Anyway, what do I know? I watched Roots last night instead.

[Burney]

It's fair to say whitey's not coming out of it particularly well as things stand. :-\

I'm hoping we might make a comeback in the later episodes, though.

[Sir C]

It's fair to say whitey's not coming out of it particularly well as things stand. :-\

I'm hoping we might make a comeback in the later episodes, though.

There was that great joke in the 80s. "I'm not saying my mate's racist but he recorded Roots and watched it backwards so it had a happy ending."

:hehe:

[Peter]

It's fair to say whitey's not coming out of it particularly well as things stand. :-\

I'm hoping we might make a comeback in the later episodes, though.

So did I. Arsenal had the good grace to fall apart in time for me to turn off.

Its pretty hard to watch at times (Roots, I mean)

[Burney]

So did I. Arsenal had the good grace to fall apart in time for me to turn off.

Its pretty hard to watch at times (Roots, I mean)

Yeah, the first episode with the supposedly idyllic life in Islamic Africa was pretty risible, mind. Apparently, black people just ate and drank, sang, danced and uttered cod philosophy all day before we turned up.

[redgunamo]

Yeah, the first episode with the supposedly idyllic life in Islamic Africa was pretty risible, mind. Apparently, black people just ate and drank, sang, danced and uttered cod philosophy all day before we turned up.

I've not seen the show but that bit sounds pretty accurate, apart from the Islamic bit.

It's not easy to explain to Westerners but Africans are not industrious, creative or productive, by nature.

It's all those mild Winters, I reckon.

[Burney]

I've not seen the show but that bit sounds pretty accurate, apart from the Islamic bit.

It's not easy to explain to Westerners but Africans are not industrious, creative or productive, by nature.

It's all those mild Winters, I reckon.

This sounds like an excuse you use for not doing housework, mate.

[Sir C]

I've not seen the show but that bit sounds pretty accurate, apart from the Islamic bit.

It's not easy to explain to Westerners but Africans are not industrious, creative or productive, by nature.

It's all those mild Winters, I reckon.

It's funny you should say that, but I'm always struck by the difference between African 'poverty' and similar conditions on the sub-continent. In India one sees the blank-eyed hopelessness of the poor, able to maintain the Asian squat under a shady tree for hours whilst awaiting their fate, whilst in Africa, certainly for the last 10 years, one sees bustle and industry and an apparent determination to do something about it. wd africans imo.

[Burney]

It's funny you should say that, but I'm always struck by the difference between African 'poverty' and similar conditions on the sub-continent. In India one sees the blank-eyed hopelessness of the poor, able to maintain the Asian squat under a shady tree for hours whilst awaiting their fate, whilst in Africa, certainly for the last 10 years, one sees bustle and industry and an apparent determination to do something about it. wd africans imo.

But can they do it on a wet Wednesday in Hartlepool?

I'm just a bit worried that red has started channeling the spirit of Ron Noades. :-(

[Sir C]

But can they do it on a wet Wednesday in Hartlepool?

I'm just a bit worried that red has started channeling the spirit of Ron Noades. :-(

He's almost gone the full Big Fat Ron there, Clive.

[redgunamo]

It's funny you should say that, but I'm always struck by the difference between African 'poverty' and similar conditions on the sub-continent. In India one sees the blank-eyed hopelessness of the poor, able to maintain the Asian squat under a shady tree for hours whilst awaiting their fate, whilst in Africa, certainly for the last 10 years, one sees bustle and industry and an apparent determination to do something about it. wd africans imo.

Let me know when they achieve an African Las Vegas. Or even a Luton.

[Sir C]

Let me know when they achieve an African Las Vegas. Or even a Luton.

Well clearly there's a ways to go yet. But what I mean is that it's heartening to see a guy trying to sell shoelaces on the street rather than sitting staring blankly into the middle distance.

[Burney]

He's almost gone the full Big Fat Ron there, Clive.

It is funny, isn't it, though. If you or I said what r has, we'd get fücking crucified. :hehe:

[Monty92]

It is funny, isn't it, though. If you or I said what r has, we'd get fücking crucified. :hehe:

Not the whole story. You'd get crucified by white liberals, but Red would equally get crucified by black liberals.

[Burney]

Not the whole story. You'd get crucified by white liberals, but Red would equally get crucified by black liberals.

Well he'd get criticised, of course, but - and this is crucial - they wouldn't be able to hurl the catch-all accusation of racism at him.

[redgunamo]

Well he'd get criticised, of course, but - and this is crucial - they wouldn't be able to hurl the catch-all accusation of racism at him.

Jorge used to :-(

[Burney]

Jorge used to :-(

Yes, but j is a saint among men who has never been racist about anyone except the English and Americans. We're all racist in his eyes.

Surely the best you can hope for is to be a self-hating black man?

[redgunamo]

This sounds like an excuse you use for not doing housework, mate.

I don't need an excuse; I married a German.

[Pat Vegas]

There was that great joke in the 80s. "I'm not saying my mate's racist but he recorded Roots and watched it backwards so it had a happy ending."

:hehe:

FFS :reversespoilers: :banghead:

[redgunamo]

Yes, but j is a saint among men who has never been racist about anyone except the English and Americans. We're all racist in his eyes.

Surely the best you can hope for is to be a self-hating black man?

I've no idea what that means. Just not our (the redgunamos', I mean) sort, I suspect.

[redgunamo]

Well clearly there's a ways to go yet. But what I mean is that it's heartening to see a guy trying to sell shoelaces on the street rather than sitting staring blankly into the middle distance.

Judge them in May, do you mean? Right.

[Ganpati's Goonerz--AFC's Aboriginal Fertility Cult]

Yeah, the first episode with the supposedly idyllic life in Islamic Africa was pretty risible, mind. Apparently, black people just ate and drank, sang, danced and uttered cod philosophy all day before we turned up.

I have to admit, as a good lefty I was shocked when I did my final OU course. (It was arts, not history, on the Enlightenment to Romanticism, 1780-1830.) Read the book by the first whitey into the middle of Africa, Mungo Park's Travels in the Interior of Africa (1799.)

Apparently, 3 in every 4 black sub-Saharan Africans was a slave. Their economy was pre-feudal, based on labour, not land. And all but 2 jobs (leather tanning and metal work) were done by slaves. So wars were fought to capture PoWs (for slaves) not for territory. {They reckon it was the underpopulation due to the harsh climate which caused this need for labour not land.}

They had 2 classes of slaves. The PoWs had no rights and could be killed on a whim. But a PoW could be made a house-slave, and the descendants of house slaves were also house slaves, and they could only be punished by a court, called a palaver.

{This is also where the word Mumbo Jumbo enters the English lingo. It was a sort of masque, where a guy in a funny head-garb would use his stick to beat wives that had got too moany.}

So basically, all they did was fight wars to get more slaves. And it had always been like this, before whitey in the C16th, before the Arabs in the C8th, cos they'd always needed labour, not land. Prob no different before the Wops civilised us.

Mungo said there were 3 groups. Muslim moors, Muslim blacks and Pagan blacks. (Bit like Soudan). He hated the Muslim moors (who seem to do what the Janjawid do) cos he was kidnapped by them for months. But after getting free, a black muslim slave trader saved his life by getting him back to the coast and safety.

He died on the next mission, min you. Mungo, that is.

He got Britannica changed, to show that the blacks were not sub-human, just that slavery was what held them back. But I, too, like the Beeb, always used to think that they lived in hippy communes until the slavers arrived, but it wasn't like that at all.

The book is really worth redaing. Think you can get it free online.

[Ganpati's Goonerz--AFC's Aboriginal Fertility Cult]

Well clearly there's a ways to go yet. But what I mean is that it's heartening to see a guy trying to sell shoelaces on the street rather than sitting staring blankly into the middle distance.

Yeah, cos it's not like you ever see loads of poor Indians getting on the train at each stop flogging stuff, is it? Kids with deformed legs sweeping up the carriages in the hope of a few rupees. Or at every set of traffic lights. No. They're fücking useless, which explains why Africa broke the world record last week for 100+ satellites launched on one rocket, while India just has the big boss man and his family robbing the primary produce of the country for his own benefit.