Surely last week I lost some atheist cred by not putting my anti-racist views on the line and actually defending Islam 1 and something I perceived as racist. So I've got to win back some cred.
... You know what I never talk about? Judaism. Unless it's in a Judeo-Christian context which I admit is a little fucked up. I think the main reason is I'm always afraid of getting it wrong.
You see, I'm not exactly one of those "I studied every religion ever!" atheist types. Once I decided I didn't believe in gods or monsters I just didn't care a whole lot, although I'm not totally ignorant (I don't think). But, you know, a little like I don't think white folks can fully understand the struggles of non-white folks, I don't think I'll ever totally understand every religion ever just coz I'm not religious. For real!
However, I like to think I'm a LITTLE ahead of the curve, and sometimes I'm a LOT ahead of the curve. What am I getting at, what am I getting at... isn't that the mystery.
Well, while I was going through my usual routine of checking what few celebrity gossip blogs I can handle (two) I found this fun little snippet from Cele|bitchy regarding Jesse James' (formerly with Sandra Bullock, who is another story) perhaps most well known mistress, Michelle "Bombshell" McGee. Yeah, I thought we were done with all that too-- to catch you up, it's come out that James and his girlfriend(s?) may be wannabe Neo-Nazi supremacists. Now despite what they tell you, neither James nor McGee are all that good at dissuading this idea, what with appearing in Nazi paraphernalia and having racist tattoos with poor explanations.
So, onwards, we have this gem quote because I'm not going to make you go to a potentially unsafe website (I'm not as mean as they say). It turns out Ms McGee doesn't think antisemitism is racism:
Michelle “Bombshell” McGee still knows how to shock. During a Sunday appearance on Toronto TV program etalk, Jesse James’ famous mistress defended recently unearthed photos of herself wearing Nazi regalia:
McGee: “I guess one could view it that way. I don’t believe it’s racism at all.”
Lainey: “You don’t believe wearing a Nazi costume indicates racism?”
McGee: “No not racism. Anti-Semitism? Yes. If that was the intention of putting the costume on.”
Lainey: “Anti-Semitism is prejudice against Jews, which is actually racism.”
McGee: “Oh OK, well that’s your view on that. I don’t see it that way.”
...Rrriiight. Well, I'll tell you what.
This reminded me a little about my earlier posts regarding Draw Mohammed Day which I was just putting out of my mind. To sum that up, we all decided that the day wasn't racist because it just wasn't. That's all I remember anyway. Did anyone else get anything different? So anyway, it occurred to me that I was witnessing a common white tendency in it's native habitat, and that was the utmost insistence that nothing is ever racist. Like, ever. Even when it is.
Because we all know having an action called racist is like the death-knell kryptonite to white folks, they will BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY disassociate racist acts from, uh, race. A day violating a principle of Islam isn't racist because not all Muslims are people of color. It wasn't intending to be racist, and so on. And, fine, really, you can go that route if you really want. However, with Judaism it's a little hard to say that antisemitism isn't racist considering that Jewish is also an ethnicity as I understand it (please correct me if this isn't totally accurate though). So what you just did was--wait for it--racist. RACIST. Goddamn.
But this is just ridiculous. I mean, I guess because it's not racist it doesn't indicate a hateful nature nonetheless? I'm not sure why that's so hard to understand. It's a thick headed, harmful, offensive act and that's just about it! I wonder, sometimes, if this is where enlightened "color/race/ethnicity" melting pot thinking is going to take us sometimes... no wait, not "wonder", know.
Note1: I'm just playin', y'all know I don't give a fuck bout atheist cred, I lost it so long ago
