First thing's first: KEEP. THIS. SHIT. CIVIL. If you can't talk about race without resorting to childish insults and rude generalizations or getting angry at people who don't see it your way, leave the thread.
With that said, I bring you to what can hopefully be the general thread about race.
First, a few starter questions.
- How, if at all, do you feel your race affects your everyday life?
- Do you believe that white people (or whatever the majority race in your area is) receive privileges simply because of the color of their skin. How much?
- Do you believe minorities are discriminated against for the same reason? How much?
- Do you believe that assimilation of cultures is better than people trying to keep their own?
- Affirmative Action. Yea, Nay? Why or why not?
Also, a personal question from me.
- Why (in my experience, not trying to generalize) do white people often try to insist that they aren't white? I can't count the number of times I've heard "I'm not white, I'm 1/4th English, 1/4th German, 1/4th Scandinavian 1/8th Cherokee, and 1/8th Russian," as though 4 of 5 of those things aren't considered "white" by the masses. Is it because you have pride for your ancestry, or an attempt to try and differentiate yourself from all those "other" white people? Or something else altogether?
edited 30th May '11 9:16:04 PM by Wulf
It is said that the delays on granting Chinese citizens visa-free travel to Malaysia is an extension of racism of its current ruling government on its own citizens of Chinese ethnicity. Is this true?
I am asking this because a particular opinion piece said that Malaysia wants their money without the people coming over and another said that this sort of shenanigans is done under the excuse of real cases of prostitution (not of the victimized by pimps kind) by Chinese women misusing their visa. Combining the two made me angry that the government does not tighten up study visas despite that there are cases of foreigners, particularly Africans, misuse said visas, which reeks off double standard.
As a (more cynical than the norm) Malaysian Chinese, this sounds like bureaucratic inefficiency to me. The Malaysian government bureaucracy is dysfunctional, but it's fairly unlikely that they would try a snub like that especially considering the PRC's attempts to take over the South China Sea (I'm sincerely hoping that they don't pull a Crimea, but I don't have a portal into the mind of Mr. Xi). It wasn't that long ago that the Malaysian version of Very Serious People were suggesting that Malaysia go with Chinese-made bullet trains and related tech because they let Malaysia into the AIIB. Despite the Wenzhou train crash coverup.
Not sure if this belongs here. I do not think it does. But whatever, it is kinda relevant.
U.S Sihk actor Waris Ahluwalia barred from AeroMexico flight
because turban
Why does that keep happening? It's not like there are any other turban-wearing groups besides Sikhs outside of Asia/Africa. At least none that I know of.
edited 9th Feb '16 8:02:02 AM by DrunkenNordmann
We learn from history that we do not learn from historyCorey Taylor: I’ve been watching this all and I’ve kept mum for the most part, because I wasn’t there. So I don’t know the background on what happened, I haven’t seen the video of it – though I’ve been told by many people that it’s blatant, and there’s no way to misrepresent what was done.
I will say this. This is a bigger problem than what happened that night. Slipknot has dedicated itself to bringing people together, to fighting racism, to fighting hate in general since the day we were started. I don’t have time for people who judge other people by the colour of their skin. If that in itself offends some of my fans, then I’m sorry, you’re wrong. I don’t ever want our fans to feel like we’re judging them because of colour, religion, culture, upbringing, etc. We welcome everyone, we always have and we always will.
I know there is a problem in metal, and it all comes down to, at least in America, where you grow up and what that culture is passed on from: parents, family members, friends, adults. It’s a generational thing. I thought we were close to phasing it out, but unfortunately I was proven wrong. So I just dedicate myself to fighting it. It’s across the board in music, though – it’s not a specifically metal thing. But it has come up in the metal community. It’s risen its ugly head because of the incident we’re talking about.
But I’ve not only played a lot of metal shows, I’ve been to a lot of metal shows, and I know for a fact they are quite diverse and they always have been. We welcome the tribe of misfits – we’re the island of misfit toys, and we always have been. It will take very little to eradicate racism from metal because the majority of it isn’t racist.
During the Brazilian Carnival, a family dresses up as Aladdin (the father), Jasmine (the mother), and Apu (their adopted black child). Cue internet discussion on whether it was racism or not. Picture here.
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Whatever the answer is, it's a very interesting debate, I think. I'm trying to not work on assumptions, but on the facts (or supposed facts) I have. I've heard it was pure "ingenuity" on the parents' side than anything malicious on their part (on the assumption it is racist). And, still on that assumption, the case here would not be sprung from the parents being racist, but the socio-historical context. There are even the arguments saying that the people being racist are the ones who pointed out the issue with the costume, because it's they who made the connection between black people and monkeys (which as silly and stupid as I usually see it, could be turned into an actual point of discussion instead of a forceful debate-stopping tactic, I believe).
I have a difficult time imagining that a couple who adopted a black child would then dress that child up in a costume in order to deliberately make a racist statement. It strikes me as a case of either not thinking things through or else not thinking it's that big a deal. Put it this way: if the child was any ethnicity other than black, or Apu had been any animal besides a primate, then it would have been seen as a harmless, marginally clever costume. In other words, there's nothing inherently offensive about dressing a child up as a monkey, or dressing a black child up as an animal. It's the the unfortunate history of racists attempting to equate black people with monkeys that makes makes dressing a black child up as a monkey problematic.
So yeah, I lean towards "stupidity" rather than "racism", personally. On the flip side, though, if they thought about the racist implications and then dismissed them, you could consider that a backhanded form of racism. White people saying "well, this could be taken as insulting toward black people, but... aaaah, it'll be fine" is certainly staggeringly blind toward their privilege, at the very least. (And I say this as a guy who thinks the stereotypical "check your privilege" comment is usually an attempt to stop conversation rather than an invitation to consider the situation from someone else's point of view.)
Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.Don't take this as me disagreeing with you, but a non-black couple adopting a black child could still be racist against black people, or at the very least commit those smaller/subtler actions that perhaps they don't even perceive as racism. I'm just pointing this out because I know someone who can't seem to understand that people don't always make sense and hypocrites exist, so as obvious as it might seem I still think it's worth saying.
I think I have come to agree with Jovian too, but I'd enjoy hearing more opinions about it.
Seems like simple ignorance than malice. Abu is a fun character and kids like monkeys. It's just unfortunate that due to historically racist pseudo-science people like me have been directly compared to if not outright referred to as primates.
Hell, it's the signature picture of our Unfortunate Implications page.
The Blog The ArtI read about it in a few posts on social medias. The reactions varied from: "That is sooooo cute!" to "they should be arrested for racism".
Still the family did pronounce themselves about the subject and stated they didn't it out of prejudice but because having a thematic costume the whole family could play seemed as a good idea.
On the other hand, since they got more than a few personal attacks over it, it is being used as an another example why people are getting pissed off at SJ Ws because if you're not aware of all connotations of everything you do you're going to be hog piled by them.
Inter arma enim silent legesMeanwhile, someone has yet to learn that "my ______ is ______" isn't a defense these days
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That's before getting into cringeworthy issue of "ceasing to be Chinese when converting to Islam and become a Malay". Our constitution puts one of the definitions of being the Malay race is having Islam as religion certainly doesn't help.
Speaking of that, the other definitions include using primarily Malay language and practicing Malay culture. One side claims that it is an encroachment towards non-Malays by broadening the definitions so that non-Malays can become one once the definitions are met while another said that this shows how open the Malay race is as to accept people of other races as their own as long as they are similar regardless of origin.
I find both sides have a point, but with the with us or against us mentality that plagues my country I find it pointless to explain why things are more nuanced than what the media is trying to tell us.

Whenever I see someone calling themselves Darks I think of Ecstasy AKA Darks
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