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Blonde Racism?
A story last week led a reader to accuse me of being racist. I first rolled my eyes over the accusation and deleted the message, but I decided to pull it out of the trash and run it here. I still haven't replied to the message; rather, I'd like you to, by posting a response below. I'd especially like to hear from people who are the victims of racism: do you see his objection as being valid -- is it really akin to the racism you have suffered? How -- or how is it not?
Let's start with the story in question:
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Legally Blonde
Two teen girls broke into a tattoo parlor in Fairfield, Maine. But first, they had to get past the alarm system. "They used hair spray" to do that, said Deputy Police Chief Steve Trahan. "They wanted to spray it so the fog would come out and they could see the beam from the alarm system, apparently so they could walk over it or avoid it or crawl under it." They didn't come up with the idea themselves. "They said they saw it on TV." But it didn't work: the hair spray is actually what set off the alarm, bringing officers in for the arrest. Brittany Blow, 18, and her unnamed juvenile accomplice were charged with burglary. (Waterville Morning Sentinel) ...What they don't tell you on TV: television shows are fiction.
Do you see the "racism"? I have no idea whether Brittany Blow (great name, eh?) is white, black, or other -- and it doesn't matter. But I'm still "racist" because of my slug (title) for the story: "Legally Blonde". That's right: joking that someone named Brittany might be blond after she does something stupid is "racist", according to John in Florida, who writes:
"Comments like this are just as racist as the word 'nigger.'"
I wonder if my readers agree -- whether they're black, white, Asian, Latino ...or blond. You can comment via the form below.
If you're particularly interested in the topic, I've written about racism in True before. Here's one example.
17 September Update
Over 350 comments have been posted on this entry -- and I have approved 199 of them. I think it's all been said, so I'm turning Comments to this entry OFF so I don't have to reject 150 more.
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Just a note (and I am using an alias to avoid getting in any trouble). I am a police dispatcher, and out of curiosity I looked up Brittany Blow's description. She is blonde, according to her driver's license! Just FYI.
Posted by: Barbara, Maine | September 3, 2007 1:24 AM
I have to post this because I see a very sad reality of where our society is heading.
We have become an emotional society, where even the slightest bit of humor directed at someone, or a group, will bring down the wrath of the fanatic; those who try hard to show they are not "racist" yet come off that way. They see the "racism" in anything said, and will jump to the fore to make it known they are without humor.
Jokes are told to make fun of, poke fun of, ourselves, and we have stopped doing that -- we are nothing more than a nation of robots.
If you want racism, here is one for you: About 15 years ago, in Georgia (Atlanta) I was walking in an area that was mainly black. I was jumped and beaten (badly) and told that no "white boy was allowed".
I reported this, but nothing was done. Let that happen today (with a black being the one that is jumped) and everyone and their mother is on the news decrying the racism in America.
Sadly, this is true.
Posted by: Richard, Florida | September 3, 2007 6:17 AM
Recently my employer announced everybody must go to a web site and declare their individual race or declare whey did not want to declare.
This was described as a federal government requirement and everybody must do it. So I went to the gov web site to see what they meant by race and discovered they don't know either. The congress wrote the law, but did not explain what a race was. The regulatory body said they were doing the best they could under the circumstances and suggested they usually expected several categories, including 'latino' and 'hispanic'.
I work regularly with an individual who grew up in Puerto Rico, worked for years in Miami Florida before coming to the wilds of Northern Delaware. I ask him what was the distinguishing charateristics of latino and hispanic--he had no idea.
Personally, if I have the choice, I call my race 'human' That was not a selection of the require form so I checked 'mixed'
After all, the best authority I have read says my forefather and mother include Lucy from Africa and the Peking Man from Asia.
By the way, one of the slickest and most dangerous practitioners of the art of office politics I have ever worked with was a woman who kept a coffee mug on her desk that declared "Please speak slowly, I am a natural blonde.'
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Your concept of "human" is quite similar to my own concept of nationality. I declare simply that I'm an "American", rather than a "Euro-Scandi-British-American". The more we divide ourselves, the more ...uh... we divide ourselves. -rc
Posted by: Ron, Delaware | September 3, 2007 12:35 PM