Date: Mon, 11 Aug 1997 02:32:36 -0400 From: "Joel N. Weber II" <devnull@gnu.ai.mit.edu> To: andrsn@andrsn.stanford.edu Cc: chuckr@glue.umd.edu, jmb@FreeBSD.ORG, hoek@hwcn.org, softweyr@xmission.com, chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: FTC regulating use of registrations Message-ID: <199708110632.CAA09169@ethanol.gnu.ai.mit.edu> In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.3.96.970810134508.453A-100000@andrsn.stanford.edu> (message from Annelise Anderson on Sun, 10 Aug 1997 14:37:05 -0700 (PDT))
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And I'm not sure that white parents want to bring up prejudiced children who have to live in an increasingly racially diverse environment. My white parents certainly haven't wanted to bring up prejudiced children. But textbooks have not influenced my prejudices. Getting to know a few people well is what causes me to not be prejudiced against that race. Through the middle of my third grade year, I lived in Waterford, CT. (Interestingly, one man who lived in Waterford was recently not hired by the New London police department because his IQ was too high, and it made the newspaper here in Hawaii.) I think there were about 28 kids at my grade level at Oswegatchie Elementary; for the first few years I think all of us were white. (It happens that we were divided into two classes.) Later, a black family moved into a house on the same street as me; one of the four kids in that family was in my grade. That's the only black family I've ever come close to knowing in any personal sense where both parents were around. Two other black families that I come remotely close to knowing don't have the father around. And I think that I've always subconciously looked at this statistic and concluded that blacks have trouble having stable families. Of course that's totally irrational; most other races seem to have similar problems. The two Chinese friends I have at school who are capable computer programmers both live iwth only one parent; one Chinese girl I like a lot doesn't live with either of her biological parents. (Note that the statistics I just presented, if looked at rationally, would suggest that blacks have more stable families than Chinese.) (Also note that such statistics are probably ridiculous anyway, because I haven't sampled a large enough population.) Anyway, the point is that I have many Chinese friends, because I live in Hawaii, and there are lots of Chinese people around here. And because I've had the opportunity to get to know some of them, I don't have any prejudice against Chinese. I do recognize certain differences between the European and Asian cultures (Asians tend to be rather quiet, and don't like arguing forcefully; Europeans have nothing against yelling in an arguement; and Asians generally value respect above honesty, where Europeans would rather be honesty even if it means hurting another person). I recognize that these differences exist, but I don't consider one culture superior to the other. I've also noted that I've often wished that I were Chinese. Not that any of my Chinese friends object to me being German. Hawaii is a wonderful place in that different races respect each other and get along well. (In fact, I sometimes find that the whites dislike me more than the Asians.) But it has caused me to understand a little bit better how I would react if my race was actively hated. Anyway, I currently think that I would like to marry a Chinese girl, and have kids, and live in Boston. And I've sometimes wondered if that would really be a good idea. If kids are of mixed race in Hawaii, that's perfectly normal; but it's kinda wierd on the mainland. And I think it's probably safe to assume that if I live in Boston, my kids would probably have an easier time if they're pure white than if they're half Chinese. But I guess it doesn't bother me that much.
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