So the kid gets a bit of a pass because he grew up mildly rural. Maybe he shouldn't, but I suppose it's difficult not to be slightly racist when you're surrounded by mostly white people out in the country. It should be noted that the "country" here is an area that is under an hour away from a major metropolitan area, so it's not horribly isolated. Now he's not a relative that I have ever had a sit down conversation with, but I am friends with him on facebook. My first clue to some of his horrible opinions was a text picture he shared on facebook from a tea party page. The picture said the following:
"Like if you're more offended by the name Obama than you are of the name Redskins."
I wish I could find the picture. Maybe someone wised up and got rid of it. Either way I'm pretty sure I'm accurately remembering the message because, let's be honest, that's a fucking horrible thing to say. I have to say that I'm not condemning the kid by any means. I was a young, (and an old), college student once. Not only that, I feel that some of the thoughts and opinions I had a year ago were ignorant or wrong. I often hear the other side of an argument that I felt decently firm on, and end up changing my mind. I hope I'm able to live my entire life this way. As we age we get more rigid in our opinions and beliefs, perhaps because we're losing that rigidity in our penises. It has to go somewhere, right? I think it's called the Law of Conservation of Rigid Penises.
I'm have to take a small step back. I know I started off saying this kid is racist. The above quote doesn't necessarily make him racist, but it leans that way. To me, even if you aren't in a position to truly understand why something is considered offensive you should always realize that it could be considered offensive to someone else. We are faced with a lot of false outrage every day. I seems as if someone is always upset or offended by something. This makes it very easy to give many issues a general hand-waving dismissive treatment. "Oh, they're just being overly sensitive." "The name "Redskins" has been around for years and no one seemed that bothered by it." I bet no one asked any Native Americans what they thought about the name, but fuck those guys! This is not an issue! I haven't met a single, white, republican man who has a problem with the name, therefore it's totally acceptable! I digress.
So the "liking" of this post by my cousin(?) definitely threw up a red flag. He had only "liked" the post, which meant I was not able to comment on it. Both at the time, and even looking back, this is probably a good thing. Who knows what I would have said. Either way, it bothered the shit out of me. So why the fuck am I talking about this now you didn't ask? Well, because of this:
I apologize for the all the words. It's a chunk to read, but it's interesting, (to me at least). A few things should be noted. First, this is super mild and extremely short by comparison. If I get into a spirited Facebook comment discussion, they're often ten times as long. Second, my cousin does get some props here, though I'm not sure exactly how much the fact that I'm family factored into it. I'd like to think that he kept it more respectful because that is how he would approach the situation. The more-likely scenario is he kept it civil because we're related. His friends who chimed in are probably a bit more representative of how they all would have handled the challenge I presented. Of course, I'm also a bit guilty of some pandering. I would have been a bit more aggressive in my arguments, (though still very civil), had it not been a relative. I also had to set the an example. This is how civilized discussion works. I had a stronger than normal obligation to represent this once the girl chimed in with her rude and idiotic comments. It's always good policy to be kind, yet decently firm in your arguments online as a general rule. I'm guessing my cousin quickly messaged both of his friends to back off since I am family. I did not expect either of them to shut up so quickly.
So his post effectively demonstrates that my cousin is a bit racist, though he probably doesn't realize it. He's still a young college kid, 21 years old, with a lot to learn. Whether he learns it or not, who knows. He's going to West Virginia University studying Agribusiness. I have no idea who he is as a person. All I have to go on are the random posts that sometimes show up on my Facebook feed. I'm sure there are plenty of people I'm Facebook friends with that only get every tenth post of mine on their feed. They might have a very different perception of who I am and what I believe. They clearly have no idea what a sick bastard I am.
Of course I was also a different person just a short while ago. I know I made the joke about having a W.E.T. (white entertainment television) several years ago. I wasn't nearly as serious as the kid above. I was once a dumb kid, though. Eventually I realized that basically all other television is W.E.T. The last channel we need is W.E.T. I almost made that point, along with several others. I decided it wasn't worth it, instead opting for ending with the mild public shaming. I almost pointed out that the kid should actually look up the word "slavery". How a few instances of kidnapping are not congruent with slavery. I am assuming that's what he meant by his "enslavement" comment. The kidnapping and human trafficking perpetrated by any other race against a white person is in no way comparable to the enslavement on an entire race. I almost said a lot of things, but chose to shut up. I knew I was on borrowed time and my welcome would not last. I was not in the company of like-minded individuals. Hopefully, my cousin took something away from the conversation. On the plus side, most Facebook debates I get into result in the original poster, (the OP), deleting the entire post. So I got that going for me! This is usually out of frustration, most-likely with yours truly. I tend to aggravate people, though not for the reasons you might think. People often just get worn out through the debate, despite how friendly and high-spirited I try to keep things. Perhaps that's it. They're used to resorting to name-calling arguments. I don't engage people in that way, and they don't know how to deal with it. So in conclusion, where are all the dick jokes??!
TL;DR: Almost everything you say is racist, and I like to argue.
STL;DR: I'm taking a survey. If this post didn't have enough disgusting jokes, leave me a comment. One male boner means there weren't enough. Two female boners means there still weren't enough. Three dog boners is way too many boners.
IHTASOAN; DR: Boners.
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