works for grouping up all the black urban voters when you want to redraw district maps, so why not try the strategy elsewhere?

An Oprah memory: an audience member described being in the hospital after giving birth. A nurse brought a newborn to her room, realized it was the wrong mother and went on. The new mom and her family all gasped and snickered at this huge faux pas, and she wanted Oprah and America to know all about this awkward but funny moment. Their overreaction of course stemmed from seeing black as something barely mentionable and not to be associated with white, even a baby. Bless her heart, the woman was so innocent she had no idea how offensive this was. How did Oprah respond to this blistering ignorance? She just said, "oh, you mean it was a little black baby like me?" and moved on.

Very gracious. She didn't let it go, but her response was so forgiving. And that's how I know she does not invent slights, Mr. Mercury.

Can't watch her show more than 20:00 per decade, but she is a class act.

To be fair, maybe the crocodile version of the bag was like the super overpriced A++ "display" version of the bag and the salesperson pretty much understood that no one would ever buy that bag, so Oprah wants to look at it, and the sale's lady is like, ya, it's this bag (showing the 1.5k noncrocodile version). And Oprah's like, no, the other bag please and sale lady is confused. Don't know if that's true, but it's possible.

LOL Burnett about Oprah "throwing down the black card." "Play the race card" is whitespeak for acting like the victim. When Oprah throws down the black (AMEX) card, there are going to be large commission for erryone.

If I was Oprah, I woulda been on the phone to my accountant in seconds finding out if I could legally purchase the store.

not wanting to **** a 50 yo makes u gay


mkay

It makes it easier for White people do ignore their White privilege by making it about class.

Ever see her recreation of the brown eye/blue eye experiment?

http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/Race-...ar-Look-Back/4

There's a link inside the story showing parts of the episode.
http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/Oprah...Audience-Video

As far as the incident, I thought I read where Oprah initially downplayed this incident and didn't say the name of the store.

b

wait, there are people that actually don't think that the oprah thing was pretty racist?

Politards confuses me, sometimes you see people you thought were totally irrational and beyond the pale being very reasonable and agreeable, and often times it's vice versa.

Some also don't understand that racism and classism can coexist in a situation...

b

How awesome would it be if Oprah went to another Euro store tomorrow and actually snatched a handbag and ran off with it?

First, Halle Berry is just shy of 47. Second, yes, not wanting to **** her makes you gay. Given the opportunity there are several reasons a person might choose not to, but they'd still want to at least a little bit. Or, they're gay. Nothing wrong with that but Halle Berry is still a pretty objective measurement.

edit: Pre-pregnancy anyway.

Paula Deen ruling, a victory for racist 'murika!

b

The Oprah thing doesn't make any sense. Like, was Oprah looking at $100 bags and then said, "hey, let me see that 40k one" and the worker said no? Or was she looking at $5k bags and then asked to see the 40k one? Did the worker say "it's 40k, let me show you these others" or did she say "you can't afford that, here's some cheaper ones". So many details matter here.

In principle I don't really have an issue with a store not letting some random look over a 40k purse. I don't know this for sure, but I don't think I can roll up to a dealership and ask to drive a Lambo and not be questioned a bit first.

I'm guessing they were pretty well-frequented by rich patrons that weekend due to the wedding/funeral/whatever of some star that even the owner of the store in question was going to. Probably quite a few people asking to see the pricy stuff that weekend.

The way racists manage to talk themselves into the weirdest loops on this ****(just so they can ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS end up with the result "no racism!") is amazing.

You know who doesn't have to "guess" at how the conversation went? OPRAH! SHE WAS THERE! Jesus Christ.

You know what else she said?

Maybe, just maybe, the store would also be unwilling to show expensive items to white people who are similarly dressed. Or maybe they would be. We have no idea. Of course, in your mind, the only reason someone could possibly question you is that they're a racist who thinks no racism exists, rather than calling you out on being excessively sure of the near-unfalsifiable question of the motivations of someone in an anecdote we know relatively little about.

I don't get this obsession with anecdotes of racism, anyway. Like, suppose this is a 100% open-and-shut case of racism. How important is a single data point anyway? Why not focus on the more measurable, aggregate effects of racism? For instance, this paper shows that resumes with common black names get responded to less than resumes with common white names, even when all other factors are controlled for. This is a much better indicator of discrimination or racism than some story in which a black person was treated unfavourably.

If fly did that he would have nothing else to talk about

Maybe. But then again, Fly is pointing out the kneejerk resposne that "racism doesn't exist," which seems to be the direction Your Boss is heading in. The people who downplay racism constantly are very likely....well, you know.


I wonder what Your Boss thinks of this observation?

Now that ESPN has fired a black man for using racist language, do you think white people will stop whining about not being able to say the n-word? This could be a turning point in race rel--I just can't finish that stupid ****ing sentence. Sorry.

Shoulda went with "uncle tom."

Is this how you respond to every anecdote that gets relayed to you? "BUT WHAT IF YOU ARE LYING ABOUT THE WHOLE STORY, HUH?"

Jesus Christ, who do you think buys that? It's racism that gets the kneejerk denials, even racism by other people, and the denials are for the most obvious reason:

You are a white supremacist halfwit.



Jesus Christ, I know you're stupid, but do you really think Oprah was trying to use this story as THE SOLE AND BEST AVAILABLE PROOF THAT RACISM EXISTS? Like Oprah was sitting around pondering how white supremacist aspie ******s on the internet thought racism didn't exist and then she thought about that Swiss bag incident?

And like, because it's not the best available proof, she shouldn't have mentioned it happened? What?

This some real offbrand concern trolling. Nich, you don't understand what the grownups are talking about and until you at least TRY to understand the conversation it's going to remain baffling for you.

Again. You're a simpleton. We understand you. It makes you uncomfortable that Oprah mentioned this story so you want the bad guy here to be the uppity colored lady(or, in her place, these goddamn liberals with their terrible arguments and constant labeling of things as racism). You're just so tired of hearing about racism allllllll the time when you just want to have logical discussions about how you think desegregation is tyranny.

Because here's the deal: What the **** do you mean, "obsession with anecdotes of racism"? Who do you think is obsessed here? The people mentioning it in passing, or the people constructing elaborate hypotheticals about how this story might have been ANYTHING BUT RACISM OH GOD IT JUST HAS TO BE ANYTHING BUT RACISM?

If someone is supposed to go to a ballgame with you and they call the morning of and say that they think they ate some bad sushi the night before won't be able to go, are you like:

"Why would you say that about the sushi? What else did you eat? It could have been one of those items. Maybe it's the flu. Maybe it's ebola. Maybe you're not sick at all and are faking because you want to do something else. You're not being very logical to blame it on the sushi."

I love how many "these aren't the good arguments" posters this forum gets. Chez, nich, ikes, et al.

So what, Oprah is an omniscient who can peer into peoples' souls to 100% reliably detect racial prejudice? In any case, from her statements it appears that Oprah seems less sure that racism was in play than you are.


Woo, I used to just be a plain old ignorant aspie! Please elevate your insults even further. I know it makes you feel so superior.


Uhhhhh no. I've got no qualms with Oprah mentioning it. My issue is with people like you who like all of us know very little about the situation, but have no problem jumping to the conclusion that it must be racism and anyone who thinks there's a reasonable chance it might not have been must be a "white supremacist halfwit".

The point about anecdotes is that, if you're genuinely interested in refuting all these alleged white supremacists who think racism doesn't exist, it would be much more effective to talk about clear-cut experimental evidence and/or aggregate statistics. The advantage of anecdotes, though, is that there is usually limited information and they are highly subjective, so you can get people to disagree with your leaped-to conclusion, so you can call them racists and feel so superior about how you're such an enlightened coastal elite.

And who are these people who are saying it couldn't have been racism? I'm certainly not one of them. There's certainly a good chance that prejudice was a factor in the saleswoman's decision. Like most people, she probably harbours at least some subconscious bias against blacks. It's probably more likely than not that she would on average treat a black customer worse than an otherwise identical white customer. This may or may not have been the deciding factor in Oprah's case, she may well have some prejudice but would still have declined to show the handbag to a white Oprah.

I don't really mind if someone thinks racism was more or less likely than I do. I don't know very much about it and neither do they. But if you claim to be certain that racism was to blame and anyway who disagrees is a dumb bigot, well, I take issue with that.


Oh man this game is so easy to play when you can create analogies with smoking guns in them. Hey, what if I substitute "bad sushi" for ten different plausible things? Then the analogy supports my argument!