Who says they’re not celebrating it? They’re just not giving away the t-shirt, with a monkey on it, the same night the team was wearing shirts to kick off Black History Month. They could just as well give the shirts out tonight, or maybe hand them out to fans as they leave the stadium.
I don’t doubt it at all.
I am idly curious if there is anywhere that the word monkey can be used that won’t potentially upset somebody? Is Monkey now a banned word?
Sure, you don’t have to offer an opinion or explain your position but that’s hardly in the spirit of the dope in general or the pit in particular.
Anyhow, my “entire post” includes the phrase
Is that part funny? funny how? it amuses you? like I’m like a clown…what?
The black Chinese monkeys, especially, are offended. More outrage.
It was even funnier the second time.
This thread keeps showing up on the main screen as:
“Attention white people: ITS”
which always immediately puts Sousa in my head.
Sorry, still not seeing it.
I’ve a vivid, dark, filthy, surreal sense of humour that spans the wide wastes of offensive language and concepts. Can’t think of a subject that I haven’t or wouldn’t joke and/laugh about and I can’t think I be slow to spot the humour in my post, accidental or purposeful.
If you disagree with what I’ve said that’s fine but what, specifically is funny about what I wrote? I was serious, it was a serious point. You don’t seem willing to reciprocate.
Oh my, not the spirit of the Dope!
Dude, I’m not gonna pick your post apart. It just read like that super oblivious “we are all one race” “i see no color” bullshit you see from white people who don’t really have to worry about that. As for my opinion, I agree with The Stainless Steel Rat. (In the spirit of the Dope I bolded his name.)
Against my better judgement of getting tangled up into a useless, pedantic wankfest, I’ll try.
My issues are thus:
-
Calling Black History month “Stupid, pointless and demeaning to all concerned.” is completely missing the point of why it was created to begin with, and how now, amidst all the racial conflicts the world has been seeing, it’s more important than ever to celebrate diversity. And also, showing that there’s unity in that celebration. Because that would certainly help.
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Then saying, “Useful only as a backdrop to manufactured “outrages” like this shirt.” sounds so incredibly tone deaf as to make me wonder where the hell you’ve been throughout the largest part of history. Again, when BHM first started, there were no manufactured outrages like we see now on the internet. No ‘one click and I’ll boycott you forever’ type actions. So, plastering today’s reality all over yesterday’s facts is ludicrous and makes the person lauding it sound silly at best.
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Following all that up with a basic but I’m better than everyone else whitesplain “I roll my eyes and go back to living my life without bias or prejudice. I don’t find that too much of a challenge.” is hilarious. If you really got it and were more concerned about living your life free of bias, than you wouldn’t have intoned from on high how idiotic it is if, at this point in the game, black people are still offended. How dare they? < huff >
The only thing left to add is that either your best friend is black or you’ve slept with a black person in the past. Your cred would go waaaaay up then.
There ya go.
As for me on this issue, I see the salient point being what happens after they give the shirts out and it becomes a rallying cry of racist nutjobs to ridicule and laugh. Because no matter what, as a white chick, I don’t understand their struggle and I think it prudent to realize the most important thing is to listen to what others say who have been there. Are there.
It actually looks like a cool shirt. The monkey on it just seems to be a nice monkey and doesn’t carry any racial subtext to me. Sometimes it’s tough to make something that can’t be misinterpreted.
I think it’s a shame that we worry about this, or consider it important.
In the UK February is LGBT History Month.
Really.
Every comment in this thread points out the callousness to the proposition that there should be a MONKEY history month.
Yes, I know that Cheetah was an ape.
Let’s lay the blame where it really belongs: the racist Chinese calendar that decided that lunar new year is going to be celebrated during Black History Month every other year, and cleverly aligned all the lowly animals to coincide with those years.
Facts are facts: the Chinese calendar has decided in recent years that the animals associated with Black History Month are the racist monkey, the dangerous snake, the vicious dog (probably a reference to those famous photos during the civil rights protests of the 1960s), and the dirty pig (offensive to Black Muslims).
Plus, look at all the animals associated with January lunar new years: the horse, a symbol of the great American West! The dragon, which is just fucking awesome no matter how you slice it! Plus there’s some other animals involved in Chinese new year that I can’t remember… probably like the kick-ass grizzly bear, cool ass sharks, the powerful kracken, the industrious honey bee, and who knows what else. But I bet you they are all associated with January.
Bravo, OP, for exposing the racism of this t-shirt. Just pin the blame where it belongs: the racist celestial calendar that’s trying to take over Black History Month. And the nerve of white people to recognize that bigoted method of keeping time!
ATTENTION WHITE PEOPLE: Is Russian Heel a True Social Justice Warrior #sjw or just ranting as satire?
I think of Ivan Koloff and Nikolai Volkoff with a screen name like that.
Anyway, I tire of so-caleld righteous SJWs seeing black people as monkeys, how about that?
Agreed. The Kings should have held off on the T-shirts until Purple History Month.
Regards,
Shodan
See, that’s our greatest strength.
I’m such an incredibly generic 50-something balding white man that I’m essentially invisible to law enforcement and other types who solicit or otherwise bother people in public.
But what about the One-eyed, One-horned, flying Purple People eaters? (joke for all the old geezers).
piepiepie, deep nod of respect.
This exactly. In my opinion (one of billions of opinions in this vast world) the shirts were not problematic. But hey, someone in the organization felt that they were offensive/disrespectful, and other people in the organization decided that they valued that person’s opinion and changed their plans. That sounds exactly like what compassionate, thoughtful humans working together are supposed to do. No one ramming something down someone’s throat, and no one cowering in fear of some liberal thought police.
I will add that I don’t think the, um, racistness of the shirts is particularly obvious (or necessarily there). Unless every depiction of a monkey always implies racism (which I think would be a ridiculous position), then we have to allow for the possibility that in some contexts a picture of a monkey is not racist. Celebrating the Chinese Year of the Monkey seems like a good candidate for that.
I’m a 50-something Asian / Russian mix guy, darker than white and lighter than dark. I am tan. So, I’m somewhat of a cop magnet (if you can believe the newsentertainment), so when I’m out there I’m taking one for the team, letting all you white folk go uninterrupted.
As for all white people looking alike, I say that to my wife (who is white), and that’s my excuse to her as I admire the other white women I see - I think they are her! 
Not that it matters much, but 12 is the number you’re looking for there, not 144. In those 144 combinations, 12 of them have Riley in February, so it’s 1 in 12, not 1 in 144 as you seem to be implying.