Bill said:
DOTA said:
Television 'Dear White People' - Film and Netflix Series (Scores 100 on RT)
- Thread starter horsechoker
- Start date
Weren't Channel 4 going to do a famine comedy or something? I wouldn't have minded having a look at that to be honest.
I assumed it was satire. Racism (even against white people) has come a long way and is hell of a lot more insidious.
Don't know why /TheDonald and other right-wingers are so annoyed anyway - surely they're not the sensitive special snowflakes in the world, are they?
Don't know why /TheDonald and other right-wingers are so annoyed anyway - surely they're not the sensitive special snowflakes in the world, are they?
It could be although with Django I knew it was always anti slave owner and not anti white
I don't doubt that being born white is advantageous in some respects, but that does not, as a point of principle mean that holding prejudicial views towards a person who is white is any more morally justifiable than a person who has white skin holding prejudicial views against people who do not.
I have far more in common with non-white people who occupy this earth with me now than I do with people who lived long before I was born with whom the only thing we hold in common is the colour of our skin.
To me the concept that racism is something that can only be done by people of higher social privilege is just an alien idea. To me, as a massive liberal, speech is one thing- you have the freedom to say pretty much what you want and people have the freedom to present their views and to not associate with you if they cannot tolerate what you say.
When you get into the things that genuinely matter; differential treatment by the state, denial of access to the jobs market, physical assault etc. These would hold a similar impact to the victims of a prejudice no matter the race and should not be treated differently based on the 'class' of the person involved.
The rape joke would likely affect the person who is a rape survivor more than someone who has not experienced it.
The offended-ness of the person who you spoke to does not, in my view, change whether saying something was morally justified or not.
I don't think anyone is justified in holding prejudiced views, irrespective of whether it matters to the victim or not. I think it is only logical to try and view others as individuals and not hold any 'class based' biases.
@SwansonsTache What the movie has to say about it:
The triggered snowflakes are amusing and unsurprising at the same time.
The triggered snowflakes are amusing and unsurprising at the same time.
The comment section on the youtube promo is just depressing. I'm a snowflake, it seems.
@bucky
I'm confused over this. What is the system of disadvantage? And why can't black people benefit from a system like this? If we are talking about institutional power then it is not like there aren't black people who hold institutional power.
This might be a bad example but Robert Mugabe took away land from white farmers, is this an act of racism as he used institutional power to disadvantage certain people based on the colour of their skin, and didn't black people in Zimbabwe benefit from this by receiving land?
I'm confused over this. What is the system of disadvantage? And why can't black people benefit from a system like this? If we are talking about institutional power then it is not like there aren't black people who hold institutional power.
This might be a bad example but Robert Mugabe took away land from white farmers, is this an act of racism as he used institutional power to disadvantage certain people based on the colour of their skin, and didn't black people in Zimbabwe benefit from this by receiving land?
Comedy is supposed to make you feel a bit uncomfortable. The best stuff pushes the limits of acceptability and sometimes goes beyond.
Plus, white people deserve to be on the end of a bit of racism.
Plus, white people deserve to be on the end of a bit of racism.
Tagline
Nail on head.
Why do white people "deserve" to be on the end of racism? Most have little to do with how their ancestors thought about black people.
We will never see an end to racial discrimination, sadly. Why? Because of a human being's inability to operate without placing labels on things.
You write an article about a person punching/verbally abusing/robbing another person and it's just that. You say that a person has big lips and it's just that. You make fun of someone for having no rhythm and it's just that. As soon as any kind of label - race, colour, belief and so-on - are introduced to the content, then it inherently becomes about prejudice and not just a conflict, observation or opinion.
Before we're even born, we're biologically programmed to label things because it makes things easier to compute. Natural and applied education, as well as influences from peers as we grow up, only reinforces this way of viewing the world. Educating individual minds to de-label is the only answer and is obviously a seemingly impossible task.
As human beings we can only try to think of, and label eachother as simply that....human beings. Even that, however, is a drop in the ocean. It's very sad.
You write an article about a person punching/verbally abusing/robbing another person and it's just that. You say that a person has big lips and it's just that. You make fun of someone for having no rhythm and it's just that. As soon as any kind of label - race, colour, belief and so-on - are introduced to the content, then it inherently becomes about prejudice and not just a conflict, observation or opinion.
Before we're even born, we're biologically programmed to label things because it makes things easier to compute. Natural and applied education, as well as influences from peers as we grow up, only reinforces this way of viewing the world. Educating individual minds to de-label is the only answer and is obviously a seemingly impossible task.
As human beings we can only try to think of, and label eachother as simply that....human beings. Even that, however, is a drop in the ocean. It's very sad.
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Can we make using the word snowflake a bannable offense.
How did the white farmers obtain the land in the first place?
Their ancestors for lack of a better word stole it. However it was their ancestor which did it. Do two wrongs make a right in this case? I don't know. I'm not sure how land ownership worked in Zimbabwe prior to colonialism but I'll certain land belonged to certain tribes, was the right land given to the right people (i.e. the descendants of those who land was taken)?
You seriously go with that line of thinking, when Jeff Sessions was just confirmed?
Or when you see this?
How many more examples like the one you named can you provide? I'm not an expert, but I'm guessing there aren't as many white people actually suffering from racism (or have suffered) compared to other ethnicities. It obviously depends what part of the world you're in or what century. For example Asian Americans can suffer from racism in the US, while African Americans could suffer from racism in China. But this an American show, so it will obviously will prioritise what's going on in the Western world.
@bucky, I think that I see one on the far right of the first picture.
This has been the situation for around a month, let's not just forget the last 8 years where there was a black president. Did Obama use his power to disadvantage or discriminate against white people? No of course not, but could he have? It's possible. If racism is dependent on location then we cannot say things like "black people cannot be racist" but rather "Black people in America cannot be racist". I could look for more examples of black people who hold institutional power, but the first one who comes to mind is Clarence Thomas. I know black people hold less institutional power than white people in America but saying black people don't hold it is untrue.
Their ancestor's did it but they're still benefiting from it. Black natives became tenants or worked on the farms themselves. White farmers often had the land which was rich and fertile and received the most waterfall, then would segregate themselves from black natives too.
Not saying that what Mugabe did was right, but I don't really have much sympathy either
I was being deliberately obtuse. I apologise.
No worries I'm only taking the piss myself.
I can understand that, but going back to what I was saying before is this not an instance of somebody using institutional power to discriminate against another race?
Maybe this is a better example but Idi Amin used his power to expel Indians from Uganda, is this not an example of a black person being racist?
As long as minorities exist, racism exists. So, yes a black person can be racist even though in Africa it's more about ethnicism than racism.
Aren't Asian people (older generations mainly) quite racist too?
Seriously? Obama was one man. Congress, Senate etc etc.
Also Obama didn't want to discriminate against white people, whereas you have plenty of white people in places of power in America who seek to discriminate.
Put it like this.
We can point to individual instances where black person holds power over another and uses that power to deny that other person rights to whatever it is.
Yes it happens, yes it's possible, but realistically how often does it happen? How many people does it impact? Is this a recurring theme? (Mugabe even invited the white farmers back )
Now on a much larger scale, historically the people in power globally have been white. Law makers, law enforcers, job creators, job givers, loan givers etc.
So with that being said, black people using their power to deny white people rights is possible, but if it happens so infrequently is it really worth diverting the conversation? Especially since people of colour continue to be victims of racism?
One man but the most powerful man, like I said white people hold the majority of power but there was a black person with probably the most institutional power an individual can hold in America.
If it can happen even it seldom happens then it means black people can be racist and have been racist. I'm just arguing with what Sam White said. It might sound I'm like I'm nitpicking but I believe you have to be precise when talking of issues like this.
Was looking for the white text
I too think that being left out of being discriminated against is discrimination
So, semantics? That's your issue here?
What's wrong with the black text? Racist!
You think that's funny? Snowjoeflake
*points* SnowJ Simpson!
Sorry - couldn't resist the bad pun.
Sorry - couldn't resist the bad pun.
Like I said - is it worth diverting the conversation?
It just seems like a convenient way to deflect from the actual issue, an easy way to say that white people can be oppressed too even though it isn't comparable to the scale of racism that people of colour have, and continue to go through.
So if you want to nitpick, sure.
Bravo. The movie, and I imagine the TV show as well, deals in that fashion with the theme.