Is it racist for a white person to paint their face black/brown for fancy dress?

[SasaS]

23 minutes ago, AngryofTuebrook said:

Are you saying that people claiming to be offended are doing so just to exercise power over those they claim are offensive?

 

I'm sure that happens sometimes; but I still reckon that the majority of cases of people blacking up involves racist dickheads deliberately trying to offend people. 

I am more and more inclined to think so, because the context gets increasingly left out. I remember discussing that Australian kid "blacking up" as his Aussie rules player idol, where a lot of media and social media reaction was just knee jerk, also that rap singer, forgot his name who stopped his concert because his 16-year old (white) fan invited to join him on the stage didn't skip the word nigger in his own lyrics, the case at Netflix and others. Culture appropriation is definitely about newly gained power.

[Bjornebye]

8 minutes ago, Sugar Ape said:

I’m 1/16 Cherokee Indian like Elizabeth Warren and find it racist if any of you have watched my people getting slaughtered by Clint Eastwood. 

I watched and enjoyed Dances With Wolves. Can we be friends? 

[VERBAL DIARRHEA]

I’m part English, Irish, Scottish and French, I have family from Argentina, Sri Lanka   

and Maoris. This diversity within me will never ever allow me to love my true enemy. Fucking Incas.

[Sugar Ape]

7 minutes ago, Bjornebye said:

I watched and enjoyed Dances With Wolves. Can we be friends? 

 

No

[The Golden Eel]

14 minutes ago, SasaS said:

I am more and more inclined to think so, because the context gets increasingly left out. I remember discussing that Australian kid "blacking up" as his Aussie rules player idol, where a lot of media and social media reaction was just knee jerk, also that rap singer, forgot his name who stopped his concert because his 16-year old (white) fan invited to join him on the stage didn't skip the word nigger in his own lyrics, the case at Netflix and others. Culture appropriation is definitely about newly gained power.

I read about that - was it Kendrick Lamar? I don't remember reading any reaction to it online but that seemed completely out of order to me and actually racist in itself.

[SasaS]

14 minutes ago, DimReaper said:

I read about that - was it Kendrick Lamar? I don't remember reading any reaction to it online but that seemed completely out of order to me and actually racist in itself.

 

Could have been him... it was certainly great for analysis.  

[Babb'sBurstNad]

40 minutes ago, Sugar Ape said:

I’m 1/16 Cherokee Indian like Elizabeth Warren and find it racist if any of you have watched my people getting slaughtered by Clint Eastwood. 

On behalf of Clint and my people, may I offer you heap big apologies.

[Brownie]

3 hours ago, AngryofTuebrook said:

It shouldn't be about how you're perceived. It should be about finding out whether what you're thinking of doing or saying is likely to cause legitimate offence and then deciding whether or not you want to go ahead and do it anyway. 

 

It's more about who you are than what some random stranger on Twitter thinks of your actions. 

But there has to be a difference between causing offence and being a racist, surely?

 

People offend each other every day, if you are easily offended then you wouldn’t last 5 minutes in my office, you’d probably have a breakdown. People take the piss out of each other, that’s just the way it is.

 

Doing something for a misguided laugh and actually being a racist, those things are just completely different to me.

[Bjornebye]

59 minutes ago, VERBAL DIARRHEA said:

I’m part English, Irish, Scottish and French, I have family from Argentina, Sri Lanka   

and Maoris. This diversity within me will never ever allow me to love my true enemy. Fucking Incas.

Hahahahaha

[Bjornebye]

55 minutes ago, Sugar Ape said:

 

No

Didn't want ya anyway ya lesbo

[Sugar Ape]

Just now, Bjornebye said:

Didn't want ya anyway ya lesbo

I wouldn’t want Turdseye’s sloppy seconds anyhow.

[Bjornebye]

21 minutes ago, Brownie said:

But there has to be a difference between causing offence and being a racist, surely?

 

People offend each other every day, if you are easily offended then you wouldn’t last 5 minutes in my office, you’d probably have a breakdown. People take the piss out of each other, that’s just the way it is.

 

Doing something for a misguided laugh and actually being a racist, those things are just completely different to me.

What about those who dress up as Hitler? Are they racist towards jews for doing that? 

 

Not a challenging reply, just curious what people think 

[Babb'sBurstNad]

20 minutes ago, Brownie said:

Doing something for a misguided laugh and actually being a racist, those things are just completely different to me.

Whilst one does not always equal the other, by saying they're completely different seems to give all racist comedy a free pass. "It was only a laugh" is the cry of every Bernard Manning.

[Bjornebye]

Just now, Sugar Ape said:

I wouldn’t want Turdseye’s sloppy seconds anyhow.

You are missing out 

[VERBAL DIARRHEA]

1 minute ago, Bjornebye said:

What about those who dress up as Hitler? Are they racist towards jews for doing that? 

 

Not a challenging reply, just curious what people think 

Jews have played Hitler.

[AngryOfTuebrook]

12 minutes ago, Brownie said:

But there has to be a difference between causing offence and being a racist, surely?

That's pretty much what I'm saying.  There are some drama quims who love acting offended about anything and there are some words and actions that are unequivocally racist. Somewhere between the two there will be grey areas where people can accidentally cause genuine offence.

 

Take, for example, the Confederate flag. Most of us probably grew up with it as a symbol of the Dukes of Hazard and Bourbon and catchy Southern Rock riffs. But once the obvious connection is made to a war fought to maintain slavery  - and to rhe century and a half of enduring racism under that flag, then you realise how racist it is to fly it. You then decide whether or not you want to be that person.

[Brownie]

2 minutes ago, AngryofTuebrook said:

That's pretty much what I'm saying.  There are some drama quims who love acting offended about anything and there are some words and actions that are unequivocally racist. Somewhere between the two there will be grey areas where people can accidentally cause genuine offence.

 

Take, for example, the Confederate flag. Most of us probably grew up with it as a symbol of the Dukes of Hazard and Bourbon and catchy Southern Rock riffs. But once the obvious connection is made to a war fought to maintain slavery  - and to rhe century and a half of enduring racism under that flag, then you realise how racist it is to fly it. You then decide whether or not you want to be that person.

I agree and I think those grey areas are probably where the problem is.

 

But then everyone is different so someone who you may see as a drama quim somebody else may see their gripe as completely legitimate. You basically can’t help but offend someone.

 

I would simply say that people who are guilty of perceived racism, specifically from the perspective of comedy, aren’t actually racist by definition, they just have a more perverse sense of humour.

[Numero Veinticinco]

It isn’t racist to fly the confederate flag. 

[Dr Nowt]

 

 

[AngryOfTuebrook]

6 hours ago, Numero Veinticinco said:

It isn’t racist to fly the confederate flag. 

Is there any non-racist reason to fly it?

[polymerpunkah]

Sheldon Cooper's "Fun With Flags"?

[Numero Veinticinco]

Just now, AngryofTuebrook said:

Is there any non-racist reason to fly it?

To those who fly it, sure. I don’t fly it, so I don’t give two fucks really. 

[AngryOfTuebrook]

52 minutes ago, Numero Veinticinco said:

To those who fly it, sure. I don’t fly it, so I don’t give two fucks really. 

There isn't any non-racist reason to fly it.

[Numero Veinticinco]

14 minutes ago, AngryofTuebrook said:

There isn't any non-racist reason to fly it.

Wrong. 

 

[Strontium]

There have been a number of left-wing anti-racist organisations that have used the Confederate flag, fwiw.