Jim Austin

His previous columns are archived HERE.

JIM AUSTIN

World racism conference 'unqualified failure'

I'll bet the organizers of the recent conference on racism are in a state of shock.

Presumably, they called world leaders together with an eye toward addressing the heinous racial and religious hatreds that have long bedeviled our so-called civilization. So far as I can see, the only thing accomplished was to outline in bold the simple fact that these issues are so political, emotional, and charged with millenniums-old prejudice that they cannot be discussed at this level without making matters worse.

The "reparations for slavery" agenda item drove the U.S.A. away from the table. Running away and refusing to discuss the issue is akin to holding your breath or eating dirt when you don't get your way.

The arguments against such a stupidly flawed idea seem so simple. Why not just stay and refute such idiotic claims?

This idea of the U.S. government paying for the sin of slavery has been around for a long time. On 60 Minutes I listened to a distinguished African-American scholar claim that the government owed trillions to black Americans. Well, I guess it owes squillions to women who have been denied equal pay for equal work and were prohibited from voting until 1920.

It can pay Native Americans for that little smallpox-ridden blanket trick. It can shell out to the Irish who were denied employment.

Single parents, homosexuals, ex-cons, teens, and Asians all have a claim against the government using this ruptured logic.

What a waste of time.

The global nature of this problem is mind-boggling. About the only thing we can agree upon is that damn near everybody belongs to some country or religion that despises someone else.

If you were to make a list of countries that really don't have an axe to grind I bet Sweden would make the top five. Not any more, apparently. Sweden is a vanguard in the sale of "hate music."

NPR last week highlighted the rise of "White Power Heavy Metal Music." Sweden buys more of the stuff than anyone. Are there any people of color in Sweden to hate? Maybe the white power Swedes order National Geographic and swear at the pictures. (Note to Sweden: "Just shut up and eat your meatballs.")

Many of the current "Troubles" in Ireland were fomented by the 1916 Easter uprising. In this celebrated incident, an attempt to take over the city of Dublin was quashed by British troops and police. Many rebels were killed and leaders executed. This was a rebellion against authority by armed men against other armed men.

Last week Protestant protesters threw a pipe bomb at Catholic school children. Not much progress there.

One sort of positive result of the conference was to shine a bit of light on India's caste system. Most of us have heard of "untouchables." These are people who must live their lives without hope of raising themselves from the level of sewer-cleaners. It is considered "interference in the law of karmic punishment" to even show favor or mercy to one of these miserable people. Still some work to be done on the old sub-continent apparently.

It appears that the conference was an unqualified failure. Leaders are not even close to being ready for an intelligent dialogue on this issue. It was as if we had locked fifty baboons in a conference room and asked them to decide if Freudian or Jungian psychology more cogently addresses current mental health issues. Our baboons wouldn't even stay to discuss the issues. Maybe if they had offered free bananas…