Even if fake, brings up a good point that I hadn't thought of last week. Some of the worst racist jokes I've heard or read were not from my white friends (am not white, by the way). Text without context is only half the story and might be the wrong one at that.
All of this is pretty ridiculous, actually, and I'm beginning to personally feel like I"M badly in need of a hobby...otherwise I wouldn't be wasting my time reading all these blog responses...and even more time responding..
Italian (counts as white to some not to Irish..teehee)
Loves Food a lot and sex a lot (did I mention I was Italian?)
Come on, people, that essay is obviously *real*. It may be a total fabrication, all lies without an ounce of validity, but I see words on my screen so it must be real.
except for the last one of course which wasn't on my screen when i posted...but seriously, is it that all these commenters don't think black people capable of reading the stranger? why is the first I,anonymous more likely? i'm with #2. my black friends make plenty of racist jokes against their own race, because, well, they have a sense of humor.
and btw, i'm uber white, and who doesn't like sex, really?
They're both fake!
Am I the only one who questioned the original letter's authenticity?
What better way to slip a couple of racist jokes into The Stranger?
Whoever made up the first one accomplished exactly what they wanted, the spread of a few more Obama jokes. Genius bastard!
Made me laugh! But it does bring up a good point about taking shit out of its original context... Anways I( loved it.
White,
doesn't like thai food, loves sex and is bi
I think it's real. I'm a Black queer/trans person and I say allllll kinds of crazy trans/homophobic racist stuff all day. Not because I believe it, but because the best way to fight through oppression is not to take yourself too seriously as to get offended by everything. Who cares if any of these letters are real? There's often this great big movement from White folks I know to be anti-racist. Yet, many of these so-called anti-racists have no connection to working class people of color on a personal (ie, not through work or community organizing alone)level and are expressing the same sort of racism through their conections that they claim to be opposed to. Both of these letters, I think make a great point about how in this politically correct, 2008 world, we can't let people actually express how they feel about race. Even if the person who wrote the second letter and owned the phone was White and said those things, that's how they feel. Racism exists. Until we let folks say it, we can't deal with it. Just cause you don't call me a n*gger doesn't mean you aren't treating me like one when you see me and my friends walking your direction and you get tense like something is going to happen.
Not being racist is not just saying "Don't do that". It's saying, "my university or work place is 90% white, yet the community around it is 50% people of color. Why is that, and what can we do about it?"
It isn't fake. I'm his mother and trust me, I am black. I am bigoted against ignorant people who are actually intelligent but pretend to be stupid. Many of you fall into that category.
Mason:
I love your Lenny Bruce-esque view on it
" Both of these letters, I think make a great point about how in this politically correct, 2008 world, we can't let people actually express how they feel about race. Even if the person who wrote the second letter and owned the phone was White and said those things, that's how they feel. Racism exists. Until we let folks say it, we can't deal with it. Just cause you don't call me a n*gger doesn't mean you aren't treating me like one when you see me and my friends walking your direction and you get tense like something is going to happen."
I say overuse racial epithettes. Drop the N-Bomb every chance you get. Call you grandma a kyke-dyke, even if she's happily married and Lutheran. Proud of your Mexican heritage? Buy/make a shirt proclaiming yourself as a "Proud Beaner."
We can't let racists run the argument on race, be it the obvious hate-based racism or the subtle kind delegating ability based on ethic lines ("We have to help the Latino-American Community because they can't help themselves..."). The more we put this crap out in front of us the less venom it has. If Gandhi (sp?) and Dr. King taught us anything, it's that sometimes doing the wrong thing IS the right thing...
Paranoid,
I appreciate, that you appreciate my comment. However, I want to be clear that I wasn't saying folks should go around using these words recklessly. That's also, problematic. I use those words to make a point in the presence of, and with people I care about/have an understanding with or when talking about race/homophobia is part of the conversation. All of these words still have a history and calling epithets like that at random folks without intent, purpose or merit is also dangerous.
There's a possibility that it's real, but not from the person who's phone it actually was - just someone who assumes it was theirs for whatever reason (paranoia? delusions of grandeur?). Saying that the supposed mass text about the black cock didn't get sent to all their friends doesn't prove it wasn't sent to someone else's friends.
Mason:
" All of these words still have a history and calling epithets like that at random folks without intent, purpose or merit is also dangerous."
That's PRECISELY my point. I say use them until the poison has gone out of them. What good is a rattlesnake bite with no venom? There's no merit to name-calling whatsoever. And surely the only intent or purpose of racist jargon is to make others feel as bad as the offender secretly does themself. So why let these people have this weapon? History shows the best way to irradicate any weapon is to make it obsolete.
Case in point (though admittedly not as strong a case);
My family is ALWAYS referring to me as a "Liberal wacko", insinuating this as a put-down. The only way I have to combat it is to defiantly say that yes, I am indeed a liberal wacko. But only if by "wacko" you mean someoone more interested in health care, labor and human rights, etc...
If these titles of insult can be incorporated by those who are meant to be subjected by them, can't we then eliminate the negative conotations? I believe we can.
Oh it must be because Seattle doesn't have black people that can write emails? NO, that can't be the reason... So what is it? The last I, anonymous didn't sound any more believable...
I will accept that more than one person in Seattle was receiving racist text jokes and losing their phone.
Future (We can post on message boards in the past now! Also we eliminated race)
GOD I MISS SEX (Long story)
I'm white, I have a black friend who when driving around yells out to unsuspecting black folks on the shoulder "Hey nigger!", he thinks it's pretty funny, I gotta admit I think it's pretty fuckin funny too. Is that racist??
oh, please. This is so fake it actually illicited a yawn. If author were really a person of color, their "friends" would never send them bigoted crap...even if they were bigots...and said fake author would never have bigot firneds, unless they were white and just pretending to be black to get in print...AHEM.
Also, I should point out that I wasn't trying to be politically correct. Racism pisses me off, so I was doing something about it--something mean, immature, and illegal yes, but also SO satisfying.
A lot of my co-workers got the same text messages after the election, and most we're from there black friends. People need to cool out... the dudeman won!
It basically boils down to this....any kind of joke which insinuates violence of any kind to a certain group in society (eg..lynching...) is well...dangerous...not to be politically correct to a fault but let's revisit this.....the point where you find it acceptable to blow off a joke or comment which is ultimately mean-spirited is the point to which you accept your own role in the desensitization of cruelty and violence in society. You can argue that the gesture is symbolic of you trivializing this hate and diminishing its power...but at the same time you can easily propagate the hate and also affirm the discrimination. I think many of us can recollect a time in our growth where we were the butt end of jokes....how did that make us feel? Unworthy, anxious, inferior....Let's realize that jokes, comments, etc..carry the weight and the trials and tribulations of our ancestors. We owe it to them to prove ourselves in these modern times...we are STILL affected by our environment...STILL aware that a mean-spirited, fear-driven comment affects and has an effect on the community of which we live
The person who claims to have found the phone says:
1) They found a lost phone on the street
2) Phone contained racist text messages
3) They texted a (rude) counter-response
4) Implied that the phone's owner was white [I think an earlier, Slogged version of this message included a part about pics of his girlfriend and the guy's tattoos]
The person responding to this message thinks they're the person whose phone was stolen because:
1) Their phone was stolen in an office
2) Phone (ostensibly) contained racist text messages
3) No text messages were sent from said phone
4) He is black
It's very likely that more than one missing phone in Seattle that week contained racist text messages.
If it's not patently fake, it's very likely they're talking about different missing phones.
its either fake, or some different guy who happened to have his phone go missing and thought the last letter was about him...when it wasnt. Why lie about the black cock txt? there is absolutely no risk in sending that. I'm thinking this is one of HUNDREDS of people who dropped their phone filled with inappropriate content this month...
And seriously, you pussy, I had MY phone stolen once, and the guy sent PHOTOS of his cock to everyone I know, and I never got my panties in a bunch about it. Get over it.
I agree with some of the statements made, regardless of what the text said, the situation wasn't handled the best. Sometimes we have to attack racist statements, not people (unless we have direct evidence of racism). In all reality the first person invaded the other's privacy, and then destroyed property.
In regards to this being fake, how can we tell either of these I, Anonymous postings are real? Let's comment on the issues, not the stories.
white.
Likes sex.
brown.
LOVES korean food and sex
Goth.
Loves Thai food, sex, reading, music, and DJing at Club Vogue.
Italian (counts as white to some not to Irish..teehee)
Loves Food a lot and sex a lot (did I mention I was Italian?)
White
Had sex 11 minutes ago.
Purple
Having autoerotic choke time now.
you had sex 11 minutes ago and now you are writing a comment? oh, you have one lucky lover... :)
Italian
rampant sex
white caucasian
likes sex, music
(All the following ones are too.)
arab
"loves black cock"
white.
loves sex, perversion and good Cabernet
White
Prefer my cock hard
Also, see comments by "Darkie" on the previous I, Anonymous for an example of blacks telling n---er jokes.
anglo-white
so white that I am a prude about sex
Pearly white & blonde
Loves big black cocks
I think the idea was to get the jokes printed in The Stranger, and they were too happy too oblige.
and btw, i'm uber white, and who doesn't like sex, really?
black
and loves big white cock
Am I the only one who questioned the original letter's authenticity?
What better way to slip a couple of racist jokes into The Stranger?
Whoever made up the first one accomplished exactly what they wanted, the spread of a few more Obama jokes. Genius bastard!
Sorry kep.
White
married transman I don't get sex.
Well, ok, I do, it's just infrequent and like every other married guy I get to bitch about it.
Irish.
Love the hairy daddies, for sex.
On the internet nobody knows you're a fake.
Scots-Irish-Native American and...
anal.
White,
doesn't like thai food, loves sex and is bi
-polish
Not being racist is not just saying "Don't do that". It's saying, "my university or work place is 90% white, yet the community around it is 50% people of color. Why is that, and what can we do about it?"
Deal with racism. Don't ignore it.
(However, I declare Saali the winner of this comments thread for his melding of obscenity and cleverness.)
still white, still prudish, though chuckling
olive
kiss me, baby, let's have fun~
Send one real.
Whitey.
What is sex?
Signed,
Proud of my offspring and my family
I love your Lenny Bruce-esque view on it
" Both of these letters, I think make a great point about how in this politically correct, 2008 world, we can't let people actually express how they feel about race. Even if the person who wrote the second letter and owned the phone was White and said those things, that's how they feel. Racism exists. Until we let folks say it, we can't deal with it. Just cause you don't call me a n*gger doesn't mean you aren't treating me like one when you see me and my friends walking your direction and you get tense like something is going to happen."
I say overuse racial epithettes. Drop the N-Bomb every chance you get. Call you grandma a kyke-dyke, even if she's happily married and Lutheran. Proud of your Mexican heritage? Buy/make a shirt proclaiming yourself as a "Proud Beaner."
We can't let racists run the argument on race, be it the obvious hate-based racism or the subtle kind delegating ability based on ethic lines ("We have to help the Latino-American Community because they can't help themselves..."). The more we put this crap out in front of us the less venom it has. If Gandhi (sp?) and Dr. King taught us anything, it's that sometimes doing the wrong thing IS the right thing...
Race: Mick/Limey/Sheep-shagger/Kraut/Dumb American
Sex: Right now? Oh, ok...
I appreciate, that you appreciate my comment. However, I want to be clear that I wasn't saying folks should go around using these words recklessly. That's also, problematic. I use those words to make a point in the presence of, and with people I care about/have an understanding with or when talking about race/homophobia is part of the conversation. All of these words still have a history and calling epithets like that at random folks without intent, purpose or merit is also dangerous.
White
Haven't had sex since summer 2008. :(
" All of these words still have a history and calling epithets like that at random folks without intent, purpose or merit is also dangerous."
That's PRECISELY my point. I say use them until the poison has gone out of them. What good is a rattlesnake bite with no venom? There's no merit to name-calling whatsoever. And surely the only intent or purpose of racist jargon is to make others feel as bad as the offender secretly does themself. So why let these people have this weapon? History shows the best way to irradicate any weapon is to make it obsolete.
Case in point (though admittedly not as strong a case);
My family is ALWAYS referring to me as a "Liberal wacko", insinuating this as a put-down. The only way I have to combat it is to defiantly say that yes, I am indeed a liberal wacko. But only if by "wacko" you mean someoone more interested in health care, labor and human rights, etc...
If these titles of insult can be incorporated by those who are meant to be subjected by them, can't we then eliminate the negative conotations? I believe we can.
Oh it must be because Seattle doesn't have black people that can write emails? NO, that can't be the reason... So what is it? The last I, anonymous didn't sound any more believable...
I will accept that more than one person in Seattle was receiving racist text jokes and losing their phone.
Future (We can post on message boards in the past now! Also we eliminated race)
GOD I MISS SEX (Long story)
Tell your black friend he's lame, and while you're at it, take a look in the mirror----yeah, you're lame too.
You guys = Epic Fail
My ball-sack on your chin,
Kep
PS. Thanks Manola
Brown - pale face chick Salad tosser
White--but can't prove it.
I have faked it.
Wouldn't mind faking it again...
Colorblind
loves sex with Counting Crows
The real guy had photos of himself on the phone and he was white.
The jokes were originating from him, not just his friends.
The phone was on the ground on a city street.
So this is either a fake or some other phone, dude.
Those who don't care for what I did can suck it.
Well, except the one where the person admits to a Counting Crows fetish, you really can't make that shit up.
Anglo-Irish
Likes sex with potatoes while fighting drunk.
You can't bullshit a bullshitter.
I just shat on your face,
Kep
Love, ALL
white
likes food more than sex, hence no sex.
I can see it right up there.
1) They found a lost phone on the street
2) Phone contained racist text messages
3) They texted a (rude) counter-response
4) Implied that the phone's owner was white [I think an earlier, Slogged version of this message included a part about pics of his girlfriend and the guy's tattoos]
The person responding to this message thinks they're the person whose phone was stolen because:
1) Their phone was stolen in an office
2) Phone (ostensibly) contained racist text messages
3) No text messages were sent from said phone
4) He is black
It's very likely that more than one missing phone in Seattle that week contained racist text messages.
If it's not patently fake, it's very likely they're talking about different missing phones.
Tan, had sex 3 weeks ago. But great it was great Anal sex :)
And seriously, you pussy, I had MY phone stolen once, and the guy sent PHOTOS of his cock to everyone I know, and I never got my panties in a bunch about it. Get over it.
Just beat off in my boss' bathroom,
-) -) -) O
Iranian.
Hasn't had good sex since her first man.
In regards to this being fake, how can we tell either of these I, Anonymous postings are real? Let's comment on the issues, not the stories.