Racism on TV

[DigitalDuality]

what im getting at is, even tho i dont know how i see it cuz its a real complex issue, is that if you ask alot of black people they feel like whites and the rulers of the media "stole" things from them, stole their music, stole their clothing style, stole their language and slang, etc. without paying respect to where it came from or even knowing really.

Maybe those that fee disenfranchised from that should re-think who they point the fingers at. If you're going to market it in order to get rich and cash in on mainstream culture, don't be suprised when others incorporate watered down versions of it.

 

[BA]

[ I wish there were more Howard Stern fans around here, I'd bust out some classic Daniel Carver] :D

Good points, and well written Digital Duality.

 

[DigitalDuality]

The language of that period is obviously going to have a lot more impact that some shit like "cracker" or "whitey" which are words with no power over anyone and no historical use in perpetuating and excusing atrocities.

Cultural restraints affect you as much as you allow them to. Point in case, my roommate (white girl) dating a black man for over a year. Jokingly (and drunkenly) she called him a "bitch ass nigga". Well he threw a childish hissy fit and walked home. She followed as was called a whore, worthless piece of shit, bigot, "go burn some jews you nazi", you name it.

Now apparently the girl isn't a bigot. And apparently he's an over-sensitive wuss who uses the word hypocritically day in and day out. But that's ok "b/c he's black". Frankly, i think his cultural hold onto self segregation and "our stuff" and racial roles/restraints is fucking garbage. The girl is head over heels in love with him. I dunno.

There isn't a word in the world that could offend me. You want to offend me... you attack personal attributes about me. Call me white, make fun of my economic status, make fun of agnostics, or computer nerds, or however else people wish to classify me. You're not going to offend me.

Frankly, b/c i won't let you. And it's that fucking simple. My roomie's boyfriend's father..was at times a "victim". His grandfather and greatgrandfather even more so.

And i'm not saying this guy doesn't stumble across racism against him, we all do. And i'd say blacks do more so than whites. And those are things that need to be fixed. But lets face it, for the most part.. he might be name called. He could get into a college with worse grades than me, he could get a job faster than i could. 90% of his "racial problems" is him, and alot of people like him convinced that they are victims. Victims of history, victims of society. And while there's some truth to it.. that knowledge should be used to empower yourself as an individual.. not continue a cycle of self victimization.

That's why i have a problem with whites being apathetic to it. It just feeds the self victimizing mentality. "poor me".

You don't hear me crying when someone less qualified gets a job over me. I don't bitch when i get looked at funny when i'm in majority black areas of town (and i live in a pretty racially charged city). It's life, it's the world. I accept it. Hate me..what do i care? I can stick my middle finger up all day and be proud to be me. I don't give a rats ass about the white race. Or southerners. I care about me. Numero uno. And i think that attitude is common in most whites... and non-existant in most blacks.

The attitude of "we gotta help raise each other up" and "you owe us b/c of a,b,c injustice", isn't teaching people to be self sufficient. It's handicapping them as a race, and making them (and alot of whites..and just people in general) into a bunch of over-sensitive crybabies.

 

[physix]

damn... even people's racism is discriminatory.


Dave makes fun of black people too


but i guess you're too racist to see it.


















excuse me?


are you for real?


i'll forgive you if you simply don't watch that much
TV...


but, let's see...

QUEER AS FOLK for the first 2 seasons (and then and
ONLY then there was an occassional black trick getting
fucked) so, i will go on to say QAF the entire 5 fuckin'
seasons


OC

Laguna Beach

Stacked

Reunion (new one, no black folk just as yet)

Headcase

It's always Sunny ...


Niptuck
(hell, i don't even think they've operated ona black person yet)

Starved

need i go on?


i can name others on some other channels, too


just because one network that is trying to FOCUS
on the 'urban' market doesn't mean that, suddenly,
the ratio is levelling off... it's not...

so, the problem with people's anectodal responses
to situations like this is quite simply put: they don't
get out much.

a new black show on the WB doesn't out weigh the
10 new all-white cast shows all over the cable box.



so, unfortunately, this is about as deep as i'll get in
this discussion...

as to why someone would think that blacks held a
higher proportion of the population b-c of the telly,
well... you can blame other whites for that: white
people love black culture... they always have and
always will, no matter what they think of black
people in general... hip hop is prevelent b-c white
people love it... it has embedded itself in media
of all sorts because white people have made it so...

WET White Entertainment Television= CMT Country Music Televison

hahahahahah!!!


class.


altho' i bet some country programmers had to cringe a bit
when Aaron Neville was popular....

 

[physix]

ok, i lied.... one more thing... more of some facts to go along
with the "no all white cast" claim:


i just did a casual scan of TV shows on ABC and CBS
and found NO all black cast shows (altho' there is
a second all latino cast (kinda) show coming on
ABC)


yet, there's 10 shows (between the two) that i could
see right away were all white cast... not a "mostly
white" ensemble (which is understandable)... but an
ALL WHITE ensemble.

::EDIT:: there is a black character on STARVED, my mistake.

 

[LapDawg]

oh hey BA...where can I find that old thread you started? :D

Seeing firsthand from the perspective of working in the industry, it's pretty safe to say the caucasian world is in no jeopardy of being pushed aside as the dominant power behind American entertainment whether it be film, theater or television. Whiny rants about how TV does not offer enough programming respect for whites just come off as such...whiny rants.

To lament the fact there is a Black Entertainment Television channel seems like a poor cry from those who are tired of hearing about how their ancestors didn't treat african-americans too well. Physix said it perfectly...the reason it is popular is because white people love the culture. Maybe some of you don't, but in general people do...otherwise we wouldn't be force-fed all the supposed overexposure through all commercial avenues. Hip hop culture is a mainstream part of life now. The distaste and discontent for it should not be thrusted into a "there's too much Black Pride TV" type of argument. And to say there isn't much all-white TV casts out there...I have to just laugh at that preposterous claim. Aside from physix's evidence w/ ABC and CBS, just look at HBO man...the champagne of U.S. TV...the majority of their shows are easily predominant white casts.

If you really want to talk about racism/discrimination in the U.S. entertainment industry, why not talk about the level of representation male asian-americans receive? It seems in this country it's far easier to be a celebrity as a female asian, rather than a male... and as of late, I rarely, rarely see any leads given to asians period. I'm not making a point of this to complain about it, but rather it is simply a truthful observation. Sure, here on the west coast there's a couple of international channels, such as KTSF 26 in San Francisco, but in terms of national coverage, asian entertainers are either typecasted or are likely not to find exposure here in the U.S.

 

[fungus44]

Race Traitor

Whiny rants about how TV does not offer enough programming respect for whites just come off as such...whiny rants.

Or racism.

It's not like there aren't plenty of white people on TV, its just that whites are typically discouraged from thinking about themselves as an ethnic group and promoting their group interests, while minorities are encouraged to do so. That's the double standard.

See Race Traitor

The existence of the white race depends on the willingness of those assigned to it to place their racial interests above class, gender, or any other interests they hold. The defection of enough of its members to make it unreliable as a predictor of behavior will lead to its collapse.

 

[ezbakeoven]

To lament the fact there is a Black Entertainment Television channel seems like a poor cry from those who are tired of hearing about how their ancestors didn't treat african-americans too well. Physix said it perfectly...the reason it is popular is because white people love the culture. Maybe some of you don't, but in general people do.

Im all about letting them express their culture to others, but naming a channel after the color of skin taht the show and audiences it is intended for is just making the line between racial equality bolder. Im sure the reason there is no WET is because it labels the show as 'white' and therefore 'racist'.


And why do the diversity months only have to do with skin color? People can have the same skin yet vastly different cultures, yet once again the color of your skin determines what type of culture you have and therefore leads others to reinforce the skin-color borders.

 

[Khadijah]

Why are yall saying there is no white pride?

YOu never seen t-shirts saying


Italian princess
polish princess
italian and proud
kiss me im irish/polish/german
Italians do it better
etc.

theres pride for individual nationalities

And you aint seen shirts sayin

Dominican Diva
Boriqua Pride
Jamaica

etc.? specific to nationality not nec. race. it dont cancel out or equal the amount of "black" pride not "jamaican" or "carribean" or "nigerian" pride. shit i never even seen the phrase "nigerian pride" before. but anyways

Shit, racial identity aint a tshirt i know that. aint tryina say that. i was just tryina poit it out that there is somethin there that yall just werent takin into consideration.

also just sayin, there is no "white pride" because it has took on a negative meaning. from the past. now think about it. yea in theory it aint bad. in theory it should be both ways.

but, if there was a word that should commonly mean something, but also means something bad like....bitch. female dog, or reall piece of shit snotty ass petty woman, or dude who acts like that

so even tho yea, a bitch is a female dog, would you want to have a business with the word bitch in it. a grooming salon for female dogs. Bitches R Us. Bitch Parlor. lol something like that.

well truth is no matter what is should mean or its real meaning youre still gonna have that word and the negative meaning attached to it and its still gonna offend people cuz its a cuss. you cant say to people angry at havin some type of offensive shit in the name, well, you know, this is what it really means.

now think about the white power shit
it dont work that way cuz white power=white supremacy.
even tho it should be jsut as easy to say white pride you cant because people took that and dirtied the name and now no matter how much u woudl liek it to be different thats the way it is.

now as far as ezb's comment bout same skin can have diffrent cultures:
or course. i been saying forever that your culture depends so much on your surroindings and class and environment.
unless they get influenced by somethin outside of it, usually a rich sheltered suburan kid wont be outside the house on the front steps drinkin a 40 at 3 am with 5 other people on the stoop and be used to takin care of what clothes to wear and what colors to avoid wearin to be gang neutral.

and most likely what i just described, someone from that environment usually aint gonna up and act liek they belong to a country club in conneticut and wear like some fancy ass vogue magazine shit.

its the customs or traditions of where you are from not the race youre from

anybody who grows up in the ghetto is gonna experience or be familiar with shit like i described
and anybody in the well off upper class, live in nice areas set, would have other specific behaviors. like a lot of very rich people have cleaning ladies, or housekeepers, etc.that someone froma ghetto background aint gonna be familiar with

basically a race might seem to dictate how you behave but if you are raised in a area, youre pretty much gonna have tha character of where you weer raised in. aint sayin everyone from there is the same and thats the only way shit is, just sayin, that theres a obvious lifestyle people got in common in certain places.

when it comes to how your way of life is, that shit got alot more to do with how/where you were raised, you keep some characteristics from genetics but how you talk, live, act etc is affected by where you live and the culture there. so everybody develops their ''base'' culture from where they live at and how they weer raised in there. and then the difference and idiosyncrasies are there from their race/nationality etif thats how their parent(s) raised them


You know what. the world is fucked up when it comes to this shit.
and you can sweat it sometimes but when you dont worry about it except when you need to or it comes up its alot better than havin a constant battle goin on. the questions and completly opposite sides are gonna still disagree and still have to get worked out. but sometimes a better thing to do than keepin it in your brain is why dont you relax.

theres tons of inter racial marriages and people dont even acknowlege it. you aint seein race when its like that. not at all. youre just people dawg. i think peeps forget that
people joke about it yea but overall it aint a problem. if people didnt have these big ass barriers between them (a big one of those is the way the money classes are seperated so people aint all togehter seein eachother on the regular and just coexisting.) it turns it into somethin people aint used to and they get weird about it instead of accepting it and seein nothin different than seein tree in a forest know what i mean?

that goes all ways for everybody.

 

[drEaMtiMe*@#]

i've just sort of quickly read over this thread, but... i think for one thing: revenge is sweet. it may not be the best way to go about things but i definitely can't criticize cos it's not even as if racism against blacks and other minority groups doesn't still go on in america today- it does. may be it's not quite as bad now as it once was but it's still very present.

the bottom line for me here is that; people won't ever treat eachother equally as long as they live in a power hungry capitalist world. all this materialistic shit that we live in fosters racism to still exist. i don't know about changing the world- that seems like a mighty hard task, and if not damn near impossible to do- but if each individual starts to realise things such as this, and hence changes the way that they act... well... that would be good.

 

[DigitalDuality]

People won't treat people equally b/c none of us are equal to one another. And i mean none of us. Not just racially divided, but all the way down to an individual level. The only thing that makes us equal is that we eat, shit, sleep, and breathe.

I've always been for equal rights and equal oppurtunities. But the idea of "equality" disgusts me. We're not equal. Where one suceeds another fails, where one is a natural talent, another is hopless in that arena. As it should be. This idea that somehow we're all the same, bothers me. Because we're not. Though, this isn't really a support of racism, sexism, or any other discriminatory ism. Just an off shoot rant.

 

[ezbakeoven]

racism against blacks and other minority groups doesn't still go on in america today- it does

And whites arent discriminated against? Racism has become a term too associated with whites against everyone else.

 

[drEaMtiMe*@#]

well yeah, and that would have something to do with whites establishing themselves as the dominant race on this planet.

you see, it's HOW they got to that position, and once in that position; their blatant abuse of power that sickens me. it's the means of building up self worth by demolishing others which is disgusting. sure we're not all equal like Digital Duality pointed out. but it's the fact that we should all at least have a basic level of respect for other human beings, and not build or own self esteem solely up on how much better and smarter we are then others. just think of people like einstein, a genius who used his knowledge to enlighten others, and thus further humanity, rather then sitting back and going:

'mwhahaha. i pity all you fools. i know so much that you don't; so now i'm going to humiliate you all and make you pay! mwhahahaaa.

bow down to your master!'

okay, maybe that's not the best example. but hopefully i'm still making sense.

 

[Khadijah]

And whites arent discriminated against? Racism has become a term too associated with whites against everyone else.

....if you seen some of the discrimination against blacks firsthand and seen the impact of that which is still goin on today the amount of racism against white people fuckin PALES in comarison. no pun intended. serious. PLUS most of teh white racism is just s general feeling, it is a attitude , and jokes, and some smaller real life things like a hate crime here or there, and then EEO. the racism against black people actually has a serious deep IMPACT on their lives. you cant go and say as a well off white person that your life is seriously different because of racism and you can feel the prejudice and inequality as a part of your everyday life.

so somebody who is slightly less qualified gets a job because of a quota.
and some peopel get a TV station named after them. big whoop.
and peopel get money from the goverment that still aint enough to support them and a block of free cheese. you know white people get welfare and shit too but i dont see people complaining about white people in the trailer parks who use their checks on jim beam. its always those "fuckin niggas and their wasteful porch monkey ghetto ass bullshit"

*shakin my head*

anyways, even today they are still feeling much more pain and reciving much more shit from the ongoing racism, i dont even wanna hear nobody say that "oh well whites are recipients of racism too" cuz there is no comparing it homie. serious. if you seen some of the horror that goes on in the ghetto that nobodys blinking an eye over, cuz they aint the precious little white sons and daughters of mainstream upper middle class america, your mind would be exploding.

serious. imagine if every week somebody you know died. literally. imagine if during the summertime some weeks, theres 4 people a day getting killed right in your neighborhood. if you cant even count on two hands the family members and friends who are in the ground.

if in a rich, white community there was a death rate like that it would be declared a national emergency and people would be buggin the fuck out. OUR CHILDREN OUR CHILDREN. but it keeps goin right on in the hood year in year out , ignored just like the civil war and starvation and famine and AIDS going on in africa and 3rd world countries around the world. people hear it and they heard it before, if they dont see it, they dont feel it or care, they brush it aside cuz it aint THEIR kids.

and you think all that, poverty and death and fuckin seeing nothing but dirt and grime all day, sure you learn to see beauty in your surroundings because how else are you gonna keep on living, but having that be your everyday existince aint bad enough? and you even wanna act like shit is even just because theres lots of black basketball stars and rich rappers and EEO and affirmative action? theres still white people at the top of all that owning the record labels and teams.

 

[mariacallas]

why "fuck that"? why not sit your corny ass back and laugh?

And as to racial jokes. I love them. From Chappelle, or most anyone else. We all to some degree fit a stereotype, and we all to some degree shine through in our individuality. Why not sit back and laugh at our (or your) stereotypes? If we can't do simple things like laugh at each other, and laugh at ourselves.. how the hell are we supoosed to take care of much more serious issues?

WORD.

Goddamn some people just take some things way too seriously. I dont go watching comedy shows/spoofs/skits thinking OMG THATS RACIST! Jeez lighten up people