The Specials, "Racist Friend" (1983)

Every so often I pull this song out and listen to it, and strengthen my resolve. In the 90s I cut loose some folks because they didn’t approve of me having gay friends or white friends or Jewish friends or whatever their intolerance was. I didn’t regret it; ultimately it meant being able to bring more people together when I did have gatherings without someone having "issues”.
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JamesBugman

The song is not the greatest, but the meaning is a good one. Don't tolerate prejudice.

When you look at someone, don't let yourself think "oh a white man" or "oh a black man" or "oh a Jew" or a gay or anything else, just think of them as humans just like you. They have their own beliefs and that is cool, so do you. We are all the same inside.
Where I live we have Jamaicans in the house next door, Polish people in the house on the other side, Ukrainians next to them, Chinese across the street, Indians, Sikh, other Europeans.. basically all nationalities all within a two block radius. We all say hello as we pass even if some of them do not speak English. It's wonderful.

bijouxbroussard · F

@JamesBugman Trust me, I understand this better than you might imagine, having dealt with racism for well over 60 years now.

There’s nothing wrong with acknowledging our differences as long as we can embrace and respect them. I’ve found that people who claim to be "colorblind" are mostly kidding themselves.

ElwoodBlues · M

@JamesBugman Yep. We try to teach tolerance, especially in the public sphere, but eventually we run into the question of whether intolerance should be tolerated. And tolerating intolerance is often the easier "don't make waves" choice. But like in the parable of the Nazi bar, https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Nazi_bar you just might find yourself in a bad place in the end, as the GOP is discovering.

bijouxbroussard · F

@ElwoodBlues Frankly, I’m surprised that she considers it a problem. 🙁

Kwek00 · 41-45, M

@bijouxbroussard It's because she's jewish... a bit like why Candace Owens needed to leave the daily wire, while other xenophobes are still on there. But antisemitism, is just a step to far for Ben, because he's jewish.

bijouxbroussard · F

@Kwek00 Further irony that Loomer and Owens were in bed with the MAGAs in the first place. Clearly they thought they’d be the "exceptions", but the MAGAs are who they always were. Hatred brought them to the table.

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Fukfacewillie · 56-60, M

@Kwek00 @ElwoodBlues If they weren’t Jewish they would be somewhere between Tucker and Fuentes. How they stay “MAGA” is beyond my comprehension.

Kwek00 · 41-45, M

@Fukfacewillie "Beyond comprehension"?

Why is it so strange, that a person that thinks like this:

is in a movement full of xenophobic racists? He even has a person like Matt Walsh and Michael knowles into his business. 🤷‍♂

Next to that, Shapiro is really honest about his allignment with the republican party. He'll carry water for them everytime, and considers himself a "gatekeeper" for the movement. His gatekeeping seems to only begin, when Jews are targeted, or in a time period BEFORE the head of the movement is picked. Once you have a figurehead, he'll fall in line like he always has. And then he'll tie some plows to his demented audience, and farm money of of them.

And Loomer? Lol, she was making content for rebel media, with some other notable figures as Faith Goldy and Lauren Southern. How is all of this "beyond comprehension"? These people helped dig the far-right rabbithole.