*Shrugs*

Whatever.

Eventually we'll all forget this "racism" [LIFTED].

I really can't be bothered with it any more...

As my housemate recently said to me:

"You just hate be because i'm black"

To which I replied:

"No, I hate you because you're a twat. And you're not even black".

Gods sake. I couldn't care less about the colour of someone's skin. Why can't everyone else hold my opinion?!

"You have to laugh, or you'd cry."

It's not just funny foreign types who don't understand levity in the face of tragedy. I can think of a few people closer to home who don't share what I consider a "British" sense of humour.

Satire is one of my favourite forms of comedy, but some people just don't get it and become all offended and irate. Likewise with irony, and even low-grade sarcasm. At the bottom of the pile, you have simply "laughing at people hurting themselves". Most British comedy is pretty sick if you anal eyes it, except maybe a few puns.

I'm attempting to resist the urge to try and be funny, but as my failed quip about the B&W minstrels demonstrates I simply can't help myself.

Because it makes sense.

Says the young, white, CofE, English man. :p

And what if the tradition dates back to before the people of that area had come into contact with coloured people?

And if it was to "laugh" at "black" men, surely they would have used something dark brown, not pitch black?

Something like the B&W Minstrels I can understand, but the racial element in this case sounds to me like complete bunkum.

That would make it especially entertaining. They will have heard of black people before seeing them.


Yeah right, because racists never generalise.

Really? There are still places around the world which are isolated and have never seen anybody from outside their community, let alone with a different coloured skin.

The number is falling year-on-year, but there are still some "lost" tribes.

I take it you have read the complete history of this morris dancing tradition and have traced it back to a racist beginning and you can prove that the "hiding their identity" excuse is a lie?

It really depends when this tradition was started. In the middle ages or earlier? Then probably not racist. Started in the 16-18th centuries, probably not racist. 18-20th century, then it could have been racist, and the later this form of face painting was adopted, the more likely you could attribute it to racism.

That said, what about the traditional Japanese art of using white face make-up? Surely that is racist?

Painting faces a different colour has been used throughout history by different ethnic groups for different purposes, whether they were social, religious or for battle. It doesn't automatically make it racist!

Yes, in some cultures (including our own), the face painting has been used to lampoon other groups. But that doesn't automatically mean that every type of face painting is automatically lampooning others or racist.

Black from burnt cork was probably a cheap way of disguising their faces. If they had lived in a red-clay area, maybe their faces would have been red? Or an argicultural area, maybe yellow, green, blue, depending on what they grew...

I take it you have read the complete history of this morris dancing tradition and have traced it back to a non-racist beginning and you can prove that the "hiding their identity" excuse is the truth?

There are examples of people all over the world painting themselves various colours for various reason that go back far into history before man had the technology to be able to traverse long distances in short times (i.e. less than a couple of lifetimes). For most of the history of Great Britain, most of the population was illiterate and didn't travel farther than the distance between their cottage and the fields they worked and back. They considered someone from the next village to be slightly exotic.

What you're suggesting isn't logistically possible, let alone likely. Occam's razor would suggest the explanation is people started putting charcoal on their faces because it was immediately available and free.

Jon

The real question is.

Would you want people to know you were a Morris dancer?

I'd wear a disguise

I thought you were though That's what somebody said anyway

It stems from the early 18th Century, by the looks of it. People used to black up their faces to disguise themselves when begging, dancing or poaching.

The poaching became such a problem that in 1723, the "Black Act" was passed. This made it a hanging offence to be caught with a blacked up face or with weapons in a park or warren. It was later extended to public disorder and added to the Riot act.

The law was repealed in 1827.

There are also recorded instances of black faced morris dancers in Germany (outside Munich) in the 15th Century and in France in the 16th Century.

F*ck the UK.

Everything is going to be outlawed. Hell, this forum will be outlawed because the X404 logo is black, and deemed offensive.

This is what pisses me off about the Government. This will sound incredibly racist, and I will probably get the banhammer, but why the hell should the Government be spending all this time trying to make blacks and other races happy, while shoving the common white man and his family away? Britain used to be predominently white, where everyone lived together happily. However, now you can get arrested for saying "look for the black tree" as it offends everyone.

Another example is: We recently got a black kid in our form who moved from Zimbabwe or somewhere like that. He knows frig all English. Well, I tell a lie, as you only have to say "Brad (one of my friends), pass us that black/brown/charcoal pencil please", and he walks out and goes tell the headteacher that you are being racist towards him/

As you can tell, I hate things like this. Most of you will probably consider me racist as fook, but this (used to be) is a free country, right?

This is why I hate the UK so much. It's just one gigantic cesspit of moralfaggotry. Screw all the diversity in cultures, and let the dam schoolkids watch a dance for goodness sake!

I can't friggin' wait till I'm 18. Australia or the likes, here I come.

Are they? Used to be?



Cool, they're another nation of bigots and racists. You'll love it.

And I'm sure I will.

*awaits the inevitable pulling-to-bits I will recieve for that post. *