Quote:
Originally Posted by +rep_lol
i get the point, the issue i have is that there are a lot of better/more appropriate ways to make it than with a stereotype about a marginalized group of people. in a hypothetical real life situation where he can make the same point about "undeserving people demanding praise" or whatever in front of a group of black people, i ****ing bet you he goes about it a different way.
did he mean any harm by it? probably not, but words mean things regardless, and racism doesn't have to be intentional. i'm not about to sit around and normalize casual racism in trump's new murica and i'll speak out against it when i see it. if you got a problem with that, then **** you too
Okay, I wasn't going to respond to this because it's pretty clear that we just have different opinions, but you clearly have good intentions so I'm going to give it a go.
As far as the initial joke goes, he either is telling the joke as a commentary on people wanting credit for doing the bare minimum rather than actually putting in effort to be a good person, or he's being racist. You said it was inappropriate for me to quote the joke in this context. Does that mean you think the initial joke was racist? Or did it become racist when I quoted it? If it became racist when I quoted it, what exactly made the context change?
If the initial joke was meant as a commentary on people doing the bare minimum, why is me referring to it in a context where a company(owned by a person) is doing the ethical minimum wrong?
I liked using the joke in this situation because I think it accurately points out how ridiculous the situation is, it puts it in a different contexts, and because both humor and imagery help people feel. There are thousands of people who are choosing to put their money on bodog, and I felt like doing what I could to make people fully realize the absurdity of doing so.
If we're pointing out things that people probably shouldn't say, or people not understanding reality, I think it would be closer to accurate to call the joke classist. There are certainly people of all races who are probably deserving of praise if they aren't in jail and they raise their kids. I grew up in awful crime ridden towns that were filled with people who really did not have much of a choice given their parents, financial situation, environment, and how the schools and government treated them. They are honestly worthy of praise if they simply don't steal, sell drugs, get a DUI, or become an addict.
You only have so much energy to fix the things that are wrong with the world. There's plenty of institutionalized racism (e.g. hiring processes and police quotas) and overt racism (see all the ridiculous trump ****) to focus on that will have significantly more impact than just blowing your figurative load whenever someone does anything that offends you. The key to eliminating racism isn't rage, it's making intelligent choices that actually change things.