# Why isn't racism "being a jerk"? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [June 20, 2010, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-racism-being-a-jerk/543883 "2010-06-20T17:37:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-racism-being-a-jerk/543883/61 "2010-06-21T14:24:39Z")
> [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](#): > > Thanks for your clarification. I agree that they shouldn’t be censored if of genuine belief or devils advocate. However also I understand why people might find it tiring when certain people choose to keep hijacking threads with demonstratively wrong and offensive opinions. Well, then, they should be dealt with for that pattern of behavior, which is jerkish, rather than for the content of what they’re saying or the nature of their opinions. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-racism-being-a-jerk/543883/62 "2010-06-21T15:34:09Z")
> [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](#): > > So just to clarify, if I were to say: > > Western Europeans have historically been the nastiest dumbest fuckers in the world. Fucking morons responded to a rat spread plague by killing most of the rat controlling cats. Then they went almost a thousand years thinking it’s poor hygiene to bathe, while clustered in flea filled cities flowing down the street with their own shit. Brutal too. Those nasty fuckers had a habit of spreading their diseases around. Then forcing their deluded cult on the disease ravaged natives in brutal savage acts of ethnic cleansing and cultural suppression. Further Western Europeans in recent history have shown themselves to continue to be evil pieces of garbage. Most of the genocidal death camps of WWII were ran by Western Europeans. Why are their genes so defective as to produce such historically evil, stupid, and brutal pieces of shit? > > That wouldn’t be being a jerk? If posted in GQ, I would definitely regard it as being a jerk, and issue a warning for it as being deliberately inflammatory. While there may be some factual information included, there is also a lot of opinion interjected in it. I suspect it wouldn’t fly in GD either (although I am not a GD mod). Even in the Pit, I think it would be edging into hate speech territory. The same information presented in a non-inflammatory way would probably be permissible. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-racism-being-a-jerk/543883/63 "2010-06-22T01:04:53Z")
I heard on the news this week that there are now as many black people in prison in America as there were slaves. We all know, I think, that blacks are treated differently in our judicial system than white people are and that explains a lot. I won’t go beyond that for now. They are treated differently mainly because of very, very ingrained racism all over this country. For the record, I think that the perpetuation of that situation is a crime against humanity. Anytime that we support racists with a place to spread their propoganda, we have encouraged the jerks among us. And “jerk” is a very mild term for someone who is filled with such bile. If they are not jerks, who is? ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-racism-being-a-jerk/543883/64 "2010-06-22T11:10:07Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > If they are not jerks, who is? Words can have different meanings in different contexts. Like in physics, where “work” has a specific formulaic meaning – different from normal every-day usage. So with “jerk.” I think almost all of us would agree that racists are jerks, in common, every-day language. However, on the SDMB, “jerk” means misbehaving, not simply holding minority (or offensive) opinions. Different context. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-racism-being-a-jerk/543883.md?page=3)