Noodle, I am actually a Libertarian. What we are seeing is a difference between my USA mindset and yours. Two different world views hey!
@Taye about assault with dreads, I'm assuming these are whites getting their dreads cut, correct? Well if Rastas are doing it then it is obvious that they are taking offense to Whites doing what they are doing religiously. As much as we want to say Rastafariansim as an all loving movement, it is founded on afro-centric, Black salvation and restoration and black nationalism. To be honest it was a quite racist religion in its inception. Since everyone likes Bob, how many times did he sing about racial harmony? It was mostly about Black unity, Get up stand up was against white religion and teaching, crazy bladheads was against white. The faith has globally evolved but in the Caribbean not so much in places. When living in Guyana my professor was ridiculed out in town every day, in the same country he grew up in! But seriously in America that is just a open threat, we make them all the time. How many times have you heard, if I see someone sagging I'm going to pull their pants up? It is very common to vent with a threat and not act on it.
But Noodle, racism is actually on the rise in the USA, can't pinpoint why but it is. Racial attacks are on the rise too. We are not enroute to e better tomorrow globally. If you are a conspiracy person, this is on purpose, but the ideal of everyone sitting down loving each other won't happen, it doesn't happen in most communes, or monasteries. This is a limited answer, but as I say in every post, culture, it plays a big thing, as well as world view. I think a good way to start a post one should give age and location.
I come from a 33 year old bi-racial world view in America and lived abroad and am military related. I am a minister, civil rights activist, soccer coach, pysc minor, life coach certified, post traumatic stress therapist, and father, a racial reconciliation speaker, and well those are the world view shaping things.
I hate liberals and conservatives who abandon comparative logic in their pursuit to fight for what they believe in. If we want an open minded world who will accept messy hair, then we must in turn accept a response from the world we are rebelling against. I've been in some places where I've been called a nigger, and the person wasn't being racist he actually thought you called black people that. Are white more sensitive when racism happens to them in the USA? Yes, because they are not used to it. Do blacks cry racism? Yes, because they are sick of it. And from their point of view they are right, and from another they are wrong. Comparative logic would point out the authors reference to college kids, and that he sees certain things as belonging to a race, and he sees something just simply not looking good. Those are his main points, everyone went off an how they felt when they read it. But his world view says that whites don't look good with messy hair and they are trying to be something they are not. Was it ignorant, yes, is it his opinion ? yes. If we are open minded and loving should we be upset? No, we should feel sorry and then seek a way to over come a stigma so that others can see what dreads mean to an individual.