People who have no idea what racism really is....

[smileyeagle1021]

That's a million times more racist-sounding than your original sentence.

This one implies that being "big and angry" is not tradtionally a "white" behaviour.

It could also be read that it's not a traditional behavior of any race, and of white people I've seen he was the biggest and angriest...

[DrFaroohk]

But it doesn't. It merely states that he's never seen a white person be that big or angry. If he meant that white people typically aren't big and angry, he would have said "I've never seen a white guy that big or angry, because white guys are never big and angry!"

People put way too much meaning into shit.

[Boozy]

Why not...
This crazy guy, holy shit I've never seen a white guy that big or angry, rushed into the store and just started in on a rage, yelling and shouting, spittle going everywhere.

That's a million times more racist-sounding than your original sentence.

This one implies that being "big and angry" is not tradtionally a "white" behaviour.

[smileyeagle1021]

Would you say the same sentence with white guy instead of black?

Why not...
This crazy guy, holy shit I've never seen a white guy that big or angry, rushed into the store and just started in on a rage, yelling and shouting, spittle going everywhere.

No, it's not the same sentence, but it is a sentence that could be used.

[jackfaire]

Skin color also needed for the first two, the third if they try to pull the race card, and the fourth as part of setting the scene.

I agree. It just seems like most people are using those attributes when descirbing a person you already know in which case for me clothing or hair style is helpful but none of the others are.

[Wingates_Hellsing]

Skin color also needed for the first two, the third if they try to pull the race card, and the fourth as part of setting the scene.

[jackfaire]

By that sentiment we should also never describe people's hair, clothes, or weight..

Necessary when descrbing:

The person your trying to hook your friend up with

The person who committed a crime to the cops

The person your mocking or admiring for their hair, clothes, or weight

Writing a short story or a book where your setting a scene.

[Wingates_Hellsing]

By that sentiment we should also never describe people's hair, clothes, or weight.

None of those may be directly related to the events described, but as Smiley pointed out, their inclusion makes for a much more vivid mental image. Some people, myself included, appreciate those details because we like to have the best possible mental image. Without that the whole thing just seems empty. I know on an intellectual level what happened, but I'd prefer to see it. To do that I need every detail I can get my hands on. It just so happens that I'm a visual person, sue me.

It sounds like you've experienced a lot of shit because people unreasonably judge you and others based on skin color alone. But something everyone has to come to terms with is that they do look a certain way, and that's going to factor into people's first impressions and mental images.

The assholes are going to be assholes whether I choose to include whatever detail their obsessed over or not. Pardon me if I refuse to let their jackassery get in the way of suitably vivid imagery.

[Plaidman]

I want to remark that I'm likely taking this too far.

After a life time of people judging me on what I look like versus who I am, I take it too far.

After hearing my brother and or sister crying on the phone how someone was following them around the store and not their friend, or how some people called them niggers, even though they're only half black, I take it to defense.

Same with my cousins of one aunt, who are all half mexican. They get yelled and insulted too, because they don't speak spanish, or various other insults.

Or my mom's ex who was very racist, with the idea of bonding with me with his first apperence was telling me a very harsh racist joke that wasn't even funny. Something about a black kid that gets white paint on him, and him yelling at black people saying he only been white for a few minutes and already hates blacks. I hated him from the start because it was constant.


So I'm sorry If I'm sounding unmovable. I hate it period, when people are simply judging, even labling someone just on HOW they look, and not their true selves.

Even a description of someone, if it isn't important in the context, just isn't worth it.

No-one should judge, or even describe someone based on what they look like. We need to get it out of our heads that our outside is just a shell, and by keeping the whole describing people based on what they look like in unimportant context, just furthers the whole Outside apperence is judged first.

[Red Panda]

Why can't you leave the word black out of that sentence? It still is the same without bringing in race.

Would you say the same sentence with white guy instead of black?

[smileyeagle1021]

A crazy guy walked into the store

A crazy black guy walked into the store


What does the word black add other then making sure everybody knows that black people act like this

The way that's phrased, nothing.
But instead if it's phrased like.
This crazy huge black guy, seriously he was bigger than Michael Clarke Duncan except meaner than hell, walked into the store and started shouting at me, spittle flying everywhere.

That tells a much better story than "a crazy guy walked into the store"
*yawn*
There is nothing racist about describing someone and as in the above example, makes for a much more vivid mental image of what happened.

[smileyeagle1021]

Plaid, I also never said that you were calling it racist, but I've seen many people take your argument to the extreme and said that any mention of race is racist... that we should try to not even notice it. I'm sorry, noticing race is not a bad thing, quite the contrary, it is what makes us different that makes us special...

[Red Panda]

Theres a big differance between giving a detailed description where race is important and telling a story where race has absolutly not bearing on the story.

A crazy guy walked into the store

A crazy black guy walked into the store


What does the word black add other then making sure everybody knows that black people act like this

[Plaidman]

Now, how is that racist...

Again, I never called anyone racist, just racist tendencies if they just go only by race.

[muses_nightmare]

Well just describing their race and basic features maybe isn't enough sure, but sometimes that's all you really have to go on. And when it is it's a pretty big descriptor of that person. It's never really the first thing I use to describe someone, but oftentimes it's in there.