Kinguendo said:
AzrealMaximillion said:
Now I'm going to see if I can get you to stop detracting from the OP for about 5 seconds
Depends on how its done. See, I'm black,from Canada, and have a lot of white friends. We talk about social race issues all the time. I don't get offended whenever my friends use the n-word in conversation because unlike most other black people (and people of other ethnic backgrounds who) see the context in the way they use it as not racist.
You can do a blackface Halloween costume around black people without being looked at as a racist though. You're giving very little credit to black people if you think that every single black person agrees with the likes of Al Sharpton, Dr Cornel West or Rev. Jesse Jackson.
Now I know how offensive the blackface can be (obviously being black), but I'm not going to say that violence is a reaction that anyone should take. That's immature. That's the kind of thinking that needs to stop.
Now in this specific case, putting the video up on YouTube was stupid. But I would not want these two girls to get kick out of school over it. That's overreacting and I think that Western society has become way too PC in cases like this. The girls have also apologized so any anger and want for punishment at this point is just not needed.
And you saying that you would swing at a person for wearing blackface is a bit telling. We're in 2012 for crying out loud. Most people, black people included, look at the KKK as a joke. Most people wouldn't strike at a person in a KKK outfit on sight. It would be just as wrong to hit someone in blackface.
Condoning violence over petty stuff like this doesn't make you look like a better person. It makes you look like you're trying way too hard to be a better person than they are.
So going as "a black person" for Halloween is a-okay? Dont know why I am asking you, simply being black gives you absolutely no authority on the issue.
Going as a black person is ignorant on Halloween? If you think that, then you'd have to get mad at every woman who isn't Asian who has dressed up in a Geisha costume, every non-Hispanic person who goes out on Halloween with a sombrero and maracas, and every person who goes as a stereotype of what they are not. Hell, you'd have to get angry with Larry the Cable Guy for his portrayal of Americans from the South.
I also never said that I had any "authority" on the issue. I just brought up the fact that I'm black to throw a bit of perspective your way. Not every black person that sees the video is going to call for the heads of these 2 college girls. In fact, most will see it as a joke, which it clearly was. Not a good joke, but a joke nonetheless.
My point is, I don't spend my time being overly offended by this video. It would be a waste of my time. You on the other hand seem perfectly content in being offended on everyone's behalf. Maybe you suffer from "white guilt", maybe you just like to over criticize people who make mistakes. I don't know, but I do know that you're being a bit irrational with the way you're looking at this situation as well as with the way you've been responding to people in this thread.
You could be as ignorant as anyone else on this issue, so please stop saying "As a black person". Thats trickery and either you knew that and expected me to just fold OR you didnt know that and you are not quite as enlightened on equality as perhaps you could be.
Like I said above, I brought my skin colour into the equation to show you that not all blacks are going to rage out over this. Take it or leave it as you want, but that was the purpose.
Obviously it isnt a black and white issue, there are always shades of grey. However, going as a generic black person for Halloween is just incredibly ignorant.
Depends on the context. It always depends on the context. How would you describe a "generic black person"?
Going as a specific person for Halloween who happens to be black would be fine, but going as a black person for Halloween says there is something scary about black people.
In the same way that going out as the stereotypical beret wearing, tight black pants and striped shirt wearing, baguette carrying French person says something about french people being scary?
Why couldnt he go out as himself and just say "I am a white guy" for Halloween?
Context that's why. If a black guy pulled what Dave Chappelle did and "whitefaced" for Halloween, it'd be pretty funny. In the same way that Robert Downey Jr played a guy who had surgeory to play a black guy in Tropic Thunder. It was pretty funny when he did it too.
I dont desire punishment be brought upon them, but they do need to learn something from this. And simply apologising isnt an example that they have, its why things like sensitivity training exists. So that you dont have to throw people in prison for being stupid, but they still lose some time as a result of something they did and will grow as a person as a result. Just saying "Sorry" and walking away solves nothing, its just apathy to even the simplest confrontation... that being confronting someone when they do something wrong.
You don't desire punishment, but you want to take an extended amount time from their lives to teach them that what they did was wrong? That's one of the very definitions of punishment, sir.
That is the easiest time to confront someone, you are right to do so, you know that the community will support you and its beneficial to everyone. There are no downsides to that kind of confrontation, yet we should just accept their apology and ask for nothing more?
No, that's using a knee jerk reaction and a mob mentality to get what you want. And of course there are no downsides to the "confrontation" to you. You're going to get what you please in that scenario almost %100 Those you punish however would have to put with your "justice". What happens when you're confronting someone in a fashion that could be viewed as overreaching? The punished person gets hit with a heavier than needed scrutiny, and the mob of people get to go home feeling like they've done something right, patting themselves smugly on the back.
If that is the case then I am entirely unsurprised that people walk all over Liberals, a group of which I am a part of.
What does being a Liberal have to do with this? I'm not one for labeling myself with political terms that are vastly different from person to person, but you're kind of calling for these girls to be judged simply because you are offended. Even though they have shown remorse and apologized. Hell, this video hasn't even caused a massive stink on the news. It seems to me that you're being a part of the overly politically correct train of thought that has been (finally) being argued with as of late. You're seriously considering sending 2 college students to sensitivity training over posting a 4 and a half minute joke video in bad taste, just to make yourself feel better. That's not what I think of when I hear the word Liberal.
And yes, violence isnt nice. Sometimes it is necessary and other times something hits a nerve. These apply to me, obviously there are other reasons people commit acts of violence. And I didnt condone violence, I said I would have... not whether that was good or bad or whether others should also engage in it. And thats not even necessarily true, I have a very quick burnout time on my anger. If I was more than 3 seconds away from him or he kept away from me for about 3 seconds, I would have calmed down again.
So its ok to say that you'd hit people in a certain situation because you don't like what they're doing, but that's ok because you really didn't mean it? Yeah, no that's no excuse.
Also, is violence immature? Sure, children engage in violence but the worst acts of violence are committed by adults.
Does the fact that violent acts are commited by adults make them mature? In some cases yes, but in most cases no.
But you saying that you'd take a swing at someone due to you being offended at what they are doing is childish, that much I can tell you.
