Comments on: Beware of the black . . .

By: ilbrutto

ilbrutto — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 09:09:02 +0000

The human race is supposed to have originated in Africa.

By: vjkrishna

vjkrishna — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 06:40:02 +0000

Think of the universe. Darkness is the rule. Light is an exception to the rule. Didn’t some group of sci-fi guys research and conclude that the first man on earth was black?

By: Girie

Girie — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 15:12:37 +0000

Puranas does say lord Krishna was black(or bluish black),In tamil people call him as “Karmega kanna”.Karmegam denotes rainy clouds which are dark.
But then,i get my butt kicked if i wear a black dress on a festiv day

By: Venkateswaran

Venkateswaran — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 11:11:00 +0000

This comment is for Vijay Anil.
I think, Anil, you have written sub-blog post as comment!!!

By: Diwakar

Diwakar — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 06:40:18 +0000

Good start! When did the first white man discover the first black person? The negative connotation of the word ‘black’ must have existed before the white man found out about black people. I’m not sure if ‘black’ when referring to black people is a bad word. They *are* black, right?
As for Tamil not having bad connotations for ‘black’, it may have been true a few hundred years back, but it’s not so any more. Now we have phrases like ‘attai karuppu’ which must be at least a hundred years old. Copycats in Tamil media heavily borrow English expressions like ‘black day’, etc. And how do you explain black flags (non-DK) and black bands which are popular here?

By: vjkrishna

vjkrishna — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 06:05:42 +0000

That’s a nice thought Anil. But remember, the topic here is not if all white men are racist. It is about how unfortunately, we have infused racism into the language which has been spoken for centuries and will be spoken for centuries to come. That’s almost ‘unerasable’, isn’t it?

By: Vijay Anil

Vijay Anil — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 05:37:15 +0000

Good one vijay to start…
I havn’t read ‘Six Thinking Hats’ and I don’t know much of ‘Edward de Bono’ but would like to discuss about the Black (negative).
From the above notes, I agree with the author naming black for negative
Lets admit the fact that if we know/believe in ‘Good’ we should believe in opposite of good aswell- i.e not being good i.e is “Bad” same goes to God – Evil; Positive – Negative etc…
If we agree “white” colour represents/belongs to Pleasant,True,Pure,Peace,Legal,… we should name some colour to address the opposite of whatever white represents and to my knowledge we have only RBG (Red,Blue,Green) and rest all colours are combination of these.
‘White’ is mixture/combination of all colours and ‘Black’ is the absence of all colors. We should name some colour to represent the unexpected/inexistance/obsence or opposite of ‘white’ which represents ‘Black’ eventually ended being one of our human colour.
To me one will be treated how they behaved . As most of the ‘black’ skinned might not well behaved/cultured where they exist since ages so they ended not being respected at first instance. (The crime rate is also high in records from them for their percentage) The same response will happen in any country irrespective of one’s colour. Though we don’t have black’s in our country to conclude however foreg: Do we well behave or eat together with a chinese who like & loves eating snakes,lizards, rats (maybe as lively) if he happen to work with us? do you still behave & respond the same way how you are now with your dear collegue? (To be honest I can’t) Does’nt we call this also racism irrespective of ‘Black’s’ colour.
If the english speaking men are racist then why Obama has been elected by a record winning from white’s country.?
We pray, go humble,worship god (might not be because ‘though they are black’) because its his/her original physical body converted as a deity (stone-which eventually colourless (black)) and we don’t want to beautify his naturally body with paint (artificially) by his/her original colour. To my knowledge no where in our puranas or scriptures says our God’s are black or born as black in colour.
recently I read & saw a female model who skinned in ‘Black’ is the higest paid model in France.!!!!!

By: vjkrishna

vjkrishna — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 05:10:03 +0000

Sridhar @ 2: Yes, I agree. It’s not entirely true. Same is with English too. But what I’ve said are not really ‘white lies’, if you get my drift . . .

By: Sridhar

Sridhar — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 14:53:35 +0000

You have mentioned that the colour black is not such an unpleasant colour in the Tamil language. This is not entirely true.
There is lot of bias and prejudices among us, about black skinned people, for several centuries. One good place where it is openly evident is the matrimonial advertisements, where most men want a fair and beautiful match.
This has happened inspite of the fact that many of the Hindu Gods whom we worship and pray are considered black in colour.
It is definitely a paradox.

By: Venkateswaran

Venkateswaran — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 09:45:07 +0000

Hi Vijay,
One thing you have mentioned is not necessarily right. English-speaking men are racist! I am sure even a french or belgian or spanish can act differently with a black coloured man. So your assumption that racism is to do with English speaking may not be right.
Other than that, I like the thought process. It is refreshingly different.