I am not sure its the same thing in the eyes of the person doing it. Its the whole concept of blackface that is getting people's goats here.
When I hear, These guys dressed up as blackfaces and then see the context as a racist situation I have one kind of thought and its similar to the one expressed here.
However, if someone came up to me and said: Dude it was cool this guy won the costume party last night for looking exactly like Louis Artmstrong, he darkened his face, had the rap down, wore the clothes. My reaction would be different.
Also, without the alabama incident, people probably wouldn't have noticed anywhere near as much. would anyone be willing to concede that point?
Also, there is some indication that when someone reaches celebrity status they kind of lose their color, white or black, and aren't really considered the same way.
I remember that when the movie Bodyguard came out they interviewed people to see if they had a problem with the interracial relationship depicted. And people didn't have a problem because it was Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner.
Of course because a racial component has been brought into the argument it might be one of those times when a rational discussion can't really be had . . .
Quote:
Originally posted by IvySpice
I don't consider this a double standard. I consider it a single standard, as follows:
When there's a several-hundred-year history of Group X abusing, killing, and enslaving Group Y, and throughout much of that history Group X used a tool called "YFace" to ridicule, insult, and belittle members of Group Y, and after centuries of painful struggle Group Y has achieved a measure of equality with Group X....THEN, it is offensive to revive that tool for your own amusement without consideration for its meaning to others.
That's the standard that's being applied here, to everyone, across the board. If you want to call it a double standard, go right ahead, but I don't see where one group is being held to a higher standard than another. Nobody, of any race, should use the emblems of their fellow students' oppression for entertainment.
Yes, the incident with the noose was even MORE offensive...it was probably the most offensive costume imaginable. But the fact that this costume wasn't the MOST offensive possible costume doesn't mean that students and faculty at UT are wrong to be upset.
Ivy
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