Have people become too politcally "aware"?

[561design]

So I've had quite the unsettling experience lately. It started about a month ago when I was playing TF2. On one of the servers derrogatory terms were being thrown left and right. More than one user were saying these words and for the most part it was accepted. What concerned me was that it was voice of young teenagers. When I was that young I don't remember any of my friends being that hateful of another race of people. In this case it was quite a few different races invovled.

Tonight, seems to have topped it off though. Recently I've joined a new guild on WoW. Within this guild of 120 members. A majority of them are family members. There are aunts, uncles, dads, moms and kids that make up this guild. Pretty safe huh?

Well, I was running an instance with this girl and a few other teenagers. Her mother is in the same guild and was in the same chat channel on vent. Some of the kids were asking off if they had vetran's day off. Well this girl didn't have this day off and the following conversation insued.

Her mother said that the only days her daughter gets off of school are for "j*** and n******". She also went on to say that they even get off Kawanza n****** appreciation day. Well one of the kids was jewish, took offense to the first remark and told the mother he was jewish. This kid didn't sound any older than say 14 and sounded quite offended hearing a remark like that come from an adult. The mother appologizied and toned down her remarks.

But damn... Does the internet create a safety blanket for those to express themselves about how they REALLY feel?

I spoke with the mother about what she said and how it had affected the other kid. She apologizied for her actions but I really doubt she was sincere about it. It's just dissappointing to see people filled with so much hate, especially when there are other things wrong in the world they could be passionate about.

[3onDubs]

Are you just discovering that racism still exists?


It has always existed and will continue to exist so long as ignorance and the lack of mutual understanding prevails. All we can hope for is that the general population will not tolerate that kind of behavior, which will make it more difficult for these racists to show their ugly side.

The biggest example is the racism that is taking place today with respect to arabs/muslims....what makes it worse is the media's assistance in confusing the issue and compounding the public's ignorance.

[561design]

No, what I'm discovering is that racism is acceptable in groups away from the public eye/news media. What is suprising to me is how commonly it is accepted in what I consider to be a popular sub-culture (online gaming) in America. I cannot recall in my past any venue where strangers gather that racial slurs are so commonly tossed about.

Yes this is the first time when I've heard a mother openly comment about another race to children. She meant what she said when she did and didn't seem to care that there were children present.

I am ok with people feeling the way they do, only upon self discovery. To discuss topics like this openly to children is not fair. It takes away from their youth, about an issue that should not concern them.

I've had to mentor many "at risk" children from gang members to skins. It's frustrating to see that racism has new channels to promote hate. It's more annoying to see how kids willingly accept what's said. Even if it's about them.

[3onDubs]

Originally Posted by 561design

No, what I'm discovering is that racism is acceptable in groups away from the public eye/news media. What is suprising to me is how commonly it is accepted in what I consider to be a popular sub-culture (online gaming) in America. I cannot recall in my past any venue where strangers gather that racial slurs are so commonly tossed about.

Yes this is the first time when I've heard a mother openly comment about another race to children. She meant what she said when she did and didn't seem to care that there were children present.

I am ok with people feeling the way they do, only upon self discovery. To discuss topics like this openly to children is not fair. It takes away from their youth, about an issue that should not concern them.

I've had to mentor many "at risk" children from gang members to skins. It's frustrating to see that racism has new channels to promote hate. It's more annoying to see how kids willingly accept what's said. Even if it's about them.

I agree....people like that breed racists (by installing these thoughts in children's minds from such a young age). At 14, the child might have already been smart enough to know the difference, but a much younger child might not be.