Comments on: This again

By: Gloria

Gloria — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:28:06 +0000

Thanks, MGK. Holy moly. I’m still kind of amazed how picky people are over what really constitutes racism.

Actual argument posed to me on Torontoist: Painting your face dark to imitate a black man is OK, but taping back your eyes to pretend you’re Asian isn’t.

So, if you’re not singing minstrel songs and painting your lips white, it isn’t blackface. But if you’re NOT rolling your L’s through a pair of fake buckteeth, that is still Asian-face.

HOW? I’m still wondering today.

By: Ed (Jack Norris)

Ed (Jack Norris) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 21:57:18 +0000

“Also this is why I cannot stand hipsters.”

What? I don’t see a hipster anywhere near this. Sounds like it was all fratty-type guys to me. Maybe you’re operating with an invalid definition of the word…

By: My brain hurts

My brain hurts — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 18:02:14 +0000

That other people might get hurt over something doesn’t actually make it racism. (or any other -ism for that matter) A bunch of white kids dressed up like a bunch of black guys. Screw the whole Halloween angle; there is no way that is in and of itself racist.

If the black guy involved had been wearing point-hat bedsheets, or the white guys been sporting ‘fro picks and watermelon slices/buckets of chicken, then maybe I could see where people were getting offended. But based on the story as reported, it’s a bunch of whiny idiots getting offended for headlines.

Forgetting the past isn’t necessary, but just because something used to be insulting doesn’t mean it is now or always will be. I don’t get insulted when people bite their thumb at me either.

By: Rattsu

Rattsu — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 11:19:44 +0000

I think it’s just that for some people it’s hard to get out of their own heads. Coming from sweden I have no historical relation to blackface, and we have a very different kind of racism over here, but you know what? Even if I personally don’t feel offended and hurt, I can accept that other people might! There wouldn’t be such a hubub over this otherwise.

For some reasons, people coming out to say that this wasn’t very bad always reminds me of those bullies back in gradeschool that said that their bullying was all in good fun, and can’t you take a joke?

By: LurkerWithout

LurkerWithout — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 08:15:36 +0000

Its the disparity between the “agree” and “disagree” on some of those comments that makes me the most sad. Also angry. Angrad…

By: solid snake

solid snake — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 04:58:52 +0000

The stars look very different today. Also this is why I cannot stand hipsters.

By: My brain hurts

My brain hurts — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 04:09:06 +0000

I was going to make sarcasting comments about how the black guy not wearing a fat-suit was insulting to John Candy, and fat people in general.. but then I read more of the article to make sure I wasn’t repeating the joke and caught the quote from some idiot named Rinaldo.

Yeah, that pretty much sucked the fun out of everything. It’s always dissapointing to see a professional victim in the employ of public education.

Idiots.

By: Will

Will — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 03:42:46 +0000

Wait wait wait wait wait. Wait.

There are black people in Canada?

whoaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

By: Phil

Phil — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 03:10:15 +0000

Lord, this would be hilarious if I could pretend that these people didn’t /actually/ think this.

My youthful naivete has taken another ding. Now I’m depressed.

I’m going to go play with my LEGO Blocks until I feel better.

By: CB

CB — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 23:44:44 +0000

Quixim: Little boys weren’t oppressed and sold into slavery to Michael Jackson for a couple hundred years, otherwise it WOULD be offensive.

By: Quixim

Quixim — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:58:58 +0000

Didn’t you do a post a while ago about how people can’t seem to have senses of humor about things that are personally sensitive to them? You used the example of horrifically funny Michael Jackson pedophilia jokes as an example.

By: Skemono

Skemono — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:02:46 +0000

Oh good Lord, you’re getting people in the comments going “well no racism was intended, so it’s OK!”

Yeah. ‘Cause as everyone knows, the perpetrator’s intent is the only determining factor for whether something is racist or offensive. That’s why no-one cared during the ’50s and ’60s, when the segregationists insisted that the Jim Crow laws weren’t meant to imply any inferiority.

By: Prankster

Prankster — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 19:44:26 +0000

Oh good Lord, you’re getting people in the comments going “well no racism was intended, so it’s OK!”

I keep expecting to see people start responding to kafuffles like this by insisting that racism will cease to exist if we stop having any knowledge of history before 1980.