Topic: The Chit Chat Thread

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@Tjuz I'll tell you something about the whole ''blind to colour'' saying. That's actually quite controversial nowadays, because people will argue that they don't want you to be blind to their race.

• I don't understand their culture, but I don't understand yours either and you are quite white even with what looked like pan-stik. I understand my culture, but only because I have no experience/exposure to yours either.

The same Woman I mentioned before, in Finishing School we call them the Director/Madame. She was racist and held certain views. Ones she tried to instill in me. That girl who was terminated was of colour, I'm sure she was made an example of and that my making my own bed and buying her a phone weren't reason enough. We're in Paris now, not with her Family but I have seen her since. I just know she treated people not of colour better, or it's because they were men and she didn't mind me talking to them because she didn't want me liking other girls (anti-gay too?) I don't even know what you call that.

I did have cultural awareness lessons. Although that's complicated too because by awareness I don't mean history, I mean business. Awareness to you means something differently, you are aware of reasons for acceptance, about current happenings in the world and those happenings influence overall awareness.

You are living in the world, if something happens out there you essentially or eventually will find out. It allows you to stay aware and educated, which sounds like a boon, but also overwhelming if things are really in that much of a complex flux. I don't know what's acceptable or appropriate, it took me three weeks to even write to you privately. I kept going back on forth on certain things and there was no one to ask for a second opinion because I wasn't supposed to be having that conversation with you in the first place.

My cultural awareness classes were similar to my ethics and moral classes, they weren't specific to any other culture but my own. In plain English it was to reinforce the rules and expected behavior that was already present, similar to a training manual for a puppy. It made sense at the time, I wasn't thinking for myself. But that's complicated too because you didn't have wardrobe management classes, I did. Which is ironic considering he chooses everything I wear, which I prefer. I'm not saying it was a waste of time, actual school just sounds better but even then I question that too because I'm convinced you need to live in the world to understand it and a curriculum no matter how good will always have limits and perhaps bias.

Cultural awareness lessons are more related to business. Example, a couple of nights ago I was entertaining company. He wasn't of my culture, but I'd learned enough to follow the conversation/etc, that's essentially why I had those classes. It wasn't to learn about racism, poverty or racial injustice, I've had to quietly learn those on my own. My Partner doesn't mind me learning about poverty, he understands philanthropy, but if he knew I was conversing with someone about gender/race? He wouldn't be too pleased and it's not because he's a bigot or a racist, he knows I'd overwhelm myself, then overload myself and blue-screen. All of those somethings/labels feel like a whole other language and the only textbook seems like real world experience, so thank you for sharing yours.

That school was not academic, and off the record I think certain institutions like that do operate on location bias. The person who brought tea a while ago was of colour, in London they were white. That to me is location bias. Households here hire people of a certain race and I think it's to take advantage of wages. I technically live here too, but that's complicated. There are questions I can't ask. When I say I'm old world and traditional I mean my own what you called circle, we have our own views, customs, rules. I don't live in 2025, I live maybe in the 1950s at best and by traditional I mean a feminists worse nightmare, which is fine because their idea of a perfect world is equally as terrifying to me. That Director's idea of old world and traditional was more exclusive, I try to be inclusive, as I said before we don't discriminate, business is business. The person I mentioned to you on Discord, my time with him erased a lot of what she had been trying to instill.

He showed me something different, which is why I shared what I did with you about him. It was more than just sailing and drives in the country-side, I think he helped to dilute a lot of what were current teachings at the time. He used my name, others didn't, he was the exception. He wasn't racist, I'm sure he saw colour, I was probably too young to pick up on what Adults thought about race/colour unless they went out of their way to tell me directly and I was swept up in something else, I think the heart easily overpowers the mind. I'll look find another word for blind to colour. Cats see colour differently, maybe I'll start there.

It's a bit hard to put into words, but I think that's the gist of it. As a white man, I have no real horse in this race.

• Not to be insulting but when you said man I forgot that part, I wasn't focused on your gender, you have qualities of both and I mean that in a good way. I think perhaps you are tuned in or clued into something that keeps you up to date on things as they change. It gives you a kind of early warning system, but I don't think you need one either. It may be other elements too. I've always lived under propaganda, it hasn't made me cold, but it does add confusion. I often come back to this one video as a soft example. Your Mum probably sends you cook-book recipes, mine sends me things I can't even discuss.

You see this as propaganda. I see it as confusion and I've lived in America but as I said before it doesn't matter where you live if you don't have exposure to that culture or society. I should be able to see through that video I've seen it and so many more so many times and meet a kind of wall. I don't know which parts are real and which aren't, it might be because humor is injected.

As for the fact that the black demographic is represented on this new rainbow flag... I think it's mostly because this flag came up in the time of Black Lives Matter.

• I saw 'Black Lives Matter' on a wall in Spiderman and my answer was 'every life matters', that's how aware I was of that movement. It wasn't ignorance, just an honest reaction. I don't know what happened in America with that movement, everything that happens in America might as well be happening on a far off exo-planet. I see words and hints in the comments sections of articles here and 'what on Earth are they even talking about'.

Ha, it's funny that the rainbow flag was explained to you as being related to the Care Bears. I loved those little bears when I was a kid!

• I think she defaulted to the first thing that came to mind, I liked The Care Bears but I took 'care' out of that exchange as in 'it means to be colourful and care about someone'. Which isn't far off the truth.

I had one of their movies on repeat... which was one of the early, low-budget 3D animation films they'd make that I'm sure would give me nightmares looking back at it now.

• They are actually comforting. I tried the Simpsons over the last couple of weeks, some were good, some bad, it was a lot more fast moving and current (for the time it was set)

But yeah, even living in a very diverse city like Berlin, I don't see the rainbow flag around all that much. I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing either. It's nice to see it on certain establishments just to know before coming in you're going to walk into a safe space

• As a symbol, I can understand that. The fact it's needed on an establishment? I'm not sure how to feel about that, all space should be safe. In Berlin/Europe at least, obviously Russia isn't. The same for England it too should be safe by default. I think I just see Russia as a different world to Europe and in many ways it is, people never really understood that until more recently. Someone like me has always been cut off, disconnection by design, but gay people fleeing? That's different. Had it not happened with my friend I'd not have known.

I think I would have had a chance to pull rank and see things for myself had things not gone the way they did, I may have even had a chance to discuss these things offline. Now it's all illegal and extremist, on-top of that the symbol I'm required to adopt is seen as something else in other places. I'd like to have met someone like you four or five years ago when things weren't as cluttered, technically I did know someone like you back then but we didn't discuss these things. I just know I'd prefer a world with colour than without.