Ah, another of the Faceless Millions coming out and throwing a word like racism. I was worried when I posted about the "ebonics class" that maybe it would turn into something stupid. Now, it has. First and foremost, I do not consider myself racist. (Well, no one really does.) Okay, let's try this -- I don't see black, latinos, asian, subcontinentals, or even Texans as an inferior race. My closest friend in my neighborhood was black; my middle school had a high percentage of Filipinos; and my high school was disproportionately Asian; and I got along with pretty much everyone at every level. I would like to think I'm not racist, therefore. Furthermore, hard as this may be to believe, the "ebonics class" comment wasn't entirely tongue-in-cheek. There are ebonics classes taught at some universities in America (Indiana University, for example; I know because my sister took it). Ebonics, jive, and so on, have their own roots, their own reasons for existing, and are a decent part of the black culture in America. I respect that. That said, _no one I know_ speaks such a blatant exaggeration of the language as was posted. One of my friends here (a black friend) has seen the unix program described, and he was laughing at it. It is humorous not because it makes fun of the way black people talk (which would be racism), but because it exaggerates to the point where any connection to reality becomes shady at best (which is the whole point of humor). I don't believe that all blacks speak ebonics or jive any more than I believe any other stereotype that you can name, and I'd be willing to bet that 99.999% of the people in quizbowl feel the same way. At least. As for you, you might find it necessary to force us to give pause to our own actions, but to do so anonymously makes you seem like nothing more than a troll. The last thing we need is a discussion blown out of proportion by some people who, for all we know, are leftover Meowers intent on shutting down any and all lines of communication we have. We're very capable of holding serious discussions for weeks at a time without degenerating into name-calling; you have nothing to be afraid of. At least show some guts and put a name to those comments; like you or hate you, we'll respect you for it. Andy
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