Re: Stupid is as stupid does
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Stupidity raises it's dangerous head on TreeBuzz
First of all can anyone tell me how it was determined on this board that the colloquial language written by the original poster is indeed 'Ebonics' ?
Why not any other assumptions as to it's origin?
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It's how I saw it, and nobody claimed otherwise. Perhaps you're right that I jumped to conclusions, but it seems pretty obvious to me.
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To label any one a racist is an extreme label to throw around. The word means to really hurt people because of reasons that are of ones own mind, not what reality mandates. Largely because of fear, ignorance or upbringing.
Why select this label to use on anyone lightly? How can one be sure the label fits? By reading less than a hundred words someone posts on a web board? Are you sure?
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If you actually read my posts, I said the joke carried a racist connotation. I deliberately did not call treedoc a racist, and apologized when he took it differently. Further, I clarified how and why I believed he could be a person who is not a racist and still post a joke that carries racist baggage.
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I can argue logiclly that the interpetation that the words in the post are a translation of Ebonics could reasonably be something else entirely. For example parts of the Catskills Mountains has dialects similar.
When I hear something I am unsure of I do have a gut reaction, as does every human on the planet. But when you write something down, as the original poster did with his/her joke, I would first ask for clarification in my post toward that person. What happened instead was immediate, harmfull, name calling.
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not true. I immediately said I found the superfluous use of dialect that added nothing to the joke offensive. I never called treedoc any names, even after he called me several.
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Would this have happened if both parties where face-to-face?
Is'nt all communication on this site supposed to be based on this?
At that point communication melts down. The original poster got defensive, the name calling got worse. What was accomplished? War? Is war a good way to communicate? Name calling? Should I get a whistle like like the Teacher has on the school ground during recess?
If indeed the original poster IS a racist, was their point of view shown to them to be harmfull? How? Was it constructive? Effective? Surely it is worth the effort to achieve a better world for all of us, dont you think?
Seems to me that fighting is counter productive. Especially when if the original poster is indeed a racist this would be a golden time to prehaps educate and have some real education take place (hopefully). Is this opportunity important enough to take the place of mindless name calling? I think so.
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I have explained my reasons for feeling this was offensive several times in several posts, and will continue to do so as long as anyone cares to discuss it. I'm doing my best to explain why I feel a false statement was made between the lines of an otherwise amusing little joke, and that theere was nothing gained by it and potentially much lost.
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Remember the saying: Let he without sin cast the first stone? Re-read the definition of racist. Have you ever been uncertain of someone because they seemed different? Think about it, is all I am saying.
I wanted to really check out the mind set of the posters participating so I posted a joke that contained the name of a different culture than that of the US. Sure enough the first answer was the same type of stupid (read, intellectually limited) garbage.
I will use the same exact argument as above, How is this joke racist? does not 90% of America's manufacturing take place in other countries? How would it be valid to say latex gloves are made in America when they are not? If I did, could'nt you reasonably say I was racist toward my own genetics? But wait, racism means hating OTHER races, ergo the name used against me has no meaning other than a display of mindless/ hurtfull name calling.
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duh, treedoc posted that just to get my goat (and maybe yours, though I assumed you were trying to get my goat, as well). If you want to perform social experiments, you're gonna have to be a little more subtle than that. But really, there was no reason to say where the latex factory was, now was there? So you were pretty blatantly pushing buttons for effect, not nobly testing the bounds of treebuzzers.
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There is a thought I like to say to myself when I am uncertain of different things (like the threat of Nuclear War, or people hurting each other because they look different)
"May cooler heads prevail"
so hey you all, rein in your selves, I would like to continue to respect you. But this mindless stuff is what makes these web sites uninteresting and non-educational. Might as well watch day time T.V.
Regards,
Frans
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My goal was to preserve this site as a unique place where people respect each other. If you want a free-for-all flame war, AS is waiting.
Keith
