Not every single last one of them. I’m speaking as a whole, culturally.
I came to this conclusion while just sitting here ruminating, eating cold pizza and watching the second half of Kurasawa’s THE SEVEN SAMURAI. I just watched the part where Rikichi’s shame-filled wife runs back into the bandit’s burning hideout to commit suicide after encountering her husband for the first time after being (one presumes) kidnapped and raped for months.
So I got to thinking how an externalized sense of shame is said to be a core part of Japanese culture.
I also got to thinking how a major emotional component of Western culture is internalized guilt.
Latino culture is easy: externalized machismo, bravado.
But Im not Japanese, Latino or white. I’m African-American. What emotional state can I describe my culture?
After thinking about it for a couple of minutes… the best feeling I can put to it is: internalized insecurity.
This weblink seemed relevent, when considered culturally instead of individually.
I can’t comment directly about the African-American experience, but I can say what it’s like to be white in terms of race.
(I will speak in general terms. This may not reflect how all white people experience things, but it is how I perceive most of the white people I’ve known experience things. I’m also writing as a white person who was very explicitly taught growing up that all people are equal and racism is bad.)
If you are white in America, race is neither a source of pride nor shame. To be white is to be neutral. It is to be ordinary, at least in that dimension. There are no hang-ups about race; you never think about it unless you’re thinking about race in America. And then, if you think about it, you regret racism but still don’t feel bad about your own race.
I lived in an environment for many years (Japan) where I was constantly set apart and noticed because of my race. And quite often I experienced outright racism, and on rare occassion negative and hostile forms of racism. This is a sucky thing, but I (and any white person I knew over there) never felt that this was about me. No, it was about the hangups and racism of the Japanese.
So, growing up white in the US, even being in a pretty damn racist country can’t shake your feeling that your race has even the slightest taint of unusualness or shame about it.
African-Americans, as a group, have been through a lot. I can imagine the above being reversed and a lot of insecurity entering the picture. There also seems to be a lot of tension in the community about whether one is doing right by one’s race or acting white or whatever.
But as a white person, unless you are a white supremacist or something off the wall like that, it’s impossible not to “act white” or non-white since there’s just no such thing. Becuase whiteness is neutral, the standard.
Interesting. I thought I’d get more of a Great Debate going here. Who knew I’d post something you’d all agree with? This almost doesn’t feel like the Dope right now. Ah, it’s nice to be completely, absolutely, irreproachably in the right. Or perhaps most of you don’t feel qualified to comment.
Actually, Aeschines, I agree that when you’re in a setting where you’re among your own kind in a cultural, ethnic or racial majority, you tend not to think about race or ethnicity much at all. I also agree that a racist belief system is almost always the hang-up of the racist and need not (necesarily) factor into your own sense of self-worth or security if you happen to be the race (r ethnic group (or nationality or whatever) that’s being looked down upon.
Unless of course, comments, racist beliefs and pervailing attitudes other people say to you happen to hit too close to home. Then I think no matter who you are and how much self-worth and self-esteem you’ve got, some amount of insecurity will show.
Now that I think about it in those terms, there are maaaaaany cultural indications of deep-rooted insecurity in black people. Comedy routines mocking white people foilbles while celebrating differences in how we walk, talk, run, dance and express ourselves. Bitching about the white man. Knee-jerk support for black leadership blunders. The cultural to air dirty laundry in public forums. The Jim Crow notion that one drop of black blood makes you black and the second class citizenship that would result is something shameful, necessary to hide. The rampant bling-bling materialism. misogyny and shallow brand name consciousness of most rap videoes. Hell, who needs a song about Courvousier anyway? Who needs a show called Pimp My Ride?
A preoccupation with complaining about trivialities and looking good and feeling good is a key sign of insecurity. I think the closer one looks into African-American culture as a whole for this one symptom, the more one sees signs of this – favoring surface over substance, a disturbing willingness to pretend everything will be okay even when no action is being taken.
But if Japanese shame can be managed, and Western guilt can be abated, how does one overcome African-American insecurity? Do we go back to Booker T. Washington’s prescription of regimented self-improvement and industrial training? Do we embrace the Afrocentrist’s philosophy of the nguzo saba? Continuing as we do culturally appears to be a prescription for disaster.
ParentalAdvisory. At the time I posted, there was just 1 reply and 200 views. I wasn’t discouraged – more at slightly bewildered by in the interest yet decided non-responses to read. Even you didn’t reply to the content of the post to affirm or refute my opinion, so I am wondering if there’s anything really to debate.
Not giving up – just anxious to talk. I can’t help it if I get these epiphanies at Saturday midnight.
I thought the topic was interesting but I don’t really have anything constructive to add. I don’t remember who it was but on an episode of Politically Incorrect the host, Bill Mahr, asked a rapper what was up with the “bitches 'n ho’s, all the bragging about being a big man, and trying to show off the bling.” The response was something about black men couldn’t assert themselves in the past so all that rap stuff is a response to that.
I’m not so sure it’s a racial thing as much as an economic thing. Is rapping about bitches 'n ho’s any different then the hobo paradise song with the Big Rock Candy Mountain where there’s a lake full of stew and you can paddle all around it in a big canoe? I don’t remember rap in the 1980’s or before that Mowtown being all about 'da bling.
Marc
This message brought to you by Bitches 'n Ho’s cereal. Bust a cap in that hunger, yo! Bitches 'n Ho’s is a crazy mad part of a nutritious breakfast.
I was mainly refuting the idea that everyone agreed with you. Even if you weren’t serious, but I couldn’t tell. All is well.
I’m white so it may make little difference. Any way, do you really feel like the description in your link? Have you asked your family if they feel this way as well? What about other African-Americans? I guess I’m refuting the Idea that cultures as a whole feel as you’ve described.
Strong insecurites are not really limited to race though. That’s why I don’t think an entire race can be insecure. It’s what you experience. I think a lot of it comes down to your class as well (especially here in America, in these times). If you’re in an all white neighborhood and you’re white, and you’re one of the poorest ones on the block (shitty house, crooked teeth havin’, rusted pickup truck drivin’, and 2 more that don’t run, with parents who don’t care, and on welfare…) believe me, you’re going to get picked on for it (Not that I condone it. Human nature is a bitch and I’m totally against it, but sadly, it happens). So if it’s not a matter of race, people will certainly find other things to single you out that can be just as painful as racism.
So what about African-Americans that are economically above whites? Do they share a sense of insecurity? I don’t know the answer, but I bet there not complaining about being held down by the man. I understand that racsim is still a problem here in America, and it’s very, very real. But compared to 60 years ago, the opportunity to rise above that crap is much, much better. Do you agree? Because I could be wrong and am willing to admit that.
For Chinese/Japanese, I would rather say “honour” rather than “shame”. Most tradtions come from the honour one is supposed to give another, and the honourifics used when referring to another person. “Shame” is only when you have been dishonoured, and you need to make yourself honourable again.
I don’t see how all of these things indicate insecurity. Yes, comedians teasing others may be coping with personal or cultural insecurity (“I don’t want others to think I’m a geek/dork/retard/fool, so I’ll call you one and make myself look cool”). But it can also be a self-assured retort to past bullying and myth-spreading (“So you think I’m ugly/stupid/crazy/criminal? Well, you’re a geek/dork/retard/fool! And you smell like sour milk and boloney! So there!”)
Knee-jerk support of leadership? I can see how this would be indicative of insecurity (“Our leaders reflect on us, so if they screw up, it’s like we’ve screwed up too. Therefore we must never admit that they’ve screwed up.”). However, it can also indicate hyperviligance against unfair criticism and scrutiny. (“How dare they try to tear down our good leader yet again. Divide and conquer, that’s what racists do best!”)
The reluctance to air dirty laundry is due to anxiety, I agree. But I really really don’t understand how the “one drop rule” is evidence of internalized anxiety. Black people did not invent this policy. We have come to realize its social importance–and therefore we perpetuate it to this day. But to me, this is no more a sign of anxiety than realizing that a person with a penis will be viewed differently than a person with a vagina.
(There is anxiety about “racial loyalty”, however. When light-skinned women get favored for their looks over the darker hued…or when a biracial person identifies more with their non-black roots, then you tend to witness a lot of anxiety-induced hostility and feelings of rejection).
Materialism is a manifestation of anxiety in a lot of cases. But wholesale AA culture is not materialistic…hip hop culture is. And it’s also a large part of US culture. Are Americans suffering from internalized anxiety? I don’t know.
Again, I see these things in Americans in general. In fact, I see them more in mass culture than I do in AA culture. We will complain about perceived conspiracies on American Idol before we voice outrage about illegal wars, disease-ravaged countries, and lying politicians.
We have a huge segment of our population who feel like things are going alright in the world just because they aren’t personally starving, bombs aren’t crashing through their ceilings, and no one in their family has AIDS.
I know someone who just spent a hundreds of dollars fixing a ding on his car. Why? Because Americans want to look good ALL THE TIME, even when we’re on the road.
I’m not saying a lot of African Americans aren’t into the superficial stuff. But instead of viewing them as products of an ethnic culture gone wrong, I see them as products of the mass culture we’re all emersed in. If AA’s are insecure, then so is everyone else.
We do you think so? Do you think we (black folk) have always been insecure? Are our insecurities spiraling out of control for some reason? We’ve persisted for 300 years, in times a lot more heady and scarier than the present one. Why are you going all doomsday?
Another point is that all of the examples you’ve brought up (with the exception of the Jim Crow stuff, which I don’t agree with anyway) are straight out of modern times. AA culture is not as old as Western or Japanese culture, no, but it’s much more than “bling bling” and rap music. If the hallmark feature of AA culture is internalized anxiety, you should be able to find some examples of this “personality” from way back in the day. Are there things that older generation black folk do that would indicate internalized anxiety?
I’m also curious why you think Western culture is guilt-ridden.
I think great many AA’s are insecure, but I don’t consider it a cultural thing as much as a response to membership in a stigmatized race. In a fantasy land where black people outnumbered other races and the model minorities weren’t heralded as some kind of example that black people should aspire to, this kind of insecurity wouldn’t be so prevalent.
But I’ve seen it all my life from my fellow black folk. There have been times that I also have had to catch myself reacting in a knee-jerk manner born out of insecurity. Let me provide some classic examples:
One friend of mine–a guy who labels himself as a preppy, nerdy black guy–basically believes all black women who have a natural hair texture kinkier than Kelis’s should have their hair chemically straightened. He thinks nappy hair is embarrassing, a bad reflection on him, even if it is on someone else’s head.
A lot of black people are bothered if mixed raced individuals choose to identify as something other than black because they automatically think that these people are trying to use their ambigious looks to procure a get-out-of-black card. Instead of just letting whatever be whatever, they assume the worst about other people’s motivations.
A lot of black women are hesitant to accept white men’s advances because they feel as if there has to be ulterior motives behind the guys’ interests. Insecure with their attractiveness in a world they perceive as overly charmed by the blonde hair-blue eyes aesthetic, many black women don’t believe they could actually attract anyone other than another black guy without there being a catch. I have a friend who has expressed that to me in so many words, and I feel sorry for her.
Black people heave a collective sigh of disappointment whenever the latest black suspect is mentioned in the 6:00 pm news, a black athelete is accused of wrongdoing, a black politician is involved in some kind of corruption, or statistics come out reminding us (yet again) that black people are spiralling down into a hopeless abyss of poverty, ignorance, or moral depravity. Even though many blacks know intellectually that we are all individuals and that responsibility for one’s actions stop at the individual, we still feel ashamed when another black person fucks up. I’ve found that some people cope with that self-inflicted shame by separating the “good blacks” from the “niggers”. When they do that, they feel comfortable in berating those “niggers” who fuck everything up without feeling too much like a self-hating Negro.
So this insecurity is a common thing in black people. But I disagree with the OP that it’s a cultural thing on par with the honor-worship we associate with Japanese and Arab cultures.
monstro. Do you realize you start out disagreeing with me …and then agreeing with almost every example I set? You’re so confusing.
I do think we’re talking past each other a bit: you keep saying anxiety and I’m saying insecurity. They’re not precisely synonymous. Anxiety is fear. Insecurity is all kinds of fears AND/OR self-doubt AND/OR not feeling safe or belonging AND/OR being unsettled because of personal choas – all with a smattering of envy. I’m painting a pretty wide brush and you’re narrowing it to one emotional reaction, so of course you’re only going to agree when you can see anxious reactions.
Materialism has been a trademark in black American culture way back when living “high on the hog” instead of eating chittlins and pigs feet was synonymous with good living. Racists still talk about blacks and Cadillacs. I wish I can cite this but – weren’t there studies in the 70s or 80s regarding blacks having greater motivation to buy things soley because of brand name consciousness? (Like staned preferences to only buying Crisco or Tide or Palmolive or Fanta fruit drinks) Hip-hop’s materalism just upped the ante, but its still emblemic of African-American culture.
Also, concerning Western guilt, as I understand it, (and I may be oversimplifying), guilt in Western society is supposedly Puritannical issues of bodily functions and human sexuality and high personal standards we don’t always meet. As always, anyone, feel free to correct me.
I’m happy to see where you recognize this sense of insecurity could be merely particular to Americans in general. I sort of feel that way, too, since this is a fear-driven consumer culture. But African-Americans are a specific subset of American culture and its because of the added racial component and some very specific anxieties and insecurities black Americans have, I think its useful to see there could be a underlying insecurity in our cultural history.
Hey, I’m always doomsday about this stuff. I’m an afrocentrist/black nationalist/Pan-Africanist. Wait until you hear my diatribe on how Michael Jackson is going to set us back 50 years.
As to what I think we should do… hey. I asked first. I dunno.
you with the face. I really, really appreciate your input, man. You nailed a lot of what I’ve been saying abstractly with your concrete examples. Thanks. This discussion might actually get somewhere thanks to you and monstro. I suspect that black insecurity is not on par with Latino machismo or Asian honor because its not been systematically deconstructed and seen as a cultural trait by many people. It’s a new idea. I could be wrong. We can talk about it.
One of the ways that the guilt could be managed is to break some of the cohesion. I’ve seen a lot of people who absorb a lot of the negativity without trying to counteract it with something positive. I’m talking about the people who are embarrased when a black person they don’t know gets into trouble, without feeling any sense of pride when a black person does something right. Or people who feel bad or complain about the state of the community without donating, time or money to fix some of roots of the embarrasing behavior.
A lot of people demand sort of a loyalty to the race, and to the culture, and often take it as a slap in the face when someone does something different. A lot of this would be eliminated if people considered themselves people happen to be black, instead of considering themselves black people. I don’t know if that makes any sense, but at least some people would be better off if race were a little further down their identity ladder. Either because they are so concerned about what others are doing that they try to regulate (non-dangerous)* behavior of others, or because they’re so concerned that they go to extremes to show people how unlike the stereotypical black person they are.
The only problem with breaking the cohesion is that a sense of responsibility for ones home community is important.
*Examples: Who’s dating outside his/her race, moving to the suburbs etc.
Of course, every race and nationality has their issues and I agree with the person who said a lot of this is class based.
I don’t think it’s class-based so much as certain behaviors are class-prevelant: i.e. in working classes you have insecurity expressing itself as machismo and defiant/oppositional behavior among men, exploitive and low-skilled career choices with women. Because of lack of role models and good schooling you have a lot of insecurity about the kinds of jobs you can hold down and perhaps relating to people outside your own community.
In the middle classes you have the ready embarassment of being identified with black people you don’t know acting ignorant or foolish. This also where some job, home and relationship insecurity is probably felt most keenest, particluarly if you’re a heterosexual black woman in a professional job and there aren’t many prospects of equally professional black men for marriage, (gay black men and women don’t have this problem, I’m told – theyy’re insecure because of anti-gay bigotry) and also from disapproval if you’re in a heterosexual interracial relationship.
In the highest socioecononic black strata you tend to have African-Americans who have been rich for three or four generations distancing themselves from the mass of black communities into these tight-knit closed circle, self-reliant elitist black enclaves in cities like Baltimore, DC, Silver Springs, Chicago, Philadelphia, Montgomery and Atlanta where all these families know each other and all their kids go to Jack and Jill and everyone’s preoccupied by breeding. In all these classes you have a preoccupation with materialism but with the lower classes its the untempered showy kind of bling-bling associated with the nouveau riche, with the middle class its purchasing items of status: professional cars, professional wardrobes, private schooling, homes in upscale communities. With the old money rich it’s what Omega Glory nailed as the extreme distancing of oneself so no one mistakes you for an ordinary Negro.
I don’t know if being less race conscious is necessarily the choice I’d make to feel less insecure. I pretty much have always thought of myself as a black male first and foremost – none of this I’m human, I’m an ordinary American stuff for the kid – but I’m learning to realize that cohesion is fine in moderation but all my skinfolks ain’t my kinfolks. I prefer the company of people who see themselves as multiracial than non-racial because denying race seems to be the secular equivalent to being a pushy atheist.
I can’t argue that some people who’ve made the choice to view themselves as human seem happy with it. None of them fix food I’m happy eating, but y’know – good people, generally. A little too liberal and wide-eyed but… y’know. Generally cool.
To me, your list of “problems” are very disparate. For instance, I fail to see how materialism is at all related to the “one drop rule” or to comedians making fun of the dominant culture. You’ve confused me by lumping them together and saying “See? This is evidence of internalized insecurity!” It’s like saying that American’s disregard of the environment and the obesity epidemic are symptoms of the same disease. Perhaps they are, but you need to flesh it out a bit more to convince me.
Also, I admit that I am confusing sometimes. I agree with the gist of your argument. I just don’t think you’ve presented the best examples. you with the face’s points are similar to what I was thinking of when I read your OP.
You’re right. I was using the two terms as if they were interchangeable. And I forgot the very important “envy” term to the equation, which I’ve definitely noticed in the AA community. When I think of insecurity, I think of self-doubt and fear of criticism. But you’re right: envy (wanting to have something you don’t think you’ll ever possess, while disparaging what you already have) is a sign of insecurity.
Hmm. I have to stew over this. It’s not that I don’t agree with you (my experiences support that many black people do value appearances and brand names). But it’s kind of hard to tell if black people across ALL social strata put more value on material items than, say, white people across ALL social strata. It seems to me that on the issue of materialism, values due to ethnic culture and values stemming from social class may interact with one another. For instance, you had to search for namebrand products in my mother’s household. But we were solidly middle-class. We didn’t have anything to prove or be jealous about. But if we had been a poor family, maybe the thinking would have been different.
I think it’s interesting to talk like this about race and culture, but I worry (there are those anxieties again!) about some of the conclusions people might derive from the discussion. For instance, I’m just starting off my professional career, and I recognize that I have some self-esteem and confidence issues that I need to work on if I ever plan to advance. I would absolutely hate if someone tried to dissect my psyche and attribute my problems to my race or cultural heritage. I have a number of personality flaws. I don’t need “internalized oppression” to be added to the pile.
I’ve been thinking about the question of materialism as a element of AA culture, and I agree that the trait is there. However, I think the difference between AA culture and that of other American subcultures is not so much the presence of a materialism as it is in how that trait is expressed.
Today I had brunch with my (white) boyfriend’s adopted family, who are middle-class Jewish white folks. Going out with them is a common thing, and we almost always go to places a ragamuffin like myself would call pretentious. For instance, today’s restaurant. I thought it was pleasant and had a decent enough buffet for someone who is watching their waist but desires a filling meal; but it was $40 a plate. Now maybe it’s just me being my cheap, provincial self, but that seems a lot to pay for a meal that is just okay, and it would not have been my first choice. With restaurants, I tend to place more value on the quality and affordability of food than such intangibles as ambiance and the sophistication of the waitstaff. My boyfriend’s family seems to value the opposite.
I find that many black people wear their status symbols as clothes. A status symbol is nothing unless it is recognizable, which, in the case of black people, often means highly visible name-brands. On other side of the coin, many white people express status by doing things like going to upscale restaurants not typically visited by the hoi polloi and laying down a hundred dollars for a meal that would have been just as tasty at the less chi chi place down the road. The difference between these expressions of materialism is that one tends to be much more ostentatious than the other. To illustrate in a very generalized way: A black person may get the widest of the wide-screen TVs because it screams to the world “I have money and can do whatever I want with it”. A white person, though, may get the latest hand-held gizmo from a store with a foreign sounding name because it communicates status to only those who would recognize the status symbol for what it is. Although different on the outside, but both are expressions of materialism.
As monstro said, materialism is so rampant in American culture that pointing out the materialism in one subculture to the exclusion of the others implies that brand-name worship and consumerism are not American traditions when they really are.
Omega Glory:
I actually think feeling pride when a black person does right is just as symptomatic of the larger problem that feeling embarrassed is. Black people keep making the same mistake they accuse other people of making against us: that we are not individuals who (as you said) happen to be black, but that we are reflections of each other, serving as 24-hour representatives of a race instead of ourselves. So I think in order to counter the anxiety that befalls us when another black person stumbles, we need to stop looking for validation that we are just like every other normal person and just start believing it.
I agree, but I figure that if people just have to feel responsible for the actions of others of their race, they’d might as well focus on the positive. You know, feel some self pride instead of self hatred and all. In my opinion feeling pride or embarrassment over something you had zero control over is weird, butsome people aren’t going to stop doing it any time soon.
How to stop the need for validation? We’d see a lot less of this if adult blacks would stop giving children and teens “The Speech”. Or at least tone it down. By “The Speech,” I mean the one about how everyone expects you to fail, so you have to do your best to prove them wrong, and if your generation screws up race relations will be set back 50 years, and so on. Or maybe this has stopped all ready. Has anyone overheard (or given) a similar lecture recently?
What? You mean you don’t see? For shame, I thought the link between deforestation, soil erosion, cow farts and the Greenhouse Effect was well documented. You should read more comic books. They went over this in CONCRETE and GIVE ME LIBERTY.
Anyway… time to connect the dots.
It’s not that they are related to each other per se: but all are symptomatic of various insecurities.
Insecurity expressed as humor occurs when humor is used as a weapon, to insult and degrade, rather than simply amuse. Not wit but mean-spirited jokes. What you called “teasing” earlier I call mocking when professional stand-ups do it to whites in the audience; offen unfunny, bullying behavior. (Unless it’s jonein’ or snaps. Those are funny because it’s two people insulting each other.) Bullying in any form usually stems from the bully’s insecurity: someone leels better about themselves beating on someone
Insecurity expressed as materialism occurs when you have a person buying things to make themselves feel better-- and it’s much more frequent than an occassional thing. When you begin to define yourself by the labels you wear, the brands you drink, the stores you shop in, the cars you drive and refer to designers like they’re your friends, that’s being materialistic. When you try to buy Prada on a Wal-Mart budget, it’s materialistic and dumb.
Insecurity expressed through the “one drop” rule occurs when you take the extreme measure of denying your black heritage and pass for white. Living a lie is always fraught with insecurity; there’s the unease of discovery, revelation, explanations and excuses. I have long-lost great-uncles and cousins who have disappeared west in the late 40s and 50s passing for white.
I think the black people who are in (or who are a product of) academia are wrought with insecurity. College, I think, is the place where students of color are expected to “prove” themselves. This doubt turns to rage, frustration, and eventually insecurity that permeates the rest of their collegiate and job careers.
I’m black and I’m very insecure - I have no shame! I just got accepted into a Ph.D program and I am absolutely terrified. My grades weren’t all that good, my GRE scores were barely above average and based on the last year demographics for this program, I’ll be the only black person enrolled. It does not excite me that I am going into another institution in which I feel I have to “prove” that I belong there. After graduation, I had intended on going to a HBC (Historically Black College for those who don’t know ) but they aren’t giving me any money. Which is a shame. I’d rather go to the worse HBC school for free than go to the best public school for free plus stipend. Why? I just want to learn, study, excel without the looming shadow of Affirmative Action hovering over me. Just dead, dog-beaten, doggone tired of proving that my IQ is above 60 to the professor. I’m also tired of the tacit dismissiveness and outright aloofness that I receive from my white peers. So yea, I’m insecure, but I’m certainly hesitant to say that this is a characteristic of black culture.
As I reread this, my entire post seems completely jumbled and nonsensical :smack: . Oh well, maybe someone will be able to translate.
I meant to qualify that – African-American men can hang, but in my limited experience (I had Panamanian and Honduran roommates in college at my HBCU) we are not quite as broadly full of bravado and male entitlement as Hispanic men. To me there are nuances in Latino male behavior – possibly because of Catholicism and all that male authority – blacks don’t have. Definitely not when it comes to girlfriends and wives – Latino men seem waaaaaay more possessive and prone to violent jealousy. So I stand by my statement.
Have you never heard of Don Rickles? Making fun of people has always been part of comedy. It has nothing to do with insecurity. Your statement about bullies having low self esteem is completely false. As this link explains, this bullying/low self-esteem thing is a myth. In fact, the opposite is often true.
What’s funny is in the eye of th beholder, but most people find some humor in tragedy, and other’s misfortune. It was Mark Twain who said sorrow was the secret source of humor. Insult humor is often funny, and it has nothing to do with the self-esteem of the comic.
Maybe, but I think this goes under the, “everyone more materialistic than me is insecure” banner. Very few people embrace minimalist or ascetical behavior. Can you really say you avoid making decisions based on brand names in every aspect of your life? Most people don’t make such calculated decisions regarding what they buy and consume. I think you are trying to extract and presume far too much from people’s behaviors. Sure there are people whose materialism is derived from insecurity, but correlation does not necessarily equal causation.
Well I think it was a very different environment in the past. Many people just couldn’t/wouldn’t deal with all that self-identifying as a black person would entail. Perhaps you could attribute that to cowardice, or maybe even pragmatism. I don’t disagree with the general point you are making here, I just think you are working backwards to prove your supposition.
I’d agree with you as as far as this theoretical exercise is concerned, but the reality is that race is a factor in many things for most people. The reason I get upset when I see another black person screw up is because I know that others will project the feelings they have of that person onto me. I don’t think this has anything to do with self-esteem, it has to do with recognizing a situation for what it is. It’s learned behavior. It’s identifying a pattern, not paranoia based on insecurity.
My basic point is that I think it faulty to attribute a lot of the things mentioned here to insecurity. I never understand why people always ridicule people who have a different set of priorities than they do. Some people like expensive clothes, some people like kids, others want a big house. Not everyone is motivated by some negative character trait. Most are just trying to be happy. To assume everyone who spends money on expensive clothes or tries to pass as white is insecure is a logical fallacy.
) but they aren’t giving me any money. Which is a shame. I’d rather go to the worse HBC school for free than go to the best public school for free plus stipend. Why? I just want to learn, study, excel without the looming shadow of Affirmative Action hovering over me. Just dead, dog-beaten, doggone tired of proving that my IQ is above 60 to the professor. I’m also tired of the tacit dismissiveness and outright aloofness that I receive from my white peers. So yea, I’m insecure, but I’m certainly hesitant to say that this is a characteristic of black culture.