The Human Stain

[Friday]

I went into this film not knowing what it was about. I chose it from my friend's collection simply becuase Gary Sinise, one of my favorite actors, was in it.

Word of advice...never go into a film without knowing what it's about. You never know what you might encounter. It was a very trying film, to say the least.

The gist of the film is this...a near retirement college professor is accused of racism for uttering, at the very least, a borderline racial epithet in class. he quits, and on that day his wife has an embolism and dies. The kicker is this...he's black. He's "passed" since he was in college, and not even his wife was aware of his heritage.

This not only brings up issues of the rampant, almost pathological move towards political correctness in today's universities, but also addresses the issue of a black person "passing" in society.

The very fact that African Americans feel the need to "pass" speaks volumes about how the black race is viewed, and treated in the US. If there wasn't an epidemic of prejudice, this practice of denying one's identity wouldn't even exist.

 

[Number_6]

Excellent novel by Philip Roth. Haven't seen the movie.

Roth takes on today's university with his usual panache. Worth a read.

 

[Friday]

Maybe sometime down the road. It was hard enough getting through the film...

 

[The Question]

I'm not sure I get the use of the word "passed" here. As in, passing a test? Or what? Anyway, here's an interesting thought -- if there wasn't an epidemic of prejudice, the concept that developing and applying one's intellectual capacity on the same level of the successful members of another race was the same thing as denying your own wouldn't exist. A black man thinking and speaking with precision wouldn't be thought of as a black man by whites, nor as an "Uncle Tom" (or whatever the current term is) by blacks, only thought of as a man.

 

[Friday]

By "passed" I mean passing for white. Sorry about that.

And your theory doesn't hold water, TQ. Speaking with eloquence and precision wouldn't have gotten you to the front of the bus in the '50's if you were black, nor would it have gotten you a seat at the counter at the local diner.

 

[Red Whacker]

If there wasn't an epidemic of prejudice, this practice of denying one's identity wouldn't even exist.

So you're saying that my identity is limited by the colour of my skin?

What utter garbage.

 

[Friday]

No. I'm not saying your identity is limited to the color of your skin. However, it would be delusional of you to think it doesn't play a part.

An African American man has a very different set of experiences in the U.S. than does a white man. These experiences shape personal, and social identity.

 

[Peter Octavian]

If there wasn't an epidemic of prejudice, this practice of denying one's identity wouldn't even exist.

Aw, c'mon, cut me a break, will ya?

If you're meaning "racism" when you say prejudice (and I'm guessing that's a safe bet), it's a load of crap. If there's an epidemic of anything these days, it's of most people trying to tapdance around any minute appearance of impropriety no matter how innocent the inference or statement might be.

Is there racism around?

Oh yeah, there will always be.

But is the sky really falling, Chicken Little?

Fuck no.

 

[Red Whacker]

Speaking with eloquence and precision wouldn't have gotten you to the front of the bus in the '50's if you were black, nor would it have gotten you a seat at the counter at the local diner.

No it wouldn't, but we're not in the 50's and I certainly don't think that a 'black' man speaking with eloquence and precision is 'passing' for 'white' instead I think that this 'black' man is one that got an education and didn't use his skin colour to determine the direction of his life.

Speaking with eloquence and precision is not a 'white' mans world, but an educated mans world; a world that allows for all varieties of skin colour.

 

[Red Whacker]

No. I'm not saying your identity is limited to the color of your skin. However, it would be delusional of you to think it doesn't play a part.

More delusional is to 'allow it' play a part.

An African American man has a very different set of experiences in the U.S. than does a white man. These experiences shape personal, and social identity.

:roll: Enough with the racial profiling.

 

[Peter Octavian]

No it wouldn't, but we're not in the 50's and I certainly don't think that a 'black' man speaking with eloquence and precision is 'passing' for 'white' instead I think that this 'black' man is one that got an education and didn't use his skin colour to determine the direction of his life.

Speaking with eloquence and precision is not a 'white' mans world, but an educated mans world; a world that allows for all varieties of skin colour.

Yeah, but in this instance, the part of the equation that Friday didn't include for those of you whom didn't see the flick is that Coleman Silk, the black man in question was played by Anthony Hopkins, the whitest English man who ever played Hannibal Lecter.

In this instance, there's no reasonable person who'd ever assume that Hopkins would be black....so "passing", as it pertains to this flick, is a different ball of wax than the point you're making.

Hopkins wouldn't just pass for white, he'd get an A.

 

[Colonel Kira's Left Tit]

And it's certainly not as complicated as that flick where C. Thomas Howell tried to pass himself off as a black man.

 

[WordInterrupted]

Aw, c'mon, cut me a break, will ya?

If you're meaning "racism" when you say prejudice (and I'm guessing that's a safe bet), it's a load of crap. If there's an epidemic of anything these days, it's of most people trying to tapdance around any minute appearance of impropriety no matter how innocent the inference or statement might be.

Is there racism around?

Oh yeah, there will always be.

But is the sky really falling, Chicken Little?

Fuck no.

Posted at TK:

Isn't that just like a bunch of niggers. Give them the right to vote, and who do they put in office?...another nigger.

Link

You couldn't hack it in short track and he clearly can't hack it in long track. Pack your bags, get over your crush on Apolo Ohno and get back to the ghetto where you belong you ungrateful, pompous nigger.

Link

Yeah, it's still dead nigger on a rope month. Let's see some of that.

Link

"Connectivity issues" to a nigger is "I don't have the money to pay my ISP, and the local internet cafe banned me for trying to set up sex with 8-year-old-girls".

Link

Dunno. You'd think little kike babies would kick the hardest when they smell the gas -- but nope, it's the little yeller fellers.

Link

Racism isn't a problem for you, Octavian, because you are not subject to it. As we see above, the same isn't true of everyone.

 

[Peter Octavian]

Posted at TK:



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Racism isn't a problem for you, Octavian, because you are not subject to it. As we see above, the same isn't true of everyone.

Hmmm....

"Jesus's sermon in Mark 14: "Those dirty niggers only want to eat watermelons and lie in the sun. Fuck 'em, they're not getting my money, and neither are any of the other lazy poor people. Jesus has got to look out for number one!"

Well, maybe I need to rethink my position. Since I've been rebuked by one of TK's high-profile racists, I've seen the light.

 

[The Question]

By "passed" I mean passing for white. Sorry about that.

And your theory doesn't hold water, TQ. Speaking with eloquence and precision wouldn't have gotten you to the front of the bus in the '50's if you were black, nor would it have gotten you a seat at the counter at the local diner.

Well, I don't know how to tell ya this, PBM, but -- Gosh! -- this isn't the '50s. The excuses all caught the last train to Irrelevantburg. Now my point was this -- blacks who think there's such a thing as "acting white" are just as racist as whites who think that way. Take it from this (alleged) horrible racist -- people who think precisely, speak precisely and behave like decent, mature human beings ought to be seen as just that. Not seen as "passing for white."

 

[Red Whacker]

Yeah, but in this instance, the part of the equation that Friday didn't include for those of you whom didn't see the flick is that Coleman Silk, the black man in question was played by Anthony Hopkins, the whitest English man who ever played Hannibal Lecter.

In this instance, there's no reasonable person who'd ever assume that Hopkins would be black....so "passing", as it pertains to this flick, is a different ball of wax than the point you're making.

Hopkins wouldn't just pass for white, he'd get an A.

Thanks for clearing that up, now I know where Friday's hostility is coming from.

 

[The Question]

Posted at TK:



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Racism isn't a problem for you, Octavian, because you are not subject to it. As we see above, the same isn't true of everyone.

Better link again, Fauntleroy, I just said something else objectionable -- just for you! :bigass:

 

[WordInterrupted]

Well, maybe I need to rethink my position. Since I've been rebuked by one of TK's high-profile racists, I've seen the light.

Of course, you don't provide a link because in context, it's clear that I'm satirizing L_G's claim to be "religious and spiritual." I restated L_G's own racist garbage in a religious setting to underscore how ridiculous it is for her to claim to be religious. Paraphrasing L_G's racism in order to make fun of it doesn't make me racist. Try again.

 

[The Question]

^^So you think that recognizing a racial stereotype makes someone irreligious? Try reading the old testament, just for starters -- God's "chosen people" were some of the most religious, and simultaneously the most xenophobic (not to mention barbaric) motherfuckers ever to tread the Earth. Then move on to study Kahanism, and you'll see that that hasn't changed in the intervening millenia, not a jot.

 

[WordInterrupted]

...God's "chosen people" were some of the most religious, and simultaneously the most xenophobic (not to mention barbaric) motherfuckers ever to tread the Earth. Then move on to study Kahanism, and you'll see that that hasn't changed in the intervening millenia, not a jot.

Yes, yes, we all know you hate the Jews, but this thread is not about Judaism. Like a demented street person, you can't help but spew your crazy theories everywhere you go.