DISQUS

Christian · 2 years ago

Your mention of the suspect's race was incongruous. Associating a particular criminal attempting to evade the police with dubious commentary on all black people and their purported ability (and propensity) to run is, at best, flamebait.

I also don't see what the Daily Cal did as overreacting. You made the ridiculous comment, and you got called on it. There's no controversy to blow up here, no political correctness, no speech codes. Just you being a douchebag.

Ragnarok · 2 years ago

It's not often that I find myself agreeing with the Daily Cal, but I do have to say I thought your comments were vaguely racist myself. Not terribly offensive, but perhaps on the level of the old joke about why the Mexican Olympic Team isn't ay good ("everyone who can run, jump, or swim has already crossed the border").

Still, bonus points for the General McClellan reference. I did enjoy that.

Kevin · 2 years ago

While I do believe that ethnicity can (and at times, should) be mentioned when referring to crime, the manner in which you stated the criminals' ethnicity was completely unnecessary. Race issues are and have always been difficult, tense subjects--why promulgate those tensions? Sometimes the public should know a criminal's ethnicity, especially if (s)he is still at large, but reporting it in a disrespectful, derogative manner doesn't do anyone any good.

anon. · 2 years ago

Well I guess I'm going to be in the minority here. However, you definitely said what many of us were thinking. There's a reason that small females like myself choose to walk on the other side of the street when they see large groups of **that** ethnicity walking around telegraph lately. Ok, so you made a little joke about their race. Big deal. Look at how many people on the UCB's livejournal group commented on small solo asians as being prime targets. Isn't that a little bit racist? I'd like to direct the first 3 posters to the op-ed piece today about race, as well as the referenced Avenue Q song "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist." Don't pretend to be all "holier than thou" when I'm sure you're just as guilty of making racist comments/judgments as the writer here- you just didn't necessarily post them online.

Abe · 2 years ago

You're right! We're all racist, so why should anyone be mad at a person for spreading racism and not apologizing for it?! How enlightened!

Avinash · 2 years ago

I was just giving voice to what most people are probably thinking when they walk back home, alone at night, about who to watch out for. Most students at Berkeley are Asian or white, and most poor people around Berkeley are black. Can you honestly say that you're impartial to race, that you treat the white/Asian kid as much of a threat as the black kids?

I think most of you are not, because I know how people from other races view people outside of their circles. But you can go on believing that you're not biased too.

Christian · 2 years ago

You should have read comments #3 and #5 before posting comment #6.

Nobody I see above is claiming to be free of racial bias. Some of us aren't quite as proud of our biases as you seem to be.

Some majors encourage students to "give voice" to every ridiculous thought that floats through their minds. If you are in one of them, I recommend switching to, say, math.

Avinash · 2 years ago

Funny that you think I'm proud of my bias. I just acknowledge it, I don't pump my chest for it. I'd rather be honest than present your sunny optimism.

And it's funny that you think these thoughts are ridiculous. If they're prevalent in all human beings, shouldn't we investigate them more rather than casting them aside as "ridiculous"? Isn't that the thoughtful thing to do?

And I happen to be a math major. So I don't think it's very wise to send these people over there if you want them not to voice their "crazy ramblings" :).

Christian · 2 years ago

I am a grim pragmatist, not a sunny optimist. I simply recognize that:

(a) I have prejudices.

(b) These prejudices were often determined not by careful evaluation of the facts and sound research, but by fear and ignorance.

(c) Even if these prejudices were completely defensible, they have undesirable social consequences.

(d) Airing derogatory comments informed by these prejudices is thus the action of a douchebag.

If you're looking to examine, thoughtfully, the prejudices that we hold, go ahead. That's not what you were doing, and attempting to recast your comments as some sort of social investigation or as a Socratic instigation is dishonest.

W/R/T math education: I will lower my expectations of its corrective value accordingly.

Charles Woodson · 2 years ago

Here are my thoughts on your fledgling blog (in general and with regard to this issue):

1.You try way too hard to be clever - nobody's impressed. You and Beetle both need to realize that poking fun at things only works when you're funny. Also, you plug your blog too much. Finally, you really should seek to understand some of the things you blog about before you write. It's not like you have to have this in-depth understanding of things, but jeez-louise, you're worse than the Daily Cal.

2. You must be fucking out of your mind if you expect us to believe that you were thinking of black people running away from Klansmen when you made that comment. There's a huge difference between pointing out the suspect is black (which is completely fair from a news perspective) and making a derogatory/snarky comment like that. (By the way, did you even know the suspect was black when you wrote that? Or was it just a guess at that point?) That's my main problem with people who deride political correctness: you don't really want to tell the truth - you just license to say whatever-the-fuck you want in a public forum while brushing off any criticism as "PC."

3. You're right - I don't react to everyone the same way. But I do react to all STUDENTS the same way, and that judgment isn't based on race. (If that decision is based on race, then your stupidity is a much bigger problem than possibly being racist.)

4. I won the Heisman as a cornerback. Sucka!

Charles Woodson · 2 years ago

5. Your football posts are pretty cool.

Avinash · 2 years ago

Christian,
I don't know why you think I'm being derogatory. Black people commit a majority. Maybe the comment came off as snarky because it's the Internet. But if I called the guy a "random poor idiot" without connoting race, is that also derogatory? Just because I say what other people are subconsciously thinking makes me a douche?

To Charles,
HAHAHAHAHA.

I'm glad that you're taking time out from workouts at Packers camp. How'a Aaron doing? Is he secretly hoping Brett breaks his leg?

Seriously, I find it funny that you had to impersonate a famous black football player to gain some levity in this discussion. Unless this really is Charles Woodson, in which case I might need to retire this blog right now.

1. I've pretty much recognized that I'm not that quick-witted. I used to blog a lot about current events, but turned away from it when I realized I couldn't really replicate Deadspin or Fark. I was just amused at the Daily Clog's immediate reaction to my off-color statement, which has now been blown out of proportion.

2. Yes, I knew he was black. The bulletin referred to two African-Americans when I made that comment.

3. Most criminals aren't students. They tend to be juvenilles, drop-outs, etc. As these ones were.

I'm pretty partial to all students as well, but you can't identify a student off the bat, especially at night, when the majority of crimes take place. And you'd be surprised how many people make decisions about who to hang out with based on race (I'm not one of them--my preferences lie with common interests and whoever floats within them, but many people are racially unconscious in that regard).

4. Yeah, congrats on that. Hopefully Desean will be the next great punt returner lifting it.

5. I actually prefer writing about football and non-news topics, simply because writing about current events always seems to raise a firestorm. Which is why this will be the last of these posts about current events for awhile.