My friend told me she sees the world in a broader perspective because shes a minority?

Question

I am deeply offended. My parents are immigrants from Italy and I am tired of people thinking they deserve more rights because they belong to a group, this is not the American way or what the constitution is supposed to be about?!

This all stems from a conversation on whether or not the government should be using our tax dollars to subsidize things that some of us may not agree with. For example subsidizing abortion as population control, subsidizing certain groups...I think that this collectivist concept causes us to be more divided. However, I also think that the government has no right to make laws regarding social and moral issues. Period!

We get our rights from our creator because we are individuals. That is what this country is supposed to be about. Now it is only about the Federal government telling us who gets what because they are part of some group.

Collectivism is inherently racist and I think it is a horrible concept to build a country upon. What say you

Actually anyone who sits here and says shes right is brainwashed. I just don't see that being a valid arguement. I am a woman, does that mean I think men don't understand life in a broad perspective? WTF that is retarded to say someone sees something in a better light because they are "oppressed" Which is a bunch of BS because she gets scholarships for school that I couldn't qualify for. BesIdes that my parents didn't benefit from **** they grew up in the ghetto but made it out because they worked for it. If you see things in the collectivist perspective YOU are adding fuel to the fire and I would argue that you are racist.

ACTUALLY FRASER T it is outrageous to me on our military budget and subsidizing such. So you sound pretty narrow minded right now.
And the quote about us getting our rights from being individuals from our creator? Or what EVER you want to call it BUT I WORK TWO JOBS so dont tell me that i am EVEN talking about our economy being good BECAUSE IT BLOWS AND THATS BECAUSE OF GOVT AND PEOPLE THINKING THAT THEY DESERVE ENTITLEMNETS ND LOBBYING WASHINGTON BIG CORPS.

Answer 1

She doesn't have a "broader" view, she has a "different" view. To say that your view is broader (which implies it's better) is to say that you, as a minority, are inherently better than someone who is not a minority. So essentially, she is making a statement which is almost racist....

Answer 2

I think collectivism in principle is an excellent concept to build a country upon because it recognizes that we are all connected. It seems that what is happening is actually a compromise model. Italians aren't being discriminated against or maybe there aren't enough of them for it to be a big enough of an issue for discrimination efforts. I think I understand what your friend is saying. I am of Middle Eastern heritage. My dad is 100% Lebanese but he was born in the States. I grew up in a mostly white town. I experienced prejudice. I am also dyslexic. I know what it's like to be excluded. It's painful. It does make you see the world differently. Have you ever been excluded at something that is not your fault? You see the wrongs in society that others would miss. I don't think government should necessarily be subsidizing. The world has gotten overly complicated. Globalization is the culprit and needs to stop. This is what is killing us.

Answer 3

Bravo pink_angel!
If minorities had a broader perspective, then white people should be the most broad-minded. White people are the world's minority, but that certainly does not make them broad-minded. White Americans tend to be among the most ill-informed and narrow-minded people I've ever met.
Your statement "We get our rights from our creator because we are individuals" shows the shallowness of your thinking, and strips bear your own pre-conceptions that color your whole argument. It's a tautology (look it up) and is therefore not valid.
Similar to the nonsense about coming to the US for religious freedom. It's bunk!
You make a lot of noise about abortion, but apparently see nothing wrong with subsidizing through the Pentagon, Lockheed, Martin, Boeing, Fairchild, Bell, and all the other arms makers, subsidized by your tax dollars for death on a far greater scale, or the huge subsidies given to Big Pharma, or the oil companies, or AgraBusiness.
It is not hard work that brings success. Poor people often work two and three jobs, just to make ends meet. You can't tell me that's not hard. Ever been a peasant? They work hard. Plenty of hard-working people in this country lose their jobs, their health care, their houses, their savings. Are you going to blame them, too? Or are you going to blame the US for allowing its corporations to shift the jobs overseas, subsidized by your tax dollars? Are they among the 'certain groups' you mentioned? Where the government spends our money is a political decison. In Western Europe, the people's money subsidizes health care and day care and nursing homes, modern public transportation and food costs. But you would call that collectivism, I guess.
I don't think you understand what you're talking about. Read Adam Smith. Read Keynes. Read Chomsky. Read The Federalist Papers. Stop watching TV, your mind is becoming polluted.

Answer 4

I don't get your question. Your question caught my attention because of what your friend says about being a minority, which I thought was a beautiful thing to say. Then you go on a rant about collectivism. Actually, you lost me after you mentioned your parents from Italy.

All I can say is your friend probably does see things differently as a minority. No matter what you say, if you are white in America, things are different for you, even as far as we have come with civil rights. There is no way that you can know what it's like to be a minority if you aren't one. Also, racism is inherent in our society whether you want to admit it or not. It's a part of our psyche, unfortunately, but until we address this issue and admit it, we aren't going to get anywhere near a solution.

If you want to think that we get our rights from our creator because we are individuals, that's fine, but not everyone will agree with you. I don't. There's a separation of church and state FOR A REASON, and I don't believe this country was founded on collectivism---it was founded on just the opposite.

The beautiful thing about this country is that we can disagree with each other and neither of us has to die because of what we believe.

GREAT QUESTION!

EDIT---why aren't your parents and your siblings and your children called "Italian Americans"? Why is it that no matter how successful a black person is, they are still called "Black Americans"? I really don't get your question, you seem like you are very jealous of your friend. And what is wrong with having a broader perspective of the world? Wouldn't it be boring if we were all the same? I must be dense, I just don't understand what you are upset about.

Answer 5

She has a point, not 100 percent correct. but she has a point. You're parents are of Italian descent right? Well guess what? believe it or not they have being directly benefited by racist treatment to minorities. The Homestead act which was passed in the 1950's unified White Americans of all nationalities. They received preferential treatment and were given very generous subsidies to buy homes and start families. While colored people were left out (this was clearly stated in the homestead act). And this is the core reason for unequal housing today!!!

Yes, minorities can naturally see a bias and corrupt system. Where as a white person may have to dig deeper.

For example, In a minorities eyes George W. Bush is the white equivalent to Stanley Tookie Willams.

Answer 6

I'm not sure what your question is, but I think your friend needs to travel and meet people and then she will earn a broader perspective. The way we see the world is through the filter of our experience and that filter is not something you get born with, but something that changes every day with every experience.
If you are a member of a minority but only watch Fox news and never travel outside your neighbourhood, you are just as likely to be a bigot as a white person who does the same things.

Answer 7

Your comments sound like they were influenced by this Ron Paul speech: http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul381.html

Were they?

In any case, when individuals have been injured and insulted it is natural (and right) for them to seek redress. There is no denying that individuals of minority races have been injured because of prior crimes committed against them or their ancestors. If we can prove who injured them and what was the injury, then I think that we can have a conversation.

But we need to have that discussion between individuals. Continuing to deal in collectives in which we separate people based upon arbitrary characteristics [1] inevitably sets up a you against me situation. It only prolongs the healing that needs to happen from past injuries.

Answer 8

In a Rosy world I'd agree with you. But when you can check your ethnicity at the door and no one can peg you for being part of a particular group you do see things in a different light. If you are not oppresses then you have a hard time seeing how oppressed people see things. But really isn't that what brought our founders here they where being oppressed for there religion and came here as a group to escape that.

Answer 9

well i think that your friend sounds pretty narrow-minded just from what you said about her thinking she sees the world more broadly bcuz of being a minority. that in itself is a very divisive and narrow way to look at the world. so i'm guessing she really doesn't. anyhow, broad-mindedness is nothing about race, religion, creed, etc. it's a personal journey and choice and anyone can achieve it. i won't comment on the rest. the whole situation in the U.S. is just too frustrating!

Answer 10

I honestly agree with you Beauty, well said. I think your friend is full of it and needs to grow up!
Lets put it this way. A large percentage of the people of New Orleans have been riding the welfare system for years, decades.........what makes anyone think they will start a job tomorrow!
Your friend sounds just like a welfare recipient