Forum - View topicHey, Answerman! - IMPORTANT SOCIAL ISSUES
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ikillchicken
 Posts: 7272 Location: Vancouver |
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blueharlequin:
Seriously, you're like a day late to the party. In my last post I said quite clearly, I am not talking about the "towel head" story. Why are you responding with: "well in that story... and in that story..." If you feel that its a good example to use, it doesnt matter. Also, where do you get this idea that i've said that this stuff is okay? I keep saying over and over, I'm not claiming that this is okay. I just don't know what else I can say to you about that.
I wouldn't call it backpeddling. I honestly never intended to convey what a lot of people did seem to get from what I said. That is my own fault as in retrospect I was careless on how I spoke on a sensitive issue. I should have been much more clear on what I meant. I appologise to anyone I may have offended.
I think its become rather convoluted as to what range I am saying must be "accepted". I wouldn't say that the situation you described is just insensitive. As I said, we undoubtedly do need to be sensitive to race. Clearly far more sensitivity is required than that shown in that story. I think it is important to recognise that not everyone who makes such a comment is truly racist because of the overall idea that we need to not lump every issue of people finding something offensive due to race together. I certainly do not think you should just ignore or tolerate that level of ignorance and insensitivity by any means. Also, while I do think it is important to differentiate, undoubtedly that is very difficult to do.
I think thats completely untrue, but thats a whole other discussion. Regardless, I don't think I'm being apathetic. I am by no means claiming not to care if people are offended. |
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hentai4me
 Posts: 1313 Location: England. Robin is so Cute! |
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Err...isn't this just as racist? Happily linking a group of Muslims with terrorist attacks? There is absolutely no evidence in the posted comment that they were in any way related to a terrorist organisation or anything resembling one at all. Why did you make the link between a group of Muslims and terrorism? Personally I'd consider that an infinitely more offensive thing to say or think than merely commenting on their style of dress or the colour of their skin... |
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Cowboy Cadenza
Posts: 243 Location: Poughkeepsie, NY |
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I think what people are saying (and I quite agree) is that it's NOT that important to differentiate between true racists and people who are just ignorant and/or insensitive. And, quite honestly, you're not adequately showing me that it is. Regardless of whether or not that kid was truly racist, those comments were not okay, they should not have been said, and he deserved every bit of the punishment he got. It's a pretty big waste of time discussing whether or not someone is "truly" racist, if you ask me. When you hear racial slurs, you speak up and let people know it's wrong. It doesn't matter if they're really racist. It's pretty damn simple. |
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naruto fan 09812
 Posts: 499 |
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I will says this again people who said the N word are idiots no matter who race says the word. The rap culture is the main reason this word have become acceptable in the blacks communitiy. Which is a freaking joke with the history arounding this words. Just because a couple of idiots blacks who said this word with no regard with history behind it doesn't means the word is not racist.
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jsevakis
Former ANN Editor in Chief
 Posts: 1684 Location: Los Angeles, CA |
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You're still not being very clear, I'm afraid. If you have hurt somebody physically or verbally because of their race, you have crossed the line. And what I'm mystified by in your statements is why, exactly, we need to split hairs from there. What will that accomplish? Give me an example, as I did, in which this is a good idea, because clearly the rest of us are having a very difficult time following your logic. |
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blueharlequin
 Posts: 81 Location: Las Vegas, NV (No, we don't live in hotels here) |
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No its not, because it has been proven that while not ALL terrorists are Muslim (Oklahoma city bombing), some Muslims ARE terrorists (911). Oh, and you must have missed the part that says "worst case scenario" |
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tygerchickchibi
 Posts: 1461 |
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Idiots wouldn't be the correct way to specify it. Ignorant, yes. Double standard, yes. Commercialized, yes. But by all means, not everyone is an idiot.
....When you write things, please be more clear. The history is well known, just not among the younger crowd. And with all negative things, that is another problem. But that last statement you made sounded very vague, without insight, and rather insensitive. |
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britannicamoore
 Posts: 2618 Location: Out. |
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Techincally its not acceptable. The NAACP mocked buried the word a month or so ago. Thing is you can't stop a person from saying something. Maybe if there were fines for saying it something could be done. And even then it'd be all but impossible to inforce. Sure my parents have told me not to say it growing up and how bad it was. Now that i'm over 18 I can choose for myself. A lot of the younger parents....the 14, 15, 16 year old having kids now a days haven't probably had the right upbringing themselves so they can't educate thier kids properly. I'm not saying all young parents are that way but a lot are. |
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naruto fan 09812
Posts: 499 |
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Why do I have to keep repeating myself. There is no double standard. Blacks are just as wrong for saying this word just as any other race. This why this race has brought some of it's troubles for following sterotypes that is hurting this race. This should have never been accepted into the culture to begin with. It's feel like that the work of many civil rights leaders has been wasted because of a few ignorant blacks for accepting this word into the culture.
[/quote]=''britannicmoore'']Techinally it's not acceptable I wish that was the case but with so many rappers throwing this word around it's seem the word have been accepted into culture. Most young blacks don't even care about the NAACP so you can't use that reason why this word have not been accepted into the culture of blacks |
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tygerchickchibi
Posts: 1461 |
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(sorry, too long to quote, took a shortcut. xD) Like I already stated, you really don't have a clue. I could tell when you said there was no "double standard." Briticanna made it pretty clear. You CAN'T stop a person from saying something, obviously, they'll do it anyway. That goes for the Ghetto, the KKK, Nazis, Just plain stupid people. They can say whatever they want as long as it doesn't resort to violence. *cough.* Freedom of speech, end of story. |
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Cowboy Cadenza
Posts: 243 Location: Poughkeepsie, NY |
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This isn't disagreeing with anything either of you has said, I just think it's interesting... I'm Jewish. Imagine if I went up to my Jewish friends and said, "Hey, k*ke, what's up?" Pandemonium would most likely ensue. I personally don't see why it should be any different with any other race or religious group. Alas, the way black culture has develop in the past couple of decades makes the use of the N word not nearly as offensive as it should be, at least among black people. Which is sad, really, but I don't see how it's going to change. |
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britannicamoore
Posts: 2618 Location: Out. |
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I don't really know how either. I don't think theres anything that can be truly done. If you banned it in songs it'd be a race issue- "We can't say our words how we want too." The whole rap culture in itself bothers me...the prision style pants wearing, the way women are called out of their names. And then th Nword. I don't see change coming really anytime soon because anyone (happened to a few people in highschool and college if you'd believe that) who doesn't like rap music, doesn't like any "real" black music, or in my case wants to speak japanese and color my hair is an oreo. For anyone who doesn't get that: "Black on the outside white on the inside". According to my peers/ a few of the blacks in my college i'll never be one of them no matter what color my skin is. I've been trying to figure it out in my head for the past few years who do you act a race. The way some of the people in my high school use to say the word "white" it almost sounded like its own racial slur. Everytime someon spoke properly in my school or didn't use the nword or thought it was "wrong" (with the except of the popular girls) they were wrong and should head back to the suburbs. That kind of thinking in the youth is whats going to keep things the way they are. |
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naruto fan 09812
Posts: 499 |
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@tygerchickchibi:You obviously don't get it what I am saying. Did I said you can stop what is said out of a person mouth. No,I didn't says such a thing. While a person reserve the right to said what they want because of freedom of speech. I also reserve the right to called them racist for the words they come out their mouth regardless of race.
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hentai4me
Posts: 1313 Location: England. Robin is so Cute! |
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Well I assumed that worst case was the worst 'reasonable' case...you know the person in question taking a 'reasonable' action in response... I find it quite unreasonable to assume terrorism is the worst case without an indicator making me do so. When I insult the waiter by tipping him badly I don't assume the worst case is that they will speed up their pans for a terrorist attack because of it...that is completely unreasonable to assume someone would do so regardless of who they are unless there is some kind of proof to make that assumption reasonable. Now a far more reasonable worst case in that situation would have been if the person had taken offence and physically retorted...but terrorism? |
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MokonaModoki
 Posts: 437 Location: Austin, Texas |
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What you are trying to say should be pretty straightforward: the appropriation by black culture of a term (a term which has come to be considered so malignant that referring to it euphemistically as "the N word" has become de rigueur) does a disservice to all members of that race, and in the end serves to function as black-on-black racism regardless of the intent of the speaker. We get that. It's just that saying it, no matter how many times you say it, really doesn't touch upon the realities of the situation. Attributing this appropriation of the term to rap culture misses the mark a bit, as it goes back much further than that. Some easily accessible and obvious examples can be found in Richard Pryor's releases of That [slur]'s Crazy in 1974, and Bicentennial [slur] in 1976, both pretty long before there was any such creature as "rap" to speak of. You are talking about a word that began as completely dehumanizing in all contexts, then got bandied about in low-to-middle-brow comedy at least partly as a mechanism to attempt to rob it of its dehumanizing power, then finally became appropriated as a term of friendship and endearment in some sub-cultures. You can't delineate the metamorphosis of a word like that by simply assuming that everyone involved in its usage is racist (or using it in a racist way). Where you lose your audience for your argument is in repeatedly acting as if there is some need to repeat yourself (perhaps people have just seen what you've said and moved on), and in ignoring the reality of the situation by asserting that there is no double-standard (when, of course, there is - and it is an endemic one). A few years ago I had an experience on Xbox Live where I had to to ban some punks from a game of Ghost Recon because they were spouting racial epithets (indeed, the "N-word") at another player (who was black). After vigorously kicking them out, the black player in question added me to his friends list and announced to all present in the game that I was "his [slur]". Indeed, for a matter of weeks he continued to invite me to games every time he saw me online, and every time that I joined he would announce to all present that I was "his [slur]". Now, being, in fact, thoroughly white, I personally felt that I had very little room to complain about what he obviously considered to be a term of endearment, no matter how offensive I might feel it would be coming out of my own mouth. Indeed, I was perversely pleased with what was obviously intended to be an honor. Was that stupid of me? Perhaps so. Certainly if I had I banned him from my game for calling me his "[slur]" after banning some white punks for using the same word then I would have avoided any issue with maintaining a double-standard. It would have also been an unnecessary rudeness to someone who didn't really deserve it at all. Nor did I feel that it was my duty to try to correct his usage of a word to which he was obviously attaching much feeling (and especially not in later games that I played with him when I was often the only white player present). It's easy to make value judgments from the outside looking in, but sometimes double-standards arise in ways that you least expect, and for this issue not everything is black-and-white (pun obviously intended). |
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