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Am I racist?
garroad_ran
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So, a buddy of mine and I were joking around writing terrible lyrics to instrumental songs. We're tossing a couple around on a facebook thread and I went and wrote this for a song called Spears:
indians used'em
and, so did japs, oh yes they did
even africans and pretty much the whole world
they are these things,
called spears, oh oh oh oh
they're called spears, spears
Followed by someone else who was in the thread saying "... racist."
He -might- be kidding, but people don't usually throw around the term racist loosely.
How bad did I fuck up H/A?
indians used'em
and, so did japs, oh yes they did
even africans and pretty much the whole world
they are these things,
called spears, oh oh oh oh
they're called spears, spears
Followed by someone else who was in the thread saying "... racist."
He -might- be kidding, but people don't usually throw around the term racist loosely.
How bad did I fuck up H/A?
garroad_ran on
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I didn't find it racist but then again, it's hard to shock me.
Electronic composer for hire.
And besides, you didn't make an derogatory statements, you never said you hated a particular race... I personally don't see anything racist about what you've written.
Besides, in this day and age, people are far too concerned with being politically correct.
Why do you care what some random internet person thinks anyway? You know your own intent behind the lyrics you wrote, rather than get into some debate trying to justify yourself just forget about it and move on with your life.
Non-racists engage in racist talk and actions all the time. It's a matter of recognizing the moments and trying to improve for the sake of self-improvement. Because really, there is no harm in avoiding the use of the word "Jap" and altering "even Africans."
Here's the thing about the racist things we may all say:
It's true that you can't hope to please everyone, but it's just common politeness & human decency to consider that the people you talk to may not be cool with what you might say. It's all a matter of gauging the sensitivity level of the people you are talking to, and then altering your comments to fit that standard. Just common politeness, not "oh no we have to be sooo pc in todays oppressive society I am the victim now." You won't talk about funny cancer jokes in front of your friend who just lost a parent to it, so you won't use racist language in front of people who are not cool with it.
Of course, if you would in both cases, but then that just means you're an asshole and you hang out with other assholes, so whatever. It doesn't matter than as long as if you know you're an asshole.
Probably.
And yeah, "even Africans" is kind of weird. Using really different races that no one thinks of would perhaps make it just a little bit funnier.
Koreans used'em
and, so did Greeks, oh yes they did
Mesopotamians and pretty much the whole world
they are these things,
called spears, oh oh oh oh
they're called spears, spears
But if you're just screwing around on Facebook, I wouldn't worry about it. Just make sure not to sing it in front of any baby boomers.
Pretty much my thoughts exactly, but that doesn't really help if what I said was taken as seriously insulting or derogatory by a friend.
I wanted to get some third party opinions on what I had said to see if maybe I had said something really offensive and hurt a friendship unintentionally. I suppose that's still very possible, depending on how this particular friend interpreted what I wrote.
Putting words to a song on the fly. They happened to fit the melody. No rhyme or reason to it! (except the obvious overuse of the word 'spears')
The end.
Well that's what you were looking for, wasn't it? People to agree with you and reaffirm that "Of course you're not a racist!" And that's what makes your situation so hysterical. Because you felt guilty enough at what you did to start this whole discussion when the reality is that only you can know whether or not you're a racist or ethnocentric or lacking empathy or whatever. And if someone calls you a racist, you can do one of two things - either attempt to understand why a person might be offended if you don't know already or frantically seek out like-minded individuals to support what you want to believe.
And that's what this thread has been about. If you can't understand why some people might not like being referred to as "Japs" or the line "even Africans" might come off as a bit condescending, chances are you never will anyway so when you meet your friend in person, you'll get into this huge shouting match about why you're "not a racist, dammit!" Instead of putting yourself through all that bullshit, why not just kick back and forget about the whole thing? Just skip to the end and sever ties with your offended friend. Out of sight, out of mind. It'll be a whole lot easier on you and him or her, trust me.
and in the end, there's really no difference.
What's sad is how few people in this thread realize just how highly offensive that "song" would probably be. I agree with Glyph though... you got your other ignorant morons who agree with you, feel free to get completely defensive when your friend says that he's upset. Make sure you don't listen to his point of view and, if you can, turn everything around onto him.
It's the idiots guide to a verbal disagreement.
Are you talking about people that live in India, or native americans? Most likely native americans, given the context.
I know some people that would get pretty offended at being called Indian. Plus the others?
I'll go ahead and agree with the "ignorant" comment. Stuff like this doesn't need to be said.
How is Jap a highly derogatory term? I'm genuinely curious.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jap
Basically, it became an ethnic slur during world war 2.
You? Probably not as much, but maybe. It's one thing for people to say these kinds of things as jokes to friends, where they know they're joking. It's another thing to say where people can hear you who don't know if you're joking.
I can own up to being ignorant. I'm not sure so sure that there's no difference though.
The thread title is misleading I suppose. I wasn't looking for validation nor do I feel guilty about something that was said in jest and (I think) not insulting. I basically wanted to see if what I had written was universally viewed as "going too far" or really, really hurtful. In any case, I apologized to the friend in question if I'd offended him, and it turns out he was also kidding around with the "...racist" comment.
Opinions on how 'racist' the joke was are sort of split. This is certainly not a mistake I'll be making again anytime soon in any case.
aaaaaaaand LOCK.