SmokeAndMirrors
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- May 20, 2011
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:shock: Asians too?!!!!!
In that case, we wouldn't describe it as being oblivious.MLK advocated a color-blind society, so I'd think he would be proud. The idea was for a person's race to cease to be a thing of any importance; therefore if society loses all notion of racial stereotypes then how could it not be a good thing?
I picked "other" in the poll, because I don't think it's necessarily either good or bad to be oblivious to racial stereotypes. As you explored in the post I quoted, that could mean a lot of different things, some of which are bad, some of which are not. I'll add another wrinkle:
I was watching a comedy special by a guy named Jim Jeffries recently. And as part of his routine, he was telling a story about being on a plane and getting into a contentious argument with this big black guy sitting next to him. The black guy, who had the aisle seat, was taking the inside armrest that under normal rules of plane etiquette typically belongs to the guy in the middle seat (in this case Jim Jeffries). Eventually the flight attendant comes over and decides to split these guys up. Since the big black guy was more in the wrong, she told him he needed to find another seat somewhere further back in the plane. At this point Jim - who is Australian - stands up and shouts triumphantly "get to the back of the plane!"
To a black man. On a US flight.
Now, most of the people on the plane hadn't really heard the altercation, but surely did hear a white dude loudly telling a black man to get to the back of the plane. This did not sit well with the other passengers. Jim, being Australian, didn't realize what he'd done initially. So was it better that Jim didn't really realize how racist that sounded? Personally I have no idea. But it was damn funny.
Unless Jim crawled out from under a rock yesterday he knew exactly what he was saying. It's not as if there's no racism in Australian society and standing up and triumphantly telling a black guy to get to the back of the plane can only have one implication.
Oh dear god. I'm not saying he didn't figure it out pretty quickly (he did, after all, use it in his show). It just didn't jump out at him right away. And why would it? The back of the bus thing is a piece of US history. It's uniquely meaningful to us. Foreigners aren't necessarily going to immediately make the connection to Rosa Parks. Also, it's a comedy show. Lighten up.
Lighten up?
The back of the bus thing is known about wherever people speak English and read newspapers. I'm a foreigner, to you, and I know about Rosa Parks. It's not an obscure reference. I've been to Australia and I'll guarantee you it 'jumped out at him right away'. The only difference between Australian and American racists is the ones in Oz don't hide or minimize or apologize. They just flat-out are.
Or you could get all butthurt about a comedy routine. That works too.
Doesn't bother me at all. You're making an issue, not me. I'm just pointing out that an Australian definitely knows the 'back of the bus' reference re. racial history. Kind of naive of you not to have picked up on that.
1) You're the one who brought it up as if it mattered. So you're the one making it an issue.
2) I'm not saying, nor have I ever said that Australians don't get the reference, I'm just pointing out that it wouldn't necessarily be at the forefront of their minds in the context at issue.
3) You'r still taking a comedy routine far too seriously, and that's kind of funny. :shrug:
Damn you people and your "pop". It's soda god damnit, stop being confusing with your language.
that is all.
I was a teenager when I met my first deep south transplanted family (they were from Alabama... California was a culture shock, lol). When my boyfriend's sweet mother said to me, "Would you please carry me to the store?" I just stood there with my mouth open, wondering how in the heck she expected me to carry her anywhere, since she outweighed me by at least 80 pounds!!!
That's when I learned you don't drive or take someone to the store in the south... you "carry" them. Oh, and you don't carry bags or buckets... you "tote" them! I learned a whole new culture from those wonderful folks! :lol:
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