Post by Amadan on Aug 9, 2018 12:16:55 GMT -5
There have been times where you briefly lapsed into being a serious debater instead of a snark machine and directly asked me to explain a point or elaborate and expand on one and I have complied. Sometimes it went well and sometimes it didn't, but when it didn't your default setting was to declare it as a rant. One can only offer so many chances to engage in an intelligent discussion before it becomes painfully apparent, only one side is really trying.
As far as offering and receiving civility goes, as usual you're flattering yourself. You can be a nasty piece of work when you want to and you always seem to want to, so regarding civility, I'll paraphrase what El Hajj Malik El-Shabazz once said:
“I believe in the brotherhood of man and civility toward all men, but I don't believe in civility with anybody who doesn't want civility with me. I believe in treating people right, but I'm not going to waste my time trying to treat somebody right who doesn't know how to return the treatment.”
The problem here is that both of us sincerely believe that this is an accurate description of the other person, and that that person is projecting. Word for word, to me the above paragraph sounds like a description of you. It is indeed hard to work past that level of animosity.
You hinted here -
Respect is a two-way street and where none is given, none shall be received. All the bad blood and animus that both sides have contributed to is not going to magically disappear, but it's never too late to reach a level of tolerance and patience that heretofore has not existed.
that you would like to try. Or maybe my reading is too optimistic.
That being the case, it's hard to answer your demand that I "start spinning" without retreading the same pattern, but here goes:
Okay. Here ya go. Spin away.
I was pointing out that some black people have likewise assayed to reclaim "nigger," despite the fact that most black people I know don't like hearing it from anyone, including other black people.
(I do in fact hang out with a mixed crowd including a few black guys - neither young nor hip-hop artists - who will occasionally drop the n-bomb in casual conversation.
Start spinning...
I was pointing out that some black people have likewise assayed to reclaim "nigger," despite the fact that most black people I know don't like hearing it from anyone, including other black people.
(I do in fact hang out with a mixed crowd including a few black guys - neither young nor hip-hop artists - who will occasionally drop the n-bomb in casual conversation.
Start spinning...
Your claim is that this constitutes a "Some of my best friends are black" story.
My claim is that I made that statement specifically in response to your statement: "The only Black people I know who've tried to reclaim the word are young Black rappers and hip-hop artists for reasons I don't pretend to understand."
I said that I knew some black guys who are not young rappers or hip-hop artists, who were "reclaiming" (or at least, using) the word. To contradict your example.
I did not say they were my best friends. I did not use them to back up my own personal opinions about anything (the invisible black best friend who agrees with you - the usual way in which this this trope is invoked). I did not use them to justify my using the n-word.
That's my "spin." Obviously it was a mistake to ever mention that I know any black people, because you have gleefully used that as a "Har har, Amadan says some of his best friends are black!" rebuttal ever since. That's either disingenuous or obtuse, depending on whether you actually read it that way or are just saying you did to score points.
This is starting to cut into my lunch hour, so I'll wrap this up, skip over the other parts not worth the time it would take to respond to and get to the good part.
What do you want, for me to apologize for mentioning Pogo? Are you accusing me of mentioning Pogo without recalling the strip's occasional racism, or are you accusing me of doing it deliberately as a racist dig?