quote:

ORIGINAL: mnottertail
we could get on with the real business of flaming and me soliciting blowjobs, and fat girl threads, yanno, the really meaningful shit.

Ron

quote:

ORIGINAL: Blaakmaan
Which might, on the face of it, seem enlightened, but I don't think that the fact that you don't check a racial "box" on FetLife affects the impact of race on people's choices on that site in the least.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Termyn8or

I'll read through later, but something occurred to me. Two things are fact :

1. Not all Black people come from Africa.

2. Not all White people come from Europe.

I have proof of this in real life. I suggest just calling people what they want to be called. However options on a dropdown list are another story. They can't include everything. Should they ? Should they try even ? Since discrimination based on these criteria are now incorrest, what term should be used ?

Spain and Hungary for example have people ranging from blond hair and blue eyes to the black as coal. How should they answer ? Similarly take the case of Palestinians and Jews living in Israel. Do they both answer Israeli ? Though they share "roots" way back, they have evolved into very different peoples. For year there was Czechoslovakia, two very different peoples in the same country. I know this has changed, but it is still the point. What about Iraqis ? Shiite, Sunni or <the other one> whatever. How do they answer ?

Or is it more what they consider themselves ?

T

quote:

ORIGINAL: Darcyandthedark

'Other' is ok for people who aren't actively looking.  People are going to have preferences on the colour of a persons skin or their ethnic make up, just like people prefere a certain hair colour or height.  Doesn't make them necessarily racist - just because they have a preference.  But unlike people like us or you, not everyone has the ability to put up a photograph.  In that case, 'other' isn't going to help.
Yeah I know that is what profiles are for... but it still seems a bit out there for me, being not from the USA.

the.dark.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Blaakmaan

To a certain extent, I agree with you.

But the impact and ramifications of race are what they are, in the United States and elsewhere.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Blaakmaan

quote:

ORIGINAL: nubianmuscle

Honestly, I have sat back and watched your responses, rather bemused. IMO, you did seem to come off as the end all and be all of black opinion. If you are one of the few blacks/African Americans/Negroes/people of color on here that post you owe the rest of us the courtesy of making it clear that you are stating your opinion, not everyone else's.

I personally believe the old saying, "What you call me is not as important as what I answer to."

As an aside, I honestly am lost as opposed to what point you were trying to make as it seemed as if you were all over the place in your various responses. If your general opinion, is the appropriateness of what you are called, depends on the situation, that's fine. That's all you really had to state.

I have been referred to as "colored" by older ladies from WV and taken no offense as I understood the context in which it was used and the backgrounds of those using it. At various times, I have also been referred to and refer to myself as black, African-American, man of color, etc. I believe the intent is more important than the actual word used.

Now you don't have to be seen as the only one of "us" responding and posting to this thread. Happy now?

Actually, I don't recall being unhappy.

Aren't you like post #108 on this thread?

You're kind of late to the party.

So, while all of this semi-racist (and at times, explicitly racist) crap was being posted on this thread, you "sat back and watched, rather bemused," and now you post, and this is what you have to say?

Damn!

Now I think I'm feeling rather bemused myself!

Next time, try jumping in when the water is hot. If you can take the heat.

If not, stay bemused.

Personally, I care BOTH what I am called AND what I answer to.

And I think the question was what WE Black Americans choose to call ourselves, not what YOU answer to.

We Black/African Americans/Black Americans/whatever-else-we-may-choose-to-call-ourselves claim the right to determine both what we are called, and what we answer to.

Not my opinion. Just a fact.

Like it or don't.

And, finally, when the white posters on here start to state that they're not speaking for all white people, then I'll think about stating that I'm not speaking for all black people.

Until then, I will trust that most people here have the good sense to at least know the obvious.

But...

quote:

ORIGINAL: Blaakmaan

Not to hijack this thead, but I recently participated in a long and heated online debate about whether a racial "preference" is on a par with a height preference, or on a par with a prejudice.

Without getting into all that (again...), let me just say that it's far from clear to me that a person whose profile says "No Blacks," for example, is announcing a preference and not exercising a prejudice.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Blaakmaan


Not to hijack this thead, but I recently participated in a long and heated online debate about whether a racial "preference" is on a par with a height preference, or on a par with a prejudice.

Without getting into all that (again...), let me just say that it's far from clear to me that a person whose profile says "No Blacks," for example, is announcing a preference and not exercising a prejudice.

Signing off...

quote:

ORIGINAL: mnottertail

So the new paradigm is (insofar as you are concerned at least):

Black and Bald is Beautiful?


LOL,

Ron