Not doubting you, but can you give me the time stamps for any? I just don’t remember.
I’ll have to do that later (can’t watch videos right now). It wasn’t that hard, though – I just watched it through a few times, and counted up the catcallers who looked white. If I remember right, about three to five were definitely (or almost definitely – faces are blurred out) white, and two or three others may have been white.
If you have time, try it and count them up. There aren’t so many catcallers that it’s difficult at all.
I just didn’t see any that looked white.
But all whites look alike to me anyway. [sup]*[/sup]
[sup]*[/sup]Joke! I joke, because I love you gringos.
LOL, no, it’s certainly not “an effective rebuttal of the parody’s point”. I was actually trying to lightheartedly point out that at this point, we are not actually pitting the video or the men in it. The topic has been shifted to a discussion/argument/whatever about rhetorical vehicles, which I believe is a silly thread hijack.
Your mileage, whether free candy van or armored candy vehicle, may vary. 
Regards,
-Bouncer-
PS: In the spirit of the dope, here’s what actually happens if people DO find a free candy van in their neighborhood. Neighbors concerned about strange van | KSL.com
Just for you, I watched it again with pen and paper (from this link).
Here were the certain or near-certain white catcallers: :19, :40, :41, 1:39, and 1:41. There were additional possible white catcallers at :16 and other times. So at least five white catcallers. I also counted the total catcallers – it was around 22. If we wanted to get an even better breakdown, we could count up the ethnicity of everyone seen in the video to see what the total population demographics were in the neighborhoods she walked in, but I’m not going to do that.
So we’re placing “Have a nice evening,” (0:40) into the category of catcalling?
I mean, I can see how it would stack up against the entire experience, but I’m still reluctant to call it “catcalling.”
In this instance, yes. That was one weird “have a nice evening”.
But if you want to call it something else, fine. It’s still unwanted, unnecessary, and has the potential to make a woman feel uncomfortable.
But, by that logic, a lot of things have the potential to make a person feel uncomfortable. Being passed in traffic, being asked how your parents are, etc.
Multiple women have said that unsolicited greetings from strange men sometime make them feel uncomfortable. Since it costs me nothing to stop doing it, I’ve stopped doing it, and I encourage others to do the same.
It may be different in small towns or other areas.
You have to compare the potential positive against the potential negative. Why should anyone want to tell some random stranger to have a nice day? If there’s some non-zero chance that it makes them feel frightened or uncomfortable, it’s hard to see what positive might outweigh this.
It’s not comparable to passing someone in traffic or asking someone you know how their parents are, because their are reasons to do those things.
I want to clarify that I’ve never been offended or even bothered by random “good morning”, “hi there”, “nice day”, etc. from strangers. In fact, I enjoy talking to people, I enjoy being sociable, and I typically respond back cheerfully. Often I’m the person who is doing the random “good mornings”, it’s just that few folks feel threatened by women doing that (annoyed maybe, but hardly threatened).
My post back about 5 pages was with respect to the propositions, catcalls, or “good mornings” with just that inflection, while staring at my breasts, etc.
I don’t know how to argue for this but it’s so true I have to at least say it. That “have a nice evening” was utterly, unmistakably creepy. It was completely inappropriate, and communicated nothing pleasant.
Buenos Aires, which is checksWikipediarealquick 89% white, is a hotbed of incessant catcalling. So is Rome, which is - at the very least - 90% white.
Slightly off-topic:
I’m not sure what analogy you’re making with this, but I just saw a report that claims that the whole Alex at Target meme was socially engineered as an experiment.
The point was to try to prove how easy it is to make anyone’s picture go viral especially if the intended audience is teenage girls. Some guy had his twitter followers re-tweet the picture to create the viral image.
I just remembered a picture which is relevant to this thread: American Girl In Italy. Taken in 1951, it shows a Ninalee Craig walking briskly holding her shawl against her body, while more than a dozen men leer at her and some are calling out to her. One of the men closest to her is grabbing his crotch.
Coincidentally, that photo is similar to the video in another way. The Craig and photographer were friends who decided to show what it was like to be a single woman in Florence. Craig says she didn’t feel harassed. However, the feeling of being harassed is subjective. Other woman may feel harassed in that situation even if she didn’t. Plus, I don’t get the sense that those men are really taking into account the feelings of Craig. They would probably act that way regardless of what she felt.
I’m not defending it as neutral. I’m just objecting to characterization it as “catcalling.”
Arson and graffiti are both unwelcome damage to property, but that doesn’t transform spray paint into flame.
Given the unique weirdness of this particular “have a nice evening!”, I think it’s fair to call it catcalling. Maybe it’s also fair to call it something else – ‘catcalling’ is not a precise term.
This. I’m kind of shy but even I say hello to strangers I pass on the street. I am not, as a general rule, offended by friendly greetings.
It’s aaaaalll about the delivery.
How YOU doin?
Next time try it with your pants on.
Regards,
Shodan