a while, however, take time out to talk to the weird ones that nobody ever talks to. People will think you have depth. But not for too long. People are shallow.

I’m going to watch episodes of ‘Will & Grace‘ again through the lens of this post by thegreatsze.

Will - determination, effort, perseverance. A blunt instrument.

Grace - style, effortlessness, ease. A pointed tool.

The former value is Hobbesian. With only Will, devoid of Grace, we are exposed for the maximizing animals that we really are. A graceless Mage (cloth-wearer, wands and staves only) loots on every drop, including plate, polearms and mail; a graceless clubber requests a full list of what his free drink coupon entitles him; a graceless diner leaves no tip and runs through a gamut of credit cards hoping for a discount; a graceless mother speaks of her SAP-school enrolled son with no hint of awareness.

Much of charisma, popularity and magnetism, then, come from the fountainhead of Grace. In the dog-eat-dog world of Will, nobody wants to win the approval of a fellow dog. No; if we are to worship, we must worship higher. The quality of Grace cleaves to our imaginations, our rose-tinted idealizations. We see it in LeBron and Federer on court, and Denny Crane in court; it seeps unconsciously into us through the behaviour of top-flight politicians, celebrities and business-class citizens.

We are the plodding, the grasping, the heathen, willing ourselves forward day after tiresome day; they are Gods on earth, gracing us with their presence.