are "racist text message acceptable now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you have to start a sentence “I am not a racist but” then you shouldn’t finish the sentence.

I'm not a racist but I don't think someone should be condemned based on an unsubstantiated not-detailed accusation.

That's why I love that everyone has a cell phone with video capabilities these days.

This sort of rationale let a lot of racist activity go unrecognized in the times when I grew up. It was your word against theirs

Love that a lot of racists are so full of their world view that they don't even bother to change their message when being recorded. Of course there will always be their defenders who will claim that "we don't know the whole story."

[Anonymous]

Sounds like your kid is just a racist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like your kid is just a racist.

Everyone’s a racist these days.
🤷‍♀️

[Anonymous]

No it’s not OK. You need to talk to him now.

He’s getting it from the Discord gaming groups that are targeted by bad actors looking to sow racial dissent. Right wing, hostile foreign nation and/or scammers have been targeting adolescent males for several years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like your kid is just a racist.

Everyone’s a racist these days.
🤷‍♀️

Not everyone, but there sure are a lot of you.

[Anonymous]

TBH, it sort of depends on what came after "I am not a racist but"

If it was "white people shouldn't make hip hop music" or "asians are so much better at math"

meh, I wouldn't get involved.

The second part is the important part.

What did your kid say?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like your kid is just a racist.

Everyone’s a racist these days.
🤷‍♀️

Not everyone, but there sure are a lot of you.

When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think todays kids are fighting back about the policing of language and calling everyone a racist.
What did they specifically say? Was it actually something racist or just a generalization about a specific race? There is a difference.

This. We see it a lot in our kids’ friend groups—a very specific kind of eye-rolling/mocking tone about the fixation on race, sexuality, etc. among older liberals. It’s clearly meant not to be racist but to make fun of the excesses of the DEI policing they’ve all been subject to since birth.

This is a fairly diverse group—at least racially (though all are UMC teens and tweens in the same neighborhood). To the point where we’ve had to talk to our own kids more than once about how what they say could be perceived by people outside their friend group. But we do this solely for their own protection… they are 100% about the absurdity of the speech codes they’re mocking.

[Anonymous]

My teens know better than to write anything that could be used against them. I have hammered this into their heads for years. Also pay attention to handles and email addresses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe, but its more that at 14/15/16, everything is a joke. Or, maybe everything is an opportunity to get a laugh from your friends.

It's no different from when we were kids.

We live in a very diverse area of MoCo, and its the same across all the kids of that age. It's all racial jokes. And I think its totally fine. It's a way to give themselves power over all of it, and tbh, a way to show they are above. If you're white, and you're hispanic friend makes a lame joke about how bad you are dancing, and you make a joke about their parents being illegals, it demonstrates how they are above the fray.

Now, if it just a bunch of white kids using the n-word, that's different. But context really does matter. Especially at this age

I do not agree at all and I do NOT think "its totally fine." Joking that someone is a bad dancer is NOT the same as joking that their parents are illegals. Joking that their parents are illegals (whether true or not) is NOT something to joke about and is a form of racial microaggression. Microaggression is rampant and sadly most people don't even realize they are doing it. Microaggression is a way to "give themselves power" as you say above.

Well, I guess we can agree to disagree. These kids are the best of friends.

When the Korean kid gets a text from his mom and says "I gotta go home for dinner" and the AA kid says "oh what's for dinner tonight? Dog?". Its totally fine.

Its these kids taking ownership of the racial stereotypes and taking away the hate from them. These boys are truly the best of friends and this is how they interact.

It's not a microaggression. It's not the AA kid taking the power from the Korean kid. Or the white kid taking the power from the hispanic kid. It's them, as a group, taking the power back together.

It's a good thing, imo. These kids love each other despite the adults always telling them how different they are from each other

+1 and very well said.

A glimmer of hope that the insanity won’t last forever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe, but its more that at 14/15/16, everything is a joke. Or, maybe everything is an opportunity to get a laugh from your friends.

It's no different from when we were kids.

We live in a very diverse area of MoCo, and its the same across all the kids of that age. It's all racial jokes. And I think its totally fine. It's a way to give themselves power over all of it, and tbh, a way to show they are above. If you're white, and you're hispanic friend makes a lame joke about how bad you are dancing, and you make a joke about their parents being illegals, it demonstrates how they are above the fray.

Now, if it just a bunch of white kids using the n-word, that's different. But context really does matter. Especially at this age

I do not agree at all and I do NOT think "its totally fine." Joking that someone is a bad dancer is NOT the same as joking that their parents are illegals. Joking that their parents are illegals (whether true or not) is NOT something to joke about and is a form of racial microaggression. Microaggression is rampant and sadly most people don't even realize they are doing it. Microaggression is a way to "give themselves power" as you say above.

Well, I guess we can agree to disagree. These kids are the best of friends.

When the Korean kid gets a text from his mom and says "I gotta go home for dinner" and the AA kid says "oh what's for dinner tonight? Dog?". Its totally fine.

Its these kids taking ownership of the racial stereotypes and taking away the hate from them. These boys are truly the best of friends and this is how they interact.

It's not a microaggression. It's not the AA kid taking the power from the Korean kid. Or the white kid taking the power from the hispanic kid. It's them, as a group, taking the power back together.

It's a good thing, imo. These kids love each other despite the adults always telling them how different they are from each other

+1 and very well said.

A glimmer of hope that the insanity won’t last forever.

Oh the pendulum is swinging back, that’s for sure. Normalcy shall prevail. The loons have been at the helm for far too long.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think todays kids are fighting back about the policing of language and calling everyone a racist.
What did they specifically say? Was it actually something racist or just a generalization about a specific race? There is a difference.

This. We see it a lot in our kids’ friend groups—a very specific kind of eye-rolling/mocking tone about the fixation on race, sexuality, etc. among older liberals. It’s clearly meant not to be racist but to make fun of the excesses of the DEI policing they’ve all been subject to since birth.

This is a fairly diverse group—at least racially (though all are UMC teens and tweens in the same neighborhood). To the point where we’ve had to talk to our own kids more than once about how what they say could be perceived by people outside their friend group. But we do this solely for their own protection… they are 100% about the absurdity of the speech codes they’re mocking.

I agree with this. It's common. They're rejecting the tone and the tone policing because it is developmentally normal for them to react against their parents and authority figures in their life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think todays kids are fighting back about the policing of language and calling everyone a racist.
What did they specifically say? Was it actually something racist or just a generalization about a specific race? There is a difference.

This. We see it a lot in our kids’ friend groups—a very specific kind of eye-rolling/mocking tone about the fixation on race, sexuality, etc. among older liberals. It’s clearly meant not to be racist but to make fun of the excesses of the DEI policing they’ve all been subject to since birth.

This is a fairly diverse group—at least racially (though all are UMC teens and tweens in the same neighborhood). To the point where we’ve had to talk to our own kids more than once about how what they say could be perceived by people outside their friend group. But we do this solely for their own protection… they are 100% about the absurdity of the speech codes they’re mocking.

I agree with this. It's common. They're rejecting the tone and the tone policing because it is developmentally normal for them to react against their parents and authority figures in their life.

Yup, that's exactly what it is. I don't think they are taking some moral high ground. It's more that, at this age, anything their teachers/parents do is considered silly or lame, so they will do the opposite.

So the more we police language, the more likely they are to mock how strict the language police are.

[Anonymous]

It's fine when consenting adults joke with each other, but it's different with kids. When the text messaging is ignored or condoned, because they can hide behind a computer, it emboldens kids to say things to other kids in person, especially in a group. There's a difference between a white/black/Asian/Latino kid making a joke about their race with kids from the same. Making jokes about another ethnicity is a slippery slope, one that leads to the current cavalier attitude some people are supporting, under the guise of "things have gone too far." Those same people look the other way as we watch the rise in Asian and Jewish hate crimes, and the murder of unarmed black kids. OP, it is not ok.

[Anonymous]

Just make sure your kid knows that it’s not ok to make dog-eating jokes to Asians other than his “best friend.” A lot of us don’t think that’s funny. And the fact that he has an Asian best friend doesn’t give him a pass.