Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Well, that is one solution. But some of us would rather fight political correctness in the name of, well, actual correctness
So how bout we all agree: There is no significance to the act of painting your face black. If people choose to see an offense where there is none, that's their problem and should not become ours.
Blackface is offensive to me, so NO we do not agree.
You do not get to decide what is offensive to someone else. Sorry, that is not within your power.
Blackface is offensive to me, so NO we do not agree.
You do not get to decide what is offensive to someone else. Sorry, that is not within your power.
No, but I get to push you for an explanation because when you say "What you're doing is offensive to me", you are trying to influence what another person does.
So, without trying to link it to something from the past that is obviously irrelevant here, tell me what was wrong with what this boy did?
No, but I get to push you for an explanation because when you say "What you're doing is offensive to me", you are trying to influence what another person does.
So, without trying to link it to something from the past that is obviously irrelevant here, tell me what was wrong with what this boy did?
The picture of the kid....he looks like he has shoe polish on his face. Since he was so serious about it, maybe he should've cut his hair as well.
Another thing is that you can't dictate to a person as to how to defend their position. Since you did, I'll answer and say that the parents and kid were wrong by creating a distraction in a learning environment.
And I don't even care how this sounds, but here's some advice- non-Black people are in no position to tell a Black person what is offensive or not.
Makes perfect sense.
For example, vegetarians find people eating meat offensive, because they associate it with bad health and cruelty to animals. They can express their views, but they have no right to make others stop eating meat or pretend that they are the victims of wrongdoing.
You have the right to say something offends you, and why, then people have the right to ignore you or surrender and made to feel guilty of a crime they never committed or even comprehended. Kapeesh?
I'd love to jump into this conversation, but 16 pages... I can't.
So I'll just add my two cents.
This is absurd, he wasn't mocking black people, he didn't intend for it to be racial. He was trying to look like a black man, and he's a white boy, so he put on make-up. If he was trying to look like a smurf he'd wear blue make-up.
Some black face is truly meant to mock black people, to dehumanize them, this isn't and we shouldn't treat it as such.
One, it's unfair to this kid, to treat him as a little racists, to make him feel like he's wrong for trying to do his project. And two, doesn't this kind of publicity just devalue real racism? Isn't this a "boy cries wolf" of racism?
"Oh, another black-face incident, what's that the third one this month, oh well..." it makes true acts of racism just seem like another dumb decision, or it makes harmless little things like this into terrible problems.
The picture of the kid....he looks like he has shoe polish on his face. Since he was so serious about it, maybe he should've cut his hair as well.
By this, are you implying that his lack of going all out means anything concerning his intentions? Because that's overreaching, I think. We could say it about anything. We could say that anyone who hasn't killed a child molester isn't really all that serious about protecting the children.
Quote:
Originally Posted by guestJ23
Another thing is that you can't dictate to a person as to how to defend their position. Since you did, I'll answer and say that the parents and kid were wrong by creating a distraction in a learning environment.
Yeah, and I wouldn't be able to argue that one so easily. The dominant accusation (that blackface in this context is offensive) is very, very easy to argue. Something that does not harm another itself in any way is not offensive. If you have to interpret it one particular way via unfounded connections or assumptions for it to be "offensive", perhaps it is your interpretation and not the act that is the problem.
Quote:
Originally Posted by guestJ23
And I don't even care how this sounds, but here's some advice- non-Black people are in no position to tell a Black person what is offensive or not.
Assume that I'm talking about people who think this isn't offensive vs people who think it is, rather than non-Blacks vs Blacks, in the following:
I'm at at least as much liberty to tell them what is and isn't inherently offensive as they are to tell this boy what he should or should not do, which is exactly what they're doing when they insist what he did was offensive.
By this, are you implying that his lack of going all out means anything concerning his intentions? Because that's overreaching, I think. We could say it about anything. We could say that anyone who hasn't killed a child molester isn't really all that serious about protecting the children.
Yeah, and I wouldn't be able to argue that one so easily. The dominant accusation (that blackface in this context is offensive) is very, very easy to argue. Something that does not harm another itself in any way is not offensive. If you have to interpret it one particular way via unfounded connections or assumptions for it to be "offensive", perhaps it is your interpretation and not the act that is the problem.
Assume that I'm talking about people who think this isn't offensive vs people who think it is, rather than non-Blacks vs Blacks, in the following:
I'm at at least as much liberty to tell them what is and isn't inherently offensive as they are to tell this boy what he should or should not do, which is exactly what they're doing when they insist what he did was offensive.
Now that that's taken care of,
How is what this boy did offensive?
Are you serious?? I do not blame this child, I blame his parents. They should've had an idea that this would not go over well and they just let their child go to school like that. Don't tell me that their excuse is that he wanted to do an authentic representation of MLK when he has nearly shoulder length hair that he didn't alter. And the 'killing the molester' comparison makes you look simple.
I'm going to assume that you are a non-Black?? My statement still stands-you cannot dictate with is offensive and inoffensive to Black people. You can't just go with the 'people who find it offensive and people who don't' route because most of the people who do have a problem with this are Black. And the people who don't are non-Black, so that makes it a Black vs non-Black issue.
The point has been reiterated throughout this thread and to those that don't get it, I'm starting to think that there are some comprehension problems that need to be worked out. But as simply as I can- being grossly insensitive to the history of 'blackface' is what these parents are guilty of. You simply can't do that no matter how innocent your intentions are or how naive you are.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
..he looks like he has shoe polish on his face. Since he was so serious about it, maybe he should've cut his hair as well.
