Thursday, 22 June 2017

24 Questions Black People Have For White People

When Buzzfeed post some low quality bait you can be damn sure I'm going to take it upon myself to make fun of them. There have been many videos made by Buzzfeed aimed at educating the white menace, so here's some more of their shit content analysed through the eyes of someone with at least a little bit of rationality.


1) You should probably be asking the people who write the scripts why white characters generally make bad decisions in horror films. I'm a student, not a fictional horror movie character. Splitting up is also the greatest plot point in cinema history because Scooby Doo and his posse of white supremacists do it on a regular basis. How dare you try and slander the innovative tactics made famous by Scooby Doo. Maybe instead of pitifully whinging about this trivial issue you could maybe analyse the artistic merit of this trope. I suppose I don't expect Buzzfeed to know what artistic merit is, so I'll let this one slide.

2) Yeah I'll happily get annoyed over poor casting choices. For example if Superman was portrayed by an actor from China for no apparent reason then yeah I would feel that decision to be completely nonsensical and hurt the artistic integrity of the film. The example you gave of Idris Elba, who I fucking love for the record, would be not in keeping with the themes of Ian Felming's novels. Fleming reveals that Bond is half Scottish, and half Swiss, and although James Bond's race is never explicitly stated, he represents the British optimism and hedonistic ideals during the troublesome 1950's. In short he's a window into the ideals of native British citizens of the time. Elba still could work as Bond, but I would label that casting as questionable, even though I would still respect the director's artistic choice. In any case, this is not an issue raised exclusively by white people. I see plenty of people kicking off about casts that aren't diverse enough for them in all corners of the internet. Does whitewashing in Hollywood ring any bells in Buzzfeed's narrative? It should do as it was heavily mentioned in their 'Questions White People Have For White People' video. I guess they've selectively chosen to ignore that in this video. How convenient.

3) Are a big butt and big lips seen as unattractive on black women? I think you're confusing curvy individuals with flat out obese women. In any case people are more likely to find their own race more attractive. And no, that doesn't make the science of attraction racist. Science doesn't care about your feelings.

4) You can fucking claim twerking all you want. That's a bit like claiming credit for swine flu.

5) Quite like an example of white people claiming ownership over a discovery of trends. And anyway, what's the issue? It is just a trend after all. Claiming false ownership of a trend has to be the most petty form of plagiarism possible. Maybe their might be an issue if we were talking about something important like the discovery of electricity, but discovering a new way to wear trousers really shouldn't be something that needs confrontational debate.

6) Again, where's the evidence that natural black hair is frowned upon? This is just a monstrous generalisation. I would also like to add a friendly reminder that just because something is natural doesn't make it instantly a good thing. Rape and incest are all natural; so to just claim ownership of something based purely on it being natural is not a good argument. Neither is claiming that nobody else can copy your natural features. I see plenty of black women with short blonde hair, so by this logic I have every right to feel offended too. And what's up with telling white people not to judge your hairstyle by then judging their hairstyle? It's a fucking hairstyle, have a sense of perspective.

7) Tell me about student loans mate. Wait, I'm not black. Holy fuck it's almost as if this issue has nothing to do with ethnicity. There's actually more white students in America, so why the fuck is this question directed at white people?

8) White crime is often treated as an individual act because in America crimes committed by black people are disproportionate to those committed by white people, and so this assumption is based on the truth. The media loves to weave a narrative over linked events such as gang violence, and the statistics show that black men are the most likely group to exhibit this behaviour. I'm sorry if this trend is considered racist, but it's the unfortunate truth. And don't you fucking dare take the high ground on generalisations when you're part of this list.

9) Isn't race a taboo subject? I feel uncomfortable talking about politics with people I don't know, so you can imagine how I feel about bringing race into general conversation.

10) No I don't think racism is over because the US elected a black president in the same way that I don't believe sexism is over in the UK despite us once electing a female prime minister. Next question.

11) I can imagine it would be noticeable if there were a lack of individuals from the native population in their native country. I imagine this is exactly the same in Ethiopia when there is a notable absence of black people in an area.

12) How dare white people aspire to end racism. I know it's an unobtainable goal, but Jesus Christ you don't have to demonise people for aspiring to not be racist. I know you guys at Buzzfeed love to put white people in a catch-22 where anything they do is considered racist, but I'm just a soul whose intentions are good. Myself and the majority of white people really don't enjoy being racists.

13) Repeating racial slurs isn't my thing love. But how dare I even think I can use these slurs if this random woman thinks I shouldn't. Fuck off in trying to dictate what language I use.

14) I don't want to touch your hair, it looks really, really average.

15) Wait, by asking to touch someone's hair you're asking permission. What more do you fucking want from me? Trust me I have glasses. People asking to wear them or snatching them off of you really isn't a big issue.

16) Why does being in a Buzzfeed video make you feel you're a cultural expert? Of all the people to question my false sense of superiority, you are not the one.

17) I actually have more than one black friend. Just because you keep rephrasing the question doesn't mean you can keep trying to slanderously assume I'm a racist. Am I going to be accused of attempted murder next?

18) I don't swear at my parents. Stop accusing me of things I have never done.

19) I don't have a dog. STOP ACCUSING ME OF THINGS I HAVE NEVER DONE.

20) The reason I can pronounce 'Schwarzenegger' is because it's the name of a fucking cultural icon, whereas whatever fucking name you said at the beginning sure as hell isn't. To highlight your hypocrisy why don't you try saying this famous Hungarian footballers name: 'Balazs Dzsudzsak'. Oh you can't. Well you must be a fucking racist then.

21) I care about the welfare of individual lions over individual people because lions are a threatened species. Forgive me, I am a zoologist so I do give more of a shit if a lion is poached than when some random thug is shot by police. In any case poaching and policy brutality are entirely different issues that funnily enough elicit different reactions from different people.

22) Hey, don't you fucking dare bring Simba in to all this shit. The Black Lives Matter movement just pisses me off, but The Lion King was fucking epic. The poor comparison however doesn't excuse this warped logic that just because I don't buy into a particular political movement that you align with I therefore must be a racist. Fuck you. Again Lions are threatened with extinction, or at the very least severe population decline. Black people are not. Malcolm X by the way was really a very shit, overly meandering, tedious melodrama.

23) I'll acknowledge a privilege when I have it. You do have to provide some evidence of this privilege first. I doubt you and your privilege feel indebted to the starving millions in the third world, so why should I be expected to grovel at your feet? Is it because of my skin colour? In fact I bet all the money in the world that I, a student, have far less privilege than your entitled asses that make a living by churning out shit content to the tune of dollar bills. You're living the American Dream, making obscene amounts of money by being a really pointless waste of life, so quit yapping about trivial privilege issues and stop blowing smoke up your ass.

24) I don't know generic black guy, I can't imagine what it's like to be the spokesperson of an entire race. I'm just a generic privileged white guy who all these questions directly apply to, so what would I know?

Maybe I shouldn't be too angry at this list. Yes it manages the heinous job of calling me a racist every two seconds without any evidence, but it is a fantastic source material for making people look like idiots. I also counted more than 24 questions in this video, so I guess maths isn't a strong point for Buzzfeed either. I'm not surprised that simple error wasn't corrected, as nothing in this video has had any insightful thoughts put into it, rather just lazy content that acts on stereotypes that by and large aren't true. To Buzzfeed though this is their idea of quality content, and if they want to make any more of this shit then I would be more than willing to cringe at it again. But as for this double standard of attitudes to racism at Buzzfeed, that can fuck off. I'm still waiting for the day they make a video that's questions white people have for black people.

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