Black / White
Last night, we were browsing the TV listings for something to watch and caught the Oprah episode about the show "Black. White."
starting on F/X this March. In this show, a black family and a white
family "trade races" with the aid of modern state-of-the-art makeup.
Otherwise we never watch Oprah (as a side note, Dennis Dale's excellent article "Oprah the Omnipotent"
explains perfectly the reasons why I dislike her), but that particular
episode just sounded so interesting that we watched it. A few general
notes and thoughts:
Based on the time that the one-hour show allocated to various topics, it is almost like the use of the various forms of the n-word is the most important individual thing in interracial relations in today's America. Right. Off the top of my head, I am pretty sure I could list at least a few topics that are more important and relevant.
The makeup that the show uses really is excellent, especially for the female characters, although it made the white guy look more like an Indian than a black guy, and it didn't quite make the black guy look white either, since something that I can't put my finger on was off in the uncanny valley. In addition of various skin paints, the makeup artists also apply prosthetics to change the shape of faces and noses. I guess that they were not able to be politically correct here and maintain the plausibility of makeup. The participants also had to go through special speech where they were trained to sound "black" and "white". When I noted this to my wife, she said "well, duh", but I replied that that must be some kind of a thoughtcrime.
Near the end of the show, my wife noted that the white woman is probably some ex-hippie. That woman certainly gave me that impression: she is probably some college idealist and lefty who married up and moved her family to live in some de facto apartheid community, and remembers to say every day that she is not a racist. The home page for the show didn't say where this family lives, but I am willing to bet good money that the said location is at least 95% white. (The same goes for Oprah herself, by the way.)
One unintentionally comical incident was when the white guy (made up black) went to a user car dealership and later commented that he was kindly welcomed there and felt no racism at all. Of course I was rolling on the floor at this point, since I had read the posting "A Car Salesman's Secrets" by Steve Sailer. Another time, the black guy (made up white) went to a golf course and a shoe store to buy golf shoes, and got excellent service. Again, not a coincidence.
(As a side note, when I go and buy shoes, I really don't want the shoe salesman putting them on my feet. And this has never happened to me, no matter which shoe store I go to here in Toronto Area. Is this perhaps some particularly American thing? Of course I learned years ago that Al Bundy always had to do this, even though he didn't work in a high-end shoe store. This note further reminds me that perhaps I should write another posting about the way Al Bundy deeply affected the lives of myself and my high school chums.)
The producers of the show had wisely placed the participants to live in some predominantly white area that was surrounded by black areas. The black guy (made up white) went undercover to work as a bartender in a bar whose clientele consisted of working class whites, who of course had the attitudes towards blacks that the white working class people typically tend to have. Certainly very different than the attitudes of wealthy liberals who can afford to move away to their all-white enclaves and who never have to fear that they lose their jobs to illegal immigrants. Of course, since Oprah's studio audience perhaps tends to consist of the latter type of women, they were shocked to hear such incorrect and unenlightened opinions expressed.
Another comical moment was when the white couple (made up black) went to spend an evening in that bar. The bar even had the Confederate flag on the wall for good effect, just so that no viewer would fail to understand what is going on. The woman then explained to Oprah how she "felt different" and she just couldn't believe it. It is because of this particular incident that I am so very certain that she lives in some apartheid all-white community. Me and my wife noted almost simultaneously that perhaps she should, for comparison, go take a stroll through a black neighbourhood and see if she "feels different" there.
We'll remain to see how the actual show turns out. Of course, Oprah knows perfectly well what topics she can and cannot discuss in her show without offending her audience, but I at least look forward to Steve Sailer's comments about the show. I have been meaning to write a post about my educated hypotheses about how real black people think and live very differently than what we see and learn on TV, based on my common sense logical inferences and the few personal experiences that I have had, starting from the fact that they are so very religious, and let the black readers (do I have any? Please tell me.) correct me in places where I go wrong. But I have to collect my thoughts a bit more before I can do this.
Based on the time that the one-hour show allocated to various topics, it is almost like the use of the various forms of the n-word is the most important individual thing in interracial relations in today's America. Right. Off the top of my head, I am pretty sure I could list at least a few topics that are more important and relevant.
The makeup that the show uses really is excellent, especially for the female characters, although it made the white guy look more like an Indian than a black guy, and it didn't quite make the black guy look white either, since something that I can't put my finger on was off in the uncanny valley. In addition of various skin paints, the makeup artists also apply prosthetics to change the shape of faces and noses. I guess that they were not able to be politically correct here and maintain the plausibility of makeup. The participants also had to go through special speech where they were trained to sound "black" and "white". When I noted this to my wife, she said "well, duh", but I replied that that must be some kind of a thoughtcrime.
Near the end of the show, my wife noted that the white woman is probably some ex-hippie. That woman certainly gave me that impression: she is probably some college idealist and lefty who married up and moved her family to live in some de facto apartheid community, and remembers to say every day that she is not a racist. The home page for the show didn't say where this family lives, but I am willing to bet good money that the said location is at least 95% white. (The same goes for Oprah herself, by the way.)
One unintentionally comical incident was when the white guy (made up black) went to a user car dealership and later commented that he was kindly welcomed there and felt no racism at all. Of course I was rolling on the floor at this point, since I had read the posting "A Car Salesman's Secrets" by Steve Sailer. Another time, the black guy (made up white) went to a golf course and a shoe store to buy golf shoes, and got excellent service. Again, not a coincidence.
(As a side note, when I go and buy shoes, I really don't want the shoe salesman putting them on my feet. And this has never happened to me, no matter which shoe store I go to here in Toronto Area. Is this perhaps some particularly American thing? Of course I learned years ago that Al Bundy always had to do this, even though he didn't work in a high-end shoe store. This note further reminds me that perhaps I should write another posting about the way Al Bundy deeply affected the lives of myself and my high school chums.)
The producers of the show had wisely placed the participants to live in some predominantly white area that was surrounded by black areas. The black guy (made up white) went undercover to work as a bartender in a bar whose clientele consisted of working class whites, who of course had the attitudes towards blacks that the white working class people typically tend to have. Certainly very different than the attitudes of wealthy liberals who can afford to move away to their all-white enclaves and who never have to fear that they lose their jobs to illegal immigrants. Of course, since Oprah's studio audience perhaps tends to consist of the latter type of women, they were shocked to hear such incorrect and unenlightened opinions expressed.
Another comical moment was when the white couple (made up black) went to spend an evening in that bar. The bar even had the Confederate flag on the wall for good effect, just so that no viewer would fail to understand what is going on. The woman then explained to Oprah how she "felt different" and she just couldn't believe it. It is because of this particular incident that I am so very certain that she lives in some apartheid all-white community. Me and my wife noted almost simultaneously that perhaps she should, for comparison, go take a stroll through a black neighbourhood and see if she "feels different" there.
We'll remain to see how the actual show turns out. Of course, Oprah knows perfectly well what topics she can and cannot discuss in her show without offending her audience, but I at least look forward to Steve Sailer's comments about the show. I have been meaning to write a post about my educated hypotheses about how real black people think and live very differently than what we see and learn on TV, based on my common sense logical inferences and the few personal experiences that I have had, starting from the fact that they are so very religious, and let the black readers (do I have any? Please tell me.) correct me in places where I go wrong. But I have to collect my thoughts a bit more before I can do this.
Excellent, love it!
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Posted by Anonymous | 5:58 AM