OK, I'm gonna try and just answer everything I have to say about the last page in a half in one post. This looks long, but it's not really a rant so...
@erha, my avatar isn't an "insult against tick." It's a comment, in general, on the argument needlessly pointing out color is just a "way of being descriptive." Why do people feel the need to say, "This black guy?" Why does the adjective come before the noun?
My personal rule of thumb is this: if the adjective could have come afterwards while still sounding like its usage is necessary, then it has a point and isn't just baiting people of a certain status. For example, "A black woman named Rosa Parks sat down on a bus when they told her she couldn't" is fine, because you could also say "Rosa Parks, a black woman, sat down on a bus when they told her she couldn't" and the information that she is black is clearly important in both cases. Now, let's change that around. What if I wanted to say "The retard at the baseball took a picture with Cliff Lee."? Would you say that? No, because if you frame it like "The guy at the baseball game, who was retarded, took a picture with Cliff Lee" it'd become obvious how unecessary that information actually is.
In other words, if you can get away with calling someone a person, then there's no need to use so many descriptors. If you want to use a description, like "The black cashier stole my money" or "The cashier, a black guy, stole my money," you'd better be prepared to at least explain why you're paying such special attention to people's status. It's that simple.
tick's drew attention to details that were obvious, and didn't need to be there at all. He hasn't answered why, other than drawing attention to the fact that "it's a description!" Well, his writing doesn't seem to be filled with superflous descriptions in any other areas, so why the exception when dealing with people of color? I'm not saying "tick is a racist because he's chosen to highlight someone's race when it wasn't necessary at all," but when I read his original post I did ask myself that question. Normally, I wouldn't have brought it up, but others already had so I figured there was no harm in giving my comments as well. Again, knowing tick somewhat, I think it's probably more of a subconscious thing because we've been told "it's okay to talk that way," rather than a conscious decision to single out someone's race. But does make bringing it up any less warranted?
@tick, by extension, I certainly would have called you out if you were too go on mentioning a "fat middle aged person." Is that information necessary, or are you just throwing it in there? If you're just throwing it in there, people are going to ask why you feel it's so important we know all of that.
As far as your behavior goes, if you think you were completely justified that's fine. I'm wondering why your brought it up here at all. Did you want people to talk to you about it because you weren't sure of whether how you acted was in the right? That's what I assumed, so I'm surprised at the hostility you're showing toward people who think you were being a bit immature. Otherwise, if you were so sure that you were in the right, why bother bringing it up and talking about it at such great lengths anyway?
I've read your PM, and I'm sorry if you think my avatar is insulting to you. However, the change in avatar is something that I wanted to do anyway. I've been getting a lot into Dylan lately, and already had a Dylan avatar, and had planned on using his face-paint one eventually, with this thread just serving to remind me that I had wanted to make that change. I also find it ironic that you're calling for the removal of my avatar. You persistently post pictures of black people doing funny "out of the ordinary" things like smiling and laughing at eachother, and the pictures are supposed to be "funny" simply because they involve people, well, being black. Yet I post a picture of a white dude wearing white face paint, and you start trying to get people to play the sympathy card for you.
As far as whether those pictures are funny goes, this whole board has been judge and jury on that before, and I remember it being pretty skewed that very very few people ever think they are. Do you remember that? Do you even want to go there? I remember feeling bad for you during that phase, because while your jokes weren't funny people were doing some nasty things creating alt account and the like.
Again, I'm not saying your sense of humor makes you a racist-- other people are saying I said that but in my posts you won't find it said anywhere. What I'm saying is that it's annoying, and, I don't think it's really necessary. A personal anecdote: my grandpa, Dad, and some of my uncles sort of share in your sense of humor. They'll laugh at things like, say, a picture of a black person eating a watermelon, or a picture of Michelle Obama with a caption in ebonics. They preferace talking about people of color by highlighting that these people are, in fact, people of color; "A black at work...," "A 'brotha' in the mall," etc etc. Are they racist? No, not at all, and that's proven by their actions. It's just like the thread we had awhile ago about people against homosexuality being "bigots." This kind of thing is really more cultural baggage than anything. And, in my opinion, it's an aspect of our culture and the way we talk that I think we should forget about. Have I complained to these people in my family about my feelings on this? Of course. Do I bring it up every time they do so? No, I don't. It's not worth it to. Do I bring it up every time I notice you say something I feel is off-color? No, I don't. In this case, I didn't bring it up either. Someone else did, and I'm just making a comment on that.
Still, you seem to make a habit of having your feelings hurt, man. I'd say I was sorry, but honestly I think you need to just thicken up. Stuff like this seems to happen on a monthly basis with you and I was always on your side with it, but now that I see how you've turned on me in an instant I'm starting to feel like its you who take this internet nonsense too seriously. Really, I never even called you a racist-- the minute I mentioned that mentioning the guy was black was unnecessary you flipped out and starting talking about how I see everything with "black colored glasses" or something. Defensive a bit?
EDIT: Oh, yeah; this is my last post in this thread. I won't reply to anything said to me, nor will I reply to any PMs on the subject-- so don't even go there.