Racism/Chimp Pic/BBC/Royals/Danny Baker Sacked

[Gandalf]

Nobody here knows shit about racism, but it doesn't stop everyone from talking up a storm.

Racism isn't words. It's an attitude and a set of held beliefs. If you say "nigger" in a conversation, but in all honesty do not consider blacks to be inferior or objectionable, then you're not racist. If said person says "nigger" to a black person and the black person objects, usually the first person will refrain from using the word so as to not offend the black person. This is not rocket science. It's basic human nature and principles of human decency. The same goes for every race, ethnic group, gender, and every other worldly distinction which separates us from one another.

You could be squeaky clean in your lexicon and be the world's worst racist.

This is exactly why it's not simple. The crux of this argument is a man got sacked for posting a chimp pic, he swears blind the intent wasn't aimed at black people in any way, he has never done/said a racist thing in 61 years and everyone who knows him backs him up. He has literally fought against racist/facists. However, not only is losing his job not sufficient punishment, whole swathes of society want him arrested. I've heard dozens of black people washing away any defence of him with - "yeah, right, closet racist."

You use the word nigger, regardless of context, how will you prove the intent wasn't racist? Like Batman's example of "niggardly," he was taken to task for fear of offending people who don't understand the meaning, for fear of offending a lack of intelligence. Mad world.

I hadn't read the article link in the OP, so went back and read it. What's sad is that all this uproar against Baker is amplified because it has to do with a royal baby. Had it been Jane Doe's baby, who knows... the guy would probably still have his job. I tend to lean toward giving Baker the benefit of the doubt. You have to look at a person's background, not just casually wash away over 60 years of personal history. On the other hand, about a year ago there was a furor over Roseanne Barr making a racist Tweet comparing Obama aide Valerie Jarrett to an ape. In that case, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to come to the conclusion that Roseanne is very much a racist. That's why these things shouldn't be broad-brushed.

But what if the person does look a bit chimp like? For instance, I have always thought Brad Pitt has a touch of chimp, but it isn't racism. There is a former wrestler on TV here who looks a bit ape like, but I would hardly say everyone looks ape like. People really do sometimes look a funny way. Was Bonham Carter mocking black people when she dressed up as a monkey? I think people have had their brain chemistry altered and just want to be triggered by key words these days.

Context, Miles.

As mature, intelligent human beings, we should be able to discern between the racist and the non-racist. Roseanne, being the lowlife comedienne that she is, was totally racist in her comments. She meant it to be racist, and it came out entirely racist. She got what was coming to her. The chimp/ape thing, I see your point. Unfortunately history is loaded with racist views comparing blacks to monkeys.... so it's tough to come off any other way than racist when you go the chimp/ape route. Yes... some white people look a bit like apes. But comparing a black person to one is going to get you in heaps of trouble no matter what the intention was.

True, but this is where the eggshells thing has become a bit too much. X is not white and made a potentially racist joke, but nobody is going to get upset by it. It is after all only a joke. I think the media basically spends too much time blowing up silly online stuff into drama for views and people are easily psyched. We saw the same thing with MAGA boy. The poor kid was being threatened and dragged through the gutter for racism despite not doing anything at all. The media is responsible for a lot of the drama by hyping up things that are best ignored or certainly would be had a non-white person done it. Personally I do not care if black people want to be racist or anybody for the matter, just as long as it is not malicious or leading to violence.