What the actual fuck
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wrote on 2 Jul 2020, 17:11 last edited by xenon 7 Feb 2020, 17:12
As someone who grew up listening to “gansta rap” and has a good amount of sympathy for challenges the black community in the U.S. face - all this one-dimensional thought-policing is super offputting.
Outside of the true believers - it’s really pissing off.
Can’t end well.
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wrote on 2 Jul 2020, 17:13 last edited by
The biggest challenge the black community faces, and has faced for the last 40+ years is themselves.
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wrote on 2 Jul 2020, 17:31 last edited by
Making sure everybody is terrified of talking about black people is not going to fix that culture. And it's a little absurd that the most politically important culture in this country is taboo to talk about.
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The biggest challenge the black community faces, and has faced for the last 40+ years is themselves.
wrote on 2 Jul 2020, 17:36 last edited by xenon 7 Feb 2020, 17:44@Larry said in What the actual fuck:
The biggest challenge the black community faces, and has faced for the last 40+ years is themselves.
You're technically right. (But I'd say there's plenty of black folk who do spectacularly well - just like other races)
The infrastructure exists in this country for people to not have to be in poverty. Immigrant success stories are a testament to that.
The problem is - I'm a firm believer that your potential in life is set very early. Then you unleash that potential against whatever circumstances you're in.
Some guy in a crap country with "high potential" and a good upbringing might just make it past the point of subsistence, while he has the chance of being a multimillionaire in the U.S.
Kids in neighborhoods in a bad cycle (broken homes, poor/absent parenting, etc.) - are just screwed. They don't know what else they could be doing. They didn't get the development they needed to make it. Hard problem to solve - but not solved by blaming it on whitey.
EDIT: many non-black communities likely face this dynamic as well.
If you're born with all your faculties intact - the biggest privilege you can have is your parents (and I'm not talking about their money)
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wrote on 2 Jul 2020, 18:04 last edited by
Agree with Xenon. When you're born into a culture that, whether it is disadvantaged or not, is perceived to be disadvantaged by a lot of people (black and white), you need an extra helping of situational awareness in all aspects of your life -- and enough self reliance and moxie to act on what you discover. Hard enough for most people regardless of race, but especially so for black people, fair or not.
Not picking on Xenon particularly, but maybe we can start by ceasing to refer to them as "black folk". Whenever I hear that phrase, I flinch, picturing a group of people clog dancing to "Shortnin' Bread".
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Agree with Xenon. When you're born into a culture that, whether it is disadvantaged or not, is perceived to be disadvantaged by a lot of people (black and white), you need an extra helping of situational awareness in all aspects of your life -- and enough self reliance and moxie to act on what you discover. Hard enough for most people regardless of race, but especially so for black people, fair or not.
Not picking on Xenon particularly, but maybe we can start by ceasing to refer to them as "black folk". Whenever I hear that phrase, I flinch, picturing a group of people clog dancing to "Shortnin' Bread".
wrote on 2 Jul 2020, 18:12 last edited by@Catseye3 said in What the actual fuck:
Agree with Xenon. When you're born into a culture that, whether it is disadvantaged or not, is perceived to be disadvantaged by a lot of people (black and white), you need an extra helping of situational awareness in all aspects of your life -- and enough self reliance and moxie to act on what you discover. Hard enough for most people regardless of race, but especially so for black people, fair or not.
Not picking on Xenon particularly, but maybe we can start by ceasing to refer to them as "black folk". Whenever I hear that phrase, I flinch, picturing a group of people clog dancing to "Shortnin' Bread".
I referred to a group of 3 C-level people for a multi-billion $ company as "you folk" to their face a couple of weeks ago- and got ribbed for it by my team after.
I just call everyone folk - it's not a black person thing.
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wrote on 2 Jul 2020, 18:13 last edited by
@Catseye3 said in What the actual fuck:
Not picking on Xenon particularly, but maybe we can start by ceasing to refer to them as "black folk".
More dancing around words and language is not what we need. "Black folk" is fine.
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@Catseye3 said in What the actual fuck:
Not picking on Xenon particularly, but maybe we can start by ceasing to refer to them as "black folk".
More dancing around words and language is not what we need. "Black folk" is fine.
wrote on 2 Jul 2020, 18:16 last edited by Catseye3 7 Feb 2020, 18:17@Horace said in What the actual fuck:
More dancing around words and language is not what we need. "Black folk" is fine.
Eh . . . it's a cultural colloquialism, you know? And it's a small thing, wouldn't take much to fix.
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wrote on 2 Jul 2020, 18:22 last edited by
Tell Ben Carson that his extremely disadvantaged childhood meant he couldn't climb out on his own.
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@Horace said in What the actual fuck:
More dancing around words and language is not what we need. "Black folk" is fine.
Eh . . . it's a cultural colloquialism, you know? And it's a small thing, wouldn't take much to fix.
wrote on 2 Jul 2020, 18:26 last edited by@Catseye3 said in What the actual fuck:
@Horace said in What the actual fuck:
More dancing around words and language is not what we need. "Black folk" is fine.
Eh . . . it's a cultural colloquialism, you know? And it's a small thing, wouldn't take much to fix.
I think taking a common word out of acceptable usage because one person thinks it sounds funny is pretty drastic. In fact it would be a completely absurd idea except for the drastic implication that the word is racist. A google search turns up no indication that anybody but you thinks ill of the term.
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wrote on 2 Jul 2020, 18:27 last edited by
Okay. Then don't.
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Agree with Xenon. When you're born into a culture that, whether it is disadvantaged or not, is perceived to be disadvantaged by a lot of people (black and white), you need an extra helping of situational awareness in all aspects of your life -- and enough self reliance and moxie to act on what you discover. Hard enough for most people regardless of race, but especially so for black people, fair or not.
Not picking on Xenon particularly, but maybe we can start by ceasing to refer to them as "black folk". Whenever I hear that phrase, I flinch, picturing a group of people clog dancing to "Shortnin' Bread".
wrote on 2 Jul 2020, 18:28 last edited by@Catseye3 said in What the actual fuck:
Agree with Xenon. When you're born into a culture that, whether it is disadvantaged or not, is perceived to be disadvantaged by a lot of people (black and white), you need an extra helping of situational awareness in all aspects of your life -- and enough self reliance and moxie to act on what you discover. Hard enough for most people regardless of race, but especially so for black people, fair or not.
Not picking on Xenon particularly, but maybe we can start by ceasing to refer to them as "black folk". Whenever I hear that phrase, I flinch, picturing a group of people clog dancing to "Shortnin' Bread".
If that's what you see in your mind's eye when you hear the words "black folk" then you're the one with racial issues, not the term. What do you see when you hear black people say "white folk"? How about when you hear "Indians"? I'm not ashamed of being Indian, nor am I ashamed of being white. Black people are not and should not be ashamed of being black. So if someone wants to address an issue that exclusively pertains to black folk, how would you prefer we make that distinction?
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wrote on 2 Jul 2020, 18:31 last edited by
@jon-nyc said in What the actual fuck:
Chilling.
I wonder whether he has been "forced" to apologize.
If there's one lesson we can learn from years of Twitter, it is that apologizing to SJWs never works.
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@Catseye3 said in What the actual fuck:
Agree with Xenon. When you're born into a culture that, whether it is disadvantaged or not, is perceived to be disadvantaged by a lot of people (black and white), you need an extra helping of situational awareness in all aspects of your life -- and enough self reliance and moxie to act on what you discover. Hard enough for most people regardless of race, but especially so for black people, fair or not.
Not picking on Xenon particularly, but maybe we can start by ceasing to refer to them as "black folk". Whenever I hear that phrase, I flinch, picturing a group of people clog dancing to "Shortnin' Bread".
If that's what you see in your mind's eye when you hear the words "black folk" then you're the one with racial issues, not the term. What do you see when you hear black people say "white folk"? How about when you hear "Indians"? I'm not ashamed of being Indian, nor am I ashamed of being white. Black people are not and should not be ashamed of being black. So if someone wants to address an issue that exclusively pertains to black folk, how would you prefer we make that distinction?
wrote on 2 Jul 2020, 18:34 last edited by@Larry said in What the actual fuck:
So if someone wants to address an issue that exclusively pertains to black folk, how would you prefer we make that distinction?
I don't have any idea how to answer this extreme misinterpretation of what I wrote.
If I'm wrong, if it turns out it is not considered pejorative,, then fine. I take it back.
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wrote on 2 Jul 2020, 18:45 last edited by
How is it a misinterpretation? The phrase "black folk" causes you to think of things like little black sambo. You said so yourself.
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wrote on 2 Jul 2020, 18:51 last edited by Larry 7 Feb 2020, 18:51
I have a solution. Instead of saying "white folk" or "black folk", if their race is pertinent to the issue being discussed we can refer to each group by their race, and say "caucasian" or "negroid". Would that be better?
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I have a solution. Instead of saying "white folk" or "black folk", if their race is pertinent to the issue being discussed we can refer to each group by their race, and say "caucasian" or "negroid". Would that be better?
wrote on 2 Jul 2020, 18:55 last edited by Catseye3 7 Feb 2020, 18:58@Larry Jesus, calm down. I made mention of the clog dancing thing to illustrate that I feared blacks would themselves consider they were being thought of that way whenever the phrase was directed at them, i.e., as deprecating. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong -- and I'm glad of it.
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wrote on 3 Jul 2020, 00:02 last edited by
Those poor, poor children! If only we had more millstones to tie around their necks....