# I'm a racist now. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 12, 2001, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-racist-now/93003 "2001-11-12T23:18:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2001, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-racist-now/93003/81 "2001-11-16T08:07:14Z")
ENDER – > [@](#): > > Captain Amazing and Jodi, my example, and racin’s OP did not include a baseball bat or a gun. I’ll grant you that it’s assault in those instances if you have a reasonable fear of your safety. Yes, but since assault is defined as “reasonable apprehension of immenent bodily injury,” you don’t _have_ to have a gun, a bat, or indeed any kind of weapon. If you have the present apparent ability to inflict injury, then merely threatening to do so can be an assault. Think of a really big guy threatening a really little guy. Therefore it is incorrect to say words alone can never constitute an assault; they can. ---
**Author:** ![sidle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee59a6/32.png) [@sidle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sidle)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2001, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-racist-now/93003/82 "2001-11-16T17:45:32Z")
Racinchikki- I’m so sorry that happened to you. What a moron. Do whatever you feel comfortable doing. But definitely keep an eye on him. I have been in a very similar situation as you were. When I was called a racist bitch because I wouldn’t consent to going out with a guy who was coming on way too strong, I felt like it was an attempted method of intimidation. He sort of got the upper hand by claiming that I was a racist, demeaning me with the cheapest and most irrelevant insult possible under the circumstances. Well, I told him that I was NOT a racist, however, I was prejudiced. Against ASSHOLES, whether they’re white black blue green or purple. That shut him up and let him know I wasnt going to be intimidated by his crap. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2001, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-racist-now/93003/83 "2001-11-16T19:52:30Z")
Here’s an odd one. I once stopped in the Popeye’s near the corner of King & Washington in Alexandria, VA, for dinner on my way home from my brother’s business. While I was eating, this black and possibly homeless man comes in, loudly orders some food and heads for the men’s room. Comes out, loudly wants to know where his food is, calls the workers “racist” and storms out. ---
**Author:** ![Weird\_AL\_Einstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c67d28/32.png) [@Weird\_AL\_Einstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weird_AL_Einstein)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2001, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-racist-now/93003/84 "2001-11-16T22:47:48Z")
Ok, first of all, **Anthracite** , I swear to God in my last post, the way I wrote it originally I said “I will gladly testify that you are _highly_ literate, much more so than I am in fact.” I had a crash last night, and had to rewrite part of the post I hadn’t saved, and I apparently forgot to rewrite that part. And then in the first draft of _this_ post I said something like, “Hey I defended you on the ‘illiterate’ thing”. :eek: My face is a very deep crimson right now. Now then: > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Anthracite \* > \*\*What I’m going to do is expand my second post in this thread. Let’s re-read it. > > \\*\* Now, this stuff that I have just snipped for space was…well, it was **Anthracite**. Entirely reasonable and intelligent. Not _inarguable_…there are one or two little things I could quibble about, but I am not going to, as I don’t really feel like it, and I am aware that very shortly you will not either. I could say the exact same things about your second post in this thread. None of my criticisms were directed towards it. It was your _third_ post, your response to **Otto** ’s first post, which it can be argued was “crude and dismissive” but contained no personal attacks on you (the “illiterate” thing came later), that had me scratching my head and double checking the user name to be sure it was you. I invite you to review it…not _now_ mind you, not if you know who is you know where…but at some later time. If you honestly cannot at all see what I am talking about, well, I’ll just drop the matter. I don’t feel like quibbling about that either. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Anthracite \* > \*\*Wasn’t **Otto** ’s initial response to me and others a bit crude and dismissive? Did that not disappoint anyone? \*\* I suppose it was, but disappointing? No, not really. Before you can be disappointed you have to have expectations, and as I don’t know **Otto** from the Ottoman Empire, I had no expectations of him. As I do know you, and what you are capable of, ironically I _can_ be disappointed in _you_. Although it happens very, very rarely. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Anthracite \* > \*\*I called him an apologist, and he called me illiterate. \*\* Indeed. Both of these, it seems to me, are very weak tea when compared to other stuff that gets said down here. Whereas up in GD, it would get you a warning (I think, at least), and the more extreme “you goat-felching cocksucker” type stuff is right out. Which leads me to a more generalized complaint about the way that people keep having (or trying to have) intelligent and rational debates in the Pit. In fact I have been meaning to start a thread here about this, a rant, appropriately. Inspired in large part by a thread down here about a month ago on the subject of gays in the boy scouts, which started off as a rant but “degenerated” into a rational and _highly_ informative debate. You may remember it, you participated in it a bit. I learned things in this thread, hence my ignorance was fought, yet I could easily have missed it, as in the Pit I expect (or did expect) the kind of “you goat-felching cocksucker” type rants in which I am not generally interested. Hence my planned rant. And please believe me when I say, I did mean to defend you on the “illiterate” thing, it just didn’t show up because of my stupid mistake. And I resisted the temptation, after your “unpossible” post, to call you “Ralph”. 😛 > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Anthracite \* > \*\*The truth is, by the definition in my dictionary here, and apologist is one who “writes or speaks in defense or justification of a person, doctrine, faith, or action”. He was defending the person’s actions by saying that the person did not deserve to be “put on a list somewhere”. And even though he said > > > [@](#): > > > > “Please note that I am NOT in any way defending what this person did. All I am saying is that running to the authorities over an incident like this, which the target herself said she thought would have been funny if the guy hadn’t gotten so mad, is over-reacting.” > > Well, by telling someone not to “run to the authorities”, you are defending the person - you are trying to keep them from getting in trouble from being turned in.\*\* Now this really made me think (and is thus more in line with the way you generally post) and so I am going to quibble with it a little bit. It seems to me that **Otto** was saying that that guy should not suffer a specific set of consequences (having his name on some list, being “looked at” etc) for his actions, not that he should suffer _no_ consequences. So the question is, does attempting to make a case that a given punishment does not fit the crime amount to an apologia, or a defense of the “crime”? Well, perhaps it does, by the dictionary definition. But I honestly feel you could have been a lot clearer about this in that post. You seem to have taken it as implied that **Otto** was suggesting that he should suffer no consequences. Perhaps you were justified in this, as he didn’t seem to be suggesting any alternatives to your suggestion. But I consider the question of what consequences a person who behaves in this manner should suffer to be a difficult and thorny one, one I thought you would have brought up, perhaps in the context of a challenge to **Otto** in that post. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Anthracite \* > \*\*However, I was called “illiterate”. And when someone starts off their response like that, \*\* Again, he didn’t start off calling you that. He did in a later post, and he was wrong to do so, but not in the first one. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Anthracite \* > **Weird\_Al, I really wish that you of all people, my friend, would have given me the benefit of the doubt and looked closer at what I was saying to Otto. And looked harder at what he said to me. I don’t think my position, reasoning, and conclusion of action was off-base at all.** **Una** , I _am_ your friend, and I am very glad you think of me the same way. I _have_ looked at what you have said here, and as I said, it was that _one_ post that just didn’t seem to be quite…_you_. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Anthracite \* > \*\*I also hope you don’t forget to set your VCR tomorrow too for the Show Which Shall Not Be Named - I’m going to go home and do that right now myself. Just add those 5 minutes on. \*\* Ummm…well, ok, if you don’t want to name it, I won’t either. I’ll just say that one of the words in the title rhymes with “fluffy” :D. But thanks for the heads up. I myself am gonna be adding on 15 minutes and I will have it on live to boot. I’ll be God-_damned_ if I miss that part again. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Anthracite \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by celestina \* > > \*\*{{{{racinchikki}}}} \*\* > > You know what, **Otto**? Here I am jumping back all over you, and along comes **celestina** to remind me what the point of this whole thread really was. \*\* Indeed. I agree wholeheartedly, although while I love the SDMB I really don’t think the Pit is as good a place for…ahhhh…vegetable matter dissolved in boiling water and empathetic concern…as can be found elsewhere. That said, I jumped into this thread to nitpick Una and said not a word to OP **racinchikki**. Sometimes I am such an insensitive oaf it is just breathtaking. So, **racinchikki** (or **rainchikki** or whatever your name is :p): Please, please accept my humble apology on behalf of my gender. And I was going to grovel a bit more here and go on to say, we really aren’t all like _that_ guy. But then I remembered about Gunslinger, so I guess you already know that ;). In fact it is possible this guy won’t turn out to be so bad, in the long run. I mean, I’m not holding my breath or anything, but I can imagine perhaps years from now him looking back and thinking to himself, I can’t believe what a jerk I was. I know I have had moments of reflection such as this. Good for the soul, and all. ---
**Author:** ![Rogue1stclass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@Rogue1stclass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rogue1stclass)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2001, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-racist-now/93003/85 "2001-11-16T23:46:34Z")
Most states have 4 different charges for this kinda thing… Simple assault, aggrevated assault, battery and aggrevated battery…(excuse the spelling, its Friday)… Simple assault is the threat of physical violence, stated or implied…Best definition is if a reasonable person will believe that an ass kicking is on the way, then its assault… Aggrevated assault is like the above, but with a weapon (gun, knife, beer bottle, 2x4)… Battery and aggrevated battery are the actually following through with that threat… So, depending on how he otherwise behaved (was he advancing on her, shouting, “bowed up”), it could be argued that there was an implied threat, and therefore assault… ---
**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2001, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-racist-now/93003/86 "2001-11-17T01:12:30Z")
1. Thank you, **Celestina** and **Weird Arnold** or whatever your name is… 😛 2. No assault. He was just spewing shit at me. No threats. Not even a threatening posture. Nada. He’s just an ass, not a physically intimidating one. :shrug: ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2001, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-racist-now/93003/87 "2001-11-17T17:57:33Z")
**Jodi** , I’m certainly willing to concede the fact that you know more than me about legal definitions. Nevertheless, I was taught that any words, no matter how intimidating, cannot be construed as assault without some movement to accompany them. I’ll ask a professor to clarify the situation on Monday. **racinchikki** , any update? Have you talked to the guy lately? Or rather, has he attempted to talk to you? ---
**Author:** ![celestina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/258eb7/32.png) [@celestina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/celestina)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2001, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-racist-now/93003/88 "2001-11-17T19:01:48Z")
You’re welcome, racinchikki. I hope you’re feeling better about things and that that creep hasn’t bothered you again. ---
**Author:** ![celestina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/258eb7/32.png) [@celestina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/celestina)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2001, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-racist-now/93003/89 "2001-11-18T04:12:54Z")
* * * Anthracite said: ## "You know what, Otto? Here I am jumping back all over you, and along comes celestina to remind me what the point of this whole thread really was. " Weird Al Einstein responded: “Indeed. I agree wholeheartedly, although while I love the SDMB I really don’t think the Pit is as good a place for…ahhhh…vegetable matter dissolved in boiling water and empathetic concern…as can be found elsewhere.” * * * Anthracite, I didn’t mean to interrupt you or anything. When I made the first post to racinchikki I had just gotten around to reading this thread, and I was shocked and outraged for her. It’s just awful when folks you think are nice start trippin’. And she certainly didn’t deserve that fool’s comments because he doesn’t know her. At any rate, I didn’t mean to intrude on your conversation with Otto or anyone else, but if I helped y’all, then I’m glad. 😃 Weird Al, [giggle] just what do you mean by “vegetable matter dissolved in boiling water,” pray tell? And why can’t we cook in the Pit, if we want to. There are flames here, aren’t there? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2001, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-racist-now/93003/90 "2001-11-18T04:36:00Z")
That’s too bad. Whoever that was was just covering up for his obvious intrusion of your life, I’m pretty sure it was his just bail out plan, his “just pass the blame onto her”, or his “my impulses are not my fault” idea. ---
**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2001, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-racist-now/93003/91 "2001-11-18T04:46:25Z")
Update: Saw him in class. He didn’t say anything but he looked awfully guilty. Methinks he may have seen the error of his way but is too chicken to apologize. At least just yet. ---
**Author:** ![celestina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/258eb7/32.png) [@celestina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/celestina)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2001, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-racist-now/93003/92 "2001-11-18T05:22:44Z")
Well, I’m glad to hear that he’s looking remorseful and not bothering you anymore, racinchikki. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Pammipoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/87869e/32.png) [@Pammipoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pammipoo)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2001, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-racist-now/93003/93 "2001-11-18T07:04:18Z")
A few months ago I met a guy at a gas station after work, and we started talking. He asked for my number so I gave him my cell digits, because that way it’s my own voicemail line, and it has caller id so I don’t have to talk to anyone I don’t want to. He started calling me like 4 times a day…he was obsessive. I stopped calling him back, because he wasn’t my type, and I didn’t want to get involved. The next time I saw him, he asked why I never returned his calls, and I said I didn’t think we were right for each other. “It’s because I’m black. You’re not giving me a chance, you’re judging me by my skin, blah blah blah…” My best friend in the world is black. I’ve dated him. 90% of the guys on my “ohmygod you’re hot” list are black…half the time I’d take a black guy over a white guy without question…I have absolutely no problem with black guys. But this guy had no personality. He still calls me occasionally… ---
**Author:** ![Eternal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@Eternal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eternal)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2001, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-racist-now/93003/94 "2001-11-19T05:42:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Pammipoo \* > \*\* > My best friend in the world is black. I’ve dated him. 90% of the guys on my “ohmygod you’re hot” list are black…half the time I’d take a black guy over a white guy without question…I have absolutely no problem with black guys. But this guy had no personality. He still calls me occasionally… \*\* So you’re saying your racist against whites then? ---
**Author:** ![Eternal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@Eternal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eternal)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2001, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-racist-now/93003/95 "2001-11-19T05:43:38Z")
Before anyone mentions it, yes I realize I just used “your” instead of “you’re” and I am disgusted with myself for making such an error. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2001, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-racist-now/93003/96 "2001-11-19T15:28:58Z")
If I were single, and two guys asked me out, one of whom was tall and blond and had a mustache and the other of whom was about my height and had dark hair and a goatee… I would choose the dark-haired guy. Am I, then, racist against blonds? ---
**Author:** ![Eternal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@Eternal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eternal)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2001, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-racist-now/93003/97 "2001-11-19T15:52:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by racinchikki \* > \*\*If I were single, and two guys asked me out, one of whom was tall and blond and had a mustache and the other of whom was about my height and had dark hair and a goatee… I would choose the dark-haired guy. Am I, then, racist against blonds? \*\* Yes. Yes you are. What have the aryans ever done to anyone to get discriminated against like that? ---
**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2001, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-racist-now/93003/98 "2001-11-19T16:39:21Z")
lol. ---
**Author:** ![Weird\_AL\_Einstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c67d28/32.png) [@Weird\_AL\_Einstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weird_AL_Einstein)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2001, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-racist-now/93003/99 "2001-11-20T00:52:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eternal \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by racinchikki \* > > \*\*If I were single, and two guys asked me out, one of whom was tall and blond and had a mustache and the other of whom was about my height and had dark hair and a goatee… I would choose the dark-haired guy. Am I, then, racist against blonds? \*\* > > Yes. Yes you are. What have the aryans ever done to anyone to get discriminated against like that? \*\* Hey, that’s just the way sexuality works. You like who and what you like, you can’t help it and you can’t change it. And if someone just isn’t attracted to you, it generally isn’t because of something you’ve done. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-racist-now/93003.md?page=4)