First of all, abaya, I'm not trying to make this a personal, either. I don't have anything against you, I just don't really understand your thinking at the moment.
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Originally Posted by abaya
I don't understand how that was his point at all, so I need your help on that one. To me, the OP said loud and clear, "black people need to lighten up," and other iterations of that idea. The OP did not say that people (of all skin colors) should look at the local context in which this scene took place (a particular area of the south) and evaluate it based on those factors. At least, clearly, that was my understanding.
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I suppose to be completely politically correct, he should have listed every person who took offense to this by name, because perhaps not every member of the NAACP interpreted the situation as it being racist. That is really the only way to avoid making any generalizations... but having to do that also seems rather ridiculous, don't you agree?
I agree with you that his phrasing should have been revised before posting, but I don't think that he deserved to be attacked for choosing poor wording. And I think the quote below clearly does demonstrate the true meaning of his post, that people should look at the context in which the situation took place (Halloween) and evaluate it based on those factors.
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Originally Posted by squeeeb
how about instead of jumping on the "you are a racist" platform, you look at the circumstance, use some deductive reasoning, and then determine if the dummy hanging is a racist symbol or just an attempt at being spooky.
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Originally Posted by abaya
Hmm. I guess we have another misunderstanding here, because words ARE literal... I mean, unless we're writing poetry or something, which would make them metaphorical. I honestly don't know how else the statement "black people need to lighten up" could be interpreted, really. It was unequivocal.
As I said before, all I have to go on are people's words here. What else am I supposed to react to? His facial expression? I can't see that. I have nothing against squeeb as a member on TFP, really. I've generally appreciated his contributions; this is not personal. If *anyone* here had opened a thread with a statement like that, yes, I would have laid into those words with just as much energy as I have here.
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I'd rather not get into an argument regarding semantics because that isn't what this thread is about. However, if you are going to take everything so literally, why did you not lay into filtherton when he said, "All you fucking jews need to knock this shit off."? Like you said, you can't see his facial expression... so what else is there to react to besides the literal meaning of his words?