Mrebo

How other people live.

Newly recognized carnivore.

I continue to admire asian ingenuity.

I knew I'd be kicking myself. And yet here I am, kicking myself. Grab opportunities and leave the fear and doubt for later. Better than regret.

Should jurors be able to understand English?

It's a little funny that the man convicted of murder was appealing on the basis that they should have kept a juror who didn't speak English.

I am in agreement on both posts above ^

Possible future treatment for Downs Syndrome.

In his interview, Capaldi alluded to playing a Doctor of a certain "ilk." What general categories of Doctor do you see?

For instance were the 5th and 10th Doctors of the same ilk (as alluded to in a Xmas special)? How would you lump the other doctors? And given the story line, what sort of Doctor is called for now, iyho?

CP3S said:

Gaffer Tape said:

Hey!  I love The Big Bang Theory!

I can't stand it. I find it generally shallow and obnoxious. It is "nerd" culture as perceived by and mocked by non nerds. It's laughing at these types, not with them. It makes me cringe seeing the quantity of Big Bang Theory merchandise on sites like thinkgeek.com.

Sheldon and Leonard are akin to the Mr. Yunioshi and Black Sambo cultural stereotypes. Much like Yunioshi and Sambo, they are endearing characters that people love, but are also exaggerated and disparaging representations of that stereotype.

I've heard this critique before and I don't get it. It's a very funny show. I don't think "nerds" are born as such or warrant some kind of protected status. If anything, the show is glorifying and popularizing "nerds." I think back to Steve Urkel or Screech and those characters perhaps come close to what you're saying, yet "nerd" status is not the same as race.

The mocking aspect to me is simply a reflection of reality. "Nerd" is not some noble title. It is word to applied to certain stereotypes. It is another n-word we have proudly adopted in order to try to claim a positive identity for it. And given the success of Big Bang, I think we've been successful.

But cf. (warning: racial humor)

An angel in priest's clothing?

Up Warbler's alley: Washington Redskins a racist name?

*applause*: this police officer hits all the right notes.

Ernie says:

Hahahahaha

I would ignore every last one of you if that schtick wasn't already taken! ;)

I did rather enjoy ender's description of the arguments between Warbler and me.

And: FOUR.YEAR.OLD.MAYOR.

Please note how interesting that is and post a new story for us to not comment on or look at >;|

I admire the extent to which asians pursue their fantasies (sort of a combination of the palm surgery and Detroit stories).

Will somebody please click on the adorable mayor story and respond?

Warbler says he didn't take a "good look." Humph.

No comment on the mayor story? Nor an objection to the poll tax and a discussion of its racist history?

;) kidding kidding

Warbler said:

Mrebo said:

You seem way too comfortable with ruining people's lives for a violation of federal law. There are so many laws out there that the government could ruin your life, if not make it utterly miserable, if it so chose. That's not okay.

if you don't like a law change it.   At least with federal law you only have repeal it once, not 50 times. 

I'd say when two people that love each other are kept by law from marrying, that could be said to  ruin their lives.  Yet you have no problem with that.

Way to go missing the point about prosecutorial discretion and Obama's apparent hypocrisy.

If you don't want to engage on the current topic, don't.

To bring the thread more in line with the original vision, here is the most adorable mayor in America.

Warbler, what CP3S is addressing is the fact that there is prosecutorial discretion. That Obama is going so hard after drugs doesn't make sense given his experience. It's not that we expect him too broadly stop enforcement of drug laws, it's that his DOJ has been extremely aggressive about it. Obama has ignored the law (Obamacare employer mandate) and failed to defend the law (DOMA), so a defense of his expansive enforcement of drug laws isn't overly convincing.

You seem way too comfortable with ruining people's lives for a violation of federal law. There are so many laws out there that the government could ruin your life, if not make it utterly miserable, if it so chose. That's not okay.

I'm part of the "drugs are bad" crowd but I agree with CP3S. I applaud ;) his (cunning?) reference to a history racial discrimination.

[apologies to ender]

It is easier to identify someone using a racial epithet as a racist, especially if they're white; if I hear a black person using the n-word, it does seem less likely they're using it in a racially pejorative fashion (so hopefully we have that point out of the way now), but that doesn't make it non-racist when blacks use the word. I know you don't like/get certain humor but I think comedians do touch on some realities of how people think. The fundamental harm of racism is separating people because of the color of their skin. I don't think it's just that individuals are mean to people of a certain race - yes, that's bad but it's a symptom of the problem. There will never be some grand conversation on race in America (as many out the media occasionally search for, not suggested by anyone in this thread) because people are really only interested in quashing the symptoms. So it's great if the individual known as Riley Cooper apologized for his personal sin of using a racial pejorative. Maybe he's a racist to the core. Maybe he was angry and said the meanest thing he could think of. Maybe it's a word in his vocabulary for the same reason many blacks use it (even if it is super ill-advised for whites to use it). But at the end of the day, I don't care about Riley Cooper in any larger sense. And we can talk about the problem of 1 million Riley Coopers, but the outward ignorance and stereotyping are all just symptoms. In my opinion.

But we can't discuss this anymore in the thread :P

I like it when Frink is subversive.

Warbler said:

Mrebo said:

As you admit later in your response, you never heard about the movements to reclaim or neuter certain epithets by using them. That is clearly what I am referring to. Sorry you haven't heard of that before, but it's not an obscure thing.

Maybe it isn't, but I had never heard of it before and the way you said it, made it seem as if one of us had said it was acceptable for black people to use that word.   

How I said it was:

If it is okay for black people to use the word and he was using it in the same way, why should it be considered worse?

I was thinking about how it is said people are reclaiming a word (like the n-word or "queer") or taking away its power to hurt by using it. Perhaps it is the altered definition of the word (thanks to the adoption of many blacks) that Cooper was using. I hear young black guys using it constantly.

It is super obvious it is my thought based upon what I hear out in the world. No idea how you got the notion I was ascribing any statements to you or anyone else in the thread. The question - and you can "whatever" until the cows come home to where the sun doesn't shine - was obviously my own rhetorical question.

Mrebo said:

If I started calling my friends the n-word, that doesn't make me racist.

someone who isn't a racist, would not call his friends the n-word.

*sigh*

It would be like a calling a black person, a cracker.

Is is racist if I call you a cracker?

Mrebo said:

What matters is the context and intent.

not when we are talking about a white person using the n-word. 

I won't bang my head against this brick horse.

yeah, I think you are wrong.   Maybe 30 years ago it would be understandable for a white person to use that term due to its broad use in whatever community he lived/grew up in.  But this is the year 2013,  you have to be living under the biggest boulder in the history of the universe to not know that the word is unacceptable and ugly.

I do think you have it backward. 30 years ago it would have been unquestionably racist, however "understandable." Now, the usage in urban, largely black, communities has expanded the definition.

I'm skeptical of the Doctor, who has always been male, becoming female (the Master is yet another example of timelord regeneration). I know looking for logic/consistency in "Doctor Who" is something of a fool's errand, but I'd still ask 'why?' (apart from the fact that our culture is now sufficiently enlightened to do so and who cares because it's a silly sci-fi show that doesn't make any sense anyways).

Stodgy fans like me could be won over, but I fear the writers would struggle with the different dynamic of a woman Doctor. And if the Doctor continues to be male, I don't know how many fans will handle that disappointment following so closely on the heels of the birth ("heels of the birth" should be a saying) of not-princess George. And on that count, might that disappointment perhaps play a role in pushing them toward a female Doctor?

I'm with Bingo on the ruining of the surprise.

In general, I'm with Anchorhood on Miss Watson's potential. I've previously suggested she play Luke/Leia's mother in a proper prequel.

TV's Frink said:

Context: He said he was going to jump the fence and fight that n******.   Referring to a black security guard who was doing his job.  I'd say yes, it's much worse.  He was not saying "hi, my n******" to a pal.

Thank you for the context. I watched the one video Warb posted and it was just a loop of him saying it.

Also, and not that it excuses him in anyway, but in the video where he first apologizes, I'd say he seems very sincere about being sorry.  He made no excuses, no "sorry to anyone who was offended", no blaming anyone but himself, and seemed legitimately upset at himself.  I don't think he's upset because he's white and got caught.

I still search for an explanation for why someone would use that word. I can fathom no circumstance in which I would use that word. I can't help but think the stigma has actually become lessened by its use in some circles. Maybe he is in some respect racist, as Warbler suggests.

Warbler said:

Mrebo said:

If it is okay for black people to use the word and he was using it in the same way, why should it be considered worse?

that is a stupid and ignorant thing to say.

That is something known as a rhetorical question.

I never said it is ok for black people to use the word.No one in here said that. So I don't know where you got that idea.

As you admit later in your response, you never heard about the movements to reclaim or neuter certain epithets by using them. That is clearly what I am referring to. Sorry you haven't heard of that before, but it's not an obscure thing.

However that doesn't mean that it is the same whether the word comes out of the black person's mouth or a white person's mouth.  It isn't.   Anyone that knows and understands the history of racism and slavery and discrimination in country would know that.  

It's not so easy nowadays to point at the person who says the n-word and declare them to be a racist. If I started calling my friends the n-word, that doesn't make me racist. And if I got really mad at you and called you that, I still wouldn't be a racist. And if I were in the habit of using that word against a broad array of people, using it against a black person wouldn't make me a racist. What matters is the context and intent.

Mrebo said:

If we are really going to neuter or reclaim the word, whites should be using it, prolifically.  We should use it against whites and blacks. We could use it in a friendly or a disparaging manner.

totally disagree here.   the history of the word, renders it impossible to use against whites in the same way it is used against black.    I think the better way would be for everyone to just stop using the word entirely.

Rhetorical again. I already agreed nobody should be using it. The point is that following the logic of those who defend the use of the term by blacks, one should recognize that if everyone used it in a non-racial way would really weaken it as a racist word. I'm trying to illustrate the stupidity of defending the use of the word by blacks, or anyone else.

Mrebo said:

I don't have evidence he is a racist,

um, yeah we do.  that fact that he used the word is evidence that he is a racist.  In addition, he used the word to insult some black people he was angry at.  I don't think it just slipped out in a moment of temporary insanity.  He meant to use it. I don't it was the first time he used that word.  I think in private he uses the word all the time.  

But maybe Frink is right. I wonder the reason it is part of his vocabulary. I wager it has more to do with the broadened usage of the word in some communities than with him being a Racist. But maybe I'm wrong.

Mrebo said:

The n-word has taken on a broader meaning and I wouldn't be surprised if that is the sense in which he used it.

I know of no broader meaning that ugly word has taken on.    And anyone what watched to video would know that he wasn't using the way a black person uses it.

If you know black people use it, then you are aware of a broader meaning. It has become sort of an urban culture thing. It is also used in a hateful way toward blacks by blacks.

Hm, unfortunate that we refer to "blacks." I always found that awkward in classes. I prefer it to "African American" but it still connotes an "otherness."

Do we know who he was referring to and why? If it is okay for black people to use the word and he was using it in the same way, why should it be considered worse?

I was thinking about how it is said people are reclaiming a word (like the n-word or "queer") or taking away its power to hurt by using it. Perhaps it is the altered definition of the word (thanks to the adoption of many blacks) that Cooper was using. I hear young black guys using it constantly.

My thought is that nobody should be using it, that the usage of the word by many blacks is simply wallowing in its negativity. Leaving permissible usage only for those who were historical targets of a word is a sort of sociological impediment.

If we are really going to neuter or reclaim the word, whites should be using it, prolifically.  We should use it against whites and blacks. We could use it in a friendly or a disparaging manner.

I think Cooper really is only upset because he is white and got caught. I don't have evidence he is a racist, any more than the blacks who use the word. The n-word has taken on a broader meaning and I wouldn't be surprised if that is the sense in which he used it. It's pathetic he can't be more honest about it.

Cool video technology. Sort of thing I would like to see used to recreate cities to explore virtually.

It started in Edinburgh. Only slightly nsfw.