Stereotypes: True or Pure Bologna?

[BabyGirl]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Deus_Ex_Machina [/i]
[B]Now, I do half agree with you here.. these stereotypes do come from somewhere, otherwise they wouldn't exist. The trouble is we don't take absolutely everything into account. There are a large number of black criminals, which is where that stereotype comes from. What we often forget is that there is also a very large number of white criminals, but we just forget about them, because they're in a completely different "criminal" stereotype. [/B][/QUOTE]

[color=deeppink]There is a greater percentage of white people in the US prison system than black. Just thought I'd throw that statisttic out...it kind of screws up that whole stereotype, doesn't it?

As for what Darkness said, let me give you an example as to why the 20 year old who grew up outside of Detroit has dislike for African Americans.

As many of you may or may not know, [inner-city] Detroit is an incredibly dangerous city. It's basically one giant slum, save for the new Tigers baseball stadium, new Lions football field, and the Red Wings Hockeytown.

When this 20 year old was working in lawn service, he was working in the [i]projects[/i] of Detroit, meaning inner city housing projects where underprivelaged black people don't have to pay for where they live (either that, or it's extremely cheap). While he was cutting the lawns of these projects, black people would be sitting out front of their reidences yelling, "That's right white boy, cut my lawn."

This was coming from black people who didn't even work for a living. Wouldn't that bother you, too?

I should probably state one final time that I [i]am not racist[/i], I'm merely leaning toward their point of view that stereotypes are stereotypes for a reason. I would never treat another person differently because of their skin color or ethnic background because that is something that I don't believe in.

Settle yourselves down before accusing other people of being something that they are not.[/color]

[Justin]

It's taken me a considerable moment to decide what to say for this topic and how to say. But I've decided I'm going to give y'all an uncensored look into my real thoughts on this issue.

I can't stand it when people are blind to the fact of the matter. Many stereotypes are indeed untrue...however, many others have base in fact.

Here in the South, racism is generally a magnified issue. Well, at least it is stereotypically(;) ). Anyway, I see it on a regularly basis, and the fact is, there is a fine difference between [i]most[/i]blacks and [i]most[/i] whites...just to use those two. Is either side the better? Of course not. Each just has its own culture developed mainly over the last 40 years or so.

I think I'll go back on what I said in the beginning. I've gone far enough.

However, I will say this about this topic in general. Everyone here needs to chill out and actually [i]listen[/i] to the views of others. This is a debate, not an arguement. In my short time as a Christian, often times I've seen that the best pastors are the best listeners.

-Justin

[Darkness]

I don't think anything is wrong with poking a little fun, because of a stereotype. Like I said, some of them do have some truth to them. Thing is, you have to know your time and place. Joke or not, it can still be a form of disrespect, depending on what extreme you take it to. We're joking around and you say something about black people and fried chicken or something, I won't care. Hell, chances are I'll be laughing too. My friends and I do it all the time. You come in my area straight telling n***** jokes, and we're gonna have a problem.

As for accusing people of being something they're not: If you're refering to me, I'm just going off the first post. BabyGirl, you said that your friends don't really like Black people, and you later go on to say that you're starting to agree with them. You never said that you were beginning to share their opinion of stereotypes, just that you were starting to share their view. I may think that a couple of individuals here are bitter, but no one has struck me as a racist. I'm sorry if that seemed implied, it wasn't my intention.

[BabyGirl]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Darkness [/i]
[B]BabyGirl, you said that your friends don't really like Black people, and you later go on to say that you're starting to agree with them.[/B][/QUOTE]

[color=deeppink]Ok, I see what you're saying now. I worded that part poorly, and I'll go back and change it.

I think I've started a few arguments that I shouldn't have. My knowledge on this subject appears to be limited...or something :drunk:[/color]

[Darkness]

Question for you BabyGirl: You're in college now, right? Do your two friends go to your school also? If so, observe them at, let's say the middle of next semester. I'm on year number 4 of college and I have seen quite a few people change their opinions after being around so many people that are exactly the opposite of what they have experienced. Hopefully, they are not too close-minded to see what is in front of them.

[Mnemolth]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by BabyGirl [/i]
[B][color=deeppink]Recently I have been spending time around numerous people who have very strong racial views. One of them grew up just outside of Detroit and doesn't have much love for African Americans. The other grew up outside of Minniapolis and feels the same as the one who lived near Detroit.

Now, both of these people are Caucasian males, one is 19 and the other is 20. That information may be relevant or irrelevant, depending on how you view these following opinions...

Both of these males feel that stereotypes are stereotypes for a reason. Most children have been taught to see everyone as an equal, regardless of race or gender. But why?

Isn't there a reason that every race and gender has stereotypes? Why should those particular stereotypes be taboo topics of conversation? Why shouldn't we be able to poke fun at generalizations if they really DO sum up a certain race? Stereotypes evolved from somewhere, most likely from the gender itself.

So my question is, since stereotypes DO exist, is it good or bad to indulge in those stereotypes for a laugh? Should we see everyone as equal even if they've brought a bad name upon themselves or their race? I'm starting to lean toward these guys' views and feel a lot less guilty laughing at racial jokes; is that a bad thing? Or is it simply normal?

You be the judge.[/color] [/B][/QUOTE]

Let me just start by saying that I don't know you, and I don't know how serious you are about what you just said. Perhaps its an interesting philosophical discussion or it may be an actual dilemma you are facing and to which you are giving a serious consideration.

I'm going to assume the later because if its the former, then my post will do no harm except make me look like some jackass, which I'm sure I am anyway. :)

Stereotypes have a basis in truth is like saying myths have a basis in fact. It?s a selective truth. In other words, a lie by omission. We take out the bits and pieces we want, usually negative, and then we laugh at them, or we discriminate.

We judge people all the time. On the way they look, the way they speak or write, on a whole host of characteristics. We do so because its human nature. We need to categorise and make sense of the world around us. We don?t have the time or energy to speak extensively to everyone we interact with. We need to make judgements quickly. So, to an extent, stereotypes are useful.

But they can only go so far. Beyond which they become a hinderance. They stop us from thinking as we should, from relating to people on their own terms, from empathy, from caring. Then it becomes dangerous. And its not hard to go from one point to the other in a relatively short space of time.

And you are right. Stereotypes are stereotypes for a reason. They are there to reinforce the dominance of the majority group. They are not there to serve as axioms of truth. There are many stereotypes of minority groups. But how many do you know of that mocks the majority groups. You might actually disagree with me but if you counted the stereotypes of White people, you would find that they are no where near as many as say, Black people, nor are so many of them as demeaning and negative.

But minority groups have stereotypes about majority groups too! Yes, they do. However, being a minority group, by definition, means that they do not have the power to shove their stereotypical views down your throat. On the other hand, they are subjected to your stereotypes everyday. On talkback radio, on TV chat shows, in advertisements, in film, magazines, and so on. This is why your nation has a Constitution and a Bill of Rights. They are not there to defend the majority from the minority but to protect the minority against overwhelming majority rule.

The majority, by definition, can defend itself. The Blacks may be laughing at your 20 year old friend, but whose got a job and getting paid, whose less likely to end up in jail, whose going to college and whose less likely to be the victim of a violent crime? So who wins? Who has the power? Certainly not them.

Why do we teach children that everyone is equal? Well besides the fact that its mostly true, it is also done because there is an overwhelmingly tendency for the majority to dominate. Its human nature. And we try to instill in our children a sense of equality in the hopes that it would temper prejudices, which if left unchecked, are likely to overrun us.

It is a mistake to think that any stereotypes sum up a group of people. And this is the crucial fallacy in your argument. You assume that stereotypes are true. So why can?t we use them? Well because most of the time, they are not true, as James has pointed out. And in the few instances where there is some valid factual basis for the stereotype, the way in which it is used, the manner in which it is portrayed so exaggerates the truth that it is twisted and mangled beyond any recognition of its original form.

Take African Americans. Apparently they have a greater chance of developing ?better fast muscles? in their calves, or something. This gives them greater capacity to sprint, and to jump. So many basketballers and speed sprinters are Black. But to use this fact to generalize that all Blacks are good at athletics is patently untrue and unfair. To resent them and to think they don?t need to work hard to do well because of this supposed advantage is to call them a ?cheat?, to play the blame game, to say its not [i]my[/i] I?m not good enough, to blame others for my own situation.

In the early 90s, a couple of academics from Harvard did a study of results from intelligence testing. They published a book called The Bell Curve. One of the findings was that Blacks, on average, scored less than most other groups. It was a fact seized on by some to promote a new kind of eugenics, a hierarchy of racial superiority. To them it didn?t matter that Blacks had a lower level of income, or that they might live in areas with a high lead count in the air. Why didn?t matter to them. They had already made up their minds, they were just looking for facts to support their prejudices.

I would hazard a guess that, as much as they would like to deny it, the same is true of both of your friends.

People have an uncanny ability to mold the facts to their view of the world, rather than let the facts determine how they should see the world.

?A little knowledge is a dangerous thing?

As you are probably aware, but I will reiterate because I?m a pedantic old fart, the emphasis is not on ?knowledge? but on ?little?. Knowing a small part of the story gives us false confidence in thinking we know [I]all[/I] of the story. If we learn 10% and we fill in the 90% with our own preconceptions and prejudices, we are the more convinced that we are right. The facts that we [i]do[/i] know blinds us to the facts we don?t know. This is the danger.

And it is most prevalent in institutions like universities. Because for many of us, these are the places we begin to really learn about life. This is often the first time many of us would be living on our own, the first time we are introduced to so many different kinds of peoples and creeds, so many different ideas and sensibilities.

It is a time of learning but not just from books. It is at this time that we are likely to have a serious relationship, have to deal with various kinds of people on a daily basis (in dorms for example). It is a time of discovery and wonder and excitement.

But one ought to be careful. University can change a person. For many people, between the late teens and the early 20s is when we become the type of person we will be for the rest of our lives. So make sure it?s the kind of person you can live with.

Finally, I would say this about stereotypes and discrimination. It is not the neo-nazi skinhead that I fear. I can see them coming from a mile away. And so can everyone else. They wear their bigotry as a badge of honor. No, rather, its the respected businessman, the priest, the cleric, these are the people that holds the greatest dangers to me. They do not shout their prejudices from the top of their lungs, but rather they are likely to speak them calmly, in soft spoken voices, veiled in a fog of fallacious logic.

Here?s an example from engineering to ponder upon. In the first half of the twentieth century, a bridge was commissioned and built to let people have access to a beach (this is somewhere in New York). A bridge is a bridge right? Nothing discriminatory about that. Trouble was the bridge had support structures that hung low, which meant that cars but not buses could go through. Now, being early in the century, only the well off had cars. In that particular area, the average person caught a bus. Since buses couldn?t get through, it meant the beach was locked out for them. It was still a public beach, but if you were poor it much harder for you to get there.

But the support beams keep the bridge up and safe. There are no hidden agendas, why are you always looking for hidden agendas that just aren?t there? Well, actually it is true that the way it was designed, to remove those support structures would have made the bridge unsafe. But the point is, the bridge [i]need not[/i] have been designed like that. It could have been designed another way, with the support beams higher. The architect admitted as much decades later.

Cheerio! :D

[Narius]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by BabyGirl [/i]
[B][color=deeppink]Slow down and take a closer look. I didn't mean to offend (aha, that word) you, but no one on here has actually agreed with stereotypes. If I'm closed minded for accepting (and yet not fully agreeing with) two different points of view, then I'd hate to think what you consider people who only accept one point of view.[/color] [/B][/QUOTE]

your attempting to say that generalizing black people as criminals is open minded? Or as your freinds think it, hypocritical. I don't see how that is open minded. The problem with what your saying is the fact you say you are atleast to a slight point agreeing with both sides correct? in this case it is mainly impossible to truly be on both sides. If you were in a massive group of people yelling at each other from either side, one saying "Blacks allways do this, blacks always do that." and then the other side is yelling back their arguement as to why they do not do it, what would you do? stand in the middle and yell at yourself for making a view point for either side? You either beleive that stereo types are fact or you beleive they are not. There are of course varying things, but one saying stays true in this circumstance "In one ear, out the other." by leaning to one side, you mellow out or forget certain aspects of the other side, eventually completely disagreeing with the original side, or moving back to that side and disregarding the other. You can't stay neutral forever, the influence of one side will overtake the other.

now as for your friend being harassed by those certain people. You should tell him if he ever sees those guys again, tell him to ask them how many time's they are picked on the exact same way by white people. When you work and or live in the projects of cities such as Detroit, or L.A., I'll try to word this as carefully as I can, you can't be there without realizing the black people are angry with you if you are white. Its a fact that in alot of places African Americans are treated unfairly, they are given lower wages for the same job, rejected for jobs, etc. etc. simply because the employer is some kind of biggot. Now, given they are also generalizing as all white people, but they have more of a reasoning behind it. Your friend is angry because one time someone used a slanderous remark, think about how many times they get slanderous remarks such as that in a day? Not to mention the guys were probably doing the same thing as everyone has no problem with which is just playing around. It was a joke to them, and the fact that you feel disliking the black community simply because of one "humorous" remark in their view is good enough grounds and then turn around to say that its ok to make fun of other people as long as its joking is very hypocritical. They probably should not have said that, but it gives no ground for someone to turn around and say. "I dislike black people now because a couple of them badmouthed me." That is how a supremist is born. That and the sense of self worth and all that crap, but hate is never an alright thing, I don't care what they did to you. If a hyspanic killed my entire family I wouldn't go around bad mouthing ever hyspanic I saw, its common sense to not pin something that has nothing to do with another person on them just because they look alike.

[Manic Webb]

Rather than go on about how wrong I believe stereotypes are and talk about how I'm black and I can't play basketball or rap ect, I'll just leave you with two short statements...

I think stereotypes are bad when used to offend someone, whether you meant to offend them or not.

The world would be a much better place if we all just banged each other until we're all the same skin color.

Thank you.

P.S. I agree with Darkness about knowing the time and place to joke around.

P.P.S. Excuse my pun, but the world isn't only in black and white. A person can support one point of view and still listen to what someone else's point of view is about.

[BabyGirl]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Endymion [/i]
[B]P.P.S. Excuse my pun, but the world isn't only in black and white. A person can support one point of view and still listen to what someone else's point of view is about. [/B][/QUOTE]

[color=deeppink]I think that's what I'm trying to do. I'm quite honestly all mixed up about it now :worried:[/color]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Narius[/i][b]
what would you do? stand in the middle and yell at yourself for making a view point for either side? You either beleive that stereo types are fact or you beleive they are not[/b][/quote]

[color=deeppink]Not true. Like Endymion said above, it IS possible to sit on the fence for a while before you realize what it is you believe in.[/color]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Narius[/i][b]
Its a fact that in alot of places African Americans are treated unfairly, they are given lower wages for the same job, rejected for jobs, etc. etc. simply because the employer is some kind of biggot.[/quote][/b]

[color=deeppink]A lot of women deal with that, too, even [i]white[/i] women. I tend to hang out with my boyfriend and his friends a lot, and since I am usually the only girl there I hear more than my fair share of slander against women. However, it doesn't bother me when comments are made as a generalization because even I have witnessed a lot of the stupid **** that girls do nowadays. Nonetheless, I will get defensive if comments are made toward a single person, such as one of my roommates. Generalizations, though, seem to be fair game to me, seeing as how most of the time it's true.

Mnemolth, your post was actually really insightful, I'm glad I took the time to read it :)[/color]

[Narius]

.....read entire statement, then reply. Like I said you cannot stay on the fence forever, and even when you are on that fence, like I said you will be cutting parts of each side off from your point of view.

And yes women encounter it to, I am also against walking around yelling out slanderous things about women. And though you apparently don't like it, what If I came up to you and a group of your friends and started saying how all women (which would include those present) are gutter sucking crack whores, how long would it take you to stand up and say. "Shut the **** up." not long whether you want to admit it or not, beleive me, I know some womanizing men and the moment they open their mouth and say something prejudice and ignorant like that they get slapped like rag dolls. Thats what African Americans get, most of the time more frequently, and like I said, if you are allowed to poke fun and make harrassing comment in "good times" kind of context, why aren't they? isn't that in and of itself being even more prejudiced against them, stating "Only we're allowed to make fun of you?"

[Transtic Nerve]

Obviously stereotypes don't apply to the whole of a group. But obviously, they apply to someone or something or else there wouldn't be stereotypes in the first place. Stereotypically, gay men have a lisp. I am gay and I don't, but some do. So it's true, but it doesn't apply to the whole. Stereotypically, gay people crossdress. I don't, but some do.

Whats more to say. Stereotypes exist, that much is true. They, however, don't apply to the whole of any group of people, places or things. Anyone who associated a stereotype with one person whom they don't know is no more than creating an own stereotype against them. Because some hicks where cowboy hats and hunt and generally stereotype other people, we associate this with all southern people and even associate cowboys with being nasty stinky prejudice people, when in fact many of them aren't. Because they portrayed a stereotype to others, they made themselves a stereotype. It's really sad if you stereotype. But it does exist, and people (including all of you) do it, whether to a harsh extent or not. That you cannot deny and that is just something that must be accepted. racism, prejudice, and whatever else exists. It may not be good, but it exists. There's not much you can do but accept it and deal with it the way you want to.

[Dan L]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by BabyGirl [/i]
[B][color=deeppink]There is a greater percentage of white people in the US prison system than black. Just thought I'd throw that statisttic out...it kind of screws up that whole stereotype, doesn't it?.[/color] [/B][/QUOTE]

Yeah, that's pretty much what I was trying to get at except I didn't actually know whether there was a greater number or not..

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by BabyGirl [/i]
[B][color=deeppink]When this 20 year old was working in lawn service, he was working in the projects of Detroit, meaning inner city housing projects where underprivelaged black people don't have to pay for where they live (either that, or it's extremely cheap). While he was cutting the lawns of these projects, black people would be sitting out front of their reidences yelling, "That's right white boy, cut my lawn."?

This was coming from black people who didn't even work for a living. Wouldn't that bother you, too?[/color] [/B][/QUOTE]

Yeah, but at the same time I know where they are coming from. As I said in the post before, The prejudice towards whites from some black people stems from the fact that we actually used to make slaves out of them. Whether the present generation ever experienced this or not doesn't really matter, the point is we're now living with what our ancestors did, and this whole prejudice thing is just going round in circles.. Some Blacks hate whites because of what we used to do, so sopme whites hate blacks because the blacks hate them. It takes someone to actually apologise for the pasat, even if he had nothing to do with it, in order to break the circle.

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by BabyGirl [/i]
[B][color=deeppink]I should probably state one final time that I am not racist, I'm merely leaning toward their point of view that stereotypes are stereotypes for a reason. I would never treat another person differently because of their skin color or ethnic background because that is something that I don't believe in.[/color] [/B][/QUOTE]

Yeah, I'm sorry if that last post seemed like an attack on you, saying you're racist.. it was more of an attack on stereotypes in general. And yeah.. Stereotypes are stereotypes for [i]one[/i] reason: because people look at a group of people or things that they don't understand, and all look the same, or have something else in common, so they assume that they are all the same.. And usually, it's the bad things that they point out rather than the good.

[Justin]

Perhaps I misunderstood your staement, Narius, but it America today it's the monority community that gets to crack all the jokes. Now, I think to a certain extent the white community asked for it, after years of slavery, segregation, and opression; but shouldn't it be about time to put a stop to hate, period?

I mean, look at BET, for example: What does it stand for? Black Entertainment Television. Now, I'd like to what happenes to the guy who creates Caucasion Entertainment Television.

Granted, that issue is not entirely one-sided, but you must at least admit that all sides have contributed more wrong than right.

-Justin

[Dan L]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Justin [/i]
[B]Perhaps I misunderstood your staement, Narius, but it America today it's the monority community that gets to crack all the jokes. Now, I think to a certain extent the white community asked for it, after years of slavery, segregation, and opression; but shouldn't it be about time to put a stop to hate, period?

I mean, look at BET, for example: What does it stand for? Black Entertainment Television. Now, I'd like to what happenes to the guy who creates Caucasion Entertainment Television.

Granted, that issue is not entirely one-sided, but you must at least admit that all sides have contributed more wrong than right.

-Justin [/B][/QUOTE]

Yeah.. that pretty much why I say "I wouldn't be impressed if a black guy said that either, but I kind of know where he's coming from".. I think the problem is, it's just a vicious cycle of hate between different cultures, and as you say, we really should stop it..

[Mnemolth]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Justin [/i]
[B]Perhaps I misunderstood your staement, Narius, but it America today it's the monority community that gets to crack all the jokes. Now, I think to a certain extent the white community asked for it, after years of slavery, segregation, and opression; but shouldn't it be about time to put a stop to hate, period?

I mean, look at BET, for example: What does it stand for? Black Entertainment Television. Now, I'd like to what happenes to the guy who creates Caucasion Entertainment Television.

Granted, that issue is not entirely one-sided, but you must at least admit that all sides have contributed more wrong than right.

-Justin [/B][/QUOTE]

Okay, I dunno where you're going with this, but by the tone I get the impression you are suggesting that there is some sort of 'reverse' discrimination going on. Maybe there is, but I don't think its anything to get too excited about.

As for BET, don't know what that is all about, but it makes sense if you think about it for a moment. Why has no one created a 'White' channel? Isn't it the same kind of 'hate' as a 'Black' channel? Well, just think about that for a moment. Think about some of the most popular shows. Sienfield, Friends, Malcolm in the Middle, Everybody Loves Raymond...and the list is endless. They look pretty white to me.

Aren't there shows where most the major characters are 'black'? Sure there are, and I'm sure you can list some, but they are far and few in between.

So now tell me what is the point of a 'White' channel?

The majority never needs to shout to be heard (although it often does anyway). Its voice is deep and pervasive. The minoirty, on the other hand, has a smaller voice, and is in constant fear of being ignored, or drowned out. So it has a tendency to scream.

To suggest that both are behaving equally bad is to ignore the power discrepancy.

[Narius]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Justin [/i]
[B]Perhaps I misunderstood your staement, Narius, but it America today it's the monority community that gets to crack all the jokes. Now, I think to a certain extent the white community asked for it, after years of slavery, segregation, and opression; but shouldn't it be about time to put a stop to hate, period?[/b][/quote]

....you don't get out much do you? White people not cracking jokes about minorities.......right....you've live in your basement for how long now?

[quote][b]I mean, look at BET, for example: What does it stand for? Black Entertainment Television. Now, I'd like to what happenes to the guy who creates Caucasion Entertainment Television.[/b][/quote]

yeah generally they just cut out the "Caucasion Entertainment" and leave it as: Television. If ya havent noticed, 90% of programming is still Caucasion based programming.

[quote][b]Granted, that issue is not entirely one-sided, but you must at least admit that all sides have contributed more wrong than right.

-Justin [/B][/QUOTE]

Its human nature, everyone causes wrong, but that doesn't mean we should do wrong back just cuz. Just cuz some African American makes fun of you doesn't mean you should hate all African Americans, and vice versa, I mean its common courtest and people are acting like they don't even have that decensy inside of them.

[Justin]

As I said, everyone in this topic is too biligerant.

I never said whites didn't crack jokes on blacks. They do, and that's wrong. What I said was it's taboo for whites to throw racial slurs at minority races, but it's not as taboo for minorities to crack jokes at whites and each other.

Now, you and Mnemolth have brought a little light onto this subject for me. With your comments about TV. You're both very right. However, what I meant was the fact that companies like BET and FUBU are [i]openly[/i] and [i]blunty[/i] leaning towards one race. Most of caucasion-based TV isn't as blunt about the fact that they are what they are, you see.

And I agree with you, Narius in that: Just because one or two people cracked a joke on you, doesn't mean you should look upon anyone but those one or two as wrong.

Again, everyone is too touchy about all this. Just because you disagree or see fault in someone's opinion, doesn't mean you have to get abrasive.

-Justin

[Manic Webb]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by wrist cutter [/i]
[B]The main problem with stereotypes is they create a group of holier-than-thou people who go around playing cop with everyone else.

Example:
"So, yesterday I went to a Mexican restaurant..."
"Excuse me, you went [i]where[/i]?"
"A Mexican restaurant."
"You incosiderate a-hole, it's [i]Spanish-American[/i] restaurant."[/B][/QUOTE]

Example #2:
This thread.

[BabyGirl]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Endymion [/i]
[B]Example #2:
This thread. [/B][/QUOTE]

[color=deeppink]I don't think that [i]everyone[/i] is doing that in this thread. I've actually gained a lot of insight from here, seeing as how that's what I was looking for in the first place...I surely wasn't looking to start fights :whoops:[/color]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Naruis[/i]
[B]....you don't get out much do you? White people not cracking jokes about minorities.......right....you've live in your basement for how long now?[/quote][/b]

[color=deeppink]Please watch your insults, they're certainly not called for in here.[/color]

[Narius]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by BabyGirl [/i]
[B]

[color=deeppink]Please watch your insults, they're certainly not called for in here.[/color] [/B][/QUOTE]

Learn what an insult is, pointless finger pointing is also not needed.