There’s a term for this that Larry Elder coined, but I’m drawing a blank right now, I can’t think of what it is. Anyone want to help me out?
pizzabrat has stated on more than one occassion he’s black. I mean “black”.
Cisco, did he call somone racist? I don’t recall that at all.
Well, hell.
That’s the last time I post without reading the second page of a thread (unintentionally).
I see now that there are people of color offended at this saying. I take back the last part of my first post.
Although I stand by my comments about white people often being more offended by “racist” propaganda than people of color. And most importantly, my comments about pizzabrat.
Love the irony, world eater! The only improvement I can think would be if you’d written, “You drama queens will be the death of society.”
Juanitatech, on readng your distinction between “racist” and “racially offensive,” I can see where you’re coming from. I’m not sure where I’d come down if I had to decide, but I see the distinction you’re making, I think.
That said, I’m not sure that most people make that distinction. I think most people consider “racially offensive” to be more or less synonymous with “racist.” Given that this euphemism uses a black kid as a metaphor for shit, and that shit has pretty much universally negative connotations in our culture, it seems like it is at the very least racially offensive, and under the definition most folks use, racist.
I don’t like how pizzabrat raised the issue i the other thread, however. There’s a big difference between using a racially offensive phrase and being a racist: whereas the former is annoying, the latter is a fatal character flaw. Accusing or implying that a person is racist, rather than saying that a phrase is racist, is pulling out the big guns: you pulled them out inappropriately, and IMO owe both Airman and Cisco an apology for doing so.
Daniel
So pointing out a what I feel to be a destructive trend in society makes me a hypocrite?
I think someone spiked your OJ this morning.
He basically said the joke was racist and that he wasn’t surprised that it came from Airman Doors. Then when I defended it he said the same thing about me. It was a CYA tactic of calling us both racists. Pizzabrat knows this and the more I read about him the more I realized what a seasoned weaselly jerk he is on the SDMB.
This just made me hungry, the question is why?
This is far from the most offensive term I’ve ever seen but it is clearly racist. If I went to a zoo looked at the monkeys and said “Hey it’s the Cosby show!” I doubt many people would defend that.
It’s basically just saying you’re black and your skin color is comparable to shit. Not much to debate about.
Raven is now all grown up ad has her own show, which my son watches.
In the show, she’s psychic.
I’m no PC leftie, as anyone who’s read my various posts here on the SDMB can confirm. What’s more, I have a pretty rough sense of humor myself. I’m a big fan of the old * National Lampoon * which specialized in no-holds-barred humor. That is to say, I’m not easily offended by tasteless jokes.
Even so, there’s a time and a place for everything. The SDMB is not a place for that “Huxtable kids” crack.
On several occassions, I’ve objected to demeaning references to lower class whites (such as the inappropriate use of terms such as “white trash” and “hillbilly”) here on the SDMB, and frankly most of them were less offensive than the remark under discussion here. I have several times reported such offenses to the mods.
I think moral consistency requires me to side with PizzaBrat on this one.
I would be extremely offended by a post which suggested that poor whites are “shit,” and the golden rule obliges me to object. I can’t very well get all wound up when someone makes a comment which is clearly demeaning to my social/ethnic/racial/class roots, demanding that right-thinking folks come to my defense, while passing by in silence when a similarly crude, insensitive remark is made concerning another group.
No matter how you look at it, the phrase “dropping the Huxtable kids off at the pool” is an insensitive and demeaning remark and was clearly outside the boundaries of acceptable behavior here on the SDMB.
I realize we all have our dark side, we all have thoughts and feelings of which we are not terribly proud. And sometimes, no matter how hard we try, these thoughts and feelings slip out. While we shouldn’t be too quick to jump all over somebody who’s just had a lapse of judgment or a moment of thoughtlessness, neither should we ignore the fact that a faux pas has just been committed. When these things happen, we should simply point out that the behavior in question is inappropriate to the situation, and move on. And we should do this as gracefully as possible.
Cisco and Airmon Doors, the remark was out of bounds here on the SDMB. The board rules are very clear: offensive racial and ethnic remarks simply are not acceptable here, and the remark clearly violated that rule. An apology is in order.
PizzaBrat, frankly, you could have been more diplomatic in registering your protest. This crude remark, offensive though it was, isn’t evidence that Airman Doors is a closet Klansman. Even so, I think you’d be well within your rights to report that post to the mods.
Everybody, let’s try to remember that there’s * another human being * on the other end, and try to treat each other in the same way we would wish to be treated ourselves.
While I’d accept the argument that a racial joke might not be found offensive if there were only folks non of that race abound, I don’t think I’d accept that a racial joke is less inappropriate just because that particular race isn’t present to be offended by it.
I also don’t quite grok the reasoning presented by other posters that it’s somehow better for it to be some faceless unidentified group of brown children that are being taken to the pool, rather than some specific group of brown children.
:dubious:
I’m trying to understand how the joke is racist, but I just can’t see it.
There is a difference between offensive/rude and racist.
This joke is offensive and rude. Not racist.
JuanitaTech has already explained, but I’ll try as well.
Does the joke say that any racial group is superior to any other? No.
Does the joke attribute a harmful stereotype, or indeed any stereotype at all, to all members of a racial group? No.
There was a pale white red-haired kid I knew in junior high that had a really thin head and a bowl cut, and people sometimes called him “penis head”.
That is a rude and offensive joke, just like the joke in the OP. But just like the joke in the OP, it isn’t racist.
[Hijack]Not to single you out, Kalhoun, but whenever I see something like this on the boards it always makes me think of that scene in one episode of The Simpsons where Homer is happy about something in his car. “Now I can throw the Black Power sign to the bros,” he says. Then he drives by Carl, the boxer, and two other Black guys whose names I can’t remember and shouts “Black Power!” Its funny because in 13 (?) seasons of shows there aren’t enough Black people to fill the car. Sometimes in life I feel like I’m in that car. Meh, nothing against you, it just makes me smile.[/end of hijack]
What a dumb thread this has become. Racist. Borderline. Bad joke. Very.
Pizzabrat, perhaps you should stop worrying about McDonalds customers, drivers, and Black people and start worrying about yourself. I would invest in better arguementation skills and flame retardant clothes. Sorry if that sounds harsh, but I came to this thread after the “Spike Couch” thread and you aren’t doing too well in either.
All the argumentation skills in the world won’t help if people are determined to shout me down en masse. The only reason I’m not doing so well in the death-spike thread is because McDonald’s obviously has way more friends than I do.
Also, most people in this thread are agreeing with me (though at the same time attacking me personally).
No, it’s because you based your argument on a one-sided documentary. I mentioned Soso Whaley and her rebuttal in that thread; she also filmed her adventures in McDonaldland and that documentary is due out next month. In the meantime, you can listen to her being interviewed but I suspect you won’t bother.
I’m already familiar with her. Her story was being hawked by the protesters I mentioned in my OP. And I thoroughly read all of the information they provided too. So no, you can’t safely assume that I’m being willfully ignorant.
Do you think black people would go around saying this joke? Is this the kind of joke that works by inserting any random celebrity family?
Has dark skin ever been equated with shit or dirt or other nastiness?
Does it fall into the category of things a racist would find hilarious?
It’s all well and good to compare skin color–especially dark skin color–to red hair But red-heads haven’t been uglified to the same degree as dark-skinned people. The historical treatment of people with the “wrong” skin color is what makes this joke potentially racist. Red-heads do not belong to a separate race and have not been discriminated against to any important extent.
Like I said earlier, whether the joke is racist depends on what the speaker is thinking when they say it. If they’re thinking, “the joke is funny because the Cosby kids are black and black people look like shit”, then yes, it’s racist. Implicit in that sentiment is “Black people look like shit but my group doesn’t.” But if the speaker is thinking, “The Cosby kids are just a specific subgroup of kids that makes the older joke–dropping the kids off at the pool–funnier”* then it’s not racist. Still offensive (the Cosby kids were represented by real people, Cosby himself is a real person, and it’s not polite to liken people to feces) but not racist.
*I want to believe that this would be the intention of most people because it actually makes more sense. The Cosby kids came in a variety of shades. Denise and Sondra were almost light enough to pass as white. Which explains why the joke is then altered so that it’s focus is on the darkest skinned daughter. In a family with such a diversity in skin complexions as the Cosby family, you better believe that the Rudy of the family would be the most sensitive and insecure about her appearance. That’s why the jokes stings to me.
I find that hard to believe. My guess is either you weren’t as thorough as you think or the protesters didn’t do a good job of presenting their side.