NAACP calls Hallmark graduation card racist

  • Thread starter Thread starter Math Is Hard
  • Start date Start date
Click For Summary

Discussion Overview

The discussion centers around a Hallmark graduation card that has been criticized by the NAACP for allegedly containing a racist message. Participants explore interpretations of the card's audio content, the implications of its wording, and the reactions from various community members. The scope includes cultural sensitivity, interpretation of language, and the appropriateness of humor in greeting cards.

Discussion Character

  • Debate/contested
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Exploratory

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants express disbelief that Hallmark would intentionally produce a card with a racist message, suggesting that the interpretation may stem from mishearing the audio.
  • Others argue that the phrase "black holes" could be interpreted as offensive, particularly in the context of the card's banter.
  • A participant mentions that the term "black hole" has been used in various contexts before, questioning the connection made by critics.
  • Some contributors assert that the card's humor is poorly executed and lacks context, leading to misunderstandings.
  • There are claims that the term "ho" is a term invented within the Black community, with varying interpretations of its meaning and usage.
  • Several participants challenge the seriousness of the NAACP's response, suggesting that it may be an overreaction.
  • Discussions arise regarding the appropriateness of language used in the debate, with some participants labeling certain expressions as racist.
  • Some participants speculate about the nature of the audio and how accents might influence interpretation of the words spoken in the card.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus on whether the card is racist or if the outrage is justified. Multiple competing views remain regarding the interpretation of the card's message and the appropriateness of the NAACP's response.

Contextual Notes

There are unresolved assumptions regarding the audio content of the card and how it may be perceived differently based on individual backgrounds or experiences. The discussion also highlights the potential for miscommunication in humor and cultural references.

  • #31
lol, are you being serious right now?
Seems like "ominous" doesn't fit in the context of "black whore".

Even if it did say "black whore", are they defending black whores? Even their imagined racism isn't racist. I'd say they're grasping at straws, but that ship has sailed, too. They're starting to become parodies of themselves.
It only makes sense to those that are generally ignorant about the solar system and the rest of the cosmos.
What doesn't make sense about it?
 
Physics news on Phys.org
  • #32
I keep my black hose in my garage. I left my hose out on the lawn in the hot sun a couple of days ago and when brought back into the garage I had really hot and kinky hose.
-
The above comment was intended to offend and at the same time not. It is an exaggerated example of why some people need to develop thicker skin. Not all comments that sound offensive are meant to be offensive. I don't see why it should be someones responsibility to have to learn the 'jive' in order to know to avoid using words that might offend someone else.
 
Last edited:
  • #33
That card should be banned for the sheer awfulness of it, but NAACP is a joke. I bet those guys weren't crying racism when they got extra money for school just for not being white...
 
  • #34
zomgwtf said:
hmm lol I've never heard this break down before in my life. I'm not sure if you're just poking fun at this or what.
Not poking fun. That whole explanation was serious.

I'm prettttty sure 'ho' isn't just a black expression, I hear people of every race use it.
It's a black invented term. Originally black street slang. 25-35 years ago only black people used it. And that's about the time Eddie Murphy started using it on Saturday Nite Live. Whoever uses it now is immaterial to which group originated it. Slang spreads.

And it doesn't necessarily mean 'whore' (as in prostitute) it could mean like, ***** or slut... actually that's almost what it always means. Calling someone a whore while they really ARE a prostitute is a pretty rare occurrence.
The point is, the exact nature of the insult in calling someone a "ho" is that you're calling them a sexual orifice. Just like the exact nature of the insult when you call someone a b***h is that you're likening them to a female dog. The exact nature of the insult when you call someone a bastard is that you're saying they were born out of wedlock, i.e. probably the result of poor breeding.

You can check urbandictionary if you don't believe me even, I'm sure ho or hoe will be listed in there with many definitions.

When it come to this term, consider me the equivalent of the Urban OED: the best source of the history of the term's usage you're going to find at PF.

In 1981 I was in a play about a halfway house for "troubled teens". Half the cast was black. This term came up in a discussion backstage one day, and it came out that the white cast members thought it meant "whore". The black cast members vehemently and explicitly corrected us. "Not 'hoah', w-h-o-r-e: 'ho'; h-o-l-e," one girl said, spelling the difference letter by letter.

If Hispanic and White 'ganstas" are now using it interchangably with "whore" it's because they, too, misunderstood the original "ebonics" accent. In ebonics "whore" would be something like "hoah", two syllables, the "r" sound rendered as "ah". In ebonics "hole" becomes "ho".

When I asked the black kids the significance of calling a girl a "hole" one said, "You sayin' they ain't nothin' but one big sex hole (and here she illustrated by pointing at her crotch); good for nuthin' but sex." And the other black kids concurred.
 
  • #35
zoobyshoe said:
When I asked the black kids the significance of calling a girl a "hole" one said, "You sayin' they ain't nothin' but one big sex hole (and here she illustrated by pointing at her crotch); good for nuthin' but sex." And the other black kids concurred.

Maybe things changed but my girlfriend is black and so are all her friends. They don't talk like that, not at all.

Anyways I don't see where the discrepency is, the word STILL means a slut, or a girl who is more promiscuous. (sometimes ***** etc.) Just the same way the 'whore' means that too. If a person calls someone a 'whore' they HARDLY ever mean prostitute. Actually sometimes it even just means a 'girl' guys refer to them as 'bitches and hoes' but that has no meaning to if they actually are a ***** or promiscuous.

Just like if someone called a guy a 'ho-monga' that doesn't mean that the guy is a pimp, or he has sex with a lot of 'easy' girls. It just means he's with a lot of girls. period.
 
  • #36
zomgwtf said:
Maybe things changed but my girlfriend is black and so are all her friends. They don't talk like that, not at all.
Which means absolutely nothing.

Anyways I don't see where the discrepency is, the word STILL means a slut, or a girl who is more promiscuous.
No, as defined to me, it does not mean "promiscuous". It means the girl is of no account except as a means for a guy to get his rocks off; of use as a mere sex object at best, with nothing else to contribute.
 
  • #37
zomgwtf said:
Maybe things changed but my girlfriend is black and so are all her friends. They don't talk like that, not at all.

This comes from street lingo. It is gutter language. If you were to hang out with a black gang for a time, no doubt you would hear the expression used often if not hourly. From what I've seen on news shows covering the gang problem, it is or was common for gang members to refer to any woman as a "ho". I've also heard about this from a friend [white] whose son got into gangster rap.
 
Last edited:
  • #38
John Archibald Wheeler, Richard Feynman's graduate thesis adviser and leading general relativist, coined the term "black hole." He was dismayed that some people misinterpreted the phrase as an insult to women from French slang. He was a gentleman and only had the intention of creating a specific physical metaphor - possibly unsurpassed to this day.
 
  • #39
rootX said:
Yep found it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0P_XiYZl9k

nothing much in it. I didn't go beyond 40 seconds.

Total nonsense.
 
  • #40
Who cares what the racist NAACP says. There was a time in U.S. history when certain parts of the country needed sensible proponents in the marketplace of ideas concerning treatment of people irrespective of their skin color. Now, they and many other organizations play the race card merely for political ammunition and gain.
 
  • #41
zoobyshoe said:
No, as defined to me, it does not mean "promiscuous". It means the girl is of no account except as a means for a guy to get his rocks off; of use as a mere sex object at best, with nothing else to contribute.

I suspect that the le version simply evolved from the re version, due to the identical pronunciation in the black, street culture, and gangland.
 
  • #42
Another stellar example of the results of LBJ's "Great Society". :wink:
 
  • #43
The Hanes stocking company should award the NAACP their "Black Hose" award for excellence in diverting attention away from real problems.
 
  • #44
Shackleford said:
Who cares what the racist NAACP says. There was a time in U.S. history when certain parts of the country needed sensible proponents in the marketplace of ideas concerning treatment of people irrespective of their skin color. Now, they and many other organizations play the race card merely for political ammunition and gain.

yes, this. part of my vote for Obama was for not having to put up with this kind of crap anymore.
 
  • #45
BW338 said:
Another stellar example of the results of LBJ's "Great Society". :wink:

Actually, having a black political prodigy as President is a better example of that one. :wink: :wink:
 
  • #46
I've known plenty of educated and intelligent African Americans...
None of them sound or behave like the people in the NAACP. I think the guy was using the word "reasonable" loosely... Very loosely.

Why would the solar system have to watch out for African American women? I'm sure planets have much more to fear from astrophysicists/planetary taxonomists :smile:
 
  • #47
BW338 said:
Another stellar example of the results of LBJ's "Great Society". :wink:
If by that you mean "thanks to LBJ's Great Society, the NAACP no longer needs to worry about the problems which abounded during its creation a century ago, and now has the time to find itself concerned with an "offensive" greeting card," then yes, job well done.