My longtime friend’s boyfriend, William, is also a close friend of mine. We talk about everything under the sun, because we are both philosophical and introspective in nature.
The other night, William (who is black) told me that, at least around here, it is no longer considered cool for anyone, black or white, to address a black man with whom they are not acquainted as “brother.” Not offensive, mind you; just not cool.
For a black person to say this, he says, is considered weak. (over-conciliatory.) For a white person it’s goofy. (the implication being somewhere between over-familiar, hypocritical, and misappropriating another’s culture.) I guess there is also a “fogey” aspect.
While I expect that this, like much of cultural drift, is driven largely by youth, and that the philosophical implications of stuff is likely the last thing on their minds (I know it was on mine, back then) – I think a lot about stuff like this, myself. I’m pretty sure this kind of thing falls under the general heading of “semiotics.”
Think about the different ways we have commonly hailed a (male) stranger over time: goodman, fellow, bub, Jack, Daddy-O, dude, Sir, Mister, brother. What does it mean when a greeting emphasizing kinship falls out of fashion? Or, if it doesn’t “mean” anything exactly, do you think that these kinds of things over time affect and shape our patterns of thinking and relating?