Reese

So did Christmas.

__________________
“It is better to be rich and healthy than poor and sick” - Dave Barry

Strange Famous

well... if you want to celebrate the dead... I can see no reason to differentiate between black or white corpses, or anything else.

The model shown here does have the "racial" characteristics of an African imo, but I dont see it as a "racial" issue. A lot of people of a lot of people of a lot of ethnicity's have been hanged over the years.

But I would agree with all the people who questioned the original slant of the thread. The question isnt "black people" needing perspective...we are talking of individuals who some of us agree or disagree with, to characterize them by the colour of their skin, and then say all people of that shade of skin act this way... THIS is a racist comment. Hanging the model corpse, although revolting in my opinion, is hardly racist.

For someone to state that because some black people object to it, this is evidence that the "black race" should lighten up... this is a racist comment, and it deserves very strong criticism, as I can see it has already received.

__________________
"Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate,
for all things are plain in the sight of Heaven. For nothing
hidden will not become manifest, and nothing covered will remain
without being uncovered."

The Gospel of Thomas

Baraka_Guru

At least it's not as bad as saying "Black people need to be perfected."

__________________
Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot

Ustwo

Oddly no one responded to my explanation of that, and really using that here is out of context in how it was used there.

__________________
Agents of the enemies who hold office in our own government, who attempt to eliminate our "freedoms" and our "right to know" are posting among us, I fear.....on this very forum. - host

Obama - Know a Man by the friends he keeps.

Telluride

Capital punishment? Give me a freakin' break. Would you complain about a Santa Claus display during Christmas? According to the story, he goes into peoples' homes and leaves presents for kids. That's trespassing, isn't it?

__________________
"I am certain that nothing has done so much to destroy the safeguards of individual freedom as the striving after this mirage of social justice." - Friedrich Hayek

Strange Famous

Santa Claus never came into my house, mate

__________________
"Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate,
for all things are plain in the sight of Heaven. For nothing
hidden will not become manifest, and nothing covered will remain
without being uncovered."

The Gospel of Thomas

Telluride

And monsters never existed, either Saying that hanging a monster thing on Halloween is promoting capital punishment is no different than saying that a Santa Claus display is promoting trespassing or even breaking and entering.

__________________
"I am certain that nothing has done so much to destroy the safeguards of individual freedom as the striving after this mirage of social justice." - Friedrich Hayek

albania

Man am I late to this happy gathering. I’ll respond to the original post.

Your perceived injustice is nothing more than perceived in my opinion. I think the undertone of your OP was: where is the line drawn between racism and someone having delicate sensibilities? I’ll try to respond to that as best as I can. I don’t know where to draw the line but not in this case is what I come up with. I can’t rightly tell whether or not this family meant anything racist by what they did. From the facts I’d assume not. In the end though, this isn’t the main issue. The matter comes down to how the gesture was perceived. You can have racism that is a subtle dig, and why should people be subjected to it? Taking it down probably was a good idea. While it is no one’s job to appease delicate sensibilities everywhere, there is such a thing as a dignified response. If someone told me they were offended by something I was doing, that does not in any way define me, I would work to change that behavior if said behavior was public.

On a slightly different topic, what annoys me the most though, when dealing with racism, is white people who are so concerned with not being racist. Their behavior seems, to me, like nothing more than a grandiose pat on the back and in some sense I would think almost condescending to black people. It’s almost as if some people believe that with every act of racism black people must be reminded that there are white people who aren’t racist; I think they’re smart enough to figure it out. I imagine them protesting with picket signs that read I’m not a racist and a big arrow pointing down.

Fast Forward

"Increasing"? Yes. But the rest of your post is foolishly naïve. The increase is world-wide. Take the blinders off.

flat5

about the picture posted above:

Because of some of the facial features it looks very much like a black man.
Anyone who puts this on their front lawn hates black people and is proud of it.

squeeeb

assuming i am whitey in this case, then whitey was explaining to the other whitey morons that giving candy to kids dressed as batman isn't evil. halloween isn't evil at all, and they needed to not be idiots.

those born again christians need to lighten up as well.

__________________
onward to mayhem!

Glory's Sun

If they were proud of it they wouldn't have changed it or taken it down.

LazyBoy

The NAACP knows how to get support...controversy pays the bills

-Will

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Life is nothing, everything.....and something in between...

flat5

..

hrandani

They can't lighten up dude it's their skin color. Man that's insensitive.

Fast Forward

Yes: Bullshit

Only an idiot would deny that racism is on the increase. In Europe or anywhere else. It can depend upon supremist racists (of any colour) or the unemployed who detests foreigners taking “their” jobs. It can also depend on the increase of immigrants who refuse to integrate. Naturally, it’s a combination of it all.

But saying that Europe is “the most blatant, openly racist” (excuse the misquote please) is silly. The “ethnic cleansing” of Yugoslavia was a big fat cold slap in the face for all of us Europeans whether we come from the West or the East, that’s a fact. But tell me what country in the world has such a record of racist killings (on a daily basis) and rioting equal to the U.S. (if there is one) and I’ll show you a non-European country.

Am I allowed to laugh? Thank you ...

river_ratiii

It might seem petty, but who gets to decide what specific "free expression" is important or not? The nice thing about the Constitution is that it's pretty clear; freedom of speech is NOT limited only to important issues.

The_Jazz

Freedom of speach is a bit of a red herring here. The authorities aren't involved, and until there's government action silencing one side or the other, the First Amendment, which is the guarantee of the freedom, has nothing to do with this situation.

__________________
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - B. Franklin
"There ought to be limits to freedom." - George W. Bush
"We have met the enemy and he is us." - Pogo

Ustwo

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/stor...ng-071029.html

Finally, the title of this thread can be fully realized.

__________________
Agents of the enemies who hold office in our own government, who attempt to eliminate our "freedoms" and our "right to know" are posting among us, I fear.....on this very forum. - host

Obama - Know a Man by the friends he keeps.

river_ratiii

This article says racist attacks are up by 70 percent.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp...c=worldupdates

The only reason this didn't go further with the "authorities" is that the police (in the first case) told the neighbors that no law was broken...but the subject did come up in that case. In the second article the mayor gets involved...WTF???? Seems like a little authoritarian pressure to me.

Baraka_Guru

http://www.drmeronk.com/asian-eyelid.html

__________________
Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot

Menoman

black people need to lighten up???

Take a look at this entire thread. Change the name of the thread to "EVERYONE needs to lighten the fuck up"

__________________

bobdog

I find discussions like this one only seem to prolong racism in general. I know that it if something is wrong it should be highlighted but it can, sometimes, be counter productive to highlight every difference between points of view.

I only dislike or like very few people. That is because I have only got limited experience of most people. I, in my lifetime have only met perhaps 5 or 10 thousand people in the world, clearly a tiny fraction. This means that, to varying degrees, I can allow myself to form an opinion on some people. Everybody else, I can not comment on in any sensible way.

Taking this one step further, this means I cannot understand the motives of someone putting up a black (or white) effigy for Halloween. They may be doing it for fun or to make some racist point or because they are ignorant of the offence someone else may take. I am in no position to judge.

This means I can go about the world knowing that most people don't know me and whatever they do is not focussed at me so I don't need to be offended. I may be horrified, disgusted or delighted and pleased but I never, ever need to feel offended. (except if I know the person who did/said it).

I deliberately try not to be offended, so I understand squeeb's point about lightening up but I think this applies to everyone, not just 'black people' but squeeb, white people, christians, muslims and just about every category of people you can name.

Rant over.

Fast Forward

Heh? Is that possible? What shade is "fuck", anyway. Hell, I don't even know what colour it is.

Plan9

God damn if that isn't what I say about every racism discussion. Circle jerk.

In talking about it... we seem to perpetuate the bullshit. Stereotypes. Jokes.

How do we ignore the crapfest and educate the reasonable at the same time?

...

BTW: The skin color of fuck? Pink.

__________________
Whatever you can carry.

"You should not drink... and bake."

Menoman

or red depending on how hard you wanna fuck them

__________________

Fast Forward

You guys are even more disgusting than I am!

xxxafterglow

What the fuck does that mean?

I'm w/ you Abaya. The struggle ain't over.

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Uh huh her.