Right right. Rightrightright. Right right right… Right.
Right. Gotcha.
Also, how are intentions relevant to the need for sanctions in a case like this?
This. The assumption in this thread that this would turn into some type of disdainful black-face farce is not a valid argument against. It’s making up shit. Yeah, and they might kill some black folk on the way to the party, too, in the frenzied contempt brought about by the wearing of bling. Are you for murder now, SMU? I’m keeping an eye on you.
I’m an old fart, but in my son’s circles, take it from me, white boys love them the hip-hop, and it is not with irony or contempt.
In other words , they are being held responsible for sins they did not commit.
Slee
In still other words, male platypuses have venomous spikes on their hind feet.
Assuming we’re just going with other words, not other words relevant to the discussion.
THIS IS NOT A GOTCHA I AM ACTUALLY ASKING:
Does what you wrote above mean you’ve changed your position (at least a little) as to whether “thug” is a racist term?
Are the people calling this racist disputing the notion that thuggery is not part of the hip-hop culture? Hell, it’s front and center and exploited. It’s often dialed up to a ridiculous degree to to give an artist cred.
Seeing as they admitted it was unintentionally racist and took it down, I don’t see why we’re discussing this.
The flyer invoked negative stereotypes about black people. The party itself seemed to be about dressing up like that negative stereotype instead of being about hip hop.
I do think that, at some point, we’ll get beyond seeing these stereotypes as racism, but we’re not there yet. The only way to get there is to fix our discrimination problem, so that these sorts of things come off as jokes instead of possibly real.
You’d think that the frat would have anticipated the entirely predictable response to this and gone with a different theme. Don’t they follow the news?
“Sound decisionmaking” is not really something one associates with college students. Especially drunk ones in a group.
Ethnic slurs (and misogynistic slurs, and homophobic slurs) have been included in some hip-hop songs (not to mention songs from many other genres) – I don’t think that makes it acceptable to use such slurs, even in a hip-hop themed event.
But it’s a stereotype that’s intentionally filed up within hip-hop. If the frat is guilty of it, the artists themselves are guilty of it. Every artists with gold teeth and chains and talking about abusing bitches and killing cops.
Let’s grant your reasoning here, for the sake of argument.
The next question is–so what? If the frat being guilty of it implies that hip hop artists are also guilty of it, what is your point in highlighting this fact? What effect do you think this has on what anyone should think the answer to the OP’s question is?
Only some of the artists are “guilty” of this kind of language. At various times in hip-hop’s history, including now, I think, this is a pretty small fraction of all of hip-hop music.
First, the cause/effect here is inverted. The fact that thuggery is part of the hip-hop culture means that including thuggery in a portrayal of the hip-hop culture is not racist.
Oh, I agree. But it seems you agree that it is part of the culture. And, like any other Halloween portrayal of a “thing”, it is going to be a somewhat cartoonish version of reality. a caricature of the actual thing. Same for any themed party. No?
Winning points with the disingenuous SJW brigade is like winning an argument on the Internet.
I don’t care if you guys worked this out - awesome helmet, Rune - I tracked this cartoon down and I’m posting it!
“Actually” racist to whom? Under what circumstances do you get to shout down the aggrieved party and tell them that they’re making a big deal over nothing and that they have no right to be offended?
I think I see what you mean, but regardless of what’s actually in the “real” hip-hop culture, it’s still inappropriate to use racial slurs, in my view. Since many see “thug” and related words as a racial slur (or something similar), I think it’s a good idea to avoid such words, and reasonable for a university to sanction their use.
I don’t think this is the end of the world, and I don’t think the fraternity should have been banned for this, and it sounds like they responded reasonably.
The idea that “thug” is a racial slur is hilarious. Is any insult now a slur?