# Pitting Max\_S

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-max-s/959074>\
**Category:** The BBQ Pit\
**Created:** [February 8, 2022, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-max-s/959074 "2022-02-08T00:26:15Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 16

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**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\
**Post date:** [March 19, 2022, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-max-s/959074/301 "2022-03-19T08:33:30Z")

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> [@Superdude](#):
>
> I’m a straight, white make, and _I’d_ be disturbed if someone sent me graphic images of the Klan.

Same.

If I was a **Black** male, though, I’d probably be more than disturbed. I’d be fearful of my safety.

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**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\
**Post date:** [March 19, 2022, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-max-s/959074/302 "2022-03-19T08:40:56Z")

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Well, in the interest of full disclosure, my fiancée is Black. We haven’t discussed _this_ particular incident, but I know that she’d be more than disturbed by it if it were her.

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**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\
**Post date:** [March 19, 2022, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-max-s/959074/303 "2022-03-19T09:46:06Z")

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If this were the first incident of racism in this lawmaker’s life it would certainly be upsetting, but not rise to the level of trauma, but it isn’t. It’s the accumulated incidents of racism across her lifetime that make this a traumatic event.

We’ve had an analogous discussion here about poison. Fifty people each place a sub lethal dose of poison in someone’s drink, and when they die shrug and say “The dose I placed in there couldn’t have hurt anyone, I certainly didn’t kill them.” That’s obvious bullshit, all fifty people killed the person, not just the one who added the final dose or the one that made it lethal.

The person who sent the Klan imagery is hiding behind the thousands of other racial insults the lawmaker had to endure and claiming that “The one I sent certainly couldn’t have injured her, there’s a lot worse things out there.” Well, too bad, it was abusive and grounds for legal relief, and defending it is racist.

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**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\
**Post date:** [March 24, 2022, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-max-s/959074/304 "2022-03-24T16:23:49Z")

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> [@puzzlegal](#):
>
> And yet, you’ve never noticed that Black people are upset by being presenting with graphic imagery of the Klan?

I can’t say that I’ve actually seen a Black person presented with graphic imagery of the Klan outside of those couple weeks in school where we covered Jim Crow. There was a big shock that summer when police officers in a nearby town were revealed to be KKK members, and those are the only two times I actually spoke to Black people (or anyone, really) about the KKK. The topic was upsetting, but I would not say it even approached emotional distress.

Add in the conversations I’ve had on the dope, and the 2020 incident of a Klansman driving into a crowd of George Floyd protestors, and you are looking at all the times I have ever even thought about the KKK.

ETA: From my experience - at least before my conversations here - I have no basis to assume a Black person, shown an image of a Klansman, would be so shocked as to ignore the context in which the image was used, and suffer from extreme emotional distress. It is very much unlike my experience with physical hits and the pain that follows. In the latter case I have ample experience that tells me a person will always feel pain if you hit them. (We aren’t talking about whether it is impolite or insensitive or mean to show a Black person such a message - those rules are, in this case, taught rather than learned.)

~Max

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**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\
**Post date:** [March 24, 2022, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-max-s/959074/305 "2022-03-24T16:27:19Z")

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> [@Max\_S](#):
>
> …and you are looking at all the times I have ever even thought about the KKK.

You sure have a whole lot of opinions about something you’ve barely ever even _thought about._

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**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\
**Post date:** [March 24, 2022, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-max-s/959074/306 "2022-03-24T16:28:32Z")

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> [@Miller](#):
>
> You sure have a whole lot of opinions about something you’ve barely ever even _thought about._

That’s how trolls operate. Even extremely verbose trolls.

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**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\
**Post date:** [March 24, 2022, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-max-s/959074/307 "2022-03-24T16:38:53Z")

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To be fair, that’s pretty much how the entire internet works.

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**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\
**Post date:** [March 24, 2022, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-max-s/959074/308 "2022-03-24T16:39:51Z")

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> [@Bill\_Door](#):
>
> We’ve had an analogous discussion here about poison. Fifty people each place a sub lethal dose of poison in someone’s drink, and when they die shrug and say “The dose I placed in there couldn’t have hurt anyone, I certainly didn’t kill them.” That’s obvious bullshit, all fifty people killed the person, not just the one who added the final dose or the one that made it lethal.
> 
> The person who sent the Klan imagery is hiding behind the thousands of other racial insults the lawmaker had to endure and claiming that “The one I sent certainly couldn’t have injured her, there’s a lot worse things out there.” Well, too bad, it was abusive and grounds for legal relief, and defending it is racist.

The perpetrators in the former example should only be liable if there was a) intention to cause harm, or b) recklessness. Same with the latter.

~Max

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**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\
**Post date:** [March 24, 2022, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-max-s/959074/309 "2022-03-24T19:22:22Z")

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> [@Max\_S](#):
>
> There was a big shock that summer when police officers in a nearby town were revealed to be KKK members, and those are the only two times I actually spoke to Black people (or anyone, really) about the KKK. The topic was upsetting, but I would not say it even approached emotional distress.

I’m glad you got through that okay, Max. You can’t imagine how worried about you we all were.

:rolleyes:

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**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2022, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-max-s/959074/310 "2022-03-25T00:00:09Z")

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> [@Max\_S](#):
>
> From my experience - at least before my conversations here - I have no basis to assume a Black person, shown an image of a Klansman, would be so shocked as to ignore the context in which the image was used, and suffer from extreme emotional distress.

This is because you’re a racist.

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**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2022, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-max-s/959074/311 "2022-03-25T05:20:49Z")

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> [@Max\_S](#):
>
> The topic was upsetting, but I would not say it even approached emotional distress.

Well, as long as we’re centering the White-Asian feelings in all this, that’s all good.

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**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2022, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-max-s/959074/312 "2022-03-25T07:43:08Z")

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I’m genuinely curious how it is that today any adult who grew up in the United States of America and presumably was educated in accredited schools can have heard so little about the KKK.

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**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2022, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-max-s/959074/313 "2022-03-25T08:45:03Z")

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Hard work and dedication?

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**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2022, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-max-s/959074/314 "2022-03-25T09:55:00Z")

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He’s a troll.

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**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2022, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-max-s/959074/315 "2022-03-25T13:13:10Z")

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Now now, it’s entirely possible that he’s _sincerely_ racist.

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**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2022, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-max-s/959074/316 "2022-03-25T13:39:25Z")

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> [@Monty](#):
>
> I’m genuinely curious how it is that today any adult who grew up in the United States of America and presumably was educated in accredited schools can have heard so little about the KKK.

It’s about to become a lot more common. Don’t you know? It’s against the law now in some states to teach things that might make white kids feel bad. Teaching that white men in white robes terrorized… really anyone who wasn’t a straight up WASP at one time or another, but mostly black people of color could make those white kids sad.

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**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\
**Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-max-s/959074/317 "2022-03-30T20:20:37Z")

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And our debating champion concludes in the judicial recusal thread that if you can’t argue in bad faith in Great Debates, we’ll then what’s the point?

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**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\
**Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-max-s/959074/318 "2022-03-30T20:23:40Z")

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That’s not at all what I wrote.

~Max

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**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\
**Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-max-s/959074/319 "2022-03-30T20:25:52Z")

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See how annoying it is when people misrepresent what you say?

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**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\
**Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-max-s/959074/320 "2022-03-30T20:29:34Z")

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Generally it’s not annoying. But in your case I admit it.

~Max

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