NEWS: Now It's Weird

Ah. sorry. I've been trying to take him seriously; I assumed he had some basis for his statements. (I.e., I was too lazy or nauseated to check.)

yes, because a discussion board is certainly no place for opinions.

his statements were obviously subjective, and should be taken as such. to view them otherwise is to be deliberately obtuse.

and i'm still wondering what's so offensive about these observations.

I found it offensive because he said, without any qualification, that all people in the North are racist. Simple as that. I quoted it more than once. And not only is that an offensive charge, it is completely unsupportable. Yes, he meant it as an abstract generalization based on his limited observations. But it was such a worthless observation that it should be attacked.

he used a conversational shortcut that is quite common on this and most other internet forums. the only motive i can conjure for haranguing him for it after he has admitted his mistake is a desire to avoid discussing the subject.

What was the subject? I forget.

What was unclear here?

There were some broad sweeping remarks made here that are shocking. Are you discounting the interacial marriages in the north when you say"Whites in teh north do not like individual blacks", for instance.

Move on. we discuss race in context but need not waste time trying to explain.

i read it as a description of what racism is like in the north. to say that all people in the north are racist would be fairly confrontational; since Domo_Kun's tone was not confrontational, my assumption was that his statement was intended to be applied only to the group being discussed--namely, racists. ie, it should not have been taken as a blanket statement concerning all northerners.

This is an interactive internet forum where everyone tries to discuss current events. It is debate at times, a cocktail party at other times.

You will note people wanting a civilized discourse generally tend to, try to express opinions with qualifiers and facts with sources. You will also note that people try to stay on topic in conversations.

He did make broad sweeping generalizations without qualifying them, and people did take umbrage, and here you are a day later trying to explain and defend these remarks, and here I am trying to say ...

Negative racial stereotypes stated as facts can and do hurt feelings.

Here in this thread we were discussing Hilary Clinton leaving the race, and how she wouldn't.

SO when he inserted his feelings as fact...

everyone walked away from him at the cocktail party.

Not because we aren't intelligent people looking to have civilized discourse, but because perpetuating these stereotypes is not helpful and dated.

People tried to explain this. I'm sorry if you don;t understand where the hostility comes from. You missed something. Go back because even your friend understood to let it die...