Melting Pot Or Melting Down?

A new law taking effect in Belgium in October, and later in Flanders, highlights one of the fundamental problems with the concept of cultural melting pots and integration.  The fact of the matter is that most people want to be around others like themselves.  It is a primary instinct of the human condition and no amount of force will make oil and water bind to each other.

The law bans Kosher and Halal animal slaughter, which involves slitting the throats and bleeding out the animals.  The Belgium and Flanders laws require that the animals be electrocuted before killing, in a manner considered more humane.  This, however, violates the strict food codes of Judaism and Islam.

Throughout history, when two opposing philosophical systems (religions) come into direct contact, conflict always follows.  Primarily Catholic/Christian Europe has profound conflicts with both Judaism and Islam, regardless of how much happy talk one slathers over the situation.  The contact point between the two philosophies ultimately boils over into pogroms, with the indigenous group usually winning.  It is a fact that can not be erased by wishful thinking.  History is clear on the subject.

When it comes to examples of cultural blending, many commentators point to the US as an example of the "melting pot".  This ignores one of the most poorly hidden secrets of America, though.  As waves of immigrants came to North America, they settled into ghettos, towns and even entire regions of cultural identity.  In Texas alone, there are German (Groene, New Braunsfelds), Czech (Moulton, Moravia, Praha), Spanish (San Antonio, Laredo, El Paso), Scotch-Irish (New Dublin, Shannon), British (New London, Derry) areas that can be clearly defined by culture, architecture, and even climate (just like home).

Around the country, there are the Pennsylvania Dutch, the Irish cops of Boston and New York, the Welsh miners in West Virginia and Montana, the Minnesota and Dakota Swedes, the Louisiana Cajuns, and so on.  People tend to congregate in groups and in regions where they feel most comfortable, and where the ethnic, cultural and physical environment match their fundamental values.

There is a basic and profound reason why Chinatowns spring up, Jewish ghettos exist, New York City Burroughs were delineated, and so forth.  There is a gut-level reason why even those groups that successfully integrate with existing cultures tend to congregate around ethnic restaurants, bars, places of worship, and community centers.

Even in my hometown of Houston, a thoroughly modern American city, there are entire sections of town with signs in Vietnamese and Mandarin.  There are entire neighborhoods where nearly every house has a mezuzah nailed to the doorpost.

Historically, all efforts to force people to integrate will fail, and often violently.  Only when clear lines of demarcation are mutually established does peace and harmony reign once again.  Whether the forced integration is an invasion, or the result of political policy, eventually the two opposing groups will repel each other with a force commensurate with the amount of force pushing them together.

Prejudice, bias and racism are at the core of the human condition.  Over time, groups organically integrate out of necessity or relaxing standards.  This can be clearly seen in the US, where immigrants ultimately show their willingness to pitch in and build a better community.  The Irish invasion of the late 1800s brought strife and violence with it.  Over time, the Irish became accepted and integral parts of the community and now St. Patrick's Day is one of the most celebrated holidays in the country.

There are many voices who promote racial, ethnic and religious integration, and preach loudly of the ideal humanity living in well-mixed bliss.  This is a lofty goal and no one can deny making it a reality is a long-term target for the human race.  To be sure, modern cities are "melting pots" where ethnic, racial and philosophical groups slowly blend over time through intermarriage and cultural blending.  It is a slow and tedious process, and any attempt to force it is met with equal and opposite force, frequently breaking out in bloody conflict.

The Belgian and Flemmish laws, along with others that will likely follow, represent the bow shock of backlash.  Conflicitng religious, philosophical and ethnic needs between the predominantly Catholic/Christian Europe and the Islamic invasion over the past few years will inevitably lead to conflict.  The needs and sensibilities of the two groups are fundamentally at odds.  The resistance to Halal slaughter techniques must overflow into the long-established Kosher industry, since the two are basically the same thing. 

Though Jews have been established for centuries in Europe, the revulsion against Halal slaughter must perforce include Kosher, as these types of backlash inevitably try to return to a perceived starting or neutral position and the integration process resets.

Society after society, culture after culture, from Sumeria to the present day have seen this type of rejection.  When integration is gradual, cultures blend and create new ones.  When integration is overwhelming and rapid, the invading culture makes too many sudden demands, and the extant culture slams the door.

In my own experience, I emigrated to a country (Indonesia) that was wildly different from my own.  I was careful not to inject my sensibilities onto my adopted home.  Rather, I learned the lingua franca, as well as parts of three other dialects.  I observed and adopted cultural mores and habits.  One thing you will almost never heard from my lips is, "The way we do it back home..."  I am not home and I didn't come here as an invader.  I cam to learn.

For those reasons, I have been accepted into the extant culture, despite the fact that I look nothing like the inhabitants.  I am pale, with red hair and blue eyes, and stand head and shoulders above most of the locals.  I couldn't blend in if I tried.  But, I speak the language and even in my house we speak English, Indonesian and Javanese.  I am the only white person in my neighborhood.  I eat the food, observe the manners and rituals, and even sing the national anthem on demand.  I am accepted and people are not threatened or intimidated by me.  It took years of hard work to achieve.

Already, voices are howling in protest at the new laws in Belgium and Flanders.  They want everyone to make immediate concessions to an invading culture that refuses to integrate.  This is a recipe for disaster, and no amount of political correctness will ameliorate the situation.  The backlash is spilling over into a cultural reset that will include other groups that have long been established.  It is no different from the suspicion and distrust that followed German and Japanese Americans during World War 2.

Though great progress has been made, especially in the US, over the past 50 years towards racial, ethnic and philosophical harmony among disparate groups, there is still an innate reset trigger in each of us that is activated when we feel our sensibilities are offended.  Humans can no more change it than cats can stop hunting mice.  It is an integral part of our species.  We can chose to defuse it, but it is a slow and difficult process to submerge our instincts.

If our social and political leaders would stop forcing mass displacements of people for ideological purposes, the world would be a much quieter and harmonious place, where folks could chose the culture and environment in which they prefer to live.

Humanity always makes the biggest messes when it attempts to subvert Nature.

You Ain't Him

Story link: https://www.rt.com/uk/417075-icymi-snowflake-offended-guide/

You know what really pisses me off? Bourgeois #Bumbledicks who spout off their overfed pie-holes about how they hate "white" culture and think "White" culture should be torn down. These puffed-up, sophmoric shit-wits sit in their protective arm chairs in New York or Los Angeles and complain about something they've never experienced. Nor has anyone else, for that matter.

I've been to 59 countries (and counting), many of them in Europe and North America, which are the supposed centers of "white" culture, and I have yet to encounter "white" culture.

I have greatly enjoyed Irish culture, German culture, Italian culture, Spanish culture, Portuguese culture, French culture, Dutch culture, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Icelandic, even British culture. I have even experienced Swiss culture, which despite being composed of three distinct cultures, is nevertheless distinct in and of itself. And yes, even poor old Canada has a unique culture.

Russia and Greece have wonderfully distinct cultures even though they both use Cyrillic alphabets. I don't think anyone would argue that Israel has its own culture, despite being based on war, death and suffering.

I have been to 48 of the 50 US states, and each one of them has a very distinct culture.

South Africa, Australia and New Zealand have completely unique cultures.

Just where, exactly, is this "white" culture the Bumbledicks keep railing against? Apparently, they don't get out much. This is the problem with lard-butt boneheads who look at a couple of travel sites on the internet and think they've experienced culture. These dim-bulbs have more than likely never been to an art museum, opera or symphony, so they wouldn't know culture if it bit them on their over-protected posteriors.

When you listen to these uneducated blowhards talk, it's always in gross generalizations - black culture, white culture, hispanic culture. Hell, they barely speak English, much less Spanish or Portuguese, and wouldn't know Hispania if it slapped them across the face and rubbed their swollen noses in it.

These Bumbledicks talk about Native Americans with the wave of a hand in the general direction of North America, forgetting that there were/are hundreds of distinct cultures, and forgetting that America also applies to Central and South.

These disgusting, small-minded Bumbledicks want to put the world in tidy little boxes and label them according to which way the wind in blowing that day. They are so terrified of leaving their isolated, echo chamber compounds that they really have no idea what the world is really like. They spend their entire lives watching echo-chamber programming and spouting their slogans on echo-chamber social media that they don't have time to actually go out and subject their senses to real culture.

I get attacked all the time by these effluvium-encrusted snake tits all the time. They say I can't possibly understand the plight of the (insert box du jour), and that I belong to the "privileged white" box and should be punished. They never bother to notice I live in Indonesia, one of five countries I have lived in, speak 17 languages, am an artist, and have been around the world several times the hard way (not flying). In fact, I'm not even "white" - I'm pinkish-red with multi-colored spots. None of that, including my two non-white wives, disqualifies me from "white" privilege boxes or "white" culture boxes. None of that fits their tidy little categories that enable their hate and bile.

Somehow these lunatics earned a weekend furlough from the asylum and never went back. Unfortunately, the guards too overpaid and under-motivated to go find them. They weaselled their way into areas with microphones and started broadcasting their insanity to a nonplussed world. It's a sad but true fact that we must all live with that mistake we sane folk can take the microphones away from them.

The heart of the matter is that us sane folks believe that everyone deserves a chance to express their opinion. It's called free speach, and we consider it a valueable natural right that no one can abridge. However, these stoop-headed boat anchors want to spew their sputum all over us, while denying us the right to shower off afterwards. Don't know about you. but this doesn't fly in my cabin.

Sorry, Bumbledicks, it's time to put you down. You have gotten out of hand and you are now a danger to polite society. Your minions think violence againe person and property is a good idea. Your minions think that gagging reasonable voices is just hunky-dory. Your minions are choking out the good grass with weeds. This cannot be tolerated, even by exceedingly tolerant people. You get to speak, but you aren't allowed to hush. Your right to live is based entirely on your willingness to let live.

Take your hateful, segregationist, privileged rubbish and go crawl back into the cave you slithered out of. The clear thinkers are retaking the asylum and Bumbledicks aren't allowed to roam freely. The way you should have dont it was to express your opinion, let others do the same, and argue based on facts. You blithering fools dove off some deep end the rest of us cannot and will not follow.

Diversity includes everyone or it includes no one. That's how it works.

Let he who is without sin cast the first stone, and you ain't him/her/it/them/xim/xer.

We Don't Get Fooled Again

Edward Bernays

Those mean, nasty, horrible white men who formed the basis of the The Enlightenment should be disavoiwed immediately.  It was they who concluded that everyone has the right to express their ideas and opinions.  It was they who decided that all humans were equal in basic humanity.  It was they who dared to posit that no human may own another.  It was they who committed heresy by stating that government was evil and must be severely restricted.

What terrible, evil white men they were.

The American Civil War was not about slavery.  That issue was decided a long time before and the practice was being phased out even at the time of the war.  The Civil War was about the right of people to do away with government when it no longer served the people - an idea set out in the Declaration of Independence written by that nasty, filthy, horrid white man, Thomas Jefferson.

In fact, Abraham Lincoln was a terrible racist.  He despised black people and didn't want them in his pearly-white nation.  If you don't believe me, listen to his own words on the topic.  His plan was to ship all Africans back to Africa, and the nation of Liberia in Northwest Africa exists today because of Lincoln's efforts.  Furthermore, slavery still existed in the northern States long after the slaves were freed by fiat in the Confederacy.

The delicious irony here is that the violent, radical Progressives in the United States worship the evil, nasty white man Lincoln, while a man like Donald Trump, who has said nothing racist that I can find in the public record, is reviled and the embodiment of darkest evil.

If I have a point, which admittedly is rare in these rants, it is that of all the races on Earth and throughout time, it is the white race which established the philosophical foundation of human rights, and it is the Progressive Left that seems to selectively chose their facts in support of the House of Jell-O they call an argument.

Now, if you've been reading my posts over the past year, you know I am no fan of Donald Trump.  I think he's nothing more than a reincarnation of P. T. Barnum.  He's a showman and a marketeer [sic].  I firmly believe his mental pool is hardly deep enough to wade in, much less dive.  However, I will say that his comments regarding the Charlottesville riots, not the GeezerMedia comments on his comments, are reasonable and likely true.  From my perch 10,000 miles away, it looks to me as if there were dirty hands on both sides, and that the "authorities" acted and reacted with a clear agenda of supporting the violence and spinning the outcome against Trump.

Honestly, I don't think Trump sees skin color.  To him, all people are green, as in dollars.  He does nothing that isn't first calculated to enrich himself and his family.  His scale for weighing the value of a human being is the size of their bank account and his ability to empty it into his own.  While being prejudiced on economic grounds, I do not believe he is racist.

What I do see in the wake of Charlottesville is a carefully calculated and crafted narrative that was set in place well before the events in that city last weekend.  The chorus is too well rehearsed and the words too well polished to be spontaneous.  The weeping TeeVee mouthpieces, the feigned shock, the carefully scripted monologues are all far to clean to be honest emotional reactions.

The chorus began its shrill keening before the events had even ceased that night last week.  They ignored the facts that "authorities" backed off, the right-wing protesters had permits and the left didn't, and the herding of the right-wingers through a gauntlet of violent anti-speech activists was a set up to encourage a clash.

I do not believe the man who drove his car into the crowd was a right-wingnut.  He was a carefully crafted plant, whether knowingly or not, activated specifically to make sensational headlines.  And the ANTIFA group has a well-established history of violence across the country wherever conservative groups gather.  The fact that ANTIFA is supported by Barack Obama and George Soros is the subject of an entirely seperate argument.

There is no doubt that at least some of the organizers of the right-wingnuts wanted to draw a vocal crowd of anti-protesters to attract media.  The protest certainly would not have gotten the attention of the entire hierarchy of Washington and the GeezerMedia without some kind of tension.  A peaceful protest draws no flies.

It is clear to me, though, that as soon as the right-wingnuts pulled a permit for their protest, the wheels of dissent sprung into action.  Seeing an opportunity, the puppeteers organized an anti-protest, paid the participants and activated the driver drone.  The entire event was orchestrated for the sole purpose of damaging Trump, even to the point of sacrificing lives in a black magic ritual to give it extra power.

That the GeezerMedia flat refuses to actually quote Trump, and instead is hell-bent on putting their own narrative on the event in a synchronized symphony of hate is quite enough proof to me that I am right.  This kind of thing is precisely why I walked away from a fairly successful career in media.  It happens, and has happened many times since the Second World War.

The best rule of thumb to protect ones self from this kind of media mind control is to notice that all the outlets are speaking with one voice.  When you see that, you should know immediately that something is up.  They all have the same script from on high.

We will likely never know the entire truth behind this, or any other related events, but I guarantee with every ounce of my professional knowledge and instincts that the story you are seeing is completely fabricated.  Hell, even the foreign media is harping from the same song book, which is not really surprising since global ownership of media mirrors US ownership.  Perhaps Russia Today and Xinhua are a bit more moderate, since they see the obvious control mechanisms at work.

If you side with either the Left or the Right, you are probably not reading this rant.  Most of the folks who come here are liberals in the truest and oldest sense of the word.  But if you are one who identifies with the manufactured Left-Right spectrum, then take a moment to open your mind just a tad and consider that you may be a victim of highly sophisticated propaganda.  If you can do that, then quickly dash over to this link and read Edward Bernays' book Propaganda.  Do it quickly before the programming overtakes reason again.

Though I have no truck with Trump, I cannot sit idly and watch this fiasco.  I must attempt to reach those who believe the hogwash coming out of their home "entertainment" centers.  It is a rare opportunity when the brainwashing is so obvious and open.

Hey, if you really hate white men, then at least don't be fooled by one of the most pernicious men who ever lived: Edward Bernays, a nephew twice over of Sigmund Freud.

The Human Race Is Racist

When I stepped off the plane for the first time in Indonesia, back in 2008, my first impression was that Indonesians are a homogeneous people who all looked the same to my untrained eye.  It took some time before I could begin distinguishing among the 300 or so distinct peoples who make up this country.

When folks are unaccustomed to the finer details of culture and race, they tend to lump people into broad categories and often stop there.

Anyone who has spent time in Europe will know there is no "white race."  Anyone who has spent time in Africa knows there is no "black race."  Over the years, I've come to see that there is no "Asian race," as well.  Instead, there are myriad shades of distinct peoples lumped into these massive categories we call "race."

Ethiopians are as different from Nigerians as Chinese are from Indonesians.  There are, to me at least, obvious differences between French and German.  The word Russian encompasses so many different types of people as to make your head spin.  In China, the Han are quite different from the Hokien.  Even the Bavarians are distringuishable from the Westfalians.

Every "race" is composed of dozens, if not hundreds, of peoples, cultures and histories.  It is hard to lump people even into nations, since most of the countries I've been to are a mish-mash of different groups.

Here on the island of Java alone, there are the Javanese, the Sundanese, the Betawi, and the Balinese.  Each are distinguishable from the other both in looks and culture.  The Javanese are broadly divided into north and south (halus and kasar), and among those groups are dozens of sub-cultures and languages, such as the Tegalese.

Knowing all of this, I have to laugh at both racists and anti-racists.  Both sides have no idea what they are talking about.  Both are lumping entire groups of people together who are as similar to each other as wood is to rock.  That criticism is doubly true for "diversity" hounds who think that shoving a bunch of colors in a box doth diversity make.  All sides of the argument show their ignorance.

The fact is that the world is an amazingly complex place, even considering only the people, without an eye towards any of the millions of lifeforms here.  People differ by climate, terrain, religion, tradition, history, genetics, language, temperament, and goals.

Terms such as race are virtually meaningless.  Some people would classify me as "white," but I look as different from a Sicilian as a Mongol looks from a Mayan.  I have red hair, blue eyes and my skin burns in a matter of minutes in the sunlight.  By all definitions, I belong to a race apart from "white."  Or, conversely, I am the very definition of "white," since most other "whites" are actually golden brown or greenish brown and (curse them) actually tan in the sunlight.

Skin color is about as meaningless a way to divide people as tooth length, yet we have all been brainwashed into separating ourselves by it.  Race is nothing more than a tool used by some self-appointed "elite" to keep us all squabbling among ourselves so that we never discuss our similarities and join together to rid ourselves of those cynical and useless scum.

Nowhere is this "divide" process more apparent than the US presidential campaign.  The mouthpieces tell us that "white" men support Trump and "women" and "minorities" support Clinton.  That's like saying, "All sausage eaters are German."  Completely meaningless and useless, yet people cite these divisions as if repeating Gospel verses.

People have accused me of being "misogynist" because I won't support Clinton, and "anti-American" because I won't support Trump.  In fact, I have only voted one time for US President in the 30-odd years since I turned 18 (Ross Perot).  Furthermore, I don't think of myself as "American," since that term can include anyone from Baffin Island to Tierra del Fuego, and that's a pretty broad expanse with a lot of different kinds of people.  Finally, I reject Clinton because, regardless of her gender, she is amoral and devoid of ethics, and probably hasn't spoken a lick of truth since she was a junior attorney hanging around the Watergate investigation (look it up).

In the end, Will Rogers probably had the most profound statement on humanity I've ever come across, "I never met a man I didn't like."

Think about that for a minute and you'll eventually see why it is so profound.  It implies that one takes ever person one meets at face value and doesn't classify or judge without knowing them first.  It means that everyone stands on their own and proves themselves, not by their racial and cultural backgrounds, but by the way they treat others.

About the most absurd thing I've ever heard is posted at the beginning of this column, "I hate racists because of the way they think."  Probably the most inane and shallow piece of rubbish I've ever seen.  Apparently, whoever created this crap didn't see the inherent contradiction of their own words.

La Violación

Kinda scary...but for once I agree with Donald Trump.  Someone take my temperature QUICK!

Regular readers here will know that I have some serious issues with Mr. Trump, not the least of which is that I don't trust anyone that refers to himself in the third person (in English, anyway).  I don't deny that he has exceptional business skills and in another life, he was likely a carnival barker.  However, I have grave reservations about his ability to convert those skills to a job that requires tact and diplomacy.  These, I think, are in rare supply in his personality toolbox.

That said, I agree with his nationalist impulses.  While I am one of the most diverse people I know, I also think that every culture should have a homeland that preserves and propagates those things which make every culture unique.  You see, though I enjoy many cultures and have learned a lot about them, I also think there needs to be a Texas for Texans, a Germany for Germans, and a China for Chinese.

I think everyone has the right to preserve and protect their unique culture.  God knows I jump through enough hoops living in a foreign country, both legally and culturally, but if I want to, I think I should have a "homeland" to go back to (or at least visit).  By "homeland," I do NOT mean those bozos and their ilk who infest airports and other public facilities across the US.

Where all of this rambling is going is to the point of Trump's joust with judge Gonzalo "Cielo" Curiel.  Seems the good judge is a member of the San Diego La Raza Lawyers Association.  Just so you know, the "la raza' part means THE RACE, as in (with these yodels) the Aztec race.

There are so many things wrong with this lawsuit, I hardly know where to begin.  One thing I am quite sure of is that La Raza is a deeply, profoundly, radically, nastily racist organization.  I don't care how many fancy words, like 'lawyer' and 'association' you put around it, La Raza is RACIST.

I have first-hand experience with these numbnuts.  They formed a political party back in the 60s in Texas, and I crossed paths with them many times while campaigning with my dad.  Thinking I was ignorant of Spanish (a mistake many people make giving me plenty of ammo when I need it), they always referred to me as "guero," which is slang for "white boy."

La Raza is, for all intents and purposes, the Latino version of National Socialists, or Nazis for short.  They believe in this mythical pipe-dream called Atzlan, which was a legendary place even to the Aztecs that was just 'out there' somewhere, waving a casual hand in the direction of North America.

These La Raza tea-baggers, though, actually believe that Atzlan was a real place and that they are going to reclaim it, waving a casual hand in the direction of the US Southwest.  Just like the Nazis, these putzes have convinced themselves that Azlan, like Valhalla, is their 'homeland' and that it needs to be reclaimed.

Reclaimed from their hashish-fueled fantasies.

All of this comes even before we start noticing that the prosecutor in the lawsuit is a member of La Raza, and that these bean-suckers also donated HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of DOLLARS to Hillary Clinton's campaign.

Like I said, there are so many things wrong with this case, it's like an onion with matching aroma that makes your eyes water.

I don't give a rat's patoot what color, race, creed, religion, or any other divisive group you care to use that you are, if you call yourself "The Race" and you seek to eradicate people who live in your imaginary 'homeland' that never existed, you are a racist fool at best, and an slime-sucking jerk-wad at worst.  As for Judge "Cielo," take your pick from that spectrum.

I have no idea what is up with Trump "University," but I guarantee that I would never have paid thousands of dollars to be a part of it.  And even if I did, guess what?  Buyer beware.  If there was fraud involved, I am sure that would have come out in a FAIR trial, but what we see here is a railroading, and I abhor the whole things, I don't care if it's Trump or Joe Blow.

The fact remains that La Raza is equal to the KKK, or the Nazis, or the Black Panthers, or any other racist group you care to name.  I don't truck with any other them, and they have no place in a civilized society.

But maybe that's at the heart of the situation.  Civilization itself is, and has been for some time, in decline.  I don't agree that what the Europeans did to North America was right in any way, but one doesn't fight racism with more racism.  And one certainly doesn't claim to want to restore some mythical lunacy like Aztlan.  Sorry boys, but there are/were lots of other native nations in the US Southwest that would/will take issue with your claims, beginning with the Lipan Apache, Comanche, Hopi and Navajo.  Your little La Raza fantasy can go suck lemons.

I'm all for Trump, or anyone else, getting a fair trial, such as they exist in the US.  This kind of deck stacking is inexcusable and so blatantly motivated by a serial criminal trying to cover her own tracks, not to mention the glaring racism coming to bear.

When/if Killary ever comes to trial, I would/will raise the same complaint if the judge and prosecutor are members of the Greater Minnesota Misogynist Association of America, Inc.  As much as I'd like to see that...er, person rot in jail, the trial should at least have the IMAGE of propriety.  This Trump circus isn't even trying to hide the complete lack of impartiality.

Lest you have any remaining doubts about the fascist leanings of La Raza, remember that the American version grew out of Franco's Spain, and when it transferred to the Americas, evolved into an anti-Spaniard movement to rid Mexico of the "invaders."  The problem is, you look at a photo of Judge "Cielo" and you will see that he is most definitely NOT a Zapata native.  He is a Spaniard...a white boy...a guero.  He is a slimy enemy even to himself.  He is the worst kind of racist - one who can't figure out which race he is or which he wants to fight.

I know nothing about Trump but what I read in the papers.  But I do know first hand that La Raza is a nasty, racist, fascist organization that should be publicly castigated and the whole monkey trial thrown out or moved to a somewhat more circumspect-appearing circus ring.

Now I need a smoke to calm down.

Who Is More The Fool?

I am unabashedly and unapologetically a straight, white male.  I just want to make that perfectly clear.

I will not bow to Political Correctness, nor will I wallow in "White Guilt".  I am what I am by accident of birth and cultural conditioning (plus a smattering of independent thinking), and I see no reason to feel guilty for something someone else did, nor because I have worked hard to achieve a modicrum of success in my career, relying on my talents and education, and taking advantage of opportunities that have come along.

I have prejudices for which I will not apologize.  If I see a mangy, snarling dog eyeing me with less than friendly intent, I do not stick around to confirm or deny my prejudice, earned from experience, I quickly find a safe path.

In the same way, I have had less than cordial experiences with certain groups of people.  Because of my experience, I avoid contact with those groups.  In fact, my prejudices are based on remarkably similar experiences with certain groups over time, space and context.  Odds are, my experience tells me, that any future contact will have the same outcome as before.

My prejudices are earned and serve as a protective feature of my personality.  i am open to new and more positive experiences with those groups, but I am always alert to signs that I will be bitten if I continue to engage with them.

On one occasion, I was riding with a friend of the "enlightened liberal" persuasion.  We were behind a car on the freeway that was swerving and dodging in and out of traffic.  My friend cursed the driver, and I simply said, "Asian."

He chastised me for using "gross generalizations" and labeling people without knowing the facts.  I just pointed out that I had experience with Asian drivers.

A short time later, we passed the swerving car and my friend laughed.  I looked at him, and he said, "He's Asian."  I did not feel the need to say, I told you so."

Having worked in the entertainment industry all my life, I have had broad experience with just about every gradation of gender and sexual orientation.  I have no problem whatsoever hugging and kissing other men, nor watching lovers of the same gender cavorting together.  However, I am a confirmed heterosexual.  That is my preference, get over it.

For most of my adult life, I have been chided and cajoled, railed against and teased by friends and family who are of the unthinking liberal types.  They have spent inordinate amounts of time trying to convince me that I am a chauvinistic misogynist who does not embrace "diversity" nor edit my thoughts to conform with the mass mind.  This while they live in pearly white suburban nests and I have traveled to over 40 countries - living in five of them - learning languages, eating local cuisines and celebrating the splendid variety of viewpoints, traditions and environments.  None of which my "diverse" family and friends would abide.

Why, I've had one wife of Apache-Mexican decent, and my current wife is Indonesian of Chinese-Javanese decent.  Most of my "diverse" friends and family have only been with white Protestant mates and partners.  Yet, I am the one guilty of not being "diverse" and of being "white".

About this white thing...

A number of years ago, the convenient idiot known as Jesse jackson declared the Negroid race was composed of a "black rainbow".  Probably the one thing on which I agree with him.  There are many shades of Negroid.  In fact, what Indonesians call "black" is simply someone with a dark tan who likely works outdoors for a living.

I believe that there is a "white rainbow", too.  I am not really "white," I am more of a pinkish color with spots ranging from yellowish to quite black, making me really a member of all skin colors.  People from the Mediterranean region of Europe are "olive" skinned.  The Germanic and Scandinavian people are a sort of "bronze" color.  The British are famously "gray."  This would appear to refute any argument that there is a "white" race.

I also take issue with being called a "Caucasian."  As a clear genetic descendant of the Celts and Vikings (red hair, blue eyes, pale skin, fiery temper), and based on recent genetic studies, my people did not originate in the Caucasus Mountains of Russia.

As for the charge of being misogynistic, well...I just have to laugh.  Being a dyed-in-the-wool heterosexual, I hardly hate women.  I find the company of women to be most enjoyable and I celebrate the differences we have.  Vive la difference!

That charge, in particular, came from a feminist lesbian who was paired with a woman trying her level best to look and act like a man.  So if she was so against the way I enjoy the company of "feminine" women, why did she choose a "male" partner?  Obviously, even homosexuals still find comfort in gender roles, even if they prefer other "equipment."

One reason I am labelled a misogynist is because I firmly believe that abortion is murder.  It is murder as surely as lining up a row of imbeciles and mowing them down is murder.  Just because a foetus cannot survive on its own (yet), or has not achieved fully cognition (yet) does not make it a "lump of tissue" to be removed.  It is still a human being, as much as the row of imbeciles, who likewise have not achieved full cognition and depend on others for survival.  The choice with pregnancy comes before it happens, not after.  If I chose to put my hand into a fire, I cannot blame the fire for getting burned.  That is its nature.

In fact, that I love and tolerate my family and friends who are unable to think clearly proves that I am "diverse."  That I have gone more places, eaten strange foods, learned new languages (14 to date), reveled in foreign cultures and traditions, while they have stayed in the safe white suburban nests is conclusive evidence that I celebrate the human condition in all its forms.  If, in my experience, I have learned certain prejudices, then no one can say that those prejudices are wrong.

As for "white guilt," well, guess what?  I will not partake.  My ancestors received the crossed arrows from the Comanche and my former wife and my daughter are part Apache.  Some of my ancestors owned slaves, while others ran underground railroads helping them escape.  Some fought for US independence, and others for Texas.  I personally am an artists who strives to create beauty and meaning out of chaos and destruction.

I don't deny that some "white" folks engaged in some bad things, but I did not take part in, nor have any say in them.  Nor would I participate if given the opportunity today.  At the same time, I think we can make a pretty comprehensive list of terrible things done by Negroids and Mongoloids, too.  Terrible acts are not limited to any one group or race.  "White" folks have done some pretty despicable things, but they have also done some rather amazing things.  So have Negroids and Mongoloids.  Every race, religion, political affiliation, culture, and any other division you can think of have all been guilty of terrible things.

Do I feel guilty for any of it?  No.  Because I didn't partake in any of it.  Just as I cannot bear guilt for Adam and Eve snacking in the Garden, nor can a bear guilt for the actions of folks who happen to share certain physical traits with me.  My attitude has always been, and has been borne out by my life story, to live and let live.

I refuse to succumb to pressure to conform to "diversity" and "political correctness" and "white guilt."  If you want to associate only with those who agree in every way with your worldview, then please do.  I prefer to dive into the world and experience its glorious spectrum.

Post Scriptum - For those who take issue with my use of the words Caucasoid, Negroid and Mongoloid, please see this link, because I will not apologize for formal taxonomic terms, either.

Skin Deep

Indonesia is probably one of the most racist places I've ever been.  Yes, that's right.  Racist.

I've been to 46 countries on five continents (Australia is still a continent, isn't it?).  I've lived in several US states, Mexico, Ireland, England, Spain, Germany, and Indonesia.  I grew up in Texas in the 60s with a father who was Depression Era (the first big one) and a WWII vet.  To him, a racist epithet was a common adjective used to describe people of all stripes.  I went to school in lily white Catholic institutions where we had one Asian, four blacks and a South African (still white, but...).

Through all of this, I managed to maintain a fairly egalitarian point of view, thanks to my mother.  I don't look up to anyone, nor do I look down on them.  We are all God's children, as far as I'm concerned.

When I stepped off the plane here in Indonesia, it was my first experience in Southeast Asia.  When I looked around, I saw one of the most homogeneous societies I had ever experienced.  I know it's trite, but they all looked the same to me.  In fact, if I had to describe an Indonesian for a police report, the best I could do is, "Dark hair, dark eyes, brown skin, and about 5'-4"."  I've just described 99.9% of the indigenous population.

So how could these people be so freakin' racist?

The first thing you learn here is that if you are white, you are dripping money all over the place and you hand it out like candy at the dentist's office.  We tip what, 15% or so?  A really good Indonesian tip is 10 cents.  So when a foreigner comes along handing out tips in the amounts that we are used to, then we train everyone we come in contact with that we are filthy rich on our worst days.

So, the first form of racism you encounter here is that, as a white guy, you can literally make people look like cartoons, because dollar signs appear in their eyes as soon as they see you walk in the door.  Is that racism? Sure.  It only happens to white guys.  On top of that, Indonesians will blatantly lie, cheat and steal from you because you are so filthy rich.  The irony?  Many of the middle class here are much richer than most of their counterparts in the West now.  And even some of the poorest still own land and there is no property tax here.

OK, so enough of that.  That's the obvious stuff.  It's easy to pick out a white guy in a group of 300 million brown ones.

But it goes much deeper than that.  Indonesians are deeply prejudiced against each other, based on which kampung they are from, or island, or (get this) skin color.

The most discriminated group here is the Chinese.  There are two primary groups, other than foreigners.  There's the pribumi, or aboriginal, and the "others".  The others are composed mostly of Chinese, who have been coming here and intermarrying for centuries.  Doesn't matter.  If the eyes are a certain shape and the skin a certain shade of yellow, they are Chinese and are generally reviled.

During the economic crisis of 1998, the Chinese were murdered wholesale and their homes raided for anything that was portable.  Didn't matter that they had been here for generations, they were Chinese and deserved to be attacked for that reason alone.

My wife's grandfather was mainland Chinese.  He married a Java girl and they raised a family in central Java.  My wife speaks fewer words of Mandarin than I do, but she is fluent in Javanese and Indonesian,  Yet, she was attacked and had to have round-the-clock guards for her and her kids back in 1998, for not other reason than she looked Chinese.  Even now, I've heard the worst kind of insults hurled at her simply because there is Chinese blood in her family three generations ago.

OK, so we've knocked out the obvious.  White guys stand out like sore thumbs.  The Chinese, once you learn how to look at people here, can be discerned by the shape of their eyes and other superficial features.

But, I said this was the MOST racist place I had ever been.  How can the pribumi folks be prejudiced against each other?  Well...

The darker brown you are, the lower your station in life.  The implication is that dark skin means outdoor labor, and if you work outdoors, then you must be low class, right?  The lowest of these are the Ambonese and Papuans.  These folks look a lot like the Australian aboriginals and even pure Africans.  Being quite dark, they are universally reviled throughout the country.  As a consequence, they are some of the most violent folks here, since they have to defend themselves from near-constant taunts.

Next up are the somewhat lighter brown folks from the hinterlands.  These include most of the outer islanders and country folks.  Some are quite a bit shorter, as well, even to other Indonesians.  Once you know what to look for, you can usually spot them right off.  In fact, most of the maids, nannies and other domestic help fall into this category.  They are spoken to and treated accordingly, which is to say rough.

As you move up the skin shades, you get into office workers and such.  Even here, there's a pecking order that is so subtle as to take years to be able to perceive the differences.  At this level, we usually find the Java and Sumatera folks.  One level of distinction might be the number of generations away from jungle dweller you are.  Around these parts, that may be as little as one for a lot of folks.  You may have a degree and an office job, but you are still at the bottom of the totem pole because your folks still live in the forest.

The next level of discrimination is religion.  Now this gets downright nasty sometimes.  The Christians are pig eaters.  The Muslims are exclusionary.  They square off constantly in politics and culture, with Muslims bombing churches and the Christians constantly trying to convert everyone.  The Hindus stick pretty much to Bali and east Java and the Buddhists are pretty quiet, but everyone gets their share of the fun.  After all, the Buddhists are usually of Chinese decent (see earlier point).

When it gets right down to it, it reminds me of the old Star Trek episode with Frank Gorshin.  Two aliens, the last of their kind, are locked in mortal combat and hatred.  The crew can't tell them apart, but we eventually learn that their black and white halves are exactly opposite.

It's not unlike white folks who discriminate against each other for being rednecks, or white trash, or blue collars, or white collars.

It leads one to conclude that everyone is hard-wired to find someone else to shit on to make themselves feel good.  Thankfully, Indonesia doesn't suffer from Political Correctness, so all this is still out in the open where it can be dealt with.  In the West, it's been chased into the closet so you never really know what someone else really thinks or feels.  Nor can it be dealt with, since it's all hidden and no one really knows who thinks what about whom, so we can discuss it and fix it.

There's still hope for Indonesia.

If you are routinely attacked by people wearing red coats, then you learn to stay away from anyone wearing a red coat.  Some prejudices are earned.  Others are inherited from old generations and the reasons for the hatreds are long forgotten.  Isn't it time we all took a hard look at our prejudices and think about whether they are earned or just old wives' tales?  Perhaps we could dispense with a lot of the world's problem if we just took everyone at face value.

I try to live by very profound words from a man with his head screwed on straight.  His name was Will Rogers, and what he said was, "I never met a man I didn't like."  Think about that one for a long time and see if those aren't some of the wisest words you've ever heard.  If we all live by that, might could actually achieve some good stuff on this planet.

But frankly, I still hate beets and nothing you say or do will convince me otherwise.