In celebration of my being reminded that I'm the only true single on the planet- I'm not taking a break from men, I'm not hooking up or dating, I'm not on a religous fast from cock.. we have a fark round up. Let's open with a parapharse from Achebe- "It shows a failure of imagination to not be able to put yourself in the shoes of those you are oppressing" and get into it!:



2005-02-14 10:37:05 AM
boohiss

I wonder why there is no White Starz, Asian Starz, Latino Starz or Muslim Starz?Typical response: Yeah and why isn't there a White College Fund, or White Entertainment Channel, or National Association for the Advancement of White People?Typical (idiot) response to that: You are a bigoted redneck racist! How dare you say such mean, racist things, you worthless pile of white trash!

The reason that people are called racist for this is simple- there are white college funds, white entertainment channels(nearly all of them) and the national association for the advancement of white people is called the government. The kind of arrogance that leads you to spout this stupid mess is based off white supremacy- i.e. the idea that you have nothing to learn about other races or cultures.

2005-02-14 10:48:50 AM
RyGiL

Isn't it kinda wierd how hard African Americans fought for integration, yet at the same time they seem want selective segregation? Examples: black history, black better business bureau, black entertainment television, etc.Not that I care though... doesn't affect my life....

You see-there's a tension going on that outsiders might not know about. It's sort of a tension between mainstream success attempts and trying to be an indivdual and knowing that no matter what you do, there are still going to be challenges that black people will face, and banding together causes strength.


2005-02-14 10:50:42 AM
Bgdojo

Black history month is not about who invented what. It is a thing of pride for black people and it does not cost you a farking cent. Let it go.

He does have a point- the only reason I'm leery about white pride is that it seems to be about pride that you're not black or mexican or something, and pride in fucking people over, not pride in your own actual ethnicity.


2005-02-14 10:53:43 AM
Pvt. Dancer

Espertron - However, why isn't there a White History Month?That's because every other month is White History Month. By the way...Asian Pacific American (APA) Heritage Month - May Hispanic Heritage Month - SeptemberNational American Indian Heritage Month - November

And so knowledge was dropped in the thread.


2005-02-14 11:12:39 AM
Rapmaster2000

Why do we have to go through this stupid debate every year? "There's a black blah blah, but there's no white blah blah. Man, I'm so oppressed." It's not only annoying, but people always act like they're the first person to bring up such a salient point. The reason that there is a Black Entertainment Channel or any other black consummable is that there is a market for it. There is no PC conspiracy to make people watch BET, there is simply a market for black people who want to watch programming aimed at them and a group of marketers wanting to reach them in the most effective way. This is how every single channel works. It just so happens that there is a large enough market of blacks to support a cable channel aimed at them. If there were a large enough group of Indians or Muslims, then they would have their own channels too. Currently, they have to share the International Channel.

He definately does have a point here. I certainly would pay to see black movies, and I know many others who would too. Blacks are about 12% of the population, and plus, there are all those people of other ethnicities who want to see the shows too. Although, I would pay to see more bollywood movies, personally. I'm reminded of a girl whose family somehow got Indian channels on their TV at home. The music videos were really good.


2005-02-14 11:12:45 AM
dioscaido

For all the whiners bringing up the insanely wise question 'why isn't there a [insert racial/cultural group] history month??' or 'why isnt' there a [insert racial/cultural group] channel??':Well, because they haven't mobilized themselves to establish it. Honestly, get together and petition the government for it. No one would complain about the establishment of a irish history month, or scottish channel. But lets face it, most people would rather sit around and whine about how there's a Black history month and not their own race/culture/heritage's.

I don't think the whiners are really in earnest- they just don't want anyone to have anything. Members of other minority groups(and some majority groups) have organized their own heritage weeks and months and festivals.


2005-02-14 11:22:23 AM
Tatsuma

Jesus, farkers, I think for once we must unitedBlack peopleWhite peoplewe're just people today. we can united under a single cause:Flaming that horrid, vile pile of cinematic vomit that is catwoman.

I haven't seen it. I hear it sucked.


2005-02-14 11:39:23 AM
mactobain

Runs_With_Scissors_What if there was a White History Month? Or, a White Entertainment Network? Or, a White Miss America?The reason why we would never have these is because white is not one ethnic group, but several ethnic groups put together.(Irish, English, German, Italian, etc) To compare whites (many ethnic groups) to blacks (one ethnic group) is comparing apples and oranges

Although blacks may arguably be more than one ethnic group(if we inculde africans who definately have ethnic groups) I have always wondered about this when someone whines about how they cna't have a white club or something. If they were really sincere, they could always have like a German-Irish-French-Swedish-Greek or whatever alliance club where they trade off on showing the wonders of their heritage. I wouldn't mind that because those are actual heritages with real traditons besides coming together to lynch black folk.

You could learn to do ethnic dances or serve ethnic food and everyone would have a good time. I know they aren't in earnest of course.

2005-02-14 12:11:04 PM
lexslamman

What do white television/movie executives know about black history month? NOTHING.Instead of selling out and showing a decidely shiatty movie that appeals to no one whatsoever, why don't they show movies that are A) important to black history B) interesting portrayals of black culture and C) at least somewhat better in quality than CatWoman.Suggestions from a white boy who happens to know a little (not a lot, but a little) on the subject:SuperFly/Shaft/Friday/Blackula/Blade/Barbershop - all blaxploitation films in one way or another, but historically important and with decent screenplays/plots/dramatic action: Malcom X (Spike Lee)Soul Food Harlem Nights Roots The Ghosts of Mississippi The Tuskeegee Airmen The Color Purple The Cotton Club Menace II SocietyPoetic JusticeMissippi Burning New Jack City Boyz in tha HoodAnd, if these network execs really want to know better how to appeal to their black audience, they should hire some black execs to help them make decisions. That, or read some WEB DeBois.Farking morans.

I agree with this white boy. If you gotta show movies for black history month, make it something someone would want to watch. Daughters of the Dust or Eve's Bayou would also be good. They could put Beloved or Do The Right Thing in there, and interview the directors or something. There are black movies out there that aren't total pieces of crap. You don't have to stoop to Catwoman for fuck's sake!




2005-02-14 12:15:49 PM
wayward2

At least it's February, the shortest month of the year.Has tha Rev. Jassa Jacksonnnn-ah complained about that?It was originally "Black history week" and was the week between Lincoln's Birthday (Feb. 12, then a Federal holiday) and Frederick Douglass's (Feb. 20)After the civil rights era, it expanded to the entire month, if for no other reason than that there was a lot more Black history.That is how Black History Month came to be and that's why it's February./the more you know

I thought that was interesting.


2005-02-14 12:16:17 PM
JBalkwill

Atleast none of you are Canadians with "APTN" Aboriginal Programming Television Network, biggest load of crap TV shows.A bunch of of Canadian Natives thinking their African American "gangsters" but I heard they recently broke the 6 figure budget. Basically every show revolves around how they're victimized while collecting welfare and not paying taxes, I'm old school liberal and that channel is just crap, yet if you say anything about it or infer that the shows are crappy you're racist.

An example of how being given a public anoymous forum makes people act like dickwads.


2005-02-14 12:22:28 PM
Clear Air Turbulence

This reminds me of a radio PSA that's been playing on Dallas stations for Black History Month that I think a lot of black people would find offensive. It has a child (sounding about 10) talking about learning about the Underground Railroad and Harriet Tubman in class, and the child's teenaged-sounding older brother telling the kid that is because it's black history month, and making fun of the kid for thinking that Harriet Tubman loaded the slaves on real trains. Then one of them asks the other to pass the fried chicken!It's farked up in so many ways...for one thing, the younger kid should have learned about the Underground Railroad and Harriet Tubman long before and NOT just because it's 'Black History Month' - I remember learning about it when I was in 3rd grade, in the late 70s. Secondly, it's implying that the younger kid is either stupid for misunderstanding the Underground Railroad or that the 'history' that's being taught for Black History Month is not gone into with any detail. And finally, the fried chicken part - yes, they mention the PSA was paid for by Kroger, who are offering specials on traditional African American foods, but the whole 'black people loves fried chicken!' thing is still too big of a stereotype (in my opinion) for them to be safe making blatant references to it during a PSA about the Underground Railroad.Then there's another one running lately which talks about how some black guy in 1975 invented what later came to be the internet. There is no real information provided about it, the person reading the PSA just uses every synonym they can think of for the internet (world wide web, information superhighway, etc.) and ends it with something about 'And today we move freely across the world wide web!' - it just sounds so stupid. And though I've heard it several times I still can't understand what the name of the guy they are talking about is. Sometimes I think that these PSAs they release every February are actually written by white supremacists trying to make black people look stupid.

No clue about that one.

There will be more in part two