Hello again Pete

August 2, 1999

I think the minority view as a group subjected to second class status

(racial, sex, etc.) is different as opposed to personal uniqueness good

or bad. If you were a half Asian half German living in Bolivia you would

be a racial minority. Shared characteristics such as race, gender,

religion etc. make for differentiating groups within groups. Personal

uniqueness makes for differentiating individuals.

This is a traditional view.

snip>>>>>>

I have a Roman Catholic background, my

parents separated in the days when that was rare, I have

been physically, emotionally and sexually abused, I have

psychological disorders, I'm fat, I'm unemployed, etc. etc.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

These seem to be the negatives you see in your make-up but they don't

make you a minority though they have a definite influence on you. Surely

there are some really great things about you that add balance to these

labels. Your obviously intelligent for one.

I am about .0001% of the population here. As a group as in race, gender

etc. I am an outsider, a minority. In Seattle this would not be true.

Here at times I have seen fit to mute my personality in favor of getting

a point across. I am out of my cultural roots where traditional

knowledge grounded in such is non-functional in many cases. People who

can't adapt to that go home cursing the place.

I used the example about discrimination against women here as an

example. You can put an ad out for a job that says female, under

twenty five, must be Japanese as well. The point is any type of

discrimination is ok. I think in some cases it is even appropriate. Say

you have a nude male dancer club should you have a right to

discriminate? Do you have to interview 10 stone Samoan women as to not

discriminate. Say you have a technical computer programmer position

should you have a right to discriminate? There is no simple general

answer. Case by case can give a better answer as to what is appropriate.

I was raised in the Roman Catholic stuff. I managed to meld the Roman

into a Roaming and it all walked away with my rosaries during Sunday

school.

August 2, 1999

On Mon, 02 Aug 1999 21:01:05 +0900

wrote:

> I think the minority view as a group subjected to second class status

> (racial, sex, etc.) is different as opposed to personal uniqueness good

> or bad. If you were a half Asian half German living in Bolivia you would

> be a racial minority. Shared characteristics such as race, gender,

> religion etc. make for differentiating groups within groups. Personal

> uniqueness makes for differentiating individuals.

>

> This is a traditional view.

Well I'm a white male - that makes me a member of a

monority group in the UK and also the world. Period. In

fact just being male makes me member of a minority in the

UK. Unfortunately, sloppy use of language has resulted in

the word 'minority' in the US becoming used to mean

an *opressed* minority; a particuarly silly state of

affairs because sometimes the majority is oppressed, such

as black people in apartheid South Africa. If you add in,

not disabled (at least physically), not gay (mostly) etc,

altho these are majorities, in combination with the others,

I form part of an ever dwindling minority.

>

> snip>>>>>>

> I have a Roman Catholic background, my

> parents separated in the days when that was rare, I have

> been physically, emotionally and sexually abused, I have

> psychological disorders, I'm fat, I'm unemployed, etc. etc.

> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

>

> These seem to be the negatives you see in your make-up but they don't

> make you a minority though they have a definite influence on you. Surely

> there are some really great things about you that add balance to these

> labels. Your obviously intelligent for one.

I didnt mean to do specifically a downer on myself - just

merely pointing out all the disadvantaged minority groups

that I belong to - the fact these are often not organised

as groups and not perceived as such generally by ppl does

not meant that that that is not what they are. Who gets to

decide what counts as just " individual difference " and not

" group membership? Also of course fat ppl,

the psychologically disordered, etc *do* organize as a

disadvantaged group.

>

> I am about .0001% of the population here. As a group as in race, gender

> etc. I am an outsider, a minority. In Seattle this would not be true.

> Here at times I have seen fit to mute my personality in favor of getting

> a point across. I am out of my cultural roots where traditional

> knowledge grounded in such is non-functional in many cases. People who

> can't adapt to that go home cursing the place.

> I used the example about discrimination against women here as an

> example. You can put an ad out for a job that says female, under

> twenty five, must be Japanese as well. The point is any type of

> discrimination is ok. I think in some cases it is even appropriate. Say

> you have a nude male dancer club should you have a right to

> discriminate? Do you have to interview 10 stone Samoan women as to not

> discriminate. Say you have a technical computer programmer position

> should you have a right to discriminate? There is no simple general

> answer. Case by case can give a better answer as to what is appropriate.

Well, all these issues went into the UK anti-discrimination

legislation and I expect the US as well, and prodiuces some

mighty interesting results. For example, whether a

landlord is allowed to ban Gypsies from his pub rests on

whether Gypsies are a race, not whether this is fair or

not. If they are deemed by anthroplogists to be a " race "

he cant do it, but if some egghead decides theyre not, the

landlord can tell them to go to hell?

> I was raised in the Roman Catholic stuff. I managed to meld the Roman

> into a Roaming and it all walked away with my rosaries during Sunday

> school.

Of course you were RC. YOu ended up addicted. How could you

possibly have been anything else?

P.

August 2, 1999