Let me say a quick thanks to Antonio, Robin, and my old friend the Bitca for their recent comments.
Next, let me introduce the subject of today’s post: sex.
Yes… sex… sex… sex.
Sorry, I was just trying to drive up the site’s traffic.
However, the topic is relevant, in light of a recent study that looked at everybody’s favorite pastime (i.e., getting’ it on) and filtered it through a racial prism.
It’s dangerous, not to mention intellectually dishonest, to insist that any racial or ethnic group has specific likes or dislikes. After all, in today’s multiracial society, it’s often debatable who is or isn’t a member of a certain group. And let’s not forget that such assertions, even well-meaning ones, open up the door to stereotyping.
But like most dangerous and/or offensive things, it’s also a lot of fun to do.
Recently, the good people at OK Trends did a little analysis on people who joined a dating website. The researchers looked at over a half-million individuals and divided them into groups by their self-stated race or ethnicity. The authors then “isolated the words and phrases that made each racial group’s essays statistically distinct” and posted the results.
Until a few years ago, I had never heard the term “dishwasher guilt.” This odd phrase describes the tendency of immigrants to resist buying or using this symbol of American convenience. It’s “a quirk in the assimilation process that baffles social scientists.”
My mother, who came to America from El Salvador over forty years ago, owns two houses. Neither has a dishwasher.
With all the recent love that has been extended to immigrants (really, it’s been nonstop kisses and flowers), one could be forgiven for believing that hate groups in America are on the decline.
However, a recent report from the Southern Poverty Law Center says that the number of hate groups increased just a little — 244 percent — over the previous year. Now, this intimidating statistic provokes a natural question: What is the definition of a hate group?
I recently wrote about self-loathing among immigrants and among Latinos in general.
That got me thinking about my own insecurities. Yes, I have a couple, believe it or not. One of them relates to this website.
As I’ve stated before, and in the interest of full disclosure, I’m not 100 percent Latino. I’m half Hispanic, through my mother’s side. That side is, of course, fanatical – hence the blog.
I’m also one-quarter Italian, which comes out when I talk (my hands never stop moving). The Irish quarter in me comes out… I don’t know… whenever I feel the urge to drink strong whiskey, I guess.
Now that we’re past the anniversary of the September 11 attacks, one hopes that we can look at the so-called Ground Zero mosque in a clear and logical manner… Actually, who are we kidding? People are still freaking out about this imaginary threat, even as the headlines have died down. In any case, I can assure you that the planned building will look nothing like this:
Recently, the New York Times released a poll showing that about half the city’s residents opposed building the community center, while a little over a third supported it. But the Times poll went a little further than most questionnaires on this topic, as it broke out the respondents by race or ethnicity.
The Dream Act may not be dead. But it is most certainly on hold, and no one is sure for how long.
The U.S. Senate did not directly kill the bill. Rather, Senate Republicans filibustered the defense authorization bill. The reason was that the Dream Act, as well as the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell repeal, were amendments to the legislation. These two bits of conservative wolfbane were too much for Republicans to stomach. So they voted, en masse and without exception, to deny the bill’s passage.
Whatever happened to the controversy over bilingual education? I don’t mean that the topic has gone away or been resolved.
However, with all the hysteria over immigration and assimilation and undocumented Latinos stealing our jobs… well, it just seems like the debate over the best way to educate immigrant children with poor English skills has been rendered quaint.
Perhaps this is because English-immersion appears to be the de facto winner. Teaching immigrant kids in their native language seems to be a 1970s concept — like gun control and no-nuke rallies — that failed to accomplish much.
Recently, I wrote about the concept of self-loathing among immigrants. My thesis was that some immigrants want so badly to be considered “American” that they will join in on hatred aimed at newcomers.
As we know, all immigrants are not Hispanic, nor are all Hispanics immigrants. However, it’s safe to say that immigration and Latino culture are closely linked. Therefore, you will be delighted to know that self-hatred can transcend citizenship status and careen right into questions of ethnicity and race.
For example, a few weeks ago, the GOP candidate for governor in Nevada, Brian Sandoval, endeared himself to his fellow Latinos during an interview with Univision.
I’m not a stereotypical guy in at least one respect: When I’m sick, I go to the doctor.
There’s none of this macho “I’m only coughing up blood; it will go away” kind of denial for me. I want to know what’s wrong.
This trait may be rare among males, but it’s even less common among Latinos. We know, for example, that fewer Hispanics crowd into emergency rooms than other ethnicities, despite what you may have heard about ERs going bankrupt because of undocumented Latinos overrunning them.
