So, you can’t fix stupid. But it seems you can buy it in bulk if you’ve got the big bucks.
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Open mouth. Change foot.
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Maybe it’s just me,but is he saying using the description he gave he’s more comfortaable with a “skinhead” and less comfortable with a “black person” in a hoodie ?
I don’t go around shooting people for wearing hoodies. But if you think I don’t cross the street or go another way if I see people who look “off” to me, then you’re crazy.This includes groups of teen males of any ethnicity, people who walk down the street rapping their disgusting lyrics out loud, homeless people who look like their about to ask for money, and anyone else who looks disheveled or crazy.
My safety is more important than someone else’s hurt feelings. Sorry if it bothers you that I cross the street. Get over it.
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No, he’s acknowledging his own biases. He didn’t say it’s ok or right to react poorly to black kids in hoodies.
Kind of hard to eradicate racism when people can’t or won’t own up to and face their own racial bias.
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I agree. I don’t know what’s worse–the freaks that say stuff like this to journalists, or the outrage machine that amplifies this stuff.
This type of misunderstanding always occurs when people interview me about human bigotry. My opinions on the subject are, like Mr. Cuban’s, endlessly protean and prosaic; which is why I’m in such high demand as an interviewee.
The man is honest and probably a lot less bigotted than people who claim racism is part of the past and is no longer a real problem. You have to give him some credit. He is trying.
As to the self promoting billionaire thing, remember Cuban owns an NBA team so he does have some skin in the Sterling matter.
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if you are in a big city, then hilarious, you must zig-zag down the street with all those people that scare you
You’ve misread. He’s saying that he judges people, perhaps unfairly, by their appearance. A black teen in a hoodie makes him wary. A skinhead with a tattoo also makes him wary. In fact, given what he said, it sounds as if he’s more comfortable with the hoodie kid (that would be my choice, as well).
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Cuban may be a 1%-er, but he’s 100% prick.
Actually, I think Mark’s being pretty brave here and saying things about himself that even a lot of liberals wouldn’t dare to admit and that conservatives deny vociferously. And, if we can’t admit to ourselves our own mistaken impulses and conditioning, we’ll never fix it, we’ll just pass it along to our children and they to theirs. We need to get everyone to see that we’re all shaped by the environment we’ve created and that environment has left us with almost preconscious prejudice. It takes an act of will to overcome this type of discrimination and that can’t happen until we recognize its existence.
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Arthur: Hobson?
Hobson: Yes.
Arthur: Do you know what I’m going to do?
Hobson: No, I don’t.
Arthur: I’m going to take a bath.
Hobson: I’ll alert the media.
Arthur: [rises] Do you want to run my bath for me?
Hobson: That’s what I live for.
[Arthur exits]
Hobson: Perhaps you would like me to come in there and wash your dck for you, you little sht.
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I agree with MisterNeutron’s interpretation, although I had to read Cuban’s statement several times to figure it out. I think he’s saying that if he’s on the north side of the street and sees a black kid with a hoodie, he’ll cross to the south side of the street. Then, if he sees a white kid with a shaved head and tattoos on the south side, he’ll cross back over to the north side. It’s not clear what he’ll do if the black kid and the white kid are on either side of the street at the same time – walk down the middle of the street maybe? With any luck, it will be a busy street!
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Cuban’s heart seems to be in the right place here, but that was a very unfortunate example.
An enlightening one, though. If you’re white in this country, you have to go way, way out of your way in order to be scary. You have to become a skinhead and get yourself covered with tattoos.
If you’re black, all you have to do is…dress warmly?
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He oughta be given some props for being honest. He’s saying what most of us are thinking. I think he might be confusing bigotry with stereotypes though. Most of us are trained to fear people who look a certain way. It’s rooted in societal cues and survival instinct, so it’s not as black or white (no pun intended) as a lot of people make it out to be. I know how to defend myself and nobody is gonna look at me and think “I should fuck with that guy, (a stereotype in itself)” but even I admit that if I see someone who looks a certain way, and in my case it would be the skinhead moreso than the kid in a hoodie, my radar instinctually perks up. It’s important to get past stereotypes, but they do and will exist. It’s how we are wired. It enables us to make judgments based upon limited information. Blame evolution.
The problem here for Cuban is that he’s saying this in a context that could be interpreted to somewhat excuse Sterling for saying things that are complete bullshit, especially regarding NBA players, who are highly accomplished, incredibly talented individuals.
Cuban is given to stereotyping, as we all are. Sterling is given to crazy ass, unhinged prejudice. There’s a difference.
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If you’re black, that’s all you need.
I dunno…any redneck looking motherfucker gets my spidey sense tingling, as do sharkish wall street types.
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Look as clunky as what he said was, as a black person I find his honesty about how he has internalized racism and bigotry and how he sees it as a bad thing and something he fights against, refreshing.
It’s a start, this is a racist country we are all either racists, struggling against our racist institutions and indoctrination or both. If he is really down for struggling against it I’ll take it, even if he can’t go as far as I want him to. It is better than how other white people just pretend it is not a problem or even worse pretend that racism really hurts them more.
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I think the same kind of automatic conditioning that makes a person factor in skin color for making decisions about safety is also at play in evaluating other decisions, like competence, credibility, and trustworthiness. If you’re not aware of it, you can’t counterbalance it.
I also don’t think Cuban is defending Sterling, just saying we all need to tend our own gardens as well, but I could be mistaken.
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