# Attention white people: ITS BLACK HISTORY MONTH. Think. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 3, 2016, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-white-people-its-black-history-month-think/745036 "2016-02-03T06:55:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 16
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2016, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-white-people-its-black-history-month-think/745036/301 "2016-02-06T01:43:20Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > What if it’s real sensitivity to the potential for real offense? Isn’t it possible that some Jews might be hurt by swastikas displayed on Holocaust Remembrance Day? If it’s real sensitivity to real offense (swastikas and the Holocoaust), that is a real issue. If it’s feigned sensitivity to a pretend offense (this nonsense), it isn’t. Swastikas are, for better or worse, more affiliated with Nazis than anything else and will be for the foreseeable future. Monkeys can have a racist overtone to be sure, but are more affiliated with non-racist things by a vast amount than anything else. Sometimes (often. more often than not) a monkey is just a monkey. ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2016, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-white-people-its-black-history-month-think/745036/302 "2016-02-06T01:45:55Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > It’s also a win-win to be sensitive – why not a multi-week long lead up, explaining the CNY, and all the cool animals and stuff, and then a stylized monkey wearing Chinese battle armor defeating the mascots of the Kings’ opponents? > > It seems nuts to me that it’s _wrong_ to take others feelings into account – a great celebration presented sensitively is not a snub of CNY – it’s a celebration. It’s nuts to refuse to use a symbol that represents thousands of years of history to placate some idiots that are imagining insensitivity. This is simply a road you can’t go down because once you start there’s no end. We’ve gotten to the point in society where it’s only a tiny exaggeration to say that no matter what you do, someone is going to be offended. When Facebook adds 500 choices for gender identification people get offended. Some are offended their choice isn’t included. Others get offended that it doesn’t include their choice. Even more get offended that Facebook makes you choose at all. Even more still are offended that we’ve gotten to the point where 500 gender identifications are needed. I’m pretty sure you can connect anything with imagined offense. How dare the Sacramento mascot be the Kings? Kings oppressed people, started countless wars, raped and murdered at will. It’s offensive for us to honor them! Plus it’s insensitive to anyone who has suffered gang violence from the Latin Kings. > [@iiandyiiii](#): > > How is changing the day of the celebration from the Holocaust Remembrance Day abandoning anything? Or if it has to be that day, how is using other Hindu imagery abandoning anything? Is it really that bad to try and eliminate the chance of giving a Holocaust survivor a heart attack? In this hypothetical, if people don’t want to see swastikas on Holocaust Remembrance Day then they shouldn’t have picked the date of this Hindu festival for Holocaust Remembrance Day. ---
**Author:** ![russian\_heel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f05b48/32.png) [@russian\_heel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/russian_heel)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2016, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-white-people-its-black-history-month-think/745036/303 "2016-02-06T03:22:04Z")
Why, do you think we might be related? ---
**Author:** ![russian\_heel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f05b48/32.png) [@russian\_heel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/russian_heel)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2016, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-white-people-its-black-history-month-think/745036/304 "2016-02-06T03:28:23Z")
> [@bucketybuck](#): > > Ah, so it is about the t-shirt, not the context. You think that black people upon randomly seeing a simple picture of a monkey on a t-shirt will become violent. You can’t grasp that not everybody immediately associates monkey with black person. Because not everybody is racist like you are. Let me use a better example, then. Let’s say I walk through your neighborhood with a tee shirt of a brother fucking his sister behind a mobile home. Wouldn’t that anger you and your neighbors? ---
**Author:** ![russian\_heel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f05b48/32.png) [@russian\_heel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/russian_heel)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2016, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-white-people-its-black-history-month-think/745036/305 "2016-02-06T03:29:38Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Are you fucking retarded? Why, do you think we might be related? ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2016, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-white-people-its-black-history-month-think/745036/306 "2016-02-06T04:08:12Z")
> [@treis](#): > > It’s nuts to refuse to use a symbol that represents thousands of years of history to placate some idiots that are imagining insensitivity. What if they’re not imagining it? > [@](#): > > This is simply a road you can’t go down because once you start there’s no end. We’ve gotten to the point in society where it’s only a tiny exaggeration to say that no matter what you do, someone is going to be offended. When Facebook adds 500 choices for gender identification people get offended. Some are offended their choice isn’t included. Others get offended that it doesn’t include their choice. Even more get offended that Facebook makes you choose at all. Even more still are offended that we’ve gotten to the point where 500 gender identifications are needed. So it’s okay to put swastikas anywhere, on any day? It’s not rude to fly Confederate flags in front of black people? No problem with white hoods? I’m just arguing for being good neighbors – no legal requirement, just what I think is neighborly and courteous. It’s rude to display swastikas where Jews might see them (unless it’s absolutely clear it’s a Hindu cultural symbol); it’s rude to display the Confederate flag where black people might see it; and it’s rude to use other symbols that match past racist imagery unless it’s absolutely clear what the context is. I don’t think it was absolutely clear in the case of the OP, so the action taken was appropriate. > [@](#): > > I’m pretty sure you can connect anything with imagined offense. How dare the Sacramento mascot be the Kings? Kings oppressed people, started countless wars, raped and murdered at will. It’s offensive for us to honor them! Plus it’s insensitive to anyone who has suffered gang violence from the Latin Kings. How dare Jews complain about swastikas? How dare black people complain about white hoods and Confederate flags? How dare Native Americans complain about that town with the town seal of a white dude strangling a Native American? > [@](#): > > In this hypothetical, if people don’t want to see swastikas on Holocaust Remembrance Day then they shouldn’t have picked the date of this Hindu festival for Holocaust Remembrance Day. There was no festival in the hypothetical – the Hindu cultural celebration could have been picked for any day, and by coincidence they chose Holocaust Remembrance Day. Once they realized that, wouldn’t it be prudent to change the date? ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2016, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-white-people-its-black-history-month-think/745036/307 "2016-02-06T04:11:03Z")
> [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > If it’s real sensitivity to real offense (swastikas and the Holocoaust), that is a real issue. If it’s feigned sensitivity to a pretend offense (this nonsense), it isn’t. Swastikas are, for better or worse, more affiliated with Nazis than anything else and will be for the foreseeable future. Monkeys can have a racist overtone to be sure, but are more affiliated with non-racist things by a vast amount than anything else. Sometimes (often. more often than not) a monkey is just a monkey. So we disagree on this imagery – not that it’s racist (the CNY is not racist, nor is monkey imagery in the context of the CNY) – but it might be perceived as racist, on the first day of BHM, by people unfamiliar with the CNY. In light of that, if one wants to be a good neighbor, it seems wise to present the CNY celebration in a slightly different way. If they had been smarter to begin with, they could have had a week long build up and education about all the animal imagery, and presented the monkey symbol in a way that made the context clear (like putting the monkey in traditional Chinese garb, perhaps doing battle with the mascots of the Kings’ opponents or something). ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2016, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-white-people-its-black-history-month-think/745036/308 "2016-02-06T04:19:02Z")
> [@russian\_heel](#): > > Let me use a better example, then. Let’s say I walk through your neighborhood with a tee shirt of a brother fucking his sister behind a mobile home. Wouldn’t that anger you and your neighbors? You think graphic sex is the same as a random monkey? You can’t be serious. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2016, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-white-people-its-black-history-month-think/745036/309 "2016-02-06T04:21:13Z")
> [@russian\_heel](#): > > I’ll tell you what I want you to do, and only if your not black. > > Walk through Harlem with that tee-shirt. > > Then let me know how much referring to black people as simians is “worn out” for you. Are you saying that blacks are so uncivilized they can’t handle a picture of a monkey on a shirt? That’s racist. ---
**Author:** ![russian\_heel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f05b48/32.png) [@russian\_heel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/russian_heel)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2016, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-white-people-its-black-history-month-think/745036/310 "2016-02-06T04:47:10Z")
Love how posters are trying to pretzel logic this thread into me being a racist when it was a black player who pointed the tee shirt out to the Kings. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2016, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-white-people-its-black-history-month-think/745036/311 "2016-02-06T04:48:47Z")
> [@russian\_heel](#): > > Love how posters are trying to pretzel logic this thread into me being a racist when it was a black player who pointed the tee shirt out to the Kings. You said black people are savage who get riled up over a picture. Not I. I believe black people see an innocent picture of a monkey as just that. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2016, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-white-people-its-black-history-month-think/745036/312 "2016-02-06T04:59:48Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > You think graphic sex is the same as a random monkey? You can’t be serious. What if it’s graphic monkey sex? ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2016, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-white-people-its-black-history-month-think/745036/313 "2016-02-06T05:00:18Z")
My position is that I like most cartoon monkeys - yes, even Curious George and whichever one hangs out with Dora the Explorer. I am happy China picked a year to celebrate them. I can see why other people might not like them though. Not all wildlife is for everyone and monkeys can be assholes sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2016, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-white-people-its-black-history-month-think/745036/314 "2016-02-06T05:11:44Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > What if it’s graphic monkey sex? Ain’t nothing wrong with that. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2016, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-white-people-its-black-history-month-think/745036/315 "2016-02-06T06:46:23Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Depends - is he fucking _you_? Well played. (Seriously) ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2016, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-white-people-its-black-history-month-think/745036/316 "2016-02-06T06:59:32Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > So it’s okay to put swastikas anywhere, on any day? Sure. In India, Japan, Korea and most of the rest of asia it is anyway. And note Hinduism and Buddhism and Bon (Tibetan animist religion) use both variations of the swastika, clockwise and counter clockwise. > **[Swastika](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sauwastika)** > > The swastika (卐 or 卍) is an ancient religious and cultural symbol, predominantly found in various Eurasian cultures, as well as some African and American ones. In the Western world, it is more widely recognized as a symbol of the German Nazi Party who appropriated it from Asian cultures starting in the early 20th century. The appropriation continues with its use by neo-Nazis around the world. The swastika never stopped being used as a symbol of divinity and spirituality in Indian reli The word... ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2016, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-white-people-its-black-history-month-think/745036/317 "2016-02-06T07:10:32Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > What if it’s graphic monkey sex? _You and me baby ain’t nothin’ but mammals So let’s do it like they do on the Discovery Channel_ ---
**Author:** ![russian\_heel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f05b48/32.png) [@russian\_heel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/russian_heel)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2016, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-white-people-its-black-history-month-think/745036/318 "2016-02-06T09:53:27Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Well played. (Seriously) OOOOOO ho ho hoo-ho ho!!! I feel so owned!!! Hey, Miss Piggy, maybe you can track down Mister Dribble and have fucktard sex, odds are both of you losers will produce more pinhead babies than that Zika Virus, you fucking freaks. ---
**Author:** ![russian\_heel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f05b48/32.png) [@russian\_heel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/russian_heel)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2016, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-white-people-its-black-history-month-think/745036/319 "2016-02-06T09:55:01Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > You said black people are savage who get riled up over a picture. Not I. I believe black people see an innocent picture of a monkey as just that. Takes me up on my challenge then, asshole. Put on the shirt, and walk through Harlem. Prove me wrong. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2016, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-white-people-its-black-history-month-think/745036/320 "2016-02-06T12:47:26Z")
> [@coremelt](#): > > Sure. In India, Japan, Korea and most of the rest of asia it is anyway. And note Hinduism and Buddhism and Bon (Tibetan animist religion) use both variations of the swastika, clockwise and counter clockwise. > [Swastika - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sauwastika) I asked about NYC on Holocaust remembrance day… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-white-people-its-black-history-month-think/745036.md?page=15) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-white-people-its-black-history-month-think/745036.md?page=17)