ShadowBoxing
Avenger
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- Sep 10, 2004
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...Because my family, mostly my parents, are saying I'm crazy, or at least they divert the discussion fairly quickly when I bring this up.
Okay, so I know my grandparents (in question) very well. They've lived in the states I've lived in, and we've always been about twenty minutes apart. Almost all major holidays, my (and their, and my uncles, fathers, etc) birthdays, or any special occasions are usually spent together (this is my father's father). The McTighe's are a fairly close nit group, and I've known my grandparents, Nana and Papa, as long as I've been alive, and I'm the eldest of my generation. I've never thought of either of them as racist, never really occurred to me that they could be racist, and I consider myself fairly perceptive when it comes to racism, as I've noticed from instances in the past.
Then again, my Grandfather has never really done anything to show me he's not racist...he's just never done anything racist.
Now I understand that their are at least two forms of racism. That loud, obnoxious kind that uses the n-word and shouts at traffic, and the quiet kind that doesn't talk about it because such things are inappropriate for Christian ears. Although, I like to think that just because you shut up about it, doesn't mean you can hide it, certainly not for 24 years to close company...
But maybe not.
Anyways, here's what has been going on. My grandfather has been developing this weird fixation on Tiger Woods. He "boos" him and often talks about how he wants him to lose, or how he's bad for the sport, and I've never really gotten a good reason why. Both my parents say it's because Tiger Woods is demonstrative; citing that his demonstrations of victory are too over the top and arrogant, or at least that's how Papa feels about them. Yet, I don't buy it. You're telling me Jack Nicholaus, Phil Mickelson and Chi Chi Rodrigez can have demonstrative attitudes while playing, but the African American can't. Smells fishy to me.
Also, he doesn't chide Tiger's behavior, he genuinely seems to hate to see him win. Yesterday he called the US OPEN a "horrible match" simply because Tiger won (tied). So I asked my parents again why he hates Tiger so much, and again they said it's because he has celebrations of victory my grandfather disapproves of.
Why don't I buy this? Am I right not to buy this? It seems like a really weak explanation. Especially for an athlete.
It's really hard for me to pin this down, sure he's not voting Obama, but then he'd never vote Democrat, and he's not too fond of McCain either...so I mean, I got nothing to go on there. Now that I think about it, he's never had any African American friends to my knowledge.
He's 87 now, so he's getting a little senile, although he's still relatively sharp for that age. I wonder whether he would've been so vocal about this twenty years ago, when he was much younger. It's hard to say...
Okay, so I know my grandparents (in question) very well. They've lived in the states I've lived in, and we've always been about twenty minutes apart. Almost all major holidays, my (and their, and my uncles, fathers, etc) birthdays, or any special occasions are usually spent together (this is my father's father). The McTighe's are a fairly close nit group, and I've known my grandparents, Nana and Papa, as long as I've been alive, and I'm the eldest of my generation. I've never thought of either of them as racist, never really occurred to me that they could be racist, and I consider myself fairly perceptive when it comes to racism, as I've noticed from instances in the past.
Then again, my Grandfather has never really done anything to show me he's not racist...he's just never done anything racist.
Now I understand that their are at least two forms of racism. That loud, obnoxious kind that uses the n-word and shouts at traffic, and the quiet kind that doesn't talk about it because such things are inappropriate for Christian ears. Although, I like to think that just because you shut up about it, doesn't mean you can hide it, certainly not for 24 years to close company...
But maybe not.
Anyways, here's what has been going on. My grandfather has been developing this weird fixation on Tiger Woods. He "boos" him and often talks about how he wants him to lose, or how he's bad for the sport, and I've never really gotten a good reason why. Both my parents say it's because Tiger Woods is demonstrative; citing that his demonstrations of victory are too over the top and arrogant, or at least that's how Papa feels about them. Yet, I don't buy it. You're telling me Jack Nicholaus, Phil Mickelson and Chi Chi Rodrigez can have demonstrative attitudes while playing, but the African American can't. Smells fishy to me.
Also, he doesn't chide Tiger's behavior, he genuinely seems to hate to see him win. Yesterday he called the US OPEN a "horrible match" simply because Tiger won (tied). So I asked my parents again why he hates Tiger so much, and again they said it's because he has celebrations of victory my grandfather disapproves of.
Why don't I buy this? Am I right not to buy this? It seems like a really weak explanation. Especially for an athlete.
It's really hard for me to pin this down, sure he's not voting Obama, but then he'd never vote Democrat, and he's not too fond of McCain either...so I mean, I got nothing to go on there. Now that I think about it, he's never had any African American friends to my knowledge.
He's 87 now, so he's getting a little senile, although he's still relatively sharp for that age. I wonder whether he would've been so vocal about this twenty years ago, when he was much younger. It's hard to say...
[/grandpa McTighe]
