KKK on campus

[Gestahl]

http://www.cnn.com/2004/EDUCATION/05/21/university.klan.ap/index.html

This is just insane. He has to *think up* reasons and excuses to get the KKK off campus. The fact that it is an organization known to conspire to commit illegal acts such as extortion, tresspassing, and uh... *murder* is evidently not enough. While I defend the right to free speech, this one really makes me want to deny it.

Would you allow Muslim extremists intent on racial superiority of the Arabic to speak? How about the Mafia? Why should we allow this?

I thought we had gotten over this infantile bickering over skin color...

Edit: more descriptive title

 

[Tony]

I thought we had gotten over this infantile bickering over skin color...

You did? Were you not aware of affirmative action?

 

[Tmy]

Re: Re: KKK on campus

You did? Were you not aware of affirmative action?

To borrow a popular Conservative line from the prison scandle "Affirmative action is nothing compared to the racism they did to our guys. At least we're not hanging whites from trees."

 

[Tony]

Re: Re: Re: KKK on campus

To borrow a popular Conservative line from the prison scandle "Affirmative action is nothing compared to the racism they did to our guys. At least we're not hanging whites from trees."

So you agree, "we" have not gotten over the infantile bickering over skin color. That was my point.

Personally, I agree with John Kerry when he says:

[affirmative action has] "kept America thinking in racial terms and helped promote a culture of dependency."

 

[BillyTK]

I'd like to see Kerry's quote in context, but I carnt help thinking that American people have kept America thinking in racial terms, ie you carnt blame Affirmative Action for the Ku Klux Klan.

 

[Tony]

I'd like to see Kerry's quote in context, but I carnt help thinking that American people have kept America thinking in racial terms

What gives you reason to think that?

 

[wollery]

What gives you reason to think that?

I'll give you one, how many interracial couple do you see on US TV or in American films? We get a lot of American shows over here (some good, most pretty bad) and I cannot think of one interracial couple from any of them.

In films if a black man or woman goes out with a white woman or man then it is usually a plot device. The black persons black friends call them a traitor etc.

With all that stereotype enforcement what do you expect?

 

[Tony]

I'll give you one, how many interracial couple do you see on US TV or in American films? We get a lot of American shows over here (some good, most pretty bad) and I cannot think of one interracial couple from any of them.

In films if a black man or woman goes out with a white woman or man then it is usually a plot device. The black persons black friends call them a traitor etc.

I hope you don't think this is an answer to what I was asking. BillyTK said "american people". You've demonstrated that american film makers may be thinking in racial terms. Furthmore, why does it matter if there are interracial couples on TV? That should only matter to someone who still thinks in racial terms.

 

[BillyTK]

What gives you reason to think that?

Because thoughts don't exist independently of people.

 

[BillyTK]

I hope you don't think this is an answer to what I was asking. BillyTK said "american people". You've demonstrated that american film makers may be thinking in racial terms. Furthmore, why does it matter if there are interracial couples on TV? That should only matter to someone who still thinks in racial terms.

Conversely, representations of interracial couples on TV wouldn't matter to someone who didn't think in racial terms.

 

[Tony]

Conversely, representations of interracial couples on TV wouldn't matter to someone who didn't think in racial terms.

Absolutely. I'd like to see some evidence of it, but I don't think most people would care if there was an interracial couple on TV.

I can't think of an instance on TV or film where there was an interracial couple that was treated at as a non-event. Like wollery said, interracial couples have mostly been used as a plot device (Save the Last Dance, Jungle Fever).

 

[wollery]

I hope you don't think this is an answer to what I was asking. BillyTK said "american people". You've demonstrated that american film makers may be thinking in racial terms. Furthmore, why does it matter if there are interracial couples on TV? That should only matter to someone who still thinks in racial terms.

You clearly don't understand how impressionable and suggestible the majority of people are. Whilst they may know that what they see on TV and in films is not actually real, the stereotypes contained in the dramas leave a lasting impression on the unconcious. The vast majority of people would not consider being in an interracial relationship, not because they are racist, but because they see so few interracial relationships, and the ones they do see are highly pressurized by friends and family.

The message that people are always getting from the media is that people of the same race stick together. That people of different races may work together, have equal rights etc., but they they rarely socialize across racial divides.

 

[Tony]

You clearly don't understand how impressionable and suggestible the majority of people are. Whilst they may know that what they see on TV and in films is not actually real, the stereotypes contained in the dramas leave a lasting impression on the unconcious. The vast majority of people would not consider being in an interracial relationship, not because they are racist, but because they see so few interracial relationships, and the ones they do see are highly pressurized by friends and family.

I guess I'm not one of those in the "vast majority". I've always wanted to date a chic of another "race".

How do you explain the rise in interracial couples? What do you think of it?

The message that people are always getting from the media is that people of the same race stick together.

I'm not sure it's as simple as that. Art imitates life and sometimes life imitates art. Furthermore, the media, in commercials mostly, frequently put people of different races together.

That people of different races may work together, have equal rights etc., but they they rarely socialize across racial divides.

I think culture plays a big part. What do you think?

 

[BillyTK]

Absolutely. I'd like to see some evidence of it, but I don't think most people would care if there was an interracial couple on TV.

I wish that was the case, but I'm old and cynical and anyway my experience (in the UK at least) would lead me to conclude otherwise.

I can't think of an instance on TV or film where there was an interracial couple that was treated at as a non-event. Like wollery said, interracial couples have mostly been used as a plot device (Save the Last Dance, Jungle Fever).

I can think of a couple of UK tv series in which inter-racial relationships were treated as unproblematic (big up the BBC!). On the other hand, Friends doesn't appeal to a Black audience.

 

[Tony]

I wish that was the case, but I'm old and cynical and anyway my experience (in the UK at least) would lead me to conclude otherwise.

How old? This may be a matter of perspective. As a young person, I think most people wouldn't mind interracial couples on TV. Why do I think that? Because most people, my age or younger and throughout my travels, I have met in my life, wouldn't care.

I can think of a couple of UK tv series in which inter-racial relationships were treated as unproblematic (big up the BBC!). On the other hand.

Cool.

Friends doesn't appeal to a Black audience.

What's your point?

 

[wollery]

I guess I'm not one of those in the "vast majority". I've always wanted to date a chic of another "race".

Why?

You see to me this is part of the problem. Date someone you like, if they happen to have a different skin colour then so what?

How do you explain the rise in interracial couples? What do you think of it?

Acceptance of interracial relationships is increasing. Remember, thirty-something years ago Star Trek featured a kiss between a white man and a black woman, a lot of TV stations wouldn't air it. Today that wouldn't raise an eyebrow. People still care, just not as much.

Personally I don't care how many interracial couples there are, what I care about is whether or not they receive any abuse or intolerance for it.

I'm not sure it's as simple as that. Art imitates life and sometimes life imitates art. Furthermore, the media, in commercials mostly, frequently put people of different races together.

You're right that it's a two way street, but I feel the media should try to lead it. As for the commercials, you're right again, but have you ever thought about why they're used that way? It's because the point of a commercial is to be memorable. The best commercials are the ones that stick in your mind for whatever reason. So show people something that they don't normally see in the programmes that they watch - interracial couples. Most people will remember the commercial because something stood out as different.

I think culture plays a big part. What do you think?

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by culture, but I'm pretty sure that whatever you mean I'm in agreement with you.

 

[Tmy]

TV shows have remained highly segregated. You have your black show, your white show, your gay show.

WHich is a shame because for many people TV is the only place they are exposed to other races ect.. That has a heavy influence on their thoughts of others. Which is a shame cause TV has not been responsible. If anything these shows are usually based on sterotypes. Whether it be the O.C. or Will n Grace.

 

[BillyTK]

How old? This may be a matter of perspective.

It's a figure of speech. Apart from Monday mornings when it's a literal truth.

As a young person, I think most people wouldn't mind interracial couples on TV. Why do I think that? Because most people, my age or younger and throughout my travels, I have met in my life, wouldn't care.

A lot of people I've met wouldn't care either, but there's a lot of people who do; the key variables that I've noticed are the diversity and wealth of the community they live in; the more exclusively white and/or the poorer the community, the greater the likelihood of racist attitudes.

What's your point?

TV audiences in the US are divided along racial lines; not exactly a great indicator for a post-racial society.

 

[Tmy]

TV shows have remained highly segregated. You have your black show, your white show, your gay show.

WHich is a shame because for many people TV is the only place they are exposed to other races ect.. That has a heavy influence on their thoughts of others. Which is a shame cause TV has not been responsible. If anything these shows are usually based on sterotypes. Whether it be the O.C. or Will n Grace.

 

[Charlie Monoxide]

Just to get this thread back on topic .....

I'd like to suggest that the KKK should hold toga parties (hoods optional of course), in their drive to recruit more younger members.

Charlie (TO-GA TO-GA TO-GA) Monoxide