The Issue of Racism in America

"We try (to) demonstrate our commitment as a Boston-based, valued-led business and if we failed in this instance we offer our sincere apologies."


Ben and Jerry are so lame. Gag!

I'm not buying unless "the delicious chunks of fortune cookies" are put back in, and Lin would probably agree with me!

tiffanywint wrote:

"We try (to) demonstrate our commitment as a Boston-based, valued-led business and if we failed in this instance we offer our sincere apologies."


Ben and Jerry are so lame. Gag!

I'm not buying unless "the delicious chunks of fortune cookies" are put back in, and Lin would probably agree with me!

Ben and Jerry are the gold standard of liberalism. If they are being accused of racial insensitivity, then you know that political correctness has now gone past the tipping point.

Vesper wrote:

IIRC, we know now that black Africans are closer to true homo sapiens than white Europe. How you interpret that is up to you.

My afro-centric fanatic colleague says the same thing...but when I ask him if this means monkeys came down from the trees and evolved into black people, he suddenly shuts his pie-hole.

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Mrs Aural Sects wrote:

Vesper wrote:

IIRC, we know now that black Africans are closer to true homo sapiens than white Europe. How you interpret that is up to you.

My afro-centric fanatic colleague says the same thing...but when I ask him if this means monkeys came down from the trees and evolved into black people, he suddenly shuts his pie-hole.

If evolution truly did occur, it wouldn't be unreasonable to assume that some people are closer to our common ancestors of apes and monkeys than others are. Modern day liberals in American academia insist you believe in both evolution *AND* the equality of all races, yet it would seem to me that the concept of evolution directly disproves the notion of generic equality.

But if you bring up that disparity in logic you are called "Racist!!!"

Erica Ambler wrote:

That new avatar isn't doing it for me, Dog.

There's a kid on the board...I had to compromise before I got a memo...

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Erica Ambler wrote:

Toppers, I demand reparations.

Who is this impressionable child? J7 have you been lying about your age?

Whose sending out these memos? Is Rave's boss stalking the board?

Gook Double Earns Victory

Now before everyone starts getting their panties in a wad over yet another insensitive headline authored by an EPSN editor, you must know the story was about a soccer player called Lee Dong-Gook. And the headline editor *DID* follow established procedures and protocols when reporting the story. So why do I get the feeling that this will be yet another person who gets fired or suspended for being a "wacist"????

Alternative headlines could include: Dong Hits Target....Dong Shoots and Scores....Dong Gets In With Seconds to Spare...Dong Penetrates With Last Minute Score


At this point EPSN is going to run out of employees to fire in a few more weeks.

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http://www.mediaite.com/tv/a-week-after-chink-in-the-armor-headline-espn-posts-gook-double-earns-victory/

Lee Dong-Gook is a soccer player on South Korea’s national team, who made headlines over the weekend by making the winning goal for his team against Uzbekistan in a friendly tournament. His first name is Dong-Gook– like Mary-Ann or Jean-Michel– and his last name is Lee. Typically, media outlets use a players last name in headlines, as a matter of style. So what is going on in this ESPN Soccernet headline, exactly?: “Gook Double Earns Victory.”

The headline reads “Lee Earns Double Victory” now, but wasn’t fixed before someone took a screen-grab and spread it over the internet. The most bizarre thing about the headline is not that someone didn’t notice they were putting an offensive name for an Asian person on ESPN.com yet again, but that, whether they believed Lee’s name was written in Western-style order or not, “-Gook” is the last part of the name that appears given– if you had to guess, “Dong” seems like a safer bet, no?

On the one hand, it is somewhat entertaining to watch the media try to cope with newsmakers who are neither white nor black, as if there are some sort of decency standards out there for how to deal with people who are Latino or Asian or Middle Eastern or Pacific Islanders but no one with access to a website has figured them out yet. On the other hand, it is a tad frustrating, to say the least. Is it really this hard to avoid using ethnic slurs? Are all of America’s headline writers contestants on Celebrity Jeopardy?

Yes it is that hard to avoid using ethic slurs. And we have hypersensitive Lefties and their PC battalions to thank for that.

Perilagu Khan wrote:

Yes it is that hard to avoid using ethic slurs. And we have hypersensitive Lefties and their PC battalions to thank for that.

There's a Korean grocery story a few miles away from me called "Dong Bang". I've never once thought about asking them to change their name. But is that what we're coming to as a society? Why is it that it seems to be almost nothing but white, male editors that are feigning righteous indignation over these "racist" headlines? It's not like Lee Dong-Gook or Jeremy Lin were complaining about being stereotyped. Shouldn't THEY have a say in these matters? Shouldn't their opinion count for something? Or maybe, just maybe, we're so far removed from being a racist nation that people, particularly young editors, aren't familiar with these allegedly racist terms, and don't know to avoid them to begin with, or aren't thinking of racial angles with every story or comment they make.

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Erica Ambler wrote:

These people are getting away with it Scot free, they're Welshing on the deal.

Hold on just a minute, Kemosabe. What do you mean by "these people"?

Gravity's Silhouette wrote:

Erica Ambler wrote:

These people are getting away with it Scot free, they're Welshing on the deal.

Hold on just a minute, Kemosabe. What do you mean by "these people"?

The thick-as-cow-pat Oiiirish.

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Gravity's Silhouette wrote:

Perilagu Khan wrote:

Yes it is that hard to avoid using ethic slurs. And we have hypersensitive Lefties and their PC battalions to thank for that.

There's a Korean grocery story a few miles away from me called "Dong Bang". I've never once thought about asking them to change their name. But is that what we're coming to as a society? Why is it that it seems to be almost nothing but white, male editors that are feigning righteous indignation over these "racist" headlines? It's not like Lee Dong-Gook or Jeremy Lin were complaining about being stereotyped. Shouldn't THEY have a say in these matters? Shouldn't their opinion count for something? Or maybe, just maybe, we're so far removed from being a racist nation that people, particularly young editors, aren't familiar with these allegedly racist terms, and don't know to avoid them to begin with, or aren't thinking of racial angles with every story or comment they make.

Wrong, wrong, WRONG, gravy! Don't you know newsrooms (and ice cream factories) across the fruited plain are filled with bloody-eyed, ravening racists whose goal is a final, final solution? Sure, right now it's jokes about Gooks, chinks and fortune cookies, but the minute we let down our guard--BAM!--it's Treblinka in Toledo and Dachau in Dubuque.

We must be vigilant! Ferret out these crypto-racists whenever they show their true colors. Smoke them out of their holes. Prosecute them for hate speech and crimes. Lock them up. Throw away the keys. Hell, make their offenses capital ones. We not feed and clothe people as intolerant as this!

:twisted:

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Erica Ambler wrote:

There's a lot of racism in sport.

I can't remember the last time a white guy won anything.

Which reminds me of why John Cena gets booed a lot in wrestling because he's considered to be a 'wigger.' I like him though...but can't say he'll win the match against The Rock in Wrestlemania...

And yeah...I love WWE wrestling, we order the PPVs and show them in the bar and have sellout nights :face:

I can think of another reason why you might have sellout nights. Lord knows I'd be a regular.

Heart disease drug 'combats racism'

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9128888/Heart-disease-drug-combats-racism.html

A common heart disease drug may have the unusual side-effect of combating racism, a new study suggests.

Volunteers given the beta-blocker, used to treat chest pains and lower heart rates, scored lower on a standard psychological test of "implicit" racist attitudes.

They appeared to be less racially prejudiced at a subconscious level than another group treated with a "dummy" placebo pill.

Scientists believe the discovery can be explained by the fact that racism is fundamentally founded on fear.
Propranolol acts both on nerve circuits that govern automatic functions such as heart rate, and the part of the brain involved in fear and emotional responses. The drug is also used to treat anxiety and panic.

Experimental psychologist Dr Sylvia Terbeck, from Oxford University, who led the study published in the journal Psychopharmacology, said: "Our results offer new evidence about the processes in the brain that shape implicit racial bias.

Implicit racial bias can occur even in people with a sincere belief in equality. Given the key role that such implicit attitudes appear to play in discrimination against other ethnic groups, and the widespread use of propranolol for medical purposes, our findings are also of considerable ethical interest."

Two groups of 18 participants took part in the study. Each volunteer was asked to undertake a "racial Implicit Association Test" (IAT) one to two hours after taking propranolol or the placebo.

The test involved categorising positive and negative words, and pictures of black and white individuals, on a computer screen.

Differences in the time taken to carry out the tasks provided the basis of the result.

More than a third of the volunteers had a "negative" IAT score, meaning they were biased towards being non-racist at a subconscious level. This was not seen in any member of the placebo group.

Propranolol had no effect on a different measure of "explicit" racial prejudice, religious and sexual prejudice, or prejudice against drug addicts.

These were tested using a "feeling thermometer" psychological tool used for assessing explicit prejudice.

Volunteers were asked to rate how "warm" they felt towards different groups on a 10-point scale analogous to a thermometer.

The scientists wrote: "The main finding of our study is that propranolol significantly reduced implicit but not explicit racial bias."

Despite the study's small size and limitations, the researchers believe it raises important ethical and philosophical questions.

Co-author Professor Julian Savulescu, from Oxford University's Faculty of Philosophy, said: "Such research raises the tantalising possibility that our unconscious racial attitudes could be modulated using drugs, a possibility that requires careful ethical analysis.

"Biological research aiming to make people morally better has a dark history. And propranolol is not a pill to cure racism. But given that many people are already using drugs like propranolol which have 'moral' side effects, we at least need to better understand what these effects are."

But Dr Chris Chambers, from the University of Cardiff's School of Psychology, said the results should be viewed with "extreme caution".

He said: "We don't know whether the drug influenced racial attitudes only or whether it altered implicit brain systems more generally.

"And we can't rule out the possibility that the effects were due to the drug incidentally reducing heart rate. So although interesting, in my view these preliminary results are a long way from suggesting that propranolol specifically influences racial attitudes."

Under any other circumstances I would claim that a person who stands on stage with a performer in "black-face", holding a gorilla, is a raaaaaaaaaaaacist, but since it is Tom Hanks and he is liberal, it's not racist. And even if it were racist, liberals are just good, kind-hearted people and since the skit was raising money for a good cause, we can all over look it. Right? The irony is that in the skit they dare to insult Bill O'Reilly as being insensitive and intolerant. :roll:

Tom Hanks 'Blackface' Video Fallout Continues:
Investment Banker Apologizes

http://www.thewrap.com/movies/column-post/tom-hanks-blackface-fundraising-video-fallout-continues-investment-banker-james-montgome

Video of Hanks emceeing a 2004 fundraiser with performer in "blackface", referring to gorilla as Bill O'Reilly:
http://dailycaller.com/2012/03/20/tom-hanks-glenn-frey-in-2004-racial-shocker-blackface-jokes-at-fundraising-auction-video/

Hanks Apologies for Blackface Skit
In a statement to The Daily Caller, Tom Hanks denounced the blackface skit in which he appeared in 2004.

On Tuesday morning TheDC published video of the charity event, in which Hanks and “The Eagles” musician Glenn Frey bantered with a white man in blackface, an Afro wig and a leopard-print toga.

“I was blindsided when one of the parents got up on the stage in a costume that was hideously offensive then and is hideously offensive now,” Hanks’ said in a statement provided by his New York City publicist.

“What is usually a night of food and drink for a good cause was, regrettably, marred by an appalling few moments,” said Hanks, who is a prominent supporter of President Barack Obama.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/03/20/eight-years-later-hanks-condemns-blackface-skit/#ixzz1pmcUZmBI

I think that everybody has a racist aspect in his personality, and sometimes makes an idiot of him/herself. All you can do is be aware of your own actions.

I worked a while in a refugee center and I discovered that being racist is not solely a "white mans" thing.

Some folks are just plain stupid and insulting.

Mr. Hanks was most likely having a stupid day.

They should send that person to a central African country and he'll find out how racist the different tribes can be to each other, and they talk colour of the skin too in not a very complimentary way too I might add.