Quote:
Originally Posted by Urban Hat€monger ?
(Post 1551096)
That's what I find irritating in all this, it's like context doesn't exist anymore.
It's ironic that the subject Benedict Cumberbatch was talking about when he said 'coloured' was that he was talking about the success of British black actors and how it was a good thing that it could inspire more.
People are idiots.
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I was about to post exactly this. I'll just assume all those people who bitched are white people. I can't remember the last time I heard someone used "colored" in a social context, but I'm willing to bet money any black person would just be amused. In my experience, young black people today don't really care about terminology. If they're cool with you, and depending on the person and their age, "nigga" is perfectly acceptable depending on each party's relationship. I even think a lot of them would like white people to use the term simply for their own amusement. Making white people uncomfortable is simply the national sport of black people--and if I was black it would most certainly be mine.
There's a reason socially conscious rap goes nowhere on the radio, and that a significant proportion of its fans are white (I'll bet money that most of the people at a Dead Prez concert are crackers); cause many black people are tired of thinking about race on a regular basis and just want to listen to music that's fun. It's not like racism is thrown in their face on a regular basis, outside of public comments by Al Sharpton. I'm not saying racism is dead in America, or that certain parts of the population aren't legitimately racist, or that it doesn't play at least an unconscious role when a white person is hiring a black person, but in general I don't think race is all that big an issue in daily life.
Seriously, I don't think white people walking on eggshells when using certain words around black people is helpful. Having a word like "nig
ger" be basically a segregated word only illustrates and perpetuates a culture of separation between races. Even though I have a white perspective that can't appreciate black perspectives to a certain extent, I still say I should be allowed to use the word, or else what's the point? The end game of civil rights shouldn't be everyone being respectful, it should be all races being able to talk to each other as if they're talking to their own race.
On here there has often been a school of thought that people should be cognizant of racial issues and control their behavior accordingly, but a real life situation that reflected that philosophy would result in racism being an un-dealt with elephant in the room. The most inspiring climates concerning inter-race relationships that I have been a part of have been ones where people were comfortable saying horribly racist things to each other, not antagonistically, but just as a way to give each other **** in the way that friends do.
I don't know how true it is with women, but using jokes at the other's expense among friends is just an important part of male bonding. It shows to outsiders that what would normally cause conflict (i.e. antagonistic comments and attitudes) are not an issue between the friend group. It probably has to do with social dynamics created ages ago to outwardly show to possible rivals that a group of allies were united. The more the insiders were allowed to get away with represented the closeness of their camaraderie by demonstrating their level of comfort among one another and confidence that the "offensive comments" were in fact based on intimate knowledge of each other's history and preferences. Keeping interpersonal interactions "respectful" makes such close-knit relationships impossible since these intimate understandings aren't allowed to develop.
It was that way in my fast food jobs, where I was often the only white guy, but while my "whiteness" generally kept a certain distance with outside-work social events (although it was probably my social ineptitude and personality "quirks" that usually made me the odd man out), at work the constant racist barbs both bonded us and allowed the racial "elephant in the room" to be casually addressed in a way that would likely never have happened had I "held my tongue".
All of my friends throughout my life have used whatever ways they could to make each other's lives miserable in a mock cruel way. Racial differences are just another tool in our arsenal to be ruthlessly exploited. The two best friends I've ever had are black and Jewish. My Jewish friend is listed in my phone as "Jewbacca" and we trade Holocaust and mick jokes reguarly (I'm of Irish decent). The idea that we should be respectful of each other's differences is just absurd, and were either of us to suggest it, we'd both laugh, knowing that the other was just being goofy. **** that Hebe mother****er.
Just a few days ago my black buddy was talking about how few white rappers sound black, and I argued that almost ALL white rappers sound black. He countered that Eminem doesn't sound back, just that he tries and mostly fails to sound convincingly black. (You must understand that my friend is blacker than the Ace of Spades, but went to a private school and college almost entirely dominated by whites, so while has a certain "blackness", he is also exceptionally "white"). Anyway, my parting argument was that Eminem is "still blacker than you". Response: middle finger and "I hate you". Laughs were reciprocated all around.
TL;DR: White people and black people need to be able to attack each other's race in the name of friendly fun, otherwise "racial sensitivity" is just social segregation.