Quote:
Originally Posted by spleen1015
Tiger took no offense, so everyone else STFU.
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That should be the right answer but sometimes it can't be. When an issue goes far beyond the individuals involved then those individuals no longer have the right to be "ok" with something.
It's like the german cannibal whose victim willingly and knowingly let himself be killeda db eaten. That was ok with him but the law didn't simply STFU.
I'm not saying I hold that view 100% but I understand it and feel it could be applied in this case with some level of justification. Especially since it's clear that the statement was meant as a compliment but had what I call "subjective racial overtones." which is basically relying on stereotypes to get through your day.
We all do this. We have to. There's just too much input thrown at us for us to evaluate each new piece of data that confronts us so we have these big boxes with labels that we throw anything that has that label into. It's a thought shortcut that can help us make decisions faster.
IMHO, that's what's happening when people say stuff like "I hate black people."
"Well, what about Joey?"
"Oh, he's ok. It's all those other black people I hate."
WTF?
See, when he takes the time he can evaluate Joey so his approach is entirely different than the big general box that he tosses people he doesn't know into so he doesn't have to administer a personality test to see how he really feels about every random person he encounters in his day.
So, I think these boxes can be useful in some cases, well, they could be more useful if they were actually true and all but most sane people again separate the truth from the fiction on an individual basis.
That's why to me the answer isn't to try and erase stereotypes completely but to try subtly to reinforce more productive and positive stereotypes so people don't have to radically alter how they process information.
You don't see asians being mad when people say they're good at math do you?
Never hear the blacks complain about having big dicks do you?
Course not.
