On Race Relations, and the URL
Life Lessons, Thought Crime Comments (2)
I shall try to correct errors where shown to be errors, and I shall adopt new views as fast as they shall appear to be true views. –Abraham Lincoln
And now, race.
You ever notice that when you run across something on the internet, it’s a buzz. You suddenly start to notice it everywhere, it comes up in conversation and then suddenly you are part of the viral masses? Well, there are things on the internet people also whisper about, and yet still share. One such site is HockeyFights.com Hockey is not about fighting and this years (08) play off have been nothing short of kicking, however, a rabid friend of mine, and by that i mean both acting and about hockey sent me this site. He kept gushing about it.
Anyway, sometimes, even the best of us picks the worst side of to show people. I am no different. Two of my favorite sites to show people are:
http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com/
http://www.blackpeopleloveus.com/
Now, it’s all in fun but if you have delicate sensibilities don’t go there. One is more serious than the other. Black People love us is more Onion like, but you have to have a sense of humor. The other, Stuff White People like, will, if you are Caucasian be amazingly embarrassed at. Another author felt this way. After reading that article, I was embarrassed for him too.
I show people these sites as most people show the Onion, but i am careful about who i show and why. I think everyone is. But why these two? Do they say i am racist, or does it say i can laugh at the ludicrousness of it all? Who am I when i share these URL?
The sharing of a URL is a whisper at times; Something you catch as you pass by a location, a cub, over a phone. These are a whisper places i go. On cell phones and blackberries and iphones, this hidden secret has kept moving around. As i was contemplating what to write after destroying your minds on Friday i kept thinking What does it mean on a culture of race relations that we pass both of these sites along as whispers. Is it a secret, is it like bring you along? a sign of trust? is it closet racism, or are we trying to bring them out into the light, get others to laugh at themselves and us?
My answer to many of my questions came to me when a friend came over to my desk and after talking a moment about the weekend -my desk is our water cooler-, I mentioned something a touch personal and laughed about it. I saw her hesitate and then leaned over to my keyboard and typed in http://www.aish.com/jewlarious/
I could only smile; I had my answer.
Do you have yours?
OceansOfThought @ April 21, 2008
*whew* something I can understand in less than an hour!
I saw that “stuff white people like” site a while back after following one of your blogroll sites. I like both “arrested develpment”s, throwing dinner parties, and many other things on that list, but I have a long-standing personal policy of not being offended by things that are true (granted, somedays I’m better at it than others). Whether the intent or not, I thought the whole thing was pretty damn funny. (pardon the vulgarity)
I’ll check out the other sites later, my highways aren’t going to design themselves after all, and I certainly can’t have my co-workers knowing I’m a flaming racist, now, can I?
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