# Is this actually racist? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 30, 2015, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-actually-racist/736174 "2015-10-30T13:34:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-actually-racist/736174/21 "2015-10-30T17:41:17Z")
> [@Ontifonce](#): > > This especially. > If they all came dressed as Eminem, P-Diddy, Pitbull, Jay-Z or Will Smith, then it would probably be alright. But I imagine that this will be the opportunity for them to go full idiot bling with gold ropes, pimp outfits, fake locks and “grills” galore. What if they come as Riff-Raff or Paul Wall then? I’m not claiming that the party’s in good taste, doesn’t reinforce stereotypes, or is a smart thing to do. But racist? Not necessarily. It ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-actually-racist/736174/22 "2015-10-30T17:41:19Z")
Even if it’s an overreaction, the party givers HAD to know how the idea would look to a lot of people. So, at best, they were idiots to do it. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-actually-racist/736174/23 "2015-10-30T17:43:19Z")
I don’t think you meant it as a slur, **MrDibble** , but “Jew-bro” kind of sounds like one to me. I don’t think the religion of the fraternity members is relevant here. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-actually-racist/736174/24 "2015-10-30T18:03:10Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > Jew-bros at Southern **Methodist** University?? INCONCEIVABLE!! > > They may be privileged but they ain’t likely to be “Jew-bros”. The Jewish population of Dallas is about 5. From wikipedia: _Dallas’ Jewish population of approximately 45,000 is the largest of any city in Texas_ It all started with the great cattle drive of 1845 led by Joach Ewingstein. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-actually-racist/736174/25 "2015-10-30T19:26:08Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > What’s not to understand? Racism is at the heart of the matter. The fraternity decides to hold a party that they say is simply based on popular culture role playing, but demonstrating they are blind to the problems of racism in society and how they manifest. Someone complains calling the theme of the party racist without considering how they contribute to the racism by appropriating culture on the basis of ‘race’. The school reacts by accepting the claim of racism in the theme without addressing the underlying issue of racism that pollutes our environment. As long as we maintain the pretense of ‘race’ and bolster by creating ‘race’ rules instead of disabusing people of the notion of ‘race’ to begin with we will continue to breed racism and give racists justification for their beliefs. I agree. And this is going to be even more of a problem as the races come closer together and are more comfortable with each other’s culture. Which is ironic. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-actually-racist/736174/26 "2015-10-30T19:32:08Z")
> [@bump](#): > > 😕 > [@VinylTurnip](#): > > 😕 Everyone’s a goddam racist! ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-actually-racist/736174/27 "2015-10-30T20:17:48Z")
Nobody has exclusive rights to “culture”. If a bunch of lily-white Danes or whatever want to stage a goofy, wildly-inaccurate hip-hop party or a bunch of Japanese dress up like retro-future cowboys or a bunch of black people think it’s hilarious to have an “anime” party with symbols that are all wrong… let 'em! Unless you can present proof of copyright or trademark or something, get lost. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-actually-racist/736174/28 "2015-10-30T20:19:02Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Nobody has exclusive rights to “culture”. If a bunch of lily-white Danes or whatever want to stage a goofy, wildly-inaccurate hip-hop party or a bunch of Japanese dress up like retro-future cowboys or a bunch of black people think it’s hilarious to have an “anime” party with symbols that are all wrong… let 'em! > Unless you can present proof of copyright or trademark or something, get lost. You go with that, I’ll go with calling people out for their shitty racist stereotypes when they engage in them, we’ll see who gets traction :). Oh wait. I’m already winning! Go me! ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-actually-racist/736174/29 "2015-10-30T20:20:39Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > You go with that, I’ll go with calling people out for their shitty racist stereotypes when they engage in them, we’ll see who gets traction :). > > Oh wait. I’m already winning! Go me! You’re winning a pointless game, then. It’s like Candyland for hurt feelings. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-actually-racist/736174/30 "2015-10-30T20:30:20Z")
“bring your bling and inner thug”? I mean seriously fraternity, WTF? Yes, it’s racist. I suggest watching the movie ‘Dear White People’, FWIW. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-actually-racist/736174/31 "2015-10-30T20:35:56Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > You’re winning a pointless game, then. It’s like Candyland for hurt feelings. You call those grapes sour all you’d like. ---
**Author:** ![DoggyDunnit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5fc32e/32.png) [@DoggyDunnit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoggyDunnit)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-actually-racist/736174/32 "2015-10-30T20:39:45Z")
What gets me is how many people here in North Texastan and elsewhere are shocked–_shocked, I tell you!_–about this. These are not people who care about people outside of their elite bubble–many of them take pride in shitting all over the “others”. Fraternities and sororities are organizations for, by, and of the spoiled, privileged elite, whose main purpose is perpetuating said privilege behind a façade of “promoting better men/women” and “being pillars of the community”. Show me a fraternity brother or sorority sister that genuinely cares about the less fortunate as more than just photo ops for the twice a year they pretend to be charitable, and I will show you a blizzard in Nairobi. With such privilege comes what I call “privilege blindness”: being so used to living in privilege that you are ignorant of what is offensive to the non-privileged. What these frat clowns are guilty of is a racist version of this. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-actually-racist/736174/33 "2015-10-30T20:42:16Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Everyone’s a goddam racist! Blue Smilies Matter! ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-actually-racist/736174/34 "2015-10-30T20:47:00Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Nobody has exclusive rights to “culture”. If a bunch of lily-white Danes or whatever want to stage a goofy, wildly-inaccurate hip-hop party or a bunch of Japanese dress up like retro-future cowboys or a bunch of black people think it’s hilarious to have an “anime” party with symbols that are all wrong… let 'em! > Unless you can present proof of copyright or trademark or something, get lost. To address this less scornfully: when you talk about copyright or trademark, you’re not so subtly shifting the terms of the debate. You may as well say, “Unless you can show they misspelled words in the invite, get lost.” **Nobody is suggesting there’s a trademark infringement**. Trademark law is completely irrelevant to this debate. Why would you even bring it up? Bringing up trademark here looks an awful lot like an implicit admission that yeah, their behavior is hella racist, and the best thing that can be said for it is that it does actually violate IP law (or, while we’re at it, laws on labelling broccoli as organic, or whatever other totally irrelevant law you’d like to bring up). If that’s not what you meant, perhaps you could clarify. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-actually-racist/736174/35 "2015-10-30T20:49:22Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > You seriously don’t understand the difference between that black rapper using his own image on his album, and a bunch of privileged college Jew-bros doing same? Stay classy, dude. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-actually-racist/736174/36 "2015-10-30T20:56:37Z")
> [@Rune](#): > > They did wear [them](http://www.guderoggrave.dk/images/10/26-27/1027766.jpg). Just earlier, in the bronze age. That’s a low-key helmet. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-actually-racist/736174/37 "2015-10-30T21:02:11Z")
> [@bump](#): > > [http://educationblog.dallasnews.com/2015/10/smu-says-its-looking-into-racially-offensive-fraternity-party-that-was-planned.html/](http://educationblog.dallasnews.com/2015/10/smu-says-its-looking-into-racially-offensive-fraternity-party-that-was-planned.html/) > > Are we now sanctioning groups on their perceived intentions rather than their actual actions? How are intentions relevant to the need for sanction in a case like this? ---
**Author:** ![solosam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@solosam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solosam)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-actually-racist/736174/38 "2015-10-30T21:04:53Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Nobody has exclusive rights to “culture”. If a bunch of lily-white Danes or whatever want to stage a goofy, wildly-inaccurate hip-hop party or a bunch of Japanese dress up like retro-future cowboys or a bunch of black people think it’s hilarious to have an “anime” party with symbols that are all wrong… let 'em! > Unless you can present proof of copyright or trademark or something, get lost. In a perfect world this would be true. The problem is that regardless of their actual intent, they are the inheritors of hundreds of years of racist tradition. They didn’t ask to inherit it, but that doesn’t change the fact that it falls on them anyway and it colors how people view their actions. The fact of the matter is that, historically, whites have used blackface impersonation as a tool to attack blacks and perpetuate stereotypes (even if they told themselves it is all in good fun, as these college kids no doubt do). ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-actually-racist/736174/39 "2015-10-30T21:19:56Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > How are intentions relevant to the need for sanction in a case like this? Considering that the party hasn’t even happened, and all that happened was that the flyers were produced, I’m not so sure it really warrants any sort of sanction. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-actually-racist/736174/40 "2015-10-30T21:25:29Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Considering that the party hasn’t even happened, and all that happened was that the flyers were produced, I’m not so sure it really warrants any sort of sanction. I’m not sure either whether it warrants sanction–that would depend on the exact language of the college’s arrangements with, and rules about, frats. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-actually-racist/736174.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-actually-racist/736174.md?page=3)