The inadequacy of a "good heart" [View all]

[sheshe2]

In attempting to defend herself against charges of racism, Paula Deen claimed that she has a "good heart." Juror B37 said the same thing about George Zimmerman.

When people make these claims I suspect they have pretty good evidence that the ones they are referring to have shown caring and concern to the people in their lives and that they do not exhibit hate for anyone. The underlying assumption is that racism involves hate.

The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of beauty is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, but indifference between life and death.

- Elie Wiesel
As a survivor of the Nazi concentration camps, Wiesel knows a thing or two about the topic.

The issue today is that most racism doesn't depend on hate - but indifference. We are indifferent to the lives and perspectives of people who are not like us. That's what allows jurors to see things from George Zimmerman's perspective but not from Trayvon's. Its what allows Paula Deen to fantasize about a slave-themed wedding reception. There is no empathy for the black person's plight.

A "good heart" that displays concern for people like us and indifference for anyone not like us is the definition of racism today. If you have any curiosity at all about how that indifference has been passed on to us all from the time we were young, listen as Jonathan Odell talks about Ms. Helen - someone with a "good heart."

Jonathan Odell's video at the link~


http://immasmartypants.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-inadequacy-of-good-heart.html