In my daily perusal of the blogosphere, I sometimes get taken on informational journeys to an unknown but intriguing destination.
I started with Deadspin’s revamped Blogdome, where Angry T’s article about the worst tattoos in sports caught my eye. It was entertaining and all but the last athlete on the list, MMA fighter Melvin Costa, truly caught my attention. He makes the list for sporting a “I have a small penis” tattoo and the “neo-Nazi” chest ink pictured below:
I thought the idea of a neo-Nazi MMA fighter was incredibly provocative, even though I’d never heard a peep about it before. So, a simple Google searched produced some interesting results including this interview with Sam Caplan, where Costa shows himself to be a well-spoken “white nationalist” and distances himself from the neo-Nazi groups. It also produced this YouTube tribute, which is only a slideshow of pictures set to angry heavy metal music. After reading the simple pro-Costa description and the vehemently anti-Costa comments, I was prompted to explore the identity of the video’s author. Turns out it’s a group called White Entertainment Television. Since the content filter at work wouldn’t allow me to view their homepage, I checked out their introduction video which just has screen text set to classical music.
Still with me? Anyway, the video brings up the decades-old “why isn’t there a White Entertainment Television network” discussion. Usually once a person says that or something to that effect (on the internet or in person), they’re barraged with vitriolic comments and accusations of racism. I have a great deal of sympathy for that person. In my experience of seeing this question asked in person, the questioning party is actually asking in earnest and is promptly greeted with an overwhelmingingly negative lecture and tidal wave of knee-jerk reactions from minorities and liberal whites alike. The responses are usually all the same. Something to the tune of ”whites control all of the networks, so they don’t need their own,” which almost always serve to squelch the discussion before it even started.
The above scenario showcases why it’s so difficult to have an honest discussion about race in America. Anything not considered PC and inoffensive (particularly when spoken by whites) is immediately extinguished with such fervor you’d think people were fighting a wildfire in Malibu. While there are some legitimate opinions on why WET has yet to be developed, I think it would be a great idea. I would love to see what kind of programming would be on there. Considering BET has gone with the “largely forgoing serious issues and promoting negative stereotypes” angle, I wonder how the WET would approach television. Mostly I think it’s a good idea because it would challenge “White Nationalists” to be legitimate in their claims of not hating other groups and make it extremely difficult to harbor veiled racism, which may or may not exist in the subtext of their movement.
Like many folks, I’m skeptical of the idea of White Pride, but I’m not completely dismissive. As a black man (technically mixed, but who’s counting), what concerns me is the idea of supressed and hidden racism. I can deal with skinheads goose-stepping around in SS outfits and spewing epiphets because I know what they’re about. I can avoid them quite easily in everyday life and not give it a second thought. It’s the deeply-repressed prejudices of the educated, influential white-collared folks that have stewed in the dark recesses of their consciousness during the PC-era that keep me up at night. You cannot bottle up the strong feelings of resentment, frustration and disenfranchisement shared by many for too long. Sooner or later those sentiments will unexpectedly explode into action, whether it be physical or idealogical, and wreak havoc on our society. Or perhaps the even more dangerous idea is that they may be passed down to another generation to incubate for even longer.
The only solution I can envision for deflating supressed discrimination is creating forums for honest, non-PC discussion. Check your over-sensitivity at the door and be open with your own prejudices. It may not seem like a particularly complex answer, but one I’m committed to.
Want to discuss this? Have comments, questions or feedback? Drop me a line at jp@pyleoflist.com.
Now back to your regularly scheduled sports and sophomoric humor jamboree.
WET – Home of 90′s sitcom reruns.(ie Friends, Full House, Step by Step….)
But seriously, I don’t understand, and never will, the idea of people being more or less deserving of respect because their skin has higher or lower melanin levels then someone else.
Actually, it’s the Jews that control the media. And that’s a fact, not a racist opinion.
It’s also a fact that white people are made to feel ashamed of their race due to the history of slavery in the U.S. and other western countries. When in fact, most other countries and nationalities, from Asian to Jewish, and everyone in-between, are extremely prejudice against races and people other than their own.
I think that “racism” is a primal, genetic instinct encoded in all human beings as a means for survival, and that there is nothing inherently wrong with “racism” as defined by it’s core definition. Problems with “racism” surface when people cross the line and turn to violence and hatred as means to getting their point across.
It is also a fact that the white populace in the U.S. is quickly becoming the minority. Given that fact, I don’t see anything wrong with wanting to preserve the blood, language and culture of one’s own people, as long as it is not done out of hate or by trampling on the rights of others for the sake of one particular race.
Has anyone stopped to consider the fact that slavery throughout history, is as common as rice is in China or that Africans actually sold their own people into slavery to begin with? I’m sure we are all familiar with ancient Egypt and their use of slaves throughout the history of of the world and the same goes for almost every single country and/or group of people known to exist to date.
Hating someone for hating someone make absolutely no sense at all and in my eyes, is exactly the same thing.
We should all be proud of our heritage, nationality, and race, no matter who we are or where we came from.
But, at the same time, if everyone would work together for the advancement of the human race, as well as, that of our own people and countrymen, the world would be a much better and safer place for us all.
I do believe that racial awareness is a necessity when used for the positive preservation of one’s culture.
Diversity, as much as I may dislike the way the word is being used in today’s age, and believe that it is being wrongly forced upon us, is also what makes the world such a beautiful place.
I will continue to hope and pray that we can eventually put this issue behind us once and for all, and learn to live in accordance with God’s love, as it was intended for us all.
I’m the only one in this world. Can please someone join me in this life? Or maybe death…
Racism is not a genetic trait, it is learned.
Be proud of an accomplishment or of who you are not something you have nothing to do with.
Great discussion on racism here. We obviously have some issues to work out in our society. I wish other sports made people cover up offensive and racist tattoos like the NBA does (see Allen Iverson).
It is strange that your blog has not caught me before, thanks for the article.
Cool.