There is hope for this world yet

[fpb]

The internet cafe where I go in the long wait for a phone line of my very own has a regular clientele of teen-agers who spend hours playing videogames. I am used to hearing them discuss their strategies and results aloud and with occasionally salty language.

Of course this language is mostly of the modern street variety, anything from "gay" to "motherf..."

Except that just now, a very small black lad right near me has used the literate, Popeian insult "dunce".

Comments

[fpb.livejournal.com]

The world is full of literate, intelligent, prominent and highly-educated black people in every field. One just does not expect to hear a Popeian kind of insult thrown around among gamers in a small London internet cafe.

[guttaperk.livejournal.com]

The intersection of reality and expectation is an important place, and one that often bears close examination. I certainly see your point, but I'm also intrigued by your expectations.

Do you game?

[fpb.livejournal.com]

No. But you may have noticed the comment from someone else who was with me at that same cafe, who does know about games, and who thinks the one these kids play is terrible. In general, the atmosphere games present, the way they are sold to people, remind me of the worst side of comics. I am a cartoonist, and a superhero cartoonist at that, but the ads for anything from GRAND THEFT AUTO to World War Two re-enactments remind me of everything I tried to avoid in my own work. Now this proves nothing - advertising is one thing and product is another - but it has done nothing to encourage me to try it.

[guttaperk.livejournal.com]

I do think that you are stereotyping.
To do so is natural, human, and inescapable. We all do it, and I think that one unfortunate tendency of current trends in discourse on stereotype is that stereotypy is presented as a failing of the unworthy few, as opposed to a human tendency which is a fundamental part of how the brain works.

The little black boy lies at the intersection :-) of at least two areas of relative unfamiliarity for you, doesn't he?

I, however, come from a world in which the word "dunce" is completely unremarkable as a synonym for "fool". More humorous for us would have been "miscreant".

There are certainly good games and bad games, as with any other medium. Grand Theft Auto is in general a well-designed series, but its constant pandering to stereotype is somewhat wearying.

Do you listen to much rap?

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Oh for Heaven's sake. You really are set on fitting me up for a racist. The little black boy might as well have been white or Chinese or Indian or Arabic, I see them all at that cafe, playing the same games. Now either you stop using every twisted sort of way to find racism in what I say, or I ask you to take yourself out of my blog. I allow anyone to come in and comment, but I am the ultimate arbiter of what stays in - and insults against myself do not stand much of a chance.

[guttaperk.livejournal.com]

You recently apologised for misunderstanding me.
If that apology was indeed sincere, can we change the current direction of this exchange and work towards greater understanding instead?

I did not accuse you of racism. Even if I had, though, why should such a statement be grounds for my eviction?

[guttaperk.livejournal.com]

Why was his race significant, then?
Just curious. I remain intrigued by this exchange. I'm not trying to condemn you.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

IT
WAS
NOT

Unless you stop deliberately misreading what I wrote, you WILL be deleted and banned.

[guttaperk.livejournal.com]

If you are misunderstanding what I am writing, and I am misunderstanding what you are writing, then why are you accusing me of deliberate obstructionism and threatening me with banning?

We are both Christians with interest in a difficult topic. Can we not find a better way of dealing with this?

[fpb.livejournal.com]

If you imply that someone has criminal tendencies - and yes, as far as I am concerned racist behaviour is always criminal - do not be surprised if he is offended. You read selective meaning in an item that was a mere description. For your information, I expect education and learning in NO male teen-ager in London, black, brown, white, or green. The widespread street culture in which they all take part places very little emphasis on any spiritual or intellectual value, and two terms as a schoolteacher assistant have left me with a very poor view of the prospects for the majority of young males in England. Whatever their origin.

[guttaperk.livejournal.com]

If you had been reading and comprehending what I had written, instead of responding primarily to your preconceived notions, you would have a different view.

You, in your own head, went from "stereotypy" to "racim" to "crime", with no particular help from me. This despite my careful clarification that stereotypy was a universal function of the workings of the human brain, and not something I was accusing you of unusual participation in. It's as if I asked you if you'd borrowed a pencil, and you became enraged and told me I'd accused you of rape and mugging, and angrily denied criminality. Yikes.

Pointless, really. Amusing at one level- I bring up the possibility of your preconceived notions, and the nascent discussion is completely derailed by your (other) preconceived notions.

Thanks for responding, and for your current attempt at politeness. If you wish to have actual open discussion on this topic at any time, I'm willing- just say the word.

In all fairness, this whole thing is testimony to the difficulty of the subject; but I feel strongly that such overcoming difficulty is both quite pragmatically possible, and ethically necessary.

cheers

adrian.