I’m not saying that racism in any form is okay (it’s not, duh), but I find some forms of it to be especially absurd.

Actually, before I continue, I feel I should further explain what I mean by some forms of racism being especially absurd. Again, I’m not saying that any form of racism or similar -isms or -phobias are okay, but I’ve also witnessed people from one monoculture being introduced to a larger polyculture, and whether that be an Eastern European immigrant finding themselves marooned in a neighborhood full of second-generation ethnic Vietnamese or a whitebread farm kid from a town of 400 equally whitebread individuals meeting his first gay black person, once you’ve seen it, you understand that many people are afraid of what they don’t know, and that many times, this fear is broadcast as hate. Which AGAIN, is not okay, but for the purposes of not ending up on someone’s blast list (although I probably will, since most people with blast lists can’t fucking read whole paragraphs, anyway, hey typical hate mailers!), I felt clarification was necessary.

SO. While no form of racism is okay, I find some forms of it to be especially absurd. Like, did you know that some people are still racist towards Native Americans? Of all the people for someone who lives in America to hate, some people choose the Americans who were here first, and not just the ones whose families came here first, or were brought here first, or anything like that, but the Americans who were indisputably here first for a millennia.

The Cryptkeeper doesn’t like Native Americans; specifically, she doesn’t like that Native Americans are able to receive reparations, are included in EEO decisions, or, in her mind, get any kind of special treatment just because they are Native Americans.

To which I told her, “Well, white people did try to decimate their entire culture for a few hundred years, so possibly they’re due.”

I’m not sure if the Cryptkeeper understood this, nor do I know if she understands me every time I tell her to quit being a racist when she says things like “well, she’s lazy, but that’s their culture” or “she’s an alcoholic, but that’s their culture.” Actually, I don’t think she understands that saying these things is racist at all, because her understanding is limited to these things being truths.

People like this don’t see the difference between individual people being lazy alcoholics vs. an entire culture being lazy and alcoholic. And still, they act like I’m the malcontent when I remind them that assholes are everywhere and race is irrelevant.

Although as far as cultural stereotypes are concerned, I was probably not helping my case when I went home to watch a documentary about an Irish step dancing competition while eating some stew I made with potatoes and cabbage. And then I got a little drunk. No joke. No racism. Just truth.