I am what liberal multiculturalism has made me.

Jo Biden said that presidential candidate Senator Barak Obama is articulate and the whole U.S. media machine went into overdrive. Did Biden really mean “Obama speaks well” or did he mean, “not bad English for a black man”? Twenty-five or so years ago I would have immediatly assumed the former.

“I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy,” he said. “I mean, that’s a storybook, man.” Source: TPMCAFE.COM

When I was 17, in high school and a member of the Canadian Armed Forces Reserves there was a young lady in my squad named Dalia. One night sitting in the ranks (Junior Ranks Club) one of our buddies was walking past our table with about 6 rum and cokes in his hands. “Hey Bill, grab a seat, what are we black?” came out of my mouth. A little voice at the end of the table said, “I AM.” It had never entered my mind that Dalia was different from us. She had a green uniform. She was extremely pretty. She was fun as all get out. She was one of the guys. It was more obvious, in an infantry communications squadron that she was female than it was that she was black. After my comment, her statement and a few looks around the room, we all cracked up. None was more amused by the episode than Dalia.

Several months later, while on a weekend exercise, I was to take over watch from Dalia at 3:00 a.m.. She was in a foxhole somewhere in the bush. I couldn’t find the foxholes… CAMOUFLAGE!! Dalia’s voice came over the radio. She wanted to know where the hell I was. I told her I couldn’t find her. She replied, “SHIT, You want me to smile and get my black ass shot off?” The laughter from her foxhole guided me right to them. Today, any white person laughing at her joke would be up on charges.

Of late it has become impossible to get through the day without worrying about whom I may insult every time I open my mouth. Growing up I wasn’t taught to be tolerant of people who weren’t the same as I was. It was understood that everyone was the same as we were. There was no differentiating between friends based upon skin colour, religion or anything else for that matter. What has changed?

Political correctness is what has changed. Our government is so afraid of offending others they have created racists where none exist. For decades we have made jokes based upon cultural and racial differences. This did not mean we were racist. I’m telling you, some of the best cultural jokes I ever heard were told by people from those cultures. Now it seems the only jokes we can tell have to have white people as the brunt. This is all good and well except white people are boring. The only good WHITE people joke I have ever heard, Newfie jokes notwithstanding goes like this:

What is an Irish 7 course meal? A 6-pack and a potatoe!

Equality among the races and the sexes etc etc etc has become superiority of the minority over anyone else. In the U.S. the epitome of racists seems to be the leaders of the minorities themselves. They look for battles, creating them where none exist. If you are white it isn’t wise to open your mouth. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton will be all over the news screaming “RACIST.”

In Canada where white people are just about the minority, one is loathe to open their mouth for fear they may offend a muslim or asian, or any other minority group. It is sad.

It pains me to say I have become racist because of multi-culturalism and political correctness. Where I once considered everyone equal, never paid attention to a person’s colour, religion or language, I am now extremely sensitive to these differences. Indeed, I don’t hate anyone for any of the above reasons. It doesn’t matter a bit who my next door neighbour is, what colour they are or what language they speak. However, when I am afraid to open my mouth for fear of offending someone, it makes me racist. Someone who wasn’t worried about offending anyone when they open their mouth would obviously never be saying anything that might offend.

A co-worker of mine once referred to our company’s mostly Lebanese Calgary drivers as the Taliban. Chuckling I responded, “no, not Taliban, CALiban.” This drew a lot of laughs. Sadly, I admit I was actually being mean. Sadly beacause before special interest groups, political correctness and before seeing my ways and beliefs being trounced upon, I would never have intentionally said something so racist.

I am what liberal multiculturalism has made me.