On racism

Every time that I encounter somebody who is hung up about racism I always have to wonder, who really cares? Whether it's the guy who thinks everyone who looks different from himself is inferior or the guy who accuses everybody who looks different from himself of thinking that he is inferior, both are hung up needlessly on an utterly stupid idea. Why? What possible benefit could either point of view actually hold for anybody? It frustrates me to no end how utterly self-centered people can be, especially when it plays out in a way that is so utterly meaningless.

Once more I will go to my old standby example to illustrate my point. Under the Roman Empire it didn't really matter who you were or where you came from or how you looked or anything like that. What really counted was your religion and your language and your politics. Those things combined with whatever degree of competency you were capable of expressing tended to matter far more in terms of advancement than anything else. Sure, the great families had wealth and power, but there were always the new rich or the recently promoted families, proving that even the aristocracy wasn't immune to advancement. Virtue, competency, merit, whatever you want to call it, in the Roman civilization it ultimately determined how high you could rise.

Let's look specifically at the Empire. There were countless emperors with diverse backgrounds. You had Thracian peasants, Armenian generals, Isaurian thugs, classic Greco-Roman aristocrats, and so many others rising to the purple. Ultimately what made a man emperor was his ability to rally the people behind him, to get the army to back him, and to get the aristocrats to support him. Whether he was a stableboy who managed to get a job at the palace, befriend a young emperor, use that influence to rise to a position of power, and then use that power to establish the single greatest dynasty the Empire ever saw, or he was a peasant from a hick town in a hick region of an utterly civilized society who managed to get his uncle proclaimed as emperor and then ruling from behind the scenes, only to take open power upon said uncle's death, if a man had enough skill, enough ambition, and enough sheer audacity he could rise from the very bottom to the very top.

Throw in the Church and you have even more opportunity. Anyone could become a great cleric, a renown monk, or even the Patriarch of Constantinople itself.

Then of course there is the military. Of all the institutions in the Empire it perhaps was the most meritocratic. Sheer ability could make the lowliest of men rise to heights of wealth and power regardless of where he came from. For that matter, eunich slaves taken in battle by Roman officers could rise to command the entire military might of the Empire, and prove both loyal and capable in the process.

So basically what I'm trying to say here is this. If somebody is good at what he does then he should be rewarded within that field. If he is not, then he should not be rewarded. If somebody is a great leader, then people should follow him. If he is a brilliant general, then he ought to be able to rise to command of armies. If he is fervent in his belief, orthodox in his practice, and as virtuous in his life as he can be given the state of this fallen world, then by all means raise him to the clergy and make him overseer of many congregations. Whether he is black, white, yellow, red, or some other color is utterly irrelevant. The only thing that matters is can he do the job? If he can, then let him. If he can't, then don't put him where he is unworthy to be. It should be as simple as that.

Sometimes I get the feeling that people like to play the so-called "race card" as a cover for their own incompetence. This applies both ways, too. The person who screams discrimination at the drop of a pin is just as bad as the person who complains about the evil others who are contaminating society or whatever other drivel he happens to spout.

If somebody is black, so what? If he's a socialist, then it matters. If somebody is white, why does it matter? If he's a bhaal worshipper, though, then there might be some problems (such as infant sacrifice...). Ultimately, if you are going to look at anything other than basic ability when judging somebody, then the only things that I can see that are justifiable as criteria would have to be politics, economics, and religion. Anything else you can probably deal with easily enough. Certainly no accident of birth or vagary of genetics should have any impact beyond whatever outright physical or mental disabilities might be attributed to such causes.

Racism, like nationalism, is a stupid idea that is dangerous and irrational. It destroys civilizations, breeds divisiveness, and utlimately prevents those who ought to be doing things from having the proper opportunities to do them. Whether racism is an offensive, "I hate different people" thing or a defensive, "nobody is letting me succeed because I'm different" thing, it still amounts to the same fundamental idea, and still causes the same basic problems within society. So give it up already, all of you. If you want to be treated well, then earn it by action. If you want to look down on somebody, find a reason that matters, such as base incompetence or outright malicious corruption. Don't waste your time, or more importantly everybody else's, with your petty and meaningless stupidity.