‘Super racist’ pool safety poster prompts Red Cross apology

[Melizmatic]

@TooGoodToCheck_

some people just rub each other the wrong way.

And some people go out their way to do so.

[EpinardsCaramel]

@TooGoodToCheck_

Life goes on. the best you can do is to try not to seek conflict, try not to be an ass, pray for the spiritual guidance of saint humbabella, and consider sometimes taking a couple hours away from the board for reflection and perspective

Wise

[anon35121463]

I know right. And of course, swimming pools and black people have never had any prior history…

[anon15383236]

@caze

nope, nothing subliminally racist about this either.

What? If you say so.

No, wait.

Ugh, fine, keep wearing those white blinders. It’s a free internet.

[Melizmatic]

I swear someone must being linking the site’s posts to the dregs of Reddit, or something.

[TooGoodToCheck_]

I don’t know. maybe? I honestly find that I often can’t confidently distinguish divergent opinions from trolling.

I mean, some trolling is super incredibly obvious. But other times I feel like people get dismissive gifs (or, in more contentious threads, the white-hot flamethrower of righteous rage) while discussing or debating in good faith.

[EpinardsCaramel]

I think it’s because of the title of the article, people come here wondering who can call this “super racist ???”

[caze]

I assumed @frauenfelder meant it ironically

[anon15383236]

what’s reddit?

What’s water? Which way is “up”?

faux naivete alert

[Melizmatic]

@TooGoodToCheck_

I often can’t confidently distinguish divergent opinions from driving trollies.

I hear ya, but sometimes there are really obvious clues and “tells”; like a brand spanking new account that just “coincidentally” shows up in the middle of a contentious conversation out of the blue.

That’s not remotely suspicious at all.

And then there are people who will try to make it personal, even when the topic at hand isn’t about a specific individual.

[caze]

thats_the_joke.gif

[EpinardsCaramel]

@Melizmatic

I hear ya, but sometimes there are really obvious clues and “tells”; like a brand spanking new account that just “coincidentally” shows up in the middle of a contentious conversation out of the blue.

Wait, who’s the sockpuppet? I hope you don’t think it’s me

[Edit] Ooooh, I found him… Now I get the “welcome to the BBS” gif

[anon15383236]

@caze

thats_the_joke.gif

Ah. Well you see, jokes tend not to come across as jokes when they’re not funny.

[anon50609448]

@Melizmatic

At first it didn’t even dawn on me, a multiracial black woman, that such a commercial probably would have never aired when I was a kid… until the bigots loudly reminded me that our society still has such a long way to go.

I remember this story Whoopi Goldberg told about being a kid. She was watching TV and Star Trek came on, and she ran into the kitchen where her mother was making dinner yelling, “Mommy! There’s a black woman on TV and she’s not a maid!”

I think I heard that when I was a teenager and it was the first time I ever thought about how representation (and a lack of representation) can affect people.

[caze]

I can think of another reason…

[anon15383236]

Keep thinkin, Lincoln.

[TooGoodToCheck_]

I’m pretty sure this is meant to be an implied dig, but I’m not sure what the elipsified reason is supposed to be. Is it that your cannonball entry into this thread was as clueless as not knowing what redit is, so we don’t get the joke because we think you might be serious?

[Melizmatic]

@anon50609448

I think I heard that when I was a teenager and it was the first time I ever thought about how representation (and a lack of representation) can affect people.

Absolutely.

People who are not historically underprivileged, marginalized and devalued often don’t realize the huge psychological impact that such “little” things have upon people who are.

Take toys for instance;

I remember my mom going out of her way to find dolls for me that looked even vaguely ‘interracial’, because 30 years ago, there was little to no representation of the huge variety of Black skin tones:

It was a big deal to her because she knew that having some physical representation is important.

Today things have gotten a little better, at least in that regard:

But again, our society still has so far to go, on so many different levels.

[Brainspore]

OK, daddy’s gonna hang on to that last Barbie for himself. Cause DAAAAAMN.

[EpinardsCaramel]

@anon50609448

I remember this story Whoopi Goldberg told about being a kid. She was watching TV and Star Trek came on, and she ran into the kitchen where her mother was making dinner yelling, “Mommy! There’s a black woman on TV and she’s not a maid!”

I think I heard that when I was a teenager and it was the first time I ever thought about how representation (and a lack of representation) can affect people.

That reminds me of this amazing interview of Neil deGrasse Tyson, “A Story About Race”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtMWvJiFR9E

Makes me teary-eyed when he says “the black community cannot afford the luxury of someone with your intellect to spent it on that subject”