rolling "Is This Racist?" thread

Horseshoe, I'm just saying that it'll be really unfortunate if this particular video winds up being the thing he's most well-known for, as it's not indicative of him as a person to the extent that I know him or of his other work.

Anytime you make a race video, that is the thing you will be most well-known for.

Horseshoe, I'm just saying that it'll be really unfortunate if this particular video winds up being the thing he's most well-known for, as it's not indicative of him as a person to the extent that I know him or of his other work.

― SNEEZED GOING DOWN STEPS, PAIN WHEN PUTTING SOCKS ON (Deric W. Haircare), Thursday, February 9, 2012 2:16 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah it's really unfortunate that he made the choices he did!

But then I knew going in that defending anyone in the 'Is this racist?' thread was going to be a losing battle whether you disapproved of the questionably racist work in question or not, so...whatever.

I forget that things are always either black or white.

Wait...is that racist?

aw, sorry ur feelins got hurt

Deric, I'm not attacking you for being friends with the guy or anything. But I do want to hear a couple of good reasons why it's not offensive for a white person to get dolled up in brown make-up, attempt some sort of gangsta jive accent (at least in the beginning) and run around BYU asking about Black History Month?

I heard that Michael Richards is really nice.

he didn't say it wasn't offensive, wtf

seriously y'all are way overreacting

(which, from my perspective, is more a result of his high rate of production superceding his good judgment than anything else)

where 'anything else' = .....

lmao crut no one is doing anything but clowning on the dude

that video is clearly and aggressively antiracist. dude doing the interviews is clearly and aggressively antiracist. the fact that he decided to do it in brownface may be a lot of things (insensitive, unfortunate, fucking stupid, w/e), but it doesn't necessarily make him a racist himself. intent matters.

oh, okay

pplains, once again: I'm defending him. I am not defending the video. I've known other people in the improv community who would regularly go to some really questionably racist/sexist/homophobic places, and I'd be just as quick to say, "This is wholly indicative of the person I know" if one of those people had produced the video, and just as quick to register my disapproval.

that video is clearly and aggressively antiracist. dude doing the interviews is clearly and aggressively antiracist. the fact that he decided to do it in brownface may be a lot of things (insensitive, unfortunate, fucking stupid, w/e), but it doesn't necessarily make him a racist himself. intent matters.

― Little GTFO (contenderizer), Thursday, February 9, 2012 1:36 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

what is the purpose of your hairsplitting here? its racially insensitive

I think what contenderizer was trying to say is that blackface is always acceptable

Blackface is usually kind of a bad idea.

my fav part of blackface is always when they show the dude while it's getting done

my fav part of blackface

things that should not be a poll

i thought we'd already gone through a big discussion w/ a huge OTM nabisco post & people understood that divining who is and isn't technically 'a racist' on stuff like this is total point missing

He was trying to be edgy and/or sophisticated and thinking he could get away with it because other people with sophisticated senses of humor would understand what he was doing.

do you guys talk to your barbers while getting a haircut, I don't it's kind of awkward

I could not imagine how I would feel talking to a blackface artist if I were to get it done

I cut my own hair.

However, I defer to the services of a professional when blacking up. : \

lol @ a lot of you, srsly

this is really OTM: He was trying to be edgy and/or sophisticated and thinking he could get away with it because other people with sophisticated senses of humor would understand what he was doing.

the problem is that the tagline that baldly states this pops up about 10 minutes after his intended audience has hit stop and said "what a fucking racist"

I can't wait to see Jay Leno black up and go Jaywalking.

Ooohhhh wait. You said "sophisticated."

what does the explanation say, i can't risk watching more of that shit at work.

i'd like to see someone put on blackface and then put on whiteface, some real next level shit

oh shit!

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g64/PoorOldSpike/sub4/gorsh.jpg

if you just keep covering your face in alternating layers of black and white paint on your face, does it stop being racist at some point? assume you are not on acid.

Just for the sake of perspective, I'm being more emphatic than I might otherwise in my defensiveness because Dave's one of the more aggressively decent dudes I've known. I didn't honestly expect my personal opinion of him to affect anyone's opinion of his video.

er, no "on your face." xpost

if you just keep covering your face in alternating layers of black and white paint on your face, does it stop being racist at some point? assume you are not on acid.

― the greates (crüt), Thursday, February 9, 2012 1:52 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol

what does the explanation say, i can't risk watching more of that shit at work.

During the filming of this video, only three people said something about me not really being black

Which I find disturbing.

Fight Ignorance with Ignorance

aggressively decent

I think of myself as kind of "passively ok"

"Fight Ignorance with Ignorance" seems to be the name of the show/deal/whatever he's running, which if this video is anything to base it on is sub-Borat-style ambush games intended to get the interviewee to embarrass the shit out of themselves.

I don't think this is particularly well done given how he has come across to everyone itt except like two ppl as a massive racist (one of whom knows him IRL, lol)

i thought we'd already gone through a big discussion w/ a huge OTM nabisco post & people understood that divining who is and isn't technically 'a racist' on stuff like this is total point missing

that's troo, but i think it is important to keep yr eye not just on what people are doing in a mechanical sense but why they're doing it and what they're trying to say. does not excuse dude's dumbass comedy video, of course.

It's obvious what this this guy's intentions are. Mostly, though, he biffed it and made a lot of people mad. Even if he had somehow pulled off the video successfully, he was still walking around campus in blackface and no one had any context.

Sure, he drew attention to the fact that almost none of the people he spoke with called him out for being in blackface, but maybe every one of them has a friend who knows that they were just trying to be a part of this sophisticated, edgy thing and they're really very smart and etc

lol exactly

that's troo, but i think it is important to keep yr eye not just on what people are doing in a mechanical sense but why they're doing it and what they're trying to say. does not excuse dude's dumbass comedy video, of course.

― Little GTFO (contenderizer), Thursday, February 9, 2012 1:59 PM (13 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

the road to hell is paved with etc

"etc" = "dumbass comedy videos"

white dudes trying to say something with comedy videos about racism which involve racist imagery or language seem to be more interested in the shocking lols than in saying anything (cf 'the amazing racist', if anyone remembers that piece of work...)

pretty much my m.o. whenever i cop race humor on here.

just trying to shock some ignorance, that's all.

"Before you decide to do your edgy racial shit, go back and read some of the harsh criticism that rained down on Chapelle, Spike Lee, Whoopie & other black artists for their edgy race-related material/defence of dumbass boyfriends, and say to yourself, oh shit, and I'm a WHITE person."
- Form my forthcoming book, Fellow White People, for Your Consideration

the hell is that from.

Form my forthcoming book

aw, do I have to