Quote:
Originally Posted by Not Bob
Here’s a good question to ask yourself - how would your grandparents react if they were told that their daughter was dating a black man?
Heck, my father went batshit crazy when my uncle jokingly suggested that my sister was dating a black dude when she was in college. My Irish cop great uncles and grandfather would have arrested the guy (“loitering” or “vagrancy” were terms of art for cops in the pre-war fiefdom of Patsy McCall) and beaten the shit out of him.
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My cousin married a black woman in the late 80s. My grandmother was fine with it. Her only concern was that something must have been wrong with any woman who wanted to marry my cousin. (He ultimately screwed up the marriage and she divorced him.)
This was the Eastern European side of the family. I can see how the Irish could be a bit more difficult on these issues. But the lace curtain variety (my relatives are part English) tend to be more accepting. It might not be entirely genuine. Might be partly about appearances, about signalling enlightened thinking. But I suspect they'd have accepted a person of any race or background, as decent people should. If your kid loves somebody and don't accept them based on race or ethnicity, you're a fucking ogre.
My great uncle also accepted his gay son. Was a struggle for a bit, but he evolved in a tremendous hurry.
Neat thing about thinking about people individually, rather than generalizing and seeing them all in categories, or tribes? When you do that, it's near impossible to see them as an "other." You can't help but see them as simply another human being, which makes it near impossible to hate them.
