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Blaming Bluetooth For Racism?
from the misplaced-anger dept
We've seen way too many stories lately where it seems like the press is blaming technology for stupidity. That is, rather than focusing on the actual actions of individuals, they focus on the technology used for stupid actions. David Goldenberg from Gelf Magazine writes in with the latest example. There was a story making the rounds yesterday about a racist ringtone making the rounds in South Africa. However, many in the press had to point out that the ringtone was passed around using Bluetooth technology -- which seems entirely besides the point.
Reader Comments (rss)
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That's what responsible gun owners have been saying for years.
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Bluetooth
I mean the things people think of these days, I mean the word bluetooth is racist all in itself, of COURSE that had to do with the racist ringtone
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Who knew?
Bluetooth is responsible for racism in South Africa. Here I was thinking it had something to do with apartheid.
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Of Course!!
I mean, how could i have missed it, BlueTooth = the wireless technology of racist nazi's (african ones in particular), who coulda missed it?
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You Racists
You make fun of us blue men. How ignorant are you? What does our tooth have to do with this?
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Jack,
Has anyone ever mistakenly killed anyone with bluetooth?
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Anonymous, has bluetooth ever saved someone's life? But either way, the point is still valid: stupid people do stupid things with technology. It's not the technology's fault.
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If anonymous is saying guns could mistakingly kill, then is it possible bluetooth made a mistake as well.
Although if we could get the gang bangers to carry bluetooth instead of guns the world would be a lot safer, just a little more racist!
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Re:
Are we seriously drawing parallels between deadly weapons and networking technology? Idiots.
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Re:
Imagine for a moment...this world without the white race. Chaotic isnt it.They would all kill and eat each other and die of AIDS in 100 years. Now Imagine if whites were the only race....Ahhhhh sounds like clear skies and sunny days. Utopian!
TRUTH.
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:(
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John, that's over the top. You are what makes me support the 2nd amendment.
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Um yeah, the world without people who have overabundandt melanin. How does that change anything, skin colour doesn't mean a damn thing.
Seriously.
God damn we all know colour doesn't mean shit, people just need a reason to pick on other people cause they feel small and insignificant.
As for Bluetooth == Racisct... that's crap. Journalists have devolved into sensational celebutants.
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bluetooth
Do yellow tooth count? We have plenty of those here...
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Re: Re:
Are we seriously calling people with valid opinions names? How childish of you to, instead of making a valid arguement, simply slap on a label and walk away.
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Its true bluetooth is racist, I got my new headset the other day and it proceeded to tell me to slap my beaner ass.
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Imagine
#10, I am barely a fledgling racist, but I agree. And I don't hate anyone, but Anti-Racism is anti-science. Math is math and science is science and statistics is statistics. Why are all athletes one race and all nuclear physicist another race. Why are all predominantly white countries organized and civil. Yet no county governed by a minority (other than Asians who we are well accepted in US) is not corrupt and dirty and desperate.
If you claim not to be racist, you are lying to yourself for one. For two, you only claim to be anti-racist, because you were told to be one, by television and media, (not your thoughts). It is based on a feeling, that life is a balanced devine place and humans by virtue of being human are devine or devinely created. That is an immature opinion without foundation except that it feels good. The cold hard unbiased statistics suggest otherwise. Life is wierd, anything is possible.
Without hate or biased, I only choose to have my own independant thoughts. In my experience there is a statistical difference, that cannot be excused by environmental influences consistantly undefeatable over hundreds of years and millions of people.
Basically everything you have ever heard has to be evaluated, critically. Is it your thought or are you trumpeting what you have been told is the "good" thought. What if it's wrong? Is it possible? Then you better think about it, otherwise what changes.
Have you not watched the Chappelle Show? Didn't you hear what Bill Cosby said at the Naacp? http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/billcosbypoundcakespeech.htm
Okay, I'm going to go run out and get a hobby.
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Re: Re:
Ahh human nature, it will find a way. Remember the Startrek episode with Frank Gorshin. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_That_Be_Your_Last_Battlefield_%28TOS_episode%29
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"Why are all athletes one race and all nuclear physicist another race. Why are all predominantly white countries organized and civil."
Do you listen to yourself speak? Stop making generalizations, people come in a gradient of colors and behave a variety of ways regardless of what color their skin is. Your assumptions completely rule out any socio-economic factors. You've turned a blind eye to the corruption in countries you've deemed to be civilized. I find it sad that your ideas have led you to jump to so many ill conclusions.
Take your own advice.
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Billie-Bob I hope your hobby isn't burning crosses.
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Skin color does not decide who is evil or good, great athelete or scientist. It never has. That said, culture does and the black American culture is harmful. You can blame economic factors but the truth is it IS the culture. If you succeed without representing you are a sell out or an oreo.
I am not a racist although someof you may think so. I get angry when color is pointed out. The first "black" quarterback to win a superbowl. The first "Black" swimmer to win a gold medal. I am past that already. People are people, skin color means nothing to me. Race means nothing to me. We ARE the same. Culture is the problem. Asian culture is more academically oriented. Black culture is anti-society and is harmful to it's own people. Whites have NO culture, they mimic other cultures.
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wtf
hmmm....thats stupidity for you.
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What a colorful topic.
The weapon is only the medium. It cares not what color, race, creed the operator is nor does it care how/when/why it's used. It's purpose is to simply function as designed.
Bluetooth is no different.
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Re: Re:
I hate people who stereotype, they're all the same! (* joke *)
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Re: "Skin color does not [determine]..."
I think Anonymous Coward who said, "People are people, skin color means nothing to me. Race means nothing to me. We ARE the same. Culture is the problem." has presented the truth on any stupid debate regarding "race" or anyother trait by which people classify themselves.
I don't think you are racist at all, Mr. Anonyomous Coward. I think that you are a lover of all humankind regardless of race ultimately. If everyone could see it so clearly, people would be able to communicate as humans and empathize with each other...and there would be less hatred in the R&R section of Craigslist.
At times life is so difficult that it is so easy to hate people and alienate other humans who also are going through their own BS. Even potential "enemies" feel similar heartaches, disappointments, and love for family...
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bluetooth
Please, look up where they have taken the name Bluetooth from for this.
When the telcomunication companies developed bluetooth, then they took the name from a Vikings leader to name it...
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"Asian culture is more academically oriented. Black culture is anti-society and is harmful to it's own people. Whites have NO culture, they mimic other cultures."
Wow, that stings. I know asians with gangster friends and poor grades, I know blacks that band together and protect one another, and I know white people that always have family reunions & vacations.
This is not so cut and dry. But i'm sorry your life is.
"Popular" culture is where the problem is based, and you my anonymous friend bought into it. Your diatribe was a list of stereotypes from a person self-proclaimed to be 'past that already'. If you were past that you'd realize that we all share the same american culture here. There are people of every color that fear people of their 'own kind', and altruism is not color exclusive. Yes, black culture has some growing to do, but don't point fingers and act like they're the only ones just because you got called an oreo way back when. We all go through something similar, and eventually you have to realize that those using the words are only looking for a bastion to hide their weak souls in.
Race-specific culture isn't the root of the problem, it's the ideals that pervade all cultures in america. If the television says certain people are evil for decades, people have trouble trusting them and the so-called evil people internalize society's rejection of them. Perhaps if people didn't universally apply characteristics to specific skintones, this wouldn't be a problem.
Don't tell me you've never seen a dim-witted asian, a scholarly black, a funky white, or a christian arab. You're only confessing that you haven't lived enough. People are what they are, unique. BTW, economic factors influence culture. You think soul food is popular only because it tastes good? Granted, taste is a factor, but blindly agreeing ignores price and education.
Really, all of this is too complex for a techdirt comment but honestly, stop jumping to conclusions and go marry someone that looks different from you so we can put this behind us.
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Skin color does not decide who is evil or good, great athelete or scientist. It never has. That said, culture does and the black American culture is harmful. You can blame economic factors but the truth is it IS the culture. If you succeed without representing you are a sell out or an oreo.
Even when that culture was devestated by another? I wonder just how different things would be if Africans invaded Europe, tore the people from their homeland, leaving it in shambles, and enslved them in a foreign country for about 400 years.
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wow
things have gotten a little intense.....and for good reason. i think this issue is a little loaded because it has touched so many people directly. the race issue isnt just something that we ponder and address as an injustice that we've read about....it's an injustice many have felt. This is true for all races, by the way, whites included.
I think a healthy approach is to back up from the racism front and examine what is actually happening.
Humans are communal creatures. We like to exist in community. We develop friendships and relationships that we build and keep over decades. Because of this nature, we naturally gather into groups that we identify with. Any number of things can be criteria for these groups, whether it is geographic, language, race, religion, propensity toward a certain vice, or even political ideals.
Unfortunately, a poor side effect of this system is that whenever someone identified with a certain group acts in a certain way, that action is attributed to the entire group. When a few republicans face charges on corruption, the entire party is suddenly corrupt. Or when one group of muslims decide to wage war on the entire world, all Islamic people are seen as ruthless and violent. When a few christian leaders commit adultrey, the christian community loses credibility. And when a white person is killed by a black person, all black people take the wrap.
It is unfortunate, but it is true. Education and reform is the only answer. If the leadership in each sector of society would teach their respective followers to represent their group well amongst others, many stereotypes would eventually die. And even if they didn't, properly responding to ignorant stereotypes would only help to distance yourself from that misrepresentation.
That is how i see it. I have been wronged by both white and black, christian and muslim, democrat and republican. I have been treated kindly by each as well. So, stop acting like ignorant fools and giving a bad name to those who look/believe like you do. And stop assuming that when one person betrays his own by speaking rashly or acting violently that his actions are representative of the whole.
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Re: Coward
Skin color does not decide who is evil or good, great athelete or scientist. It never has. That said, culture does and the black American culture is harmful. You can blame economic factors but the truth is it IS the culture. If you succeed without representing you are a sell out or an oreo.
Even when that culture was devestated by another? I wonder just how different things would be if Africans invaded Europe, tore the people from their homeland, leaving it in shambles, and enslaved them in a foreign country for about 400 years.
Black Culture, Affirmative Action, Racism? Tools of the government agenda to turn America back against other races.
Affirmative Action is a form of control. If minority business owners get government jobs, they are resented for this. The governments agenda is to make minorities dependent on these plans because so many "Whites" will start to dislike them and the only jobs they'll be able to get are government jobs. Dependency, Control, Subjugation
Hispanic Workers in fields now have the right to pay taxes, but now they cannot return home as they have defected from thier country, and our government denies them the right to have thier families live here. They are virtually, indentured servants, the new age slaves.
Black culture is another corporate attempt at keeping minorities in the dark. Go ahead kill eachother, beat your women, and if your girl gets pregnant tell em it aint yours. Also, could you speak in Ebonics so no one understands you and we now have an excuse for not hearing your demands for equal rights. All this leads to is a weaker race, keeping them uneducated and out of control.
A controversial ringtone is not going to change the face of the earth, or even how one person regards another race. If you have a racist ringtone, I assume you've been a racist for sometime, not merely with the introduction of this ringtone. This is just another distraction to take your minds off the real issues regarding racism.
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You know...
It wouldn't be considered racist if it was called "Blacktooth".
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Re: Re: Coward
just an observation, raekwon, but it seems that you may have been indoctrinated.
hispanic 'indentured servants' are in the position they are in because of the decisions they have made. there is a legal route for them to begin legitimate lives in the US.
black culture is hardly something that corporations have devised to keep the black american down. most corporations don't have any real influence in black culture whatsoever (a generalization, i know, but meant to represent the majority of corporations) the real culprit of the black american's plight is the leadership within that community. they should be encouraging the black community at large to stop the reciprocal hate toward those that unjustly hate them. and they should also encourage those that are deviants from the law to uphold it instead.
it is the leadership's ineffectiveness at understanding and solving the problems of their people that has led to the decay of their culture. this is true with every group, whether by race, creed or ideal.
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Hmmm, I think both the Nazis and the Jews were white.
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Although I have to ask...
If this was a song about killing whitey would we even be having this discussion?
BTW I'm the one that made comment #28, forgot to put in my name.
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Re:
Jack, Has anyone ever mistakenly killed anyone with bluetooth? i did. But it was by mistake. Had I intended to do that, It would be an altogether different story.
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ringtone
OK so we understand Racism now thanks
BUT
Has anyone actually heard this ringtone and knows what about it makes it racist?
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Re: ringtone
OK sorry I just followed the story link in the main article.
I would guess that dragging blacks behind something and siccing dogs on them would fall into the racist realm.
Continue calling eachother racist now :D
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I predict...
...that you going to see much more in the way of this sort of assinine "journalism" with respect to technology and its uses.
you saw the press go after gun owners with a vengence in the last 30 years because, of course, if all those LAW-ABIDING people who owned guns didn't have them, why gun violence would just disappear (...and those same gun-toting folks wouldn't have a weapon to defend themselves or help take back this country from its greedy politicians and other assorted fascist, rights abusing slobs).
now that same group of twits are going after technology because, we the people, can turn it against those Powers That Be who those people in the press happen to be in bed with. The very fact that INDIVIDUALS have access to the tech and can use it to make those Powers That Be uncomfortable is UNACCEPTABLE to those who wish to oppress.
Tech is being singled out because it is part of the plan -- Keep blaming the tech so that "they" can stir up misinformed people to "demand action" to REGULATE IT. which means that all of us who use the web or bluetooth or whatever will probably become OUTLAWS.
and as far as the ringotone goes, i hope those S. Africans who have it tell the Thought Police to shove it where the sun don't shine.
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Re: Although I have to ask...
In South Africa - Yes
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Oh Goodness
This is a response to comment 21, specifically
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John, Are you serious?
(Response to Comment #10)
Go back through history and see how death and destruction have been caused by ALL races. Rapes, murders, tortures, you name it, every race has done it.
If your analysis is based on how things are in the world today, it has more to do with money, power, and religion than it has to do with culture. Your comment was horribly misinformed. Either that, or you actually believe it- in which case, I am saddened.
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:) The majority are smart.
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Great Comment
Everything is Racism? Even shitting is also is Racism?
STUPID BULL SHITS!!!!!!!!!!!!
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