ceebeegee | Un-believable (Paula, don't read. Seriously.)

That's the problem.
I do believe it. I completely and utterly believe it.
I'm not shocked that it happened. Not really.

My favorite quote of the whole damn defense: "I'm not a racist. I just don't believe in mixing the races that way," Bardwell told the Associated Press on Thursday. "I have piles and piles of black friends. They come to my home, I marry them, they use my bathroom. I treat them just like everyone else."

Well, Kumbaya, motherfucker!

My common sense says there is no way in hell this should be happening.
But every minority knows it still happens. Of course it does.
The fact that he's this blatant about it, that's about the only thing about this that surprises me. Because what he is doing is illegal, I'm quite sure.
But then again, as I mentioned in my post yesterday, everybody has decided 2009 is the year of ass-showing. All display of racism and ignorance, obvious or otherwise, are in full damn view these days.

I was gaping at the screen when I read that. Still? Today? Really?

Because what he is doing is illegal, I'm quite sure.

YES!!!!

It has to be! He is a public official, performing a legal function--marriage is a legal act. This has to be illegal. Unbelievable!

"I'm not a racist."

Ya know, they all say this and I have to wonder--is ANYONE a racist anymore??? What the hell qualifies as racism? Is the bar set THAT high?

"I don't do interracial marriages because I don't want to put children in a situation they didn't bring on themselves," Bardwell said. "In my heart, I feel the children will later suffer."

It's not his place to make that choice. That is for the parents, and the parents ALONE to deal with.

So, either he really IS a racist and has the thinnest justification I've ever seen, or he's let the power his position affords get all up in his head, OR he's a bleeding moron and needs to be soundly beaten with the smart stick, stat.

You and Jayspec should go down there and put on a literal song and dance with B, with the rest of us as backup, to show him how utterly stupid he really is.

-elf-

Strange thing about this article. It seems to be written with the assumption that people will know that mixed race couple in question is black and white. The races of the couple are not plainly stated as a fact before there are quotes making general statements about black/white couples.

Oh, didn't you know? All that matters is how you label yourself, not what you actually say or do.

He's not a racist because he says he's not a racist. It's as simple as that. He could be a card-carrying member of the Ku Klux Klan, but he says he's not a racist, so that means he's not. You're only a racist if you say you're a racist.

Which is why so many people can start sentences with "I'm not a racist, but..." or "I'm not homophobic, but..." and then do something completely racist or homophobic. As long as they clean themselves with the waters of denial, it's all okay.

Pardon me, I need to go swallow a gallon of that lovely aged scotch you gave me. I save it for moments like this.

I don't know if you've ever seen the movie School Ties, about a HS quarterback who's recruited by a prep school back in the '50s. He is Jewish but is counseled to keep that under wraps, so he hears a lot of good ol' '50s WASP anti-Semitism before the secret is out. At one point the other guys are arguing about it outside of his presence, and the most egregious character says something really horrible and completely classically anti-Semitic, and one of the other guys says "You're a bigot, Dillon" and he responds angrily "I resent that." What the hell? I just don't understand what all the people actually think racism IS, what constitutes that. The number of people who actually set up camps and don white hoods are pretty small.

Edited 2009-10-16 05:08 (UTC)

Generally speaking, people don't want to think the worst of themselves, so we find little ways to justify everything we do and say, no matter how hypocritical or dubious it might seem. Since being a racist is bad, no one wants to be thought of as one, and no one wants to THINK of themselves as one, but if you're a judge using your power (illegally!) to keep "interracial" couples (I hate that term - I believe in only one human race) from marrying, GUESS WHAT BUDDY! You fail at not being a racist. Please hang up your robes, be honest with yourself, and try again.

-elf-

I didn't give them the hoods.
That was another Don.

Well, I see his point. After all, th emajoaity of Americans were totally unaccepting as far as ever allowing an interracial person to succeed in society. I mean, being the President of the countrty is not really a good indicator of success so clearly being bi-racial spells doom and gloom.

What pisses me off the most is that this guy still has a job. It is disgusting that our legal system allows this type of person to be a judge. I am embarassed.

The grossest oart of the article is how he brags that he treats black people like human beings so he couldn't possibly be racist.

The weirdest thing (well, one of them) is his complete ignorance of social history. It really was not that long ago that the Irish and Italians were considered different races, and intermarriage with any of them were seen as terrible mesalliances that would produce mongrels. Same as intermarriage between, say, the French and les Kaintucks. Our black-white two race construct in this country is pretty recent. And knowing what I do of Lousianans, I would put money down that he himself is a product of French-American or American Indian-white intermarriage from way back.

The sad thing is, he's probably getting slapped on the back by various fringe organizations, accompanied by blustery "hey, just telling it like it is!" nonsense. Peter is right, these people just need to die out, there's no educating them. Bye bye, dinosaurs and dodo birds.

Un-believable (Paula, don't read. Seriously.)

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