The NBA All-Star Weekend Thread

[Damaramu 0]

I don't have a stereotype. And I don't care how he dresses. That's not what makes him a thug.

I heard he was a thug b/c I'd heard about the legal trouble. I could care less how many tattoo's he has and how much so called "ethnic garb" he wears. That's not what makes him a thug.

I was asking if he was a thug b/c I had heard he acted like one and that he had legal trouble.

Ripper dispelled that rumor and the others started in about the way he dresses. So don't accuse me of thinking he's a thug b/c of the way he dresses. Ripper pretty much killed any notion I had of him being a thug by dispelling all of those charges.

 

HOWEVER. The thing that bugged me was when he said something about "whitening up" his image. Referring to the way someone dresses or things like that in terms of race is ignorant. So if I was a popular basketball player and the way I dressed and my image threatened black people would you say that I was being asked to "blacken up" my image?

 

I don't have a stereotype against anyone or a bias against anyone over what fucking race they are. Everyone in every race is different. Everyone in every race acts different than other members of their race. There is no overall stereotype and I don't believe in it. So don't give me that bullshit.

 

I don't think AI is a thug. I never thought he was. I'd heard he was accused of being one and I was wondering about it. I still don't think he's a thug.

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

So Ripper if you were to go in for a job interview and you had to wear a suit and tie for the job would you say "Nah fuck this man! I am not going to play to whitey!"

That's what I mainly took issue with, but your comparison with Will Smith and Denzel is equally ignorant.

 

You didn't outright say it, but you are on him because he dresses like black culture. Do you wear a suit whenever in public? Do you have nice close cropped hairstyle, or a yuppie ponytail? No, so why should he? Why the fuck are you dictating what someone should do with their personal life? If he wants to have tattoos and corn rows, fine, he's not going in for a job interview, he's walking around the mall, club, strip joint, whatever.

 

You're in no place to judge a man based on what he wears outside of his place of business. If he dressed in Gap clothing or AE or whatever we wouldn't be having this discussion, but since it's "thug", he's a bad role model. Let him wear whatever he wants in his personal life, you and Spicy have no right to make judgements on him because of stereotypes you might hold for people that dress that way.

 

Re: Proper Business Uniform; all he has to do is wear a basketball jersey. He does. Outside of that, whatever he does is not related to the fact that he's an athlete, but rather that he's a normal dude. If you find it wrong that he dresses how he wants to in his personal life, then that's your problem. Kindly shut the fuck up about it though. Please.

[Ripper 0]

HOWEVER. The thing that bugged me was when he said something about "whitening up" his image. Referring to the way someone dresses or things like that in terms of race is ignorant. So if I was a popular basketball player and the way I dressed and my image threatened black people would you say that I was being asked to "blacken up" my image?

 

The point is that he would be changing his dress not because of how he feels about his clothes, but to conform to the image that whites want to have about him. The problem is that his clothes are being seen as too black, not by blacks but by whites and saying "hey, why don't you dress less black".

 

If basically telling a person they are to far down on the "black" side of the spectrum what essentially are they telling him to do by doing away with the things that they consider too "black" about him?

[Damaramu 0]

Ripper I agree with that. It's along the same lines of what I'm saying. Telling someone they dress like a certain race is stupid b/c nobody in an entire race dresses the same. So I agree with you on that.

 

And Paragon you need to shut the fuck up. You don't know what the hell you're talking about.

I just said I have NO issue with AI based on the way he dresses. I just had an issue with saying an image is "whitened up" as if all white people dress nice and all black people dress like that. I was against the stereotype but you perpetuated it further. So do us a favor and shut the hell up and let the non-ignorant people like Ripper speak on the matter. Because Ripper is making loads of sense and you're just ignoring what I said in my last post and flying off the handle.

I just said that I have no problem with the way AI dresses and I have no problem with the way that he looks. So go back and read my last post and get the fuck over it.

 

Now Ripper you were saying....

[Guest pinnacleofallthingsmanly]

I can't remember who it was (might have been Dave Chapelle), but I remember a comic talking about women dressing like sluts but not being sluts. He was like, "you might not be a slut, but you have on a slut's uniform!" I think the same thing applies here.

[Guest Vitamin X]

Yeah I think that was Chris Rock, actually. If not it would have been Chapelle.

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

Ripper I agree with that. It's along the same lines of what I'm saying. Telling someone they dress like a certain race is stupid b/c nobody in an entire race dresses the same. So I agree with you on that.

 

And Paragon you need to shut the fuck up. You don't know what the hell you're talking about.

I just said I have NO issue with AI based on the way he dresses. I just had an issue with saying an image is "whitened up" as if all white people dress nice and all black people dress like that. I was against the stereotype but you perpetuated it further. So do us a favor and shut the hell up and let the non-ignorant people like Ripper speak on the matter. Because Ripper is making loads of sense and you're just ignoring what I said in my last post and flying off the handle.

I just said that I have no problem with the way AI dresses and I have no problem with the way that he looks. So go back and read my last post and get the fuck over it.

 

Now Ripper you were saying....

I can't really get through all of that, but I will say that I think that I morphed you and Spicy together, and most of what I said was directed at him. I realize that most of what I said wasn't directed at you, you just happened to post right after me. My bad.

 

I interpreted what you said in the job interview as saying that AI should dress like a professional all the time. But now I see you're hung up on this "Whitened up" thing...

 

Most people have the stereotype that if a person dresses a certain way, they are a thug. These people don't know what they're talking about, and are holding on to stereotypes for whatever reason that they may be doing so. They probably are insecure or something. They're wrong either way, since the problem isn't with the person who dresses that way, it's with the guy who judges based on that. That's why I think Spicy is way off base for going on about how AI has to have a positive image or something, based on appearance. I'd say his charity work makes up more of a positive image than a pair of dockers, or whatever it is that middle age men wear.

[Damaramu 0]

Ok. Fair enough. Sorry for flying off the handle.

 

I mean I have black friends that dress like AI. They aren't thugs. I have white friends that dress like AI. They aren't thugs.

So I mean I agree that the clothes thing is absurd.

[Sass 0]

Dama, I've gotta give you props for actually raising relevent points about "whitening" or "blackening" up one's image, which is ignorant. You handled yourself...well, better than I've ever seen. Congrats sir, props to you from me.

 

Sorry for the side track folks.

 

Carry on.

[Guest Brian]

It was Chapelle, one of his HBO specials.

[Steviekick 0]

It was Chapelle, one of his HBO specials.

I love how in that bit he expands it to why people don't walk around in cop uniforms.

[Spicy McHaggis 0]

HOWEVER. The thing that bugged me was when he said something about "whitening up" his image. Referring to the way someone dresses or things like that in terms of race is ignorant. So if I was a popular basketball player and the way I dressed and my image threatened black people would you say that I was being asked to "blacken up" my image?

 

The point is that he would be changing his dress not because of how he feels about his clothes, but to conform to the image that whites want to have about him. The problem is that his clothes are being seen as too black, not by blacks but by whites and saying "hey, why don't you dress less black".

 

If basically telling a person they are to far down on the "black" side of the spectrum what essentially are they telling him to do by doing away with the things that they consider too "black" about him?

Didn't say dressing like a thug equals dressing "black". Didn't say Iverson should dress a certain way.

 

A complaint was raised about Iverson being labeled a thug...I pointed out that he literally WEARS that label. He has every right to wear whatever hair style he wants, speak English as poorly as he wants, wear whatever clothing he wants, and tattoo every inch of his body...but he shouldn't be surprised at the reaction he gets, nor should Ripper or YPOV defend him as a victim.

 

He was convicted beyond his HS fight:

 

"August 1997 -- Pleads no contest to gun charge after police near Richmond, Va., pull over a car, in which Iverson is a passenger, and find a gun belonging to Iverson and two marijuana cigarettes. Completes 100 hours of community service, two years of drug testing and three years' probation, after which his record is cleared."

 

 

Frankly, I'm disappointed that the "this is a black vs. white issue whether you want to admit it or not" card was played. I expected more of you guys. And I didn't expect Ripper to know what every black person thinks. I'll be sure to ask you next time.