"What the hell gives people the right to pass judgment on how other how other people live their lives?"

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Now, this little kid has no right to IMPOSE his backward views on anybody. But he certainly has the right to hold those views, and even ro air them...

I'm sorry, I was with you until you got to the religeous right part -- I missed the connection there.

I have seen plenty of polls that say that a depressingly large minority of Americans still oppose inter-racial marriage, so I share your frustration with that . By the way, in the last poll I saw, the percentage of blacks opposed to inter-racial marriages was about the same as the percentage of whites who opposed it, so be careful with your stereotypes.

What I did not see was the evidence in this story to put the source of this persons bigotry on the religeous right. As an atheist and a libertarian, I have plenty of problems with the religeous right, but I have found that racists are still fairly well distributed among all backgrounds and political parties and religeous affiliations.

I agree with coyote and sort of felt that your silence towards the offender probably left him with the impression that you were in agreement. I mean if you weren't outraged enough to confront them, were you really outraged at all?

That is depressing. However, starting a fight wouldn't accomplish anything, and starting a fight with someone you work with is always a bad idea.

yeah, but a "positive challenge" wouldn't have been so bad - something along the lines of "so what's so bad about inter-racial relationships?"

By the way, in the last poll I saw, the percentage of blacks opposed to inter-racial marriages was about the same as the percentage of whites who opposed it

But I bet their reasons are different.

I agree with coyote and sort of felt that your silence towards the offender probably left him with the impression that you were in agreement. I mean if you weren't outraged enough to confront them, were you really outraged at all

I wasn't outraged, it was more shock that someone would open their mouths and say that to someone they don't really know.

I didn't confront him because when was the last time confronting a 17 year old about anything was successful?

Perhaps confrontation is the wrong word. It could be as simple as saying "That's really an ugly thing to say." The worst that could happen is that he would know to keep that BS to himself around you and he might even come to the conclusion that you're right.

It's fine if you want to blame his parents or the religious right or whatever, but who left him with the idea that he could say something like that without a consequence?

Well, I am religious. However, I could be from the religious "left." I know in the Bible there was an interacail union between Moses and Zoppora (forgive spelling). Zoppora was Moses's wife. Moses was hebrew and Zoppora was ethiopian (black). God did not object to this union. In fact, he encouraged them to marry. At any rate, I am only writing this to let those on the religious right and left know that God did not disapprove of interacail unions-nor do I.

I am a christian from the south..... where alot of people are opposed to interracial relationships. Like Freddy said, God approved of moses marriage. That should give people a sign that it IS ok to date someone from another race. People do alot of things that is a sin...but do people oppose of that and rant and rave about it forever?....no. They only focuse on the issues that bother them. People need to look inside theirselves for a change and tell theiselves...." instead of going on and on about someone's lifestyle, I need to look in myself first and not judge." but the sad thing is, people don't do that...they are selfish! My point is, interraical elationships are not wrong. If God says it's ok, the u better believe that's the only one u should listen to.

In response to: By the way, in the last poll I saw, the percentage of blacks opposed to inter-racial marriages was about the same as the percentage of whites who opposed it

bhw says: But I bet their reasons are different.

That's a very pregnant comment. Would you mind giving birth to it for us? Tell us just exactly what you think their differences might be, and, while you're at it, why you think the Negroid reasons are superior to the Caucasian ones.

I mean this was intended to be an anti-white slur, wasn't it?

So what do you suppose it is with bhw?

Is he a black supremacist, or is he merely a victim of the white self-hatred propaganda that has been preached by the academic and educational establishment for the last half century or so?

bhw is a woman. She is neither of the false choices you deceptively offer, Richard.

And BTW coyote, I'd like to see these polls that say a "depressingly" large MINORITY of Americans still oppose inter-racial marriage. I think you probably give the establishment brainwashing machine too much credit.

And even if they're true, the results are likely to be skewed by people responding the way they think they're SUPPOSED to respond, instead of the way they really feel. If people weren't so afraid of sounding non-PC, I'll bet you'd be looking at a depressingly large MAJORITY!

And a large part of that majority would likely be all the poor black females, at least those who don't look like Caucasians with a dark skin, who see the males of their race abandoning them for the beautiful white women, and who don't find a lot of white guys to replenish their depleted dating pool.

bhw is a woman. She is neither of the false choices you deceptively offer, Richard.

Correction. My choices were not offered "deceptively". They were offered based on a mistaken assumption.

Which still leaves us having to wonder why she never responded with an answer to the question:

What do you see as the difference between the reasons blacks oppose interracial marriage and the reasons whites oppose it?

Her comment was made almost three years ago, Richard. She used to be an editor here but had to stop due to real life commitments. As usual, there's the common sense answer, then there's your theory!

I don't see marriage between people with different skin colours as interracial so I can't answer your question.

Well, her blog seems to have disappeared, so I guess we'll never know why she believed that blacks have a "different" (probably implying "morally supperior") reason for opposing interracial dating.

Perhaps someone who is not a race-denier, i.e. who realizes that skin coloration is hardly the only difference between Caucasians and Negroids, will come along with the same perception she had on this issue, and will enlighten us as to the reasons for the attitude difference in question.

I think you shouldn't speculate as to people's thinking, Richard. That is doubly so when you are so confused as to think Caucasian and Negroid are meaningful differentiators.

There are, of course, many different cultures around the world. Marriages between members of different cultures are always going to be a little more complex than, say, a marriage between two Amish people. Of course, that's not what you're trying to get at, but that's because you're both a racist and a member of an endangered human variant, namely blondes!

"an endangered human variant, namely blondes!"

Not here in Southern CA. They flourish.

Well, bhw speculated a lot as to my thinking, so I guess it might qualify me to speculate hers.

She had an education steeped in oppression/victimization issues. She talked of several social justice luminaries who came to speak at her campus. People who use alternative historical perceptions to decide if a double standard is good or not.

As to the case of blacks objecting to inter-racial dating, She might say that black relatives would be "concerned" that potential children of the couple might not get the full immersion in cultural heritage that would be required of "authentic" African Americans. They might be wary that such a child could find themselves in a racial confusion, Ostracised by both groups.

There wouldn't be any irony for her in thinking that the same attitudes, expressed by white relatives of the couple, would be deserving of scorn.

Once, on The Oprah! show, Oprah asked the actor Eddie Murphy what type of women he prefers. He began by saying "Black..." and was cut off by a resounding display of audience approval.

It wouldn't be hard to imagine the reaction a white actor might get if he were to announce his preference for white women.

It wouldn't be hard to imagine the reaction a white actor might get if he were to announce his preference for white women.

Actually it would be quite easy to imagine. He would be crucified as a horrible xenophobic racist bigot. Every epithet in the PC pejorative lexicon would be thrown at him.

But aren't we fortunate to have a defender such as Christopher Rose on our side, who preaches that Caucasian and Negroid are not "meaningful differentiators." He will advocate for us that race is not a meaningful way to differentiate between the propriety of having all black colleges and the propriety of having all white colleges, between the propriety of having a black congressional caucus and the propriety of having a white congressional caucus, or between the propriety of having an African-American culture preservation movement and the propriety of having a European-American culture preservation movement.

Richard, I would respond to your latest comment but I don't understand what you're saying. There's the human race, then arguably races such as Spanish, English, Dutch et cetera, although I'd consider them nationalities.

You seem to be trying to suggest that terms such as Caucasian or Negroid imply some greater commonality than skin colour but that is so obviously untrue as to be laughable.

Glad to know that exactly 231 years after America's independence, almost exactly 144 years after the Battle of Gettysburg and 44 years after the signing of the Civil Rights Act, Americans most of whom are so-called Christians (who worship white skin color and blonde hair rather than Jesus and we are even surprised after God sends Katrina) still arguing about race.