Topic awaiting preservation: Why I love satire

http://www.blackpeopleloveus.com/

[This message has been edited by Raptor (edited 03-24-2004).]

Someone posted that here a while ago. Very clever, and I bet it makes a lot of people who are insecure about their feelings about blacks very uncomfortable. Here in the US, the black white divide is a somewhat unique one due to our history with slavery.

The site concept I've seen in other venues before... what I find interesting to read is all the letters they've gotten. It's funny to see people that are so confused by the site.

This pretty much sums it up:
"...I'm not bigging up any racist shit so fuck you guys if your racist, and keep up the good work if your black (it's still confusing)."

People are so wrapped up in racial definitions and being "P.C." that they can't formulate an opinion without figuring out if it's the "safe" side of the fence to be on. You're right Bugs (bet you never thought you'd hear me say that ) the people that would have the most problem are those that have deep seated insecurities. I think the "black white divide" is only the flavor that America has... the division of people by an obvious trait is pretty universal I think. Humans are like that.

The faults we find in other are often the faults we can't see in ourselves.

$0.02

p.s. I can see the satire in most of the "testimonials"... I have to say, this one made me laugh... it's just too random.

"Sally uses a washcloth in the shower and scrubs herself!!"


It's only after we've lost everything...
That we're free to do anything...

The most interesting thing about that site was the fact that they were somehow justified if they were black, yet they were racist if they were white (as MindBender alluded to). So only black people are allowed to make fun of white people for being racist? Uh, OK. Talk about hang ups...

I was so amazed at the number of letters from individuals that just could not grasp satire, that I have decided to cultivate a new prejudice. From now on I will hate only Stupid people. This means I will have to drop my Thursday night Aryan Liberation meetings in order to attend Mensa. As long as I get to be superior to other folks , that's what really counts anyway.

Does anyone know if local Mensa groups still burn complex mathematical formulas into the front yards of the intellectually inferior?

*laugh* @ norm ...That Pythagoras... what a card.

<edit>

Just one of those quotes that seemed fitting...

"I was born a poor black child. I remember the days sitting on the porch with my family singing and dancing, down in Mississippi." ?Steve Martin, The Jerk (1979)

</edit>

[This message has been edited by MindBender (edited 04-19-2003).]

Sorry, Norm -- read the letters pages of Mensa Bulletin and you'll find that no matter how smart people are, they can still be unwise or unperceptive. Pure computational power has nothing to do with sense of humor or ability to empathize.

My first friend in Puerto Rico was black!!! it was wierd since I never seen any black poeple before, but regardles of color he is a very good friend and I was good back at him!

Well, all the confusion around black vs. white seems to be a very American thing -- there are huge socially-reinforced gaps regarding history, social and economic opportunity, a culture of conflict in which crossing race lines is subversive (watch "Malibu's Most Wanted," which has an unexpectedly funny view of this problem)... the list goes on. There's just a LOT of background to the black/white thing in America. "Love thy brother" is hard.

quote:

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Here in the US, the black white divide is a somewhat unique one due to our history with slavery.

-- Bugimus

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Our history might have something to do with it, but it's not slavery per se. I think it's the difference in mentality, customs, values and interests.

I used to go to SUNY @ Stony Brook, one of the best public universities in the country. Although our particular circle of friends included Rissian, Polish, Colubmian, Jewish, Irish, American (anglo-saxon), and Asian; for the most part, the campus was segregated. Asians hung out with asians, russians with russians, blacks with blacks, puerto ricans with puerto ricans, etc. So I guess it's not just being 'open-minded' or not prejudiced, or simply racist; it's also about who shares your interests. If u listen to heavy metal, u'll have trouple finding black guys/girls who share your taste in music, because without being afraid of sterotyping, I can say with certainty that MOST of blacks listen to rap/hip hop. Of course, I knew some white people who liked that kind of music, and guess what? They chilled with black population. They acquired the manner of speech, the jargon... heh, one kid behaved as if he was actually black. it was so funny, he talks and puts "nigga" after every 5th word. People would ask him, "u know u're white, right?"

This said, I guess slavery really has very little to do with it, but rather - it's our unwillingness to submerge into a radically different culture (which perhaps originated as a result of slave segregation), whether that be by choice, or fear to fall in the eyes of peers.

Has anyone ever watched Chappell's Show on Comedy Central? We were just surfing yesterday evening while we were winding down for the night, and happened across it.
He did a really funny sketch about a guy named something like "Cletus Bigsby" (or some such "redneck" name) being a major leader of the White Power movement. He had lots of books written and lots of support, even though he was blind.
Apparently, he was raised in a white school for blind kids, and the teachers thought it would be easier on all the children if they just told Cletus and the rest of the students that he was a white child, instead of trying to explain skin color to students who can't see it. So this blind black man grows up to become the biggest White Power biggot in existence. He's never been seen in public before, he only wrote the books and what not. But then, he goes to a book signing in full KKK regalia, and they talk him into removing his hood! Silence in the room and this guy in the back of the audience, his head exploded!

We laughed, and laughed... Ok, cheesy, perhaps highly politically incorrect... but very, very funny...

We can say all day long that there should be no differences between us, but given the history of this country, specifically, the southern states where I'm from, there will continue to be strife between the races. It's too closely tied to the heritage of this part of the country. And still to recent to be forgotten. That doesn't make it right, nor does it excuse biggotry in any fashion. But it does exist, and it must be dealt with one way or another.

I tend to admire people who can look at the way we interact with each other and laugh at how stupid we can be. On both sides of the color spectrum.

Bodhi - Cell 617