A few thoughts on the latest round of White Guilt discussions

[AFK]

c'mon, man.
yeah, it may be an applicable example, but seriously. you know what happens.  we know you know.  you know we know you know.

In my defense, I had just got off the phone chatting with someone about marijuana policy so it was fresh in my mind.  Just pretend I said marshmallows instead.  I mean, who could say no to Medical Marshmallows?  I know I wouldn't.

[East Coast Hustle]

Fair enough.

Sorry I was so snappy about it.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

if you have a problem with the way a specific person approaches an issue, my suggestion is to take it up with them specifically rather than lumping everyone who shares some values with that person into some lazy category and dismissing them all.

I kind of did. Take a look at my first response to Garbo in this thread.

OK so here:

I'm also gonna add that I think the rejection of activism is dumb. No activism = no change in society.

Or maybe no activism = no easily garnered moral authority.

Perhaps then did you mean "Or maybe no activism for you = no easily garnered moral authority for you"? Because it read as a general slam on all activists.

I meant this one:

There's no point being an activist for any cause, because:

1.  Activism now requires an infinitely regressive set of purity tests.  You wear the entire uniform or GTFO.
2.  If you are found wanting in the above tests, then you are worse than an active opponent.
3.  Nothing you do is good enough to qualify you as an "ally", which is apparently itself now a bad word.
4.  Some activists are inherently less equal than others.
5.  Slurs are made by Bad People.  "Jokes" are made by the Good People.  They may appear to be slurs, but that's just your privilege talking.

There are a few benefits gained by avoiding activism:

1.  You don't get a pat on the head and a condescending sneer from college students (I don't hate college students and in fact admire education, but I can see where the hate comes from), because your life experiences since the Johnson Administration are obviously useless in the face of a few humanities classes.
2.  You don't have to change your entire language every 6 months to conform to the latest version of Correctness™.
3.  You don't have to tolerate the very same slurs you'd never dish out.
4.  You are actually allowed to smile and be happy occasionally.
5.  No culture guardians rapping you on the forehead.

Now, none of this is to say you shouldn't CARE about things and maybe try to make things BETTER or IMPROVE the world around you.  If you don't do these things, then you're basically wasting space.  But to become an activist is to surrender your identity and your will to someone else's standard of what's right and what's not.  And all you get out of it is a stupid Greenpeace tee shirt maybe, and the snickering and sneers of the people you foolishly "allied" with.

Fix shit.  But do it on a personal level.

1. Bullshit.
2. Bullshit.
3. I said I don't like the word. That has nothing to do with anyone else.
4. Bullshit.
5. What the fuck does that even mean?

1. Y'know, I'm in a shitty mood and should probably get off PD for the day before this turns into an argument, but I'd appreciate it if you'd stop taking passive aggressive swipes at me. If you're mad at me, please, talk to me directly.
2. See three above. I don't especially like the word, even though I'm fully aware that LIKE-ing the word is the source of the problem and can be transferred to any other replacement.
3. Oh my god. Insulting individual behavior is not the same as slurring an entire group. Christ.
4.
5.

Would you like your goat back? 

[The Good Reverend Roger]

And if writing out an entire full-pager thread just to yank someone's chain seems a little...excessive, then I invite you to consider what those fucking Scotsmen are up to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPedwnc5e_s&feature=related

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

And if writing out an entire full-pager thread just to yank someone's chain seems a little...excessive, then I invite you to consider what those fucking Scotsmen are up to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPedwnc5e_s&feature=related

Oh. I just figured that after the reveal you would quit yanking if you didn't mean it.

I mean, every SINGLE time someone says "those stupid niggers... you know I don't mean you..." I still bristle a little. Even if they're just doing it to get someone else's goat.

I might be getting too serious for this place though.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

And if writing out an entire full-pager thread just to yank someone's chain seems a little...excessive, then I invite you to consider what those fucking Scotsmen are up to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPedwnc5e_s&feature=related

Oh. I just figured that after the reveal you would quit yanking if you didn't mean it.

I mean, every SINGLE time someone says "those stupid niggers... you know I don't mean you..." I still bristle a little. Even if they're just doing it to get someone else's goat.

I might be getting too serious for this place though.

Right.  I won't joke anymore.  My apologies.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

I think that came off as snarky.  Let me restate it:

Apparently, I have offended some people here recently.  I am unsure whether or not I have actually been more crass than usual.  I'm pretty sure I haven't.  But the fact remains that I have offended people I respect, and I DO try to avoid repeating mistakes.  So I'm gonna tone it down a bit.

Problem is, as the man said, "If I send away my devils then my angels may go, too".  Thing is, I'm pretty sure all I HAVE is devils, one on either shoulder.  One is named "Bad", and the other is named "Worse".  Each of them has a big mallet, and they hit me upside the head when I see something that's laugh-worthy, or DUMB, or inhuman, or whatever.  It is this continuous trauma to the skull that makes me pour out the horrible.

Either I've changed or other people have changed or maybe both.  The gags I find funny are offensive and not funny to other people.  But they're the only gags I know.  I'm some sort of horrible anachronism that wanders around laughing at all the wrong things and at all the wrong jokes.  I've always known this, but I never thought I was coming off as basically Lester Maddox talking about "niggers".  Needless to say, this is very upsetting, and I don't mean "I am mad at the person that pointed this out", I mean "I am upset with my own behavior, and at not having seen what is apparently plain as day to other people."

That being said, since I cannot trust my own judgement as to what is funny and what is offensive, I'm going to have to stop laughing.  My sincerest apologies to anyone I may have offended in this manner.

[LMNO]

Dibs on taking control of the mind lazors!

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Dibs on taking control of the mind lazors!

Yeah, go for it.

[Elder Iptuous]

Dibs on being LMNO's first sick-o phant!

[The Good Reverend Roger]

I don't think I belong here, anymore.

[LMNO]

Oh, come on, Roger.  It was just a bit of fun.

[Sita]

That being said, since I cannot trust my own judgement as to what is funny and what is offensive, I'm going to have to stop laughing.  My sincerest apologies to anyone I may have offended in this manner.

I'm always laughing at all the wrong things.
I have a very macabre sense of humor at times.

Never stop laughing, because let's face it what's entertaining to one is likely not to be to another. All you can do if you laugh at the wrong thing/time is apologize (if you are sincerely sorry) and move on, hopefully remembering not to laugh out loud about the same thing again.

[Cain]

Either I've changed or other people have changed or maybe both.  The gags I find funny are offensive and not funny to other people.  But they're the only gags I know.  I'm some sort of horrible anachronism that wanders around laughing at all the wrong things and at all the wrong jokes.  I've always known this, but I never thought I was coming off as basically Lester Maddox talking about "niggers".  Needless to say, this is very upsetting, and I don't mean "I am mad at the person that pointed this out", I mean "I am upset with my own behavior, and at not having seen what is apparently plain as day to other people."

Well, for what it's worth, I don't think you came off that way, and I'm certainly not offended.

[LMNO]

People are in a weird mood.  You're bound to see some sore nerves.  Doesn't mean everyone wants you to leave.