Why is it a discriminatory definition? And how does it excuse acts from one group?

That's like saying one excuses defamatory statements that are not in writing by refusing to call them "libel." But such defamatory statements are not excused, they are just given a different name -- slander -- because they don't fit the definition of libel.

By that same token, and again assuming the more limited definition of "racism," saying that an act like the one described at the start of this thread is not "racist" doesn't excuse the act; it just says that "racism" is not the correct label for it.

Personally, I think there is some value in insisting on precise definitions of words like "racism." Otherwise, such words can become so vague and overused that they start to lose any real meaning.

Just a bunch of honkeys trying to be blacks, and a bunch of blacks trying to be honkeys.

This thread will be the first to 99,999. Dead horse, lets kick it. Whites will never prevail, we'll always be supressed. There is no such thing as a 'double standard', if you're black.

Kill whitey.

I don't find this particular incident to be racist, but it was an ill attempt at humor. However, as a tri-racial person, I see the double-standard all the time. It's sad that some people can do whatever they want, and not get punished as much as others. I was hoping racism would die out with our generation, but now that I've gone to college, I'm shocked to see it's still prevalent among our age group.

Forget the definition of racism.

I think that if it's bad for a white person to do [xxxx] to a black person, it should be equally bad for a black person to do [xxxx] to a white person. Or an asian person. Or indian person. Etc.

I've seen plenty of situations in which a group of people of a minority race said/did things that would make headlines if the groups were reversed.

All I'm saying is that I think groups should be held equally accountable for equal actions.

Just because it was considered "OK" for white people to kill black people 100 years ago does not mean that it should be ok for black people to kill white people now. Or should it?

If groups want to be treated equally they should be held to the same standard as everyone else.

/endrant

[QUOTE]
If groups want to be treated equally they should be held to the same standard as everyone else.


Exactly!

I just felt that it was a discriminatory definition because it was based upon a social power structure.... I've always seen racism and bigotry being different sides of the same coin, both operating on different levels but equally damaging to society.

To me "Racism" is based on the misguided and ingnorant belief that attributes such as intellect, or moral character are genically determined - usually based upon the false foundation that one's ethnic background is superior to others - whether or not that belief is mirrored by the power structure of society - to me power is an aspect of racism but not the primary determining characteristic.

Good, Bad or indifferent, We have become so Political Sensatized that there is no way anyone can give credit to anyone of any color.

No, No, No, that is wrong via someones defenition.:(

Just who ever this person was, maybe He was jsut trying to have FUN, You Know What FUN is dont any of you!?

RC, Rudey, Give it a Friggen Rest. You are not impressing anyone with your shit!

Wonder how mature you are!

Yes, ???!

Is there Goose and Gander, Tit for Tat on here? It is one way, but not the other?

Dont bring up Histoy for crying out loud!

We have to may other things to worrry about! Staying on Campi no matter whether of Color or any damn thing else!

Um what about the movie White Chicks?

Funny, funny movie!

You never learn do you old man? Never huh?

Well while your busy cursing at me, keep protecting your brother who brags about people calling him a racist and anti-semite in real life. Keep protecting your brother who takes joy in murder and makes death threats.

You never learn. You don't even listen to your own brothers and other Greekchat moderators who told you to stop talking to me and stop trying to pick fights with me.

Well of course you would also stick up for RACooper when you told blacks to go back to Africa and said Jewish girls were sluts. Maybe I should add your quotes back into my signature since you just can't learn and can't stop harassing me.

-Rudey

if whites should accept "whiteface" then it is only fair and equal that blacks should accept "blackface"
If you dont like "blackface" then dont tell people "whiteface" is ok.
Unless, of course, you like discriminating against one group and not another...

My understanding has always been that whiteface just doesn't have the same historical significance as blackface. While whiteface can be seen as tasteless, blackface had a very real historical racist meaning for long period of years, and still to this day.

Personally, it doesn't matter to me if someone's in white face or not; I think there are more clever costumes out there, but that's just me. As for blackface, I feel like it's another level. But I'm not exactly an expert on this, being a white kid from New England.

It's not that the incident in and of itself is offensive or necessarily demeaning. It is, however, ridiculous and offensive that the black student who intentionally portrayed white stereotypes is not receiving the same treatment as the white students who intentionally portrayed black stereotypes.

I have to agree with Wine&SilverBlue when she says that groups should be held equally accountable for equal actions. And regardless of history or what racial group is being sterotyped, one group is intentionally and negatively portraying a stereotype of another group. That's not right no matter who does it.

History can kiss my ass. Hypocritical is hypocritical - yesterday, today, tomorrow. If someone who is black and wears whiteface, it is just as bad as some white kid wearing blackface. I don't care what my buddies grand-daddy did to your grand-daddy. That was then, this is now.

If you were the grandchild of a slave who was beaten and raped by her "master" I can damn well bet you wouldn't be saying that history can kiss your ass. If you think people just get over hundreds of years of abuse you're incredibly lacking in empathy.

Don't forget, he's also dropped the N-bomb on GC, before he was called out on it.

I'd trust my 4-year-old nephew and his T-ball team to discuss matters of race more articulately.

Please give your whormones a rest R.:o U show your jockey shorts like a flag:(

The problem with your analogies is that they are always taken out of context as usual. God, leave well alone enough alone instead of makeing more of an ass out of yourself.:(

White/Black/Yellow/Red/ just what the Hell does it matter in the small part of life when We as Greeks are trying to Grow when so many are trying to tear us down.:eek:

Self importance gets very underwhelming when We are all gone.

munchkin, I would expect more from you than this! WOW The N word, used in a context, not calling anyone that word!:(

God it is so sad from some who profess to be so smart.

Personally I don't find anything wrong with this guy dressing up as a white person. But I also did not see anything wrong with the white guys that dressed up as rappers for halloween either. But if you want everyone to be treated as equals and one group gets punished, I think the other group should be punished as well. If we don't do this, who will be the judge of who gets punished and who will not? Lets just treat everyone the same.

And for the person who said that this guy was not doing this to make fun of white people, how many white guys do you know that wear pink polo's with a shirt over their shoulder? He was obviously catering to a stereotype.

One last question. When I was in 6th grade, me and two of my friends were Diana Ross and the Supremes for a Lip Sync contest. We painted our skin black and wore black wigs and sequin dresses. Was that wrong? I did not think it was, but it might have offended someone. Was dressing as a rapper or a preppy white guy wrong? Who gets to decide? Just a thought.:)

It's just an attempt to pass off garbage as academic work.
 

I don't think much of it.

The Center (I'm sure it's wonderful) must get paid per word, not per intelligent thought.

What is an "institutional distress pattern"?

Are mechanics which are "dynamic" beter or worse?

Is a "differential resource allocation decision" not just a choice?

It's just an attempt to pass off garbage as academic work.

That is just it. The action is NOT equal because the two races are still NOT treated "equally" in our society. (And unless YOU are an African American person in our society, you do not have the perspective or right to state otherwise.) While some may argue that the environment has improved considerably for minorities in our country, we still have much further to go. And even when/if we get there, because of the deep historically negative and ugly roots of black opression (not to mention the conotation of "blackface") in our country's history, a Halloween costume that has a white person painting his face black will NEVER be funny. It will only be threatening and/or obscenely insensitive to anyone who is non-white.

Think about the movie "WHITE CHICKS" that was released this summer....stupid, but dang funny!....because it was COMEDY! And, as several others have pointed out, it's not the "race in power" making fun of a race in the minority. Rather, it's the opposite....no harm done at all....nothing said or done hurts or conjurs up negative images of past oppression because we were NOT oppressed in this way...it's just comedic.

This movie, if reversed, would NEVER be viewed with humor...and you can call it "double standard" if you like....but the "double standard" is because there is nothing negative or inherently threatening to "whiteface"....not in the way that a white guy painted up in "blackface" evokes hurt, anger, resentment, and conjurs deep wounded memories of a horrible, fearful time in our nation for generations of an entire race...and not "100 years ago" either....but a mere 35 years ago in this country...widespread laws that separated the races....(and most would argue still exist on a non-legistlated, informal level today)... And this adverse culture and climate was CREATED and is often still perpetuated by white America's "superiority" and dominance over an entire race of people...so if in fact, there is a double standard, we have earned it and must accept that with a little less defensiveness. Those of us who were born white Americans have never had to "walk a mile" in the shoes of those who have been subjected to this kind of hate and blind prejudice by people who had/have the power to deprive us of our wants and desires. So, in my opinion, until we are in that position, like it or not, we don't have the right to cry "racism".

If you want to call it lack of empathy, sobeit, however, something that happened hundreds of years ago, happened hundreds of years ago - thats just it. I'd let it go. We live in America, the greatest place on earth - where we are all equal. Quit digging up shit from the past - let it go.

Its kind of like the Southerners hating the Northerners because they were on 'the other side of the line' during the civil war. They're idiots too. Let it go, put down your Dukes of Hazard Flag and let it go.

don't drag the Duke boys into this.

Dear Mr. Racist Lambda Chi Alpha,

it is not up to you to tell me whether I, a Jewish person, am allowed to be upset when you say Jewish girls are sluts.

It is not up to you to tell black folks whether they are allowed to be upset when you say blacks should go back to Africa or drop the "n bomb".

It is not up to you to be beyond ignorant, crass, and plain insulting and expect other ethnic groups to just accept how you describe them and then try and defend yourself by trying to talk about a context.

The fact was that even though you were ignorant and shaming your fraternity we weren't bringing up your awful deeds and words because YOU HAD SHUT YOUR MOUTH. Now it seems you are ignoring your brothers and moderators on Greekchat and continuing the harassment.

-Rudey
--Fricking banjo playing, red truck driving, white sheet wearing, cross burning, tobacco chewing bigots

Well said!

What about "Soul Man" with C. Thomas Howell?

That was damned funny.

Why is everyone making this so complex?

White people: Are you honestly upset and hurt and threatened when once in a blue moon a black guy paints his face white? If so nobody can argue with your feelings, but really I doubt many of you who are fighting so hard have those feelings.

Black people: Are you upset and hurt and threatened when white people have done blackface for so long and continue to do it?

-Rudey
--Really simple.

Personally, no it doesn't affend me, I probably would've died laughing had I seen that guy. My argument has been and will continue to be that racism is not just whites against blacks or whites againt everyone else who isn't white. It goes both ways. I do feel that the whiteface and blackface are equal though..........I dont' see how it is different for a black guy to paint his face white and a white guy to paint his face black.

What if my truck is maroon though? Am i still lumped in with the rest of those ignorant rednecks?

KS 361

leave banjos, trucks, and smokeless tobacco out of this.

You don't see it? That's OK.

But the problem is telling another person how to feel. I doubt even one person in this thread is upset about this.

-Rudey

oh boy there's nothing like GCers getting upset. :)

I see how it could make someone mad or offend them.

And we wonder why Greeks have the reputation they do.


Once again, GC, thank you for proving to me just where Greek stereotypes come from. :rolleyes:

Soooooo much anger here on GC.

I concur with Sugar and Spice. Greeks are known for how we act, and the stereotypes seem alive and well. God (or G'd if you prefer) Bless America. :rolleyes:

They say that some day the whole world is gonna look like Puerto Rico, so we need to get over it now and be nice to each other.

Sorry to break this to you, but its impossible for a minority group to be racist against the majority group, based upon the definition of racism. Racism is a system of oppression and discrimination against a minority group by the majority. Last time I checked, African Americans weren't the minority.

The fact remains that people want to whine and cry when they are held accountable for their actions. Its one thing to mock an entire group of people, especially when that behavior has deep roots in this country, and its something else to have a Halloween costume that doesn't have anything to do about anything.

Personally, I think it was tacky and bad taste for him to decide to be "white" for Halloween. But racism? Nope, and if you don't like it, you can go cry a river for all I care.

Don't forget "sister marryin'" and "non passport owning."

You also forgot to mention Jeff Foxworthy & NASCAR worshipping!
GIT R DONE!
I'll just sit back & enjoy the ride while I suck down a bottle of Corona & my 8 kids from 6 different men run around waiting for the mailman to bring my welfare check & food stamps.

Yes, as we all know, racism is exclusively southern.

Ever been to Boston?

6 kids from 8 different men and once again barefoot and pregnant in front of the trailer house

Okay where does it say that racism can only be commited by an ethnic majority?

The defeinition in Anthropolgy, Sociology, and in the dictiontary make no mention of a social power play as a factor of racism...

Racism
rac·ism
1. a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race
2. racial prejudice or discrimination