# IMHO **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 12, 2000, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imho/25311 "2000-07-12T14:13:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Needs2know](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5e925/32.png) [@Needs2know](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Needs2know)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2000, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imho/25311/1 "2000-07-12T14:13:32Z")
For a place that is supposed to be about “fighting ignorance”… The SDMB seems to have it’s share of bigots. Needs2know ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2000, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imho/25311/2 "2000-07-12T14:30:12Z")
Please help out this ignorant poster with some links . Thx. ---
**Author:** ![Ptahlis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a8b319/32.png) [@Ptahlis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ptahlis)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2000, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imho/25311/3 "2000-07-12T14:47:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Needs2know \* > \*\*For a place that is supposed to be about “fighting ignorance”… The SDMB seems to have it’s share of bigots. > > Needs2know \*\* …and gun control fanatics, and abortion-rights proponents, and bleeding-heart liberals, and fundie Christians, and atheists, and New-Age spiritualists, and Mormons, and Jews, and Marxists, and capitalists, and Catholics, and so forth. We have heterosexuals, homosexuals, bisexuals, _former_ homosexuals, and apparent homophobes. We have Native American, African American, Irish, Australian, Canadian, British, and who knows how many other -ish and -an posters. We have our share of True Believers, Skeptics, and True Believers who are skeptical of the Skeptics’ skepticism. Not to mention the fence-sitters who see the grass being just as green on both sides. We got our easily-inflamed-reactionary posters, our master-of-the-one-liner posters, and our voice-of-tact-and-reason posters. There are flirters and flamers and ass-kissers and trolls. We have newbies on the one side, regs on the other, and a whole mess of folks that ain’t neither one. There are also probably hundreds of thing I haven’t mentioned. In short (I know, too late) we have a whole cornucopia of people and viewpoints and styles on the board, and if you are seeing too many of one stripe, maybe you are looking in all the same places and visiting the same arguments over and over again. After all, without the ignorance, what would we fight? ---
**Author:** ![AM\_PM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/db5fbb/32.png) [@AM\_PM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AM_PM)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2000, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imho/25311/4 "2000-07-12T15:00:13Z")
Yes, I know I’m ugly, but it’s only a benign tumor. I’ll get it removed when my HMO waiting period is up. ---
**Author:** ![DarbyV](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@DarbyV](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarbyV)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2000, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imho/25311/5 "2000-07-12T18:04:49Z")
Fence sitter here. Nice to meet ya! ---
**Author:** ![Satan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Satan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satan)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2000, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imho/25311/6 "2000-07-12T18:39:52Z")
I know a couple of racists on this board. As long as they are not trolling (the trolls don’t last long - remember the KKK troll posse? :rolleyes:) I treat them with the same respect I do people who are more tolerant of our differences. I’ll just disagree with them on a few select issues as you might expect, but this is no different than disagreeing with anyone over anything else. * * * Yer pal, Satan _I HAVE BEEN SMOKE-FREE FOR: Three months, three days, 16 hours, 39 minutes and 36 seconds. 3787 cigarettes not smoked, saving $473.47. Life saved: 1 week, 6 days, 3 hours, 35 minutes._ ---
**Author:** ![Falcon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/49beb7/32.png) [@Falcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Falcon)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2000, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imho/25311/7 "2000-07-12T18:53:47Z")
Ya know, there’s a Rush quote appropriate to this, but I’ll refrain from posting it. 🙂 And Ptahlis? BEAUTIFULLY said. ---
**Author:** ![FreakFreely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/48db29/32.png) [@FreakFreely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FreakFreely)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2000, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imho/25311/8 "2000-07-12T19:11:10Z")
Yes, the SDMB is about “fighting ignorance”. The thing is, everybody has a different idea of what ignorance is. Just because we both have solid facts to support our case, doesn’t mean our facts will be the same. Besides, in my opinion, being a bigot isn’t ignorant. It’s stupid. And there’s a big difference. ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imho/25311/9 "2000-07-13T09:45:35Z")
> [@](#): > > Besides, in my opinion, being a bigot isn’t ignorant. It’s stupid. And there’s a big difference. Taken at face value, that statement would seem rather Yogi Berra-esque, but I know what you mean, Freaky… well said. Needs2Know, I’m curious… exactly what is a “bigot” to you? Not that I want to seem like I’m attacking your statement, but you left it VERY open-ended, and practically inviting of probing questions. After all, someone that you may consider a “bigot”, I may consider to be the perfect model of humanity. ---
**Author:** ![Needs2know](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5e925/32.png) [@Needs2know](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Needs2know)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imho/25311/10 "2000-07-13T12:34:41Z")
I think you know Spoofee what a bigot is…whether or not you consider yourself one is a different story. Do like most people on this board do look it up in Webster’s. Needs2know ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imho/25311/11 "2000-07-13T16:05:49Z")
Wow. _Some_body had their Cheerios pissed in, it seems. Howsabout this, **Needs2know** : I am fundamentally bigoted against people who make blanket, incendiary statements without providing examples, evidence, or a definition of terms. There are some bigots here, by almost anyone’s definitions. What type of bigotry are you thinking of? ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imho/25311/12 "2000-07-13T16:14:22Z")
And since you’d rather complain than pay others some courtesy, here’s your homework for you, **Needs** : > [@](#): > > **bigot** (bîg´et) _noun_ > One who is strongly partial to one’s own group, religion, race, or politics and is intolerant of those who differ. > > [French, from Old French.] > > _ **Word History** _: A bigot may have more in common with God than one might think. Legend has it that Rollo, the first duke of Normandy, refused to kiss the foot of the French king Charles III, uttering the phrase _bi got_, his borrowing of the assumed Old English equivalent of our expression _by God_. Although this story is almost certainly apocryphal, it is true that _bigot_ was used by the French as a term of abuse for the Normans, but not in a religious sense. Later, however, the word, or very possibly a homonym, was used abusively in French for the Beguines, members of a Roman Catholic lay sisterhood. From the 15th century on, Old French _bigot_ meant “an excessively devoted or hypocritical person.” _Bigot_ is first recorded in English in 1598 with the sense “a superstitious hypocrite.” _The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition_. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1992. Now then, if you have something to say, \*_Needs2know_, please say it. If not, give it a rest. ---
**Author:** ![Needs2know](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5e925/32.png) [@Needs2know](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Needs2know)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imho/25311/13 "2000-07-13T16:45:09Z")
The nigger haters, Christian bashers and homophobes on this board know who they are, just wanted to see how many other pucker ups would come out of the woodwork to defend them and kiss their asses. Guess you lined up for that one Andros. Now put your lips together… Needs2know ---
**Author:** ![Ptahlis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a8b319/32.png) [@Ptahlis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ptahlis)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imho/25311/14 "2000-07-13T16:54:54Z")
Needs2Know: If you want to accuse somebody of something particular why don’t you just do so? Blanket accusations and veiled “You know who you are,” statements are not only lame, but cowardly. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imho/25311/15 "2000-07-13T17:00:37Z")
> [@](#): > > The nigger haters, Christian bashers and homophobes… So, the Jew-haters, the Paddy-bashers, and Baptists are okay in your book? How 'bout those evil carnivorous PETA detractors? Maybe we should call out all the cat fanciers that dislike dogs, too. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imho/25311/16 "2000-07-13T17:01:17Z")
Oh, you’re so cool. I wish I could be just like you. Only if I were, I think _I’d_ at least manage to take my meds once in a while. That way, I wouldn’t come across as a _total fucking nutjob_. But then, I suppose deliberately being a complete idiot is part of your charm. I wouldn’t want to take that away from you. In other words, hon, being an asshole in a good cause is still being an asshole. Or in still other words, don’t accuse someone without justification. (Although I did get a big laugh out of being called a “nigger-hater.” That was cute, and proves that you are truly talking out of your ass.) And in still more words, fuck off, dumbshit. xxoo -andros- ---
**Author:** ![Needs2know](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5e925/32.png) [@Needs2know](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Needs2know)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imho/25311/17 "2000-07-13T17:58:10Z")
Ok then…you tell me how funny it is to start a thread about a couple of supposed “sissy guys” getting into a little bitch slap fight…the thread “Who would win Richard Simmons or Christoper Lowell”…or what about the poster that makes some ignorant statement in the “Slavery is over Get Over it thread” about them all going back to Africa. (Another poster actually had to tell them it had been tried before. Never mind that I heard that kind of ignorant shit my whole life living in the South.) Give me a break here! Not to mention that in the same thread you’ve got silly people stating that black people do go to prison more often! Gee whiz! Guess you have access to the internet but didn’t bother to read the report that came out recently (and was highly publicized) that said there are more black people in jail because the predominately white judicial system is stacked against them. Naw! they should just GET OVER IT! Or maybe the niggers can quit complaining when the Jews stop whining about the holocaust. (Another post in that thread) See where that kind of stuff leads! Take a look at some of that and see the kind of brilliant conversation these threads inspire! I really don’t care what some of you people think of me. I have never professed to be an expert on anything important. But I do know a bunch of “closet bigots” when I see them. I can spot a self important asshole a mile away. So called normal, middle of the road, educated people who don’t have any compassion or understanding for anyone who is different than them. Terrified that the white, heterosexual male might loose his grip on world domination. People who are secretly scared to death that someone with a different skin color, religion or sexual orientation might destroy their way of life. And what kills me is they use all their educated eloquence to make their sad little fears sound justified! Would any of them ever give an inch and admit that we are all just people and we all have something worthwhile and valuable to offer. Naw! There’s even a homosexual on this board that is defending the ridicule of what he thinks are fellow homosexuals. Just because he says they haven’t “come out of the closet”. What are they supposed do, a special episode like Ellen? That did her a world of good didn’t it, she was has-been by the next season. I don’t care if Christopher Lowell and Richard Simmons have got flames shooting out of their asses, they are people and their sexual orientation is their business. It doesn’t have anything to do with the job they are doing. Damn! If they were deaf, blind or handicapped in any way would we be making fun of them then? Lighten up they tell me, we’re just poking a little fun at a couple of old queens. Guess he’d be singing a different tune if the guy poking fun had a shaved head, swastika tattoo and a half dozen buddies with baseball bats just like him laughing along too. Ha! Ha! Jokes on you Queenie! Want to hear more or is that enough for you? When people don’t understand each other that’s one thing. Let’s fight ignorance and talk about it. But I’ve never seen a single asshole on this board admit they were ever wrong about anything, even when they were. And I’ve seen other posters of presumed good intelligence que up and defend them because we’re all intitled to our opinions. What that tired old saying…Opinions are like assholes and everybody’s got one. Well from one asshole to another, this one is mine, there are some ignorant asshole bigots on this board! Needs2know ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imho/25311/18 "2000-07-13T18:16:19Z")
> [@](#): > > Want to hear more or is that enough for you? No, actually. It’s not enough. I’d like to see some links to this behavior so I can read it for myself, as **yojimbo** asked you yesterday morning. I’d like to hear an honest response to the very eloquent, honest, and well-thought post from **Ptahlis**. I’d like to hear an apology. **Needs2know** , I understand your frustration and anger. I’ve lived in the south too, so I understand where you’re coming from in that regard. And I’ve dealt more directly with hatred and bigotry than you realize. One of the worst thing about people hiding behind hatred is their propensity for cowardice. They often hide behind rhetoric without actually providing substance. I, and apparantly others, would like you to provide substance. Give us some citations, please. You mentioned the “Slavery” thread, that’s great. I appreciate it. Now how about the other references? It never pays to fight hatred with hatred. It never pays to fight the reactionary with the reactionary. And it does not pay to insult and hurt someone (oh, me for example) as a reaction to being hurt. You’re angry and frustrated, that’s fine. I don’t give a rat’s ass. But I _will not_ stand for your attacking me as a surrogate for those you’re really mad at. You’d better walk to the fucking QuickieMart and back in my boots before you start telling _ME_ that I’m a racist or a homophobe or a Christian basher. It’s not so much who you bash, honey, it’s how. And right now you’re sounding just as knee-jerk reactionary as the worst Klan member. (St. Wally, give me strength.) ---
**Author:** ![VaHermit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ed655f/32.png) [@VaHermit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VaHermit)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imho/25311/19 "2000-07-13T18:44:39Z")
And the voice of the south speaks again. Ya know what, Needs2know? You could save yourself a lot of time if you would just write one long, ignorant rant about the flag and racist and how you know it all because you were hatched in the south etc…etc. and then just cut and paste it every so often. All of your posts sound about the same anyway, so I’m sure nobody would notice. Have a nice day. ---
**Author:** ![Needs2know](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5e925/32.png) [@Needs2know](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Needs2know)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imho/25311/20 "2000-07-13T19:10:28Z")
I didn’t say you were a bigot. But you did in this instance like so many others come on with that oh so reasonable and tired line about site me this and site me that… Ok I’ll tell you this… Mr. Zambezi is a bigot and won’t admit it. (There are others, some who’s names I don’t recall. I don’t normally pay much attention to people’s names, even when I should. Don’t read sig lines either.) He’ll argue to the death that he isn’t but if you pull up his posts you will find him arguing all the time that black people are being given special treatment and they just want more. He thinks they just want a hand out from us white folks and don’t even appreciate it when they get one. Did he come right out and voice his opinion in just this way…Hell no! He’s a college educated man and is very good at making what he calls rational arguments. He’s very well spoken. He’s a little like a well schooled politician. But I’ve been picking up on these kind of sutble and not so sutble attitudes all my life. I know when someone is predjudiced. I also know that he probably doesn’t know many black people or poor people personally. I do, but even if I didn’t I would still be able to see that if they do have a chip on their shoulder it’s because they are human and not everyone is strong enough to rise above their upbringing and their short comings. The deck has been stacked against them for so long it’s no wonder many of them have decided to give up. But if you pay attention to the “tone” of his posts you’ll figure out that he resents “us” helping them. He doesn’t think they “deserve” a helping hand. It’s there, and it isn’t a far stretch to read it between the lines. I’m not educated and I’m certainly not well spoken. Rather I’m a shoot from the hip kind of person, just a plain spoken Southern girl with no real education. Most of the time I can’t argue with many of the posters here because I haven’t read textbooks and studies or spent my precious free time debating with intellectuals, but there are some things I know to be true simply because I’ve lived a few years. Hatred, fear and misunderstanding are the things that keep us apart. You don’t have to be a brain surgeon to figure that out. You don’t have to have a college education to figure out it’s a short distance from making fun of a couple of sissy guys on TV to waiting outside of a gay bar on Friday night so you can beat up a couple of fags. Do you understand what I’m trying to say here? If we’re enlightened, if we’re fighting ignorance here then we needn’t help it along by making little jokes about each other’s differences. But every time I say this on this board I get a ration of shit from just about everybody. Even the people who are enlightened and tolerant and don’t participate. I don’t understand why. I’m really not on a high horse here, honestly. And you are right, I got frustrated when I saw that silly, juvenile post about “Richard Simmons and Christopher Lowell”. Don’t people have anything better to do with their time, and their good minds? I apologize if I offended you personally Andros. I do however get tired of always having to site this and site that…look at some of the headings on the threads. That’s all you have to do. Many threads are started here just to ridicule one group of people or the other. (the Christians are a favorite target) That’s not fighting ignorance, that’s buying into it. Needs2know [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imho/25311.md?page=2)