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From: jeff@rtech.UUCP (Jeff Lichtman)
Newsgroups: net.jokes.d
Subject: Re: 3 lies
Message-ID: <514@rtech.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 24-Jun-85 03:12:21 EDT
Article-I.D.: rtech.514
Posted: Mon Jun 24 03:12:21 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 29-Jun-85 02:39:26 EDT
References: <1058@ihuxn.UUCP> <5878@ucla-cs.ARPA> <139@SCINEWS.UUCP> <2084@sdcrdcf.UUCP>
Distribution: net
Organization: Relational Technology, Alameda CA
Lines: 46

> In article <139@SCINEWS.UUCP> todd@SCINEWS.UUCP (Todd Jones) writes:
> >> 
> >> 
> >> I think the 3 biggest lies were
> >> 
> >> The check's in the mail
> >> Black is beautiful
> >
> >	You disgusting racist pig.
> >
> Huh??  Saying 'Black is beautiful' is a lie, is racist??  Common sense
> tells one that racial generalizations such as 'Black is beautiful' is
> what is racist, not pointing out that it is an invalid racial
> generalization!!
> 
>   Todd Jones, through his reply,  is seen to me to be a hypocritical,
> bigoted racist pig!
> 
> 	sdcrdcf!alan     Al Algustyniak

I've had about enough of this.  Evidently, few people know what "black is
beautiful" means, or the origin of the phrase.  There was a time when blacks
in the U.S. were taught that they didn't measure up to the standards of white
beauty, that is, that black was ugly.  The leaders of the civil rights
movement during the sixties realized this, and so invented the phrase "black
is beautiful" to help counteract the low self-esteem that blacks had.  The
point is that black is as beautiful as any other skin color.

You may choose to accept or reject this argument, but I see no reason to call
Todd Jones a "hypocritical, bigoted racist pig" simply because he believes
that to call "black is beautiful" a lie is racist.  To say that "black is
beautiful" is a lie is to imply that black is ugly.  You may argue that the
original statement is a generalization about race, and is therefore untrue
(and a lie, if you want to be uncharitable), but is this what the joke was
really about?  I doubt it.  Jokes are usually meant to be immediately funny
without a lot of analysis.  The thing that the joke immediately implies is
that, since everyone knows that black is ugly, the statement "black is
beautiful" is a lie.

Mr. Algustyniak, I think you owe Todd Jones an apology.
-- 
Jeff Lichtman at rtech (Relational Technology, Inc.)
aka Swazoo Koolak

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