Race-baiting

Jesus Wept · 18-06-2008 11:38pm

Earthhorse wrote: »

Sure, the fact is there's probably a lot of jokes in there that are basically racist rather than genuine attempts at satire

Earthhorse wrote: »

Fact is the majority of posters on AH are probably racist, sexist (seriously, wait till someone starts the next thread about women) and homophobic, but there is a core of good users who kinda hold it all together too. You have to take the rough with the smooth and where there's ambiguity you just have to ignore it or else accept you'll be annoyed by it and live with that.

gogglebok · 19-06-2008 12:07am

takola wrote: »

Oh No! They've gotten to you! :eek:

Must... kill... do-gooders....

Terry · 19-06-2008 1:05am

gogglebok wrote: »

Funny is not the opposite of racist. Funny is not a magic cloak that makes everything OK.

Thanks for your opinion.

What I've been trying to gauge is the attitude of boards to the behaviour exemplified by the "niggards" thread.

Why?

Why did you change the thread tag to "happy now?"

I tried "everyone happy now?", but apparently the word "Everyone" is too common to use in a tag.

Delete the thread.

No.

Draw the contributors' attention gently to the error of their ways.

They know what they did.
They hid behind a keyboard and thought they were being funny.
They were just being sad bastards, but that's neither here nor there.

Usher in a new golden age where it's not acceptable to wring cheap laughs out of saying "niggard" to black people.

Ask me bollix.

Because it looked like a bit of cheapjack provocation. Because I don't think people in Ireland need much protection from anti-white racism.

Is it anti-white racism?
Who said it was?
Why would you associate those words with anti-white sentiments?

copacetic · 19-06-2008 1:12am

Terry wrote: »

Ask me bollix.

Don't do it gogglebok they are full of beer and could explode at any second. Steering well clear of Terrys exploding bollix is the first thing they should put in the sign up email, we've lost a few good men that way...

Terry · 19-06-2008 1:25am

Well, there goes the "suck my balls" reply.

Talliesin · 19-06-2008 1:32am

Gran Hermano wrote: »

Mr Denham was reproached by the audience, who pointed out the phrase had been effectively banned by some forces, including the Metropolitan police, because it is thought to originate in the 18th century slave trade.

Though, ironically it's more widely thought to originate with black jazz musicians in the US.

copacetic · 19-06-2008 1:41am

Terry wrote: »

Well, there goes the "suck my balls" reply.

lost a few good men that way too...

Overdraft · 19-06-2008 3:35am

mike65 wrote: »

That thread is about playing with language

mike65 wrote: »

Its pretty mild - the way I view this sort of thing is being like the message board eqivilent of South Park, Harold and Kumar, Borat etc, its slapstick and easy to take offence at if you approach the thread with the "wrong" frame of mind.

Utter bollocks. Comments like these make me struggle to decide which is more stomach-churning, PC bollocks or anti-PC bollocks - one's as brainless as the other, only the anti-PC brigade actually think they're cool in a revolutionary way. Waiter? Bucket please.

Jesus Wept · 19-06-2008 3:38am

http://www.rsdb.org/

orestes · 19-06-2008 4:13am

The-Rigger wrote: »

http://www.rsdb.org/

Unless you're a Russian who thinks he is a gangster from the streets, your username is offensive. Hate monger

MIN2511 · 19-06-2008 5:12am

Jeez it's amazing how some people feel about the ****** word...

Thought the conversation was over-apparently not.

Maybe we should add a sticky to AH- NO MORE RACISM, JOKES ABOUT PEOPLE OF DIFFERENT RACE, JOKES GENERALLY ABOUT ANYTHING.

Jesus Wept · 19-06-2008 5:21am

orestes wrote: »

Unless you're a Russian who thinks he is a gangster from the streets, your username is offensive. Hate monger

lol! Good find, I didn't notice.

orestes · 19-06-2008 5:39am

The-Rigger wrote: »

lol! Good find, I didn't notice.

It gets better, apparently the word clown is a derogatory term against Irish people

Jesus Wept · 19-06-2008 5:49am

You didn't know that?! Ya stupid clown!

orestes · 19-06-2008 6:01am

The-Rigger wrote: »

You didn't know that?! Ya stupid clown!

RACIALIST!!!

It's because of people like you that I've decided to have a protest next time the circus comes to town!

gogglebok · 19-06-2008 8:49am

Why have I been trying to gauge the opinion of boards.ie to the thread? Because, as I've said repeatedly, I am fairly new here and this thread took me aback. I now have a much more precise idea of the culture of boards, of AH, and of what moderators will and won't accept.

A good thing, surely?

Terry wrote: »

Is it anti-white racism? Who said it was? Why would you associate those words with anti-white sentiments?

I associate the words honky and cracker with anti-white racism for the same reason I associate the word Weetabix with a crumbly breakfast-time treat. It's what they mean.

Terry, be honest. Is this really news to you? I may be wrong, and god knows we all have gaps in our vocabulary. (Once, as a child, I forgot the word for "bread".) But I have the tiniest suspicion that your questions aren't entirely genuine. Cracker and honky are derogatory terms for white people. Really, they are.

If you don't take my word for it, or a dictionary's, you can ask the person who tagged the thread. Appending racially-loaded terms to a thread about racism was not just a little place-holder, signifying our intention to polish off the racism nonsense and get back to the real business of geese noises and Jacob's comestibles. It was a joke, I guess. Not the world's greatest thigh-slapper. No threat to the Christmas cracker (oh!) industry. Probably it was also somehat crappily intended to goad those frothy-mouthed PC Brigadiers into an egregious show of double standards. So it was unfunny, and a bit unlikeable, and a bit ham-fisted, and a bit unfair to a decent and well-motivated thread. But hardly a capital offence.

(For the benefit of those who haven't read the full thread, I am not complaining about the terms. They don't bother me in the slightest, I can't imagine them bothering anyone else here, and if you use them against me in Scrabble I promise not to swivel at the eye and set my caped do-gooder army of flying Irish Times readers on you.)

Sherifu · 19-06-2008 9:16am

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2DxyAGzGxM

_blank_ · 19-06-2008 9:19am

gogglebok · 19-06-2008 9:29am

I don't know if Mrs Bates there was pointed at my latest screed, but I won't mourn if this thread joins all the other ex-threads on a little farm in the hills. Evidently it has the magical power of enforcing itself on the attention even of those who are sick of it. That's a dangerous force, when you think of it. If Tony Parsons or Cecilia Ahern got their hands on that juice, we'd all have to read the ****ers.

I will swing by and answer questions from time to time, though. That's the kind of decent attentive man of the people I am.

Homer · 19-06-2008 9:48am

gogglebok · 19-06-2008 9:53am

Hey, this is fun!

Earthhorse · 19-06-2008 10:25am

MIN2511 wrote: »

Maybe we should add a sticky to AH- NO MORE RACISM, JOKES ABOUT PEOPLE OF DIFFERENT RACE, JOKES GENERALLY ABOUT ANYTHING.

Too late.

After Hours Charter wrote:

Racism
- Topics/posts containing such will be edited/deleted accordingly.

Tigger · 19-06-2008 11:42am

It wasn't me! wrote: »

y'know, some people might find the suggestion that the black gentleman would automatically respond violently somewhat racist.

it was a specific black man not a general black man

gogglebok · 19-06-2008 12:36pm

Tigger wrote: »

it was a specific black man not a general black man

<has alibi>

http://www.marines.mil/units/marforcom/_layouts/imagemeta.aspx?image=http://www.marines.mil/units/marforcom/PublishingImages/2005/img_1082.jpg

Dinter · 19-06-2008 1:13pm

Oh Lord, this is still running . . .

Fact of the matter, any post that goes on boards, whether in AH or Emergency Services or Music is subject to the whim of the moderators. If they rule it’s abusive they delete it, issue infractions or give you a good beating when they track down your IP address.

People seem to think that everyone on boards falls into two distinct groups on every issue yet everyone knows there’s an imaginary line and if you post something like ******** are ******* it’s going to be deleted and you infracted. (That’s all just asterisks by the way!!) We don’t need an even more stringent charter nor do we need some 12-step programme to govern whatever parts of our personalities may offend others.

I often post opinions that are disagreed with by many but I’m fully entitled to them. If they are too overboard I know that soon the mods will grind my account to bits. Therefore most people soon learn to self mod. You may feel extreme thoughts about scumbags for example but you ensure that what you end up posting is more softened and less derisory unless you aim to be banned. You are entitled to whatever wild and scary opinions you like but if you publish them you'll soon discover that the mods are more than capable of doing their jobs.

The best course of action is to simply ignore the bits that might irritate you or join in the debate. Going to feedback to express displeasure or to check out “what sort of people boards members are”, is and should be a complete waste of time.

gogglebok · 19-06-2008 1:19pm

Dinter wrote: »

Oh Lord, this is still running . . .

In fairness, it's moved on considerably.

Good points, though.

Piste · 21-06-2008 3:01pm

Really if someone posted a thread about blondes being dumb and then went on to say every blonde person they'd met couldn't talk there wouldn't be nearly as much hoo-ha about it. Why should the issue of skin colour be different to hair colour?

CivilServant · 21-06-2008 5:26pm

Piste wrote: »

Really if someone posted a thread about blondes being dumb and then went on to say every blonde person they'd met couldn't talk there wouldn't be nearly as much hoo-ha about it. Why should the issue of skin colour be different to hair colour?

You can change your hair colour. :pac:

_blank_ · 21-06-2008 5:41pm

CivilServant wrote: »

You can change your hair colour. :pac:

RoundyMooney · 21-06-2008 5:48pm

DesF wrote: »

You leave Randy Jackson and Diana Ross out of this.