Author:
Matt
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Date Posted: 08:45:52 04/06/03 Sun
About that fake website I put up, it is funny, and I tend to disagree that it is bigoted at all. Since I know you are now simultaneously feeling like you want to beat my face in as well as castrate me for saying that, here is a little defence for that statement. First, at risk of sounding like a novice debater all over again, here's a definition of bigot: One who is strongly partial to one's own group, religion, race, or politics and is intolerant of those who differ. That's from Webster’s; provide counter-definitions at will if you feel like extending this. Now, I can't possibly be a bigot, because I do not really claim a particular group or religion as my own. Church isn’t my thing, but to those who are: more power to you. I don’t think I could try to pick a “group” that I exclusively belong to, and if I could narrowly define such a group, there is no way I could even think of arguing its superiority over any other “group” which may exist. Politically speaking, I have my own political views, but I also think that those who differ from me are allowed every right to express their opinions equally. I do get pissed, however, when someone feels that they have more of a right to their opinions than I do to mine, and that they therefore are fully justified in preaching to me at will. The best example of this are the constant pro-life supporters who are outside of the Planned Parenthood on BU's campus everyday, bitching to everyone who will listen that only a few short feet women are exercising their Supreme Court-allowed right to decide if they wish to remain pregnant or not. I AM allowed to be intolerant of these people because they are over-stepping their societal right to an opinion. Conversely, they are allowed to hate me if I spend every day standing next to them, yelling how much I think that all Pro-Life people are going straight to hell.
Finally, the race component. I'm a white guy. We all know this. However, to imply that I somehow hate those who are not white is personally insulting. The fake website that I put up there was designed to be laughed at. It was written in Ebonics, a style of speaking and writing the English language that has been officially designated a dialect of the US language. True, this dialect has historically African American roots. The website included the word "niggas" four times, including the large-font headline. However, this term has increasingly been used by all races in a context not demeaning to an entire race of people, but as a slang term largely devoid of its original racist implication. Look to Chris Rock's explanation in "Niggas vs. Black People" to see the difference I am referring to. It is used as slang in a high percentage of rap/Hip-Hop songs that are performed by an increasingly mixed-race pool of rappers. DMX’s song “My Niggas” manages to squeeze that word in 38 times in less than a minute. Is he a bigot… racist? Back to the website posted, the vernacular used sounds more like something Eminem or Ali G (the White, Jewish, British comedian who speaks British Ebonics, dresses like a Rapper and frequently responds to people he interviews with the line “Is that because I black?”) would say instead of, for instance, Colin Powell. Now, definition of the word aside, look at what this website is talking about: the US-led war in Iraq. A war fought against an Iraqi regime (I apologize for using the propagandized word for the Iraqi presidency). The Hussein party is Arab, and the Iraqi forces are composed of mostly Arab and Persian soldiers. None of these people fall into either the historical, or the modern hip-hop culture definition of a “nigga”.
Furthermore, I cannot be a bigot for posting that link, because in doing so I showed no preference to the race I just happen to descend from: white guys. White people do as many, if not more, stupid things than Blacks/Latinos/Asians/Arabs. Bowling for Columbine and Stupid White Men both make very coherent arguments to this effect. For every person who characterizes all young black men from the inner city as career criminals one botched liquor store robbery away from life in jail, there is an equal, if not greater, number of people who characterize all white people as peace loving, hard-working Protestants trying to do nothing more than achieve the American Dream in a picket-fence encased two-story house in the suburbs. Neither is a correct assumption. The majority of black men in the inner city, or the countless other neighbourhoods they live in, have never committed a crime. And many white people are absolutely crazy! Watch any given 10-minute segment of Bowling for Columbine and you will most likely have more than one example of this insanity.
Now, I think that you meant to call me racist, an entirely different argument all together, but, to head off calling me a racist in a future post, I will respond to that now. The noun form of racist is defined as: a person with a prejudiced belief that one race is superior to others. Notice bigot implies intolerance of association and racist implies superiority. I am not going to pander to the level of many a politician or other public figure that plays the “Sure, I have lots of Black/Mexican/Asian/Muslim friends, let me now name them for you…” Such an argument does little except show the true insecurity in a person’s friendships and beliefs. I beg you to give me one example where I have acted in a way which demonstrated this alleged belief that I am somehow superior to any other person because I am a white guy. Think back to the long, drunken, stoned conversations we all have in Keith's basement or on his back porch every summer. On any given night, when was the last time I made a racist joke before Keith, Rick, Jill or Merrick, if at all?
I guess what all this is getting at, is just to watch how quickly you call someone a racist. It has become all to easy to toss the label around, knowing that the accused will rarely take the time to make a coherent, valid refutation. The website was posted to be funny, nothing more, nothing less. It was not a political message, a socio-economic commentary or a racist slander against a class of people. It was humour. If it didn’t make you laugh, then go on with your day. If it did, laugh it up. Either way, no harm, no foul. Well, that said, I hope that anyone who has managed to make it through all this has a great week and an awesome time at the PJ concert in a couple weeks! Wish I could be there for it, but I still have a few more weeks left over here. See you all soon!
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