The "Is This Racist?" Thread

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Re: The "Is This Racist?" Thread

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Re: The "Is This Racist?" Thread

Post by neglet »

Do you really need to ask with that one?
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Re: The "Is This Racist?" Thread

Post by The Swollen Goiter of God »

I don't really need to ask with any of them. I know the people posting them.
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Re: The "Is This Racist?" Thread

Post by Dalty »

The National Geographic is a fine publication. Are you sure some of these people have ever read it? Does it not offend Creationist sensibilities with, you know, proven science and shit?
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Re: The "Is This Racist?" Thread

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Re: The "Is This Racist?" Thread

Post by The Swollen Goiter of God »

Here's a "Special Issue" currently on shelves:

http://shop.nationalgeographic.com/ngs/ ... ue?npd&npd&

If anything, I guess it's a potential point of amusement that the above meme creator is (probably) unaware of the magazine's change in stewardship.
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Re: The "Is This Racist?" Thread

Post by Space Tycoon »

Love to prove that, wouldn't you? Get your name in the National Geographic!
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Re: The "Is This Racist?" Thread

Post by Dalty »

I'm not going to waste my time arguing with a man who is lining up to be a hot lunch.
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Re: The "Is This Racist?" Thread

Post by Space Tycoon »

There are, of course, those who would point to the many times Bush's visage was compared to that of a smirking primate. Fair point.

Ah, but there's that whole context thing again. "Monkey" and "Ape" are frequently used as derogatory terms for black people, and so we cannot help but question the motives of the meme generator here.
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Re: The "Is This Racist?" Thread

Post by Dalty »

It's also a cheap shot. If you don't like the Obama's and what they stand for then fine. Then again I am guessing political discourse wasn't high on the agenda.
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Re: The "Is This Racist?" Thread

Post by Space Tycoon »

Yup. And hey, no-one appreciates lowbrow humour more than I. But for some, this is as close as they get to that political discourse.
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Re: The "Is This Racist?" Thread

Post by Adam54 »

I vote no on this one. A big, loud, no. Not racist. But it's 2016 and this was on a college campus, so of course some think it is. http://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/n ... feel-safe/
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Re: The "Is This Racist?" Thread

Post by Dalty »

Fucking pussy ass students with their fucking safe spaces and trigger warnings. You are supposed to go to university to broaden your horizons which may include learning to deal with points of view different from your own. Generation of pansy, mollycoddled failures in for a massive shock when they enter the world of work....... or the ruination of all of us if they carry this through as tomorrow's leaders.
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Re: The "Is This Racist?" Thread

Post by Adam54 »

They were talking about that on Bill Maher's show this week and one of the panelists made that exact point. Joining the workforce is the only thing that'll cure them of this, so long as the courts don't start taking their side when they sue their employer for some absurd reason.

I'm just baffled as to what caused this in the first place. My freshman year of college was only 12 years ago, so I'm not THAT far removed from living on campus and whatnot, but I don't remember the flowers being this delicate even that recently. Dodged a bullet, I suppose, but what the hell happened??
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Re: The "Is This Racist?" Thread

Post by Jubbers »

My last semester of teaching was the first where I got bad evaluations. Most of these were related to a situation beyond my control (the main section instructor giving an A to a student who was always absent and had no good excuse), but one of them was because one music video I showed them featured a brief second of someone flipping a bird, and that was SO offensive.
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Re: The "Is This Racist?" Thread

Post by Jubbers »

Specifically:



This exact copy, too, which was even blurrier blown up on the projector.
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Re: The "Is This Racist?" Thread

Post by The Swollen Goiter of God »

I feel I should point out that Emory is a private university. Private university students, on the whole, are more sheltered than public university students.
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Re: The "Is This Racist?" Thread

Post by The Swollen Goiter of God »

I have a friend who got her doctorate from Emory. I got the impression from her that there was nowhere else in the Deep South anywhere near as sheltered or liberal. It's sort of amazing, in a way. When you consider how it's surrounded on all sides by the Deep South, I mean.

Maybe the Emory students are more protective of their space for that reason. It's their only escape from the world around them. Maybe they're afraid that allowing the door to crack even just a little will send the rest of the Deep South rushing in.
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Re: The "Is This Racist?" Thread

Post by Adam54 »

What year would that have been, Jubbers? I'm trying to pinpoint the start of this phenomenon.

I think you're on to something regarding the private schools, Goiter. I'm taking a class at one this semester and there's a noticeable difference between there and the public school I graduated from. When they send out crime alerts, for example, they take great pains to not identify the race of the person accused of the crime unless they absolutely have to. Even then, it comes with a warning, so it's either "A man between 18 and 20 is accused of _____" or "A black man between 18 and 20 is accused of ____, and this information is only included because it is specific to this event and is not meant to cast suspicion upon all black men."

Or something to that effect. It's absurd, but somebody cried "racism" at their crime alerts a while back I guess so they had no choice.
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Re: The "Is This Racist?" Thread

Post by Jubbers »

That was spring 2013.
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Re: The "Is This Racist?" Thread

Post by Mal Shot First »

Dalty wrote:Fucking pussy ass students with their fucking safe spaces and trigger warnings. You are supposed to go to university to broaden your horizons which may include learning to deal with points of view different from your own. Generation of pansy, mollycoddled failures in for a massive shock when they enter the world of work....... or the ruination of all of us if they carry this through as tomorrow's leaders.
I understand your frustration about things like trigger warnings, and I've struggled with them myself (i.e., as a concept), especially in the context of college campuses. Like you said, a university is supposed to be a place that opens you up to the world and expands your range of experiences. It should not only challenge you academically, but also personally.

At the same time, though, I can't say what makes other people feel offended, unsafe, or threatened. Despite the fact that my family fled war and persecution, I think I came away relatively untraumatized compared to some other people who went through potentially traumatic experiences. And that's the tough part - you might not understand why certain things offend certain people unless you have an insight into their experiences.

Personally, I wouldn't necessarily consider the act of writing "Trump 2016" on sidewalks and steps offensive or threatening, but it also depends on context. Considering the inflammatory things Trump has said during his campaign, it could be seen as a provocation to write it on the sidewalks in a predominantly Latino neighborhood, for example. Similarly, as Goiter explained, if Emory represents a kind of sanctuary for kids who look for an escape from an otherwise right-wing conservative and politically reactionary environment, it wouldn't be all that far-fetched to see the writing as a sort of threat.

Again, I'm often as annoyed at these types of reactions as you are because they seem to me like overreactions, but I also try to consider whether I am coming at it from a relatively privileged point of view.
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Re: The "Is This Racist?" Thread

Post by Mal Shot First »

Dalty wrote:Fucking pussy ass students with their fucking safe spaces and trigger warnings. You are supposed to go to university to broaden your horizons which may include learning to deal with points of view different from your own. Generation of pansy, mollycoddled failures in for a massive shock when they enter the world of work....... or the ruination of all of us if they carry this through as tomorrow's leaders.
Looks like Stephen Fry has a few things to say about this stuff, too.

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Re: The "Is This Racist?" Thread

Post by The Swollen Goiter of God »

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Re: The "Is This Racist?" Thread

Post by Dalty »

It's funny because it's true.
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Re: The "Is This Racist?" Thread

Post by The Swollen Goiter of God »

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People commenting on a Facebook upload of the above appear to have a variety of opinions regarding whether or not the above is racist:

https://www.facebook.com/TheComedyCockp ... =3&theater

It seems a number of people think that it's funny regardless of whether or not it's racist. The people who find it funny and I probably disagree a lot about what's funny and what's not.
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