Big Bang Blackface

I'm not sure which thing made me lose even more respect for a coworker: 1) that he thinks Big Bang Theory is funny or 2) that he was offended at my calling it "blackface for nerds."  Turns out, it was the term itself he found offensive.  Excuse my language, but what the fuck?

Now I didn't coin the term in the context of The Big Bang theory but the more I think about it, the more I like it.

Fact is, the word is all over the internet in varying contexts.  It is baffling to me how small-minded is the person who is offended at the use of a term itself rather than the act the term describes.  In essence, you are telling me that something a few people did almost a century ago offends you today.  Seriously?  Did they do blackface of your grandpa or something?  Why on earth would it be personal enough for you to be offended?

In short, WHY DO YOU GIVE A SHIT ABOUT SOMETHING THAT HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU GEOGRAPHICALLY, RACIALLY, OR CONTEMPORANEOUSLY?

Holy hell, it's not like I compared the TV show to the Holocaust (though that would probably have been more funny - it's called hyperbole, kids, read a book sometime).

In his mind, blackface = offensive minstrel performance = slavery/racism/bad things => cannot be uttered.  But the comparison was not made with the Civil Rights Movement, slavery, or the historical plight of African Americans.  The comparison was for the act itself and is actually quite accurate.

PSA for the ignorant: "Blackface" not only refers to a specific type of minstrel show, but in this context would be understood by any objective person with even a bit of historical or cultural knowledge to refer to any portrayal of a group that is stereotypical, in bad taste, offense, or inaccurate (see: Book of Mormon musical).

What's even more interesting is how people like this do not perceive the cumulative cultural effect of their attitudes ("slippery slope" or something).  I wanted more than anything to slap the Berkeley out of him; but alas, it cannot be done.  It never ceases to make me laugh that white, self-segregated, middle-class liberals with no minority friends are the ones most "sensitive" to the feelings of other races.  And sure, it sounds like I'm playing the "who has more black friends" game (me), but then again, I'm not the one trying to set myself up as the racial sensitivity hero.

 

On another note, let me give you a piece of social advice, junior: Very dull and forgettable is the person who runs everything he says through a filter before he says it.  And very stupid is the person who is so conditioned that he does not require the filter anymore.

-GM

P.S. Admittedly, I usually employ a workplace filter to avoid situations just like this.  It could easily have been a superior with so small of a mind and me with the figurative "R" for racist on my record.  I guess I considered "blackface" so innocuous a term the filter didn't catch it.  Reason #97 to never talk to coworkers.

P.P.S. It still infuriates me that in a simple social setting of no consequence, we still all have to nod our heads and say the mandatory prayer to the PC Gods: "Let it be known that blackface is offensive and must never be performed.  Lest we forget.  Lest we forget."  This fool wanted to tack on: "...never be performed or spoken of."

What a marvelous society we've built.  Lest we forget.