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

[Wingates_Hellsing]

Now you're really putting words into Dr F's mouth. Nowhere did he say that only blacks commit crimes in his area, that was your assumption based on practically nothing.

Furthermore, it's generally accepted that when someone speaks it's going to be within their frame of reference and for him and many other people that frame of reference is that whites make up the majority of the people you encounter and any one minority is, compared to all other ethnicity, an anomaly. It works the same way with anything else as well because people, in order to make their communications more efficient, identify a given and only specify when the situation is outside of it.

Further still I honestly couldn't give a crap whether or not you've encountered racist people, most people do (One of my uncles, one of my aunts, as well as others) but I'm not responsible for their thoughts or conclusions. If I were to say "I ran into this Buddhist guy the other day when I was out walking and he politely informed me that my keys were about to fall out of my pocket"* I'm NOT responsible for any fundie christian or what have you that decides to conclude that the man was an asshole despite his actions.

Why should I be responsible for the jackass conclusions of racists, whatever the color of their skin?

*this actually happened just a few hours ago when I was on my daily hour-long walk.

[Plaidman]

Intresting article Blaqukatt.


On that note: What racism has anyone here dealt with anyway first hand?

Biggest ones I've dealt with was my grandpa, who pretty much declared he kill me or anyone in our family if they date a Japanese girl. Or any asian really, (except Phillipines were ok. I never knew why). He was a great man in alot of ways, but he had alot of hatred towards Japanese.

I've had some calls from my little brother and/or sister, about how some store owner would stare at them, but none of their friends, my little sister got kicked out of the store when she admited she had no money. (She was with her friend that was shopping).

My uncle was one of the worst. Always putting down all races, yet his best friend was Black. (I LOVED that dude! Only adult that ever gave me presents and would talk to me at my age).


My beef with Dr though, is his claims of using color only to describe race, but will not put up a description for white people. His defense of you should just know that I'm talking about white unless I say otherwise holds no beef. Not everyone lives in America. Alot of people live in other countries, where dominate race is Asian, or Blacks, or Mexican, or any other race. Not all people have a location under their tags. He might live in southern America. He might live in Hawaii. He lives in USA, and judging from the fact that he claims he is in a white area where only blacks commit crime, then it must be a Southern State.

[BlaqueKatt]

I think of it as a person that is green, or purple just for the laughs, because race shouldn't have anything to do with a story about a guy getting hit by a car.

just for my own amusement

invoke strangely colored people

"The invocation of purple, blue, green, or other alien people is offensive for many reasons, including but not limited to the fact that it's completely trivializing, turns a serious and painful topic into a joke, and compares people of color to fictional aliens."

[Plaidman]

So we should omit details no matter how truthful because some jackass might interpret them incorrectly?

I'm not responsible for the bigotry of others. Even so, the solution to the problem is not to stick my head in the sand and pretend that there's no such thing as race.

P.S. Also race would be an important factor in that story because the mugger (if they were white as implied by lack of specification) could be charged with a race crime and face more serious charges if arrested.

Indeed. After all, no such thing as person own race attacking another race. Or that a mugger is going after someone strictly for t heir race and not their money.

[Wingates_Hellsing]

So we should omit details no matter how truthful because some jackass might interpret them incorrectly?

I'm not responsible for the bigotry of others. Even so, the solution to the problem is not to stick my head in the sand and pretend that there's no such thing as race.

P.S. Also race would be an important factor in that story because the mugger (if they were white as implied by lack of specification) could be charged with a race crime and face more serious charges if arrested.

[Plaidman]

No one ever said that they cared about what the race was, merely that the more details the better.

Some of us value knowing as much about what really did happen and who it happened to over potential daydreams. Race certainly shouldn't factor into right or wrong, innocent or guilty, but it is a part of what you look like, what your experiences are and, by extension, who you are. It's a detail, maybe not on overly important one, but a detail nonetheless.

And what does one's race have to deal with if their innocent or guilty in the story? If anything, it would pardon the word, but color one's opinions. If someone has had nothing but bad experences with said race, or raised to hate said race, then saying the below will have two different opinions:


1: So yesterday I was walking down the street. I saw someone being mugged, and I raced to help them. I got the mugger off and got a medal. Turned out the person I saved was also a person of money, and gave me a big check!

Now, the above would give cheers and support and woo hoos from several.

2: So yesterday I was walking down the street. I saw a black guy being mugged, and I raced to help them. I got the mugger off and got a medal. Turned out the black person I saved was also a person fo money, and gave me a big check!


Now some will respond of being a hero still, but I betcha that people that would have been oh for it above, would change their opinions. They may not post it, but they will think it, or will post it, and some opinions may be
"How do you know he was being mugged? he might have tried to steal that guy's wallet? You really shouldn't jump in without knowing what's going on"

All that, from one word of someone's race.

[Wingates_Hellsing]

No one ever said that they cared about what the race was, merely that the more details the better.

Some of us value knowing as much about what really did happen and who it happened to over potential daydreams. Race certainly shouldn't factor into right or wrong, innocent or guilty, but it is a part of what you look like, what your experiences are and, by extension, who you are. It's a detail, maybe not on overly important one, but a detail nonetheless.

[Hobbs]

Actually, I always get quite offended when someone asks me if I'm Mexican. I politely inform them that, "No, I'm American."

Also, when I was hanging with my gf's family at her b-day party, her aunt asked me, "What kind of Hispanic are you?" then added the ubiquitous, "Oh, I'm not racist, I love your people's food/tacos/etc." I really didn't know how to respond to that. It was my first time meeting her family, so I perhaps was more polite than I should have.

I get offended at being called "Mexican" because my family, for more than a century, has served in the Armed Forces of the United States of America. When people ask me why I don't consider myself Mexican, I reply, "Let me put it to you this way, if Mexico gets invaded, I don't give a damn."

[Plaidman]

Hey, it's fine. If DrFaroohk, or any of the other people at any boards must post the person's race because they feel it's /descriptive/ writing, all I ask is they do the same for white too. As for America, it is still pretty mixed. Walk down my street, and you'd have to walk pretty long and far before you ever see just same race over and over.

Idioticy doesn't go on one race in this world. For example:


1: So this guy came in, stole a bunch of beer and ran out. While he was running out, he got hit by a car and went flying, beer spilling from his hands and drenching a bunch of near by walkers.

2: So this black guy came in, stole a bunch of beer and ran out. While he was running out, he got hit by a car and went flying, beer spilling from his hands and drenching a bunch of near by walkers.

3: So this asian guy came in, stole a bunch of beer and ran out. While he was running out, he got hit by a car and went flying, beer spilling from his hands and drenching a bunch of near by walkers.

4: So this white guy came in, stole a bunch of beer and ran out. While he was running out, he got hit by a car and went flying, beer spilling from his hands and drenching a bunch of near by walkers.


Now the above is a true story. Which one is it? Does it matter? Saying the race did NOTHING for the story, other then to paint some image in your head. You want to have a dream, and imangation? Then THINK the fucking race up yourself. Half the time when I read the stories, I think of it as a person that is green, or purple just for the laughs, because race shouldn't have anything to do with a story about a guy getting hit by a car. A person buying any menthol cigs shouldn't have a race name attached to it, but I bet ya fifty bucks if you changed menthol to newports, a huge chunk would instantly jump to the person being black, even though it was a white person. You want to scream that your not racist, then you really shouldn't care what the race is that is in the story, be it you reading it, or writing it.

[Wingates_Hellsing]

Funny how he must describe that it's a different race, but doesn't feel like describing it when it's a white person.

Because, like he said, white is the default because it's much more common than anything else. For a person of a different race to do something is comparatively anomalous, so race is then specified so as to point out that, in that case, it wasn't the default, it was something else.

That which is most common is the given, and since white people still out-number the combined minorities, white is therefore the given. Besides, the population is far from equally dispersed. It makes perfect sense in the same way as only mentioning that someone is tall or short when they're taller or shorter than the norm.

[Vash113]

Why is it a given? If it's the first one, it just shows even more of a racist attutide. "Man there are so little black people here, and they all do stupid things!"

America is a pretty decent mix now, only slightly more white people then black.

Saying its a given your speaking about a white person does nothing for your argument of only saying a person's race is for description. You ether say all races for that, or just mention a race when its important to story.

Why is it a given that this implies racism? I'm so sick of this ultra-sensitive nonsense and no, America is not all evenly mixed and homogenized. On the contrary, there's still a majority of Caucasians in the country, not for a whole lot longer but white people still outnumber all other races. Not to mention people aren't spread out evenly. When I was studying at UMW I was lucky if I saw a single black person on campus each day and might spy an asian way off somewhere once a week... if that. So yes, it bloody well is noteworthy if someone was not white, just like it would be relevant if someone was wearing a pink shirt in a sea of blue shirts or someone was walking around with a mowhawk at sunday service. If I mention that in a conversation does that mean I'm racist against Mowhawks? Heck no, but for some stupid reason every time a race is even mentioned it must be RACIST!

The racism card gets pulled so much these days that it hast lost a great deal of its meaning and true racism has almost completely been replaced by this hyper entitlement trash.

True racism is a bunch of people dragging an innocent guy out of his home and hanging him in a tree for having a different skin color, or burning down a church used by those of another race, racism is not being surprised when half a dozen black people walk through a neighborhood that's 99.99% white people and telling someone about it, or visa versa. You think I wouldn't get stares if I took a stroll through Chinatown?

The world is not black and white (no pun intended), everyone says something now and again that could be interpreted as racist from our ultra-sensitive modern society. Does that mean they are racist? No, no it doesn't. People have forgotten the terror of lynchings, the horror of apartheid, of segregation and replaced it with slightly hurt feelings or sensibilities.

I wonder what the civil rights leaders would have to say about the stuff getting the "racist" label today, I doubt they'd agree.

[Plaidman]

Even if it's not relevant, it's part of what happened. The person typing knows this so when they think of the SC, it's not those two letters that pop into mind, it's the image of a short, black, gray haired asshole who was wearing a bunny sweater while ridiculing the poster's jeans, or whatever. Almost none of those details are truly relevant, but they are part of what identifies the SC in question. If the person isn't pouring over their post to insure that it isn't offensive, chances are they'll include some or all of those details.
.

Funny how he must describe that it's a different race, but doesn't feel like describing it when it's a white person.

[Plaidman]

Or 3: I live in an area with very few black people. I don't mention white people because its a given that the person I saw was white. It'd be like saying "This human being with two eyes, two lips, a nose, hair, two ears, two arms, and two legs came in..."
"

Why is it a given? If it's the first one, it just shows even more of a racist attutide. "Man there are so little black people here, and they all do stupid things!"

America is a pretty decent mix now, only slightly more white people then black.

Saying its a given your speaking about a white person does nothing for your argument of only saying a person's race is for description. You ether say all races for that, or just mention a race when its important to story.

[Wingates_Hellsing]

Even if it's not relevant, it's part of what happened. The person typing knows this so when they think of the SC, it's not those two letters that pop into mind, it's the image of a short, black, gray haired asshole who was wearing a bunny sweater while ridiculing the poster's jeans, or whatever. Almost none of those details are truly relevant, but they are part of what identifies the SC in question. If the person isn't pouring over their post to insure that it isn't offensive, chances are they'll include some or all of those details.

Also, supposing someone did post about a black person 50 out of 60 times (which is preposterously extreme) that still doesn't prove anything. Those numbers are as preposterous as many of the explanations, but those do happen. Unless you can prove that they get other SCs that they ignore or omit you've got nothing. They damn well could be working the graveyard shift in the middle of an all-black project and therefore, since all their customers are black, all the sucky ones are black too.

[DrFaroohk]

Or 3: I live in an area with very few black people. I don't mention white people because its a given that the person I saw was white. It'd be like saying "This human being with two eyes, two lips, a nose, hair, two ears, two arms, and two legs came in..."

But if it was "This three armed man came in and...." because that's very uncommon and it helps to flesh out the story some.

Similar to the example above, its the difference between "this human came in and was mean to me."

or

"So this black dude comes in the other day - big motherfucker, too - and starts swearing up and down that we were out of Newports - and man was he pissed - tells me he's going to jump over the counter and shank me if I don't get on the phone to the manage right now and let him know what's up."