You Bastards need to just stop dropping off anything to me period!
You know, I’ve learned something today. Rudie Huxtable is offensive. I think that on reruns of The Cosby Show aired in the future she should be digitally replaced with a walkie-talkie.
Is everyone ok with dropping walkie-talkies off at the pool?
Thanks.
No, it hardly makes you a cowardly bully, you are taking all the dynamics of opening your mouth into account, which is a very good thing.
No hard and fast rule, I just go with the gut. It’s far from 100%, there have been times I wish I had spoken up, and there are time I wish I hadn’t. At 30 years of age though, I feel I’ve honed it fairly well.
Just as evidence that minds can be changed by arguments. I posted early in this thread saying that I found little wrong with the joke. My reasons were that:
1: I tend to reflexively defend those accused of being racist on this message board. I think the accusation is used far too often and is an accusation that should be treated with the gravity it deserves.
2. I have been appalled by the idiocy of pizzabrat over the last several days, and I was frankly prepared to side with anyone pitting him.
After reflecting on the joke and its possible interpretations I have to agree that it is pretty offensive. I certainly am not saying that Cisco is a racist for telling one questionable joke, just that I would not consider anyone who was offended to be hypersensitive.
I’ll agree with you, but FWIW, anything that doesn’t pop out straight away might be considered suspect. If a person finds something to “possibly be offensive” when viewed through a certain filter, after days of pontification, perhaps it isn’t really that offensive.
YMMV
by World Eater
What is not obvious to one person, is often obvious to another. There are probably plenty of things that legitmately offend you, that don’t offend me at all. So I don’t think your “if it doesn’t immediately stand out as being offensive to you, then its offensiveness is questionable” rule of thumb works too well in a society as diverse as ours.
I don’t know, World Eater. It seems you are exhibiting a behavior classic to people who pride themselves on being anti-PC. I call it hypersensitivity to all things that remotely look like hypersensitivity. You don’t think this euphemism is all that bad? Great! But it’s looks like you are being a lot more vehement than any one who has expressed displeasure with the joke. Just because someone thinks its a kind of crappy thing to liken to a certain person, doesn’t mean they are blind to real racial injustices in the world; it may just mean that they don’t feel it is necessary to hold their tongue, even with relatively small insults. And as long as the R word isn’t abused and the reactions are in proportion to the insult, I don’t see why racially offensive jokes should be perpuated unchecked all because “there are bigger fish to fry”.
Just to clarify, I didn’t tell the joke. I personally think it’s unfunny.
I think generally there are things that offend 95% or the populace, things that offend 75%, things that offend 50%, and so forth. In that scenario, you’re more likely to be offended by the things that offend me, but no necessarily vice versa.
Sure, I was just stating out the the direction we seem to be heading in worries me.
Actually I’m not anti-pc at all, I’m just against being super duper overly pc, a trend our society seems to be well down the path of.
Call it what you want, I prefer to call it annoyance towards people who should learn to write the little things off and move on. As you may guess, I feel this joke is pretty weak on the R scale of things. I wouldn’t be suprised if someone said this in an office, and got fired or slapped with reprimand, which I think would be stupid. By evolving into a society where every little thing is nitpicked for any possible offence, we’re doing ourselves far more harm then good. As you may have guessed, I’m a bit of a cynic, so obviously YMMV.
Good, vehement happens to be my middle name.
The precise point is we believe (other posters have said this as well) that the R word is being overused.
You are right of course, my apologies. I, however, did laugh. I pictured a tiny Rudy Huxtable emerging from my ass screaming as she plunged into the toilet bowl. I wrote what I did above because I recognize that something can be both funny and offensive. In this case I appreciated the funny before the offensive.
pizzabrat = dick
pizzabrat = asshole
pizzabrat = PC fucking whiny “why didn’t someone TELL me McDonald’s was bad for me!”
Boo-Fuckin-Hoo! Your opinion is next to worthless, here.
Eh. It was funny 7-8 years ago when all the guys I worked with (including three black guys) said it every time they had to take a shit. It got old though.
Why the comma? Also, your third equation shows you have no idea what you’re talking about.
Semantics… the last gasp of a loser…
Why can’t everyone else realise this? Blatant racism is a very ugly thing, it also happens to be fairly uncommon in public forums. If someone in today’s PC world makes a joke that you think is racist, chances are that it wasn’t an indication of that person’s animosity towards said race. Rather, it just shows that their sense of humor and tact are a bit unpolished.
I think people are hypersensitive to the word racist. A joke or comment can be racist without the person who is saying it automatically being racist. I think we all agree with this. But also, a joke or comment can be racist without it being overtly hateful. For instance, a sexist comment can be so mild that it is easily overlooked (“Quit throwing like a girl”) or it can be so damn obvious that it stops traffic (“Women are too stupid and emotional to do anything but cook me some dinner and give me some ass!”) Both are sexist remarks, but one is generally more offensive than the other.
I think the Rudy Huxtable joke is racist and mildly offensive. It may not be as offensive as “Black people look and smell like my grandpa’s shit”, but there’s no reason any parallels to lynchings and slavery are being drawn simply when someone calls it racist. Perhaps if we get away from equating racism with this big scary, KKK, fire-breathing, Neonazi, torture-chamber (insert any other bad thing you want) monster then we can stop receiving legitimate criticism so defensively.
Just a thought.
The problem is that people throw out all objectivity and rationality when it comes to racism.
I’ve said it before: I’ve seen child molestors defended on these very boards, but I’ve never seen a racist defended here.
Am I nitpicking, or are child-molesters and racists really bad people? Isn’t the preception of these states really the issue?
Am I missing something?
I think it’s the fact that racists are really bad people and yet many posters on this board throw around the word with reckless abandon. If there’s even the slightest hint of anything having to do with race it seems as if people are developing a tendency to replace the word “jerk” with “rasict”.
It’s a serious accusation. People need to start treating it that way.
Seems like
- Neither should be defended.
and
- This thread is evidence that people can’t carelessly fling around “racist” without being called on it.