I think Lon's question proves a point. That being race, religion, nationality and so on aren't really and should not be defining. My observation in reading the posts in this form is you have difficulty determining any of the above from reading a person's post. I think most here are educated, well spoken and have similar values. There are some differing political opinions, to be expected, and some who think they might know why other's feel or think the way they do. The bottom line is; education, values and behavior make the person not the color of their skin or race.
Well that's very true, but that type of ''education'' is something I'm very glad I was never taught...
I guess in answer to the OP, whilst I have a black friend (whom I have asked to join the forum) who has a genetic anomaly of having pink spots, I, on the other hand am a caucasian with brown spots. After all is said and done, I’m sure that between us we can indeed throw a twist into a demographer’s knickers.
@Faye Fox "I find it interesting that those outraged don't post real photos of themselves." My avatar is a real photo of me (from years ago). The entire photo shows up in my Profile. FWIW, this is me now: I am not outraged, not even concerned at all, about Lon's OP. I am descended from generations of very prejudicial people, am prejudiced myself, and find little discomfort with it. Frank
One time I told my youngest son his black friend was at the door. I didn't remember the boys name & was just identifying him. My son, at 13, said "I don't have black friends Mom. I just have friends." And this is how it should be.
I don't see anything to be offended by in @Lon Tanner ' s post. It sounds like a good idea to me to add diversity to the forum...… in people and opinions.
Why on earth do we have such a fuss going on here? Is no one allowed to have an opinion that differs in any way from your own? Lon posted a thread that suggests that everyone here is Caucasian. While I don't agree with his impression and wonder why it even matters, there is nothing wrong with someone being curious about that, or commenting on it. Others apparently saw racism in the opening post. Maybe it was intended, but it's also possible that it was an attempt at labeling the forum. Or it might have been simple curiosity. I don't know. Whatever was intended is in the mind of the person who made the opening post, but I don't see that anything worth worrying about can be assumed. Still, it's not an unreasonable assumption, so there's nothing wrong with asking him why it matters, either. Although it might be seen as bordering on a personal attack to assume that someone is a racist because they recognize that not everyone has the same skin tone, no one actually called anyone a racist, as far as I have noticed. When it comes to the rules: 1) Try not to be overly offended, and 2) Try not to be too easily offended, I don't consider the opening post of this thread to be overly offensive, so let's try not to violate #2. Okay?
@Lon Tanner ...I aplolgize Lon, maybe I was being too harsh. Or maybe because it just never crossed mind- I just never thought about putting a color to any of us. Older is the only way I think about any of us
The interesting thing about a nice discussion on a "hot button" issue is what the responses tell you about the participants. Much insight, tells you who you might want to "ride the river with" or not.
Well, my grade school and high school years were in farm area where there were no black families. I went to a "consolidated" school for Junior High and High School and there was on one black family that went to the school. Consolidated meaning grades kindergarten, grade school and high school all in the same building, separated by hallways. During the years going to that school, never once seen the kids of that black family. 99% of the black families/students lived on the north side of Ft. Wayne and I very seldom went into Ft Wayne. This was back in the 60's. There were some blacks in the Navy, but I can't remember seeing a single one on the three ships I served on. Now, when I was in EMS, I did have a black partner for one company I worked for. He was great and I really appreciated him, being that part of the areas we covered were Compton, South Central and Watts. Now, currently, were we live, many folks would call this area a racist area because it is not that diverse, totally unlike Jacksonville, FL was. At the one end, many Hispanics, but the black population is less than 1%. As far as Lon's question goes, I really don't care what race gets involved with this forum. We are all Seniors, some older than others, but ALL of us have curious questions. I know I've had a few "curious" questions and threads that sort of got me stomped on, but...…...what the heck.