OT: Spike Lee rips "Django"

[N8isScofield]

Smh a lot of ignorance in this thread

Agreed, this thread is atrocious. I believe some guy wants black people to absolve European whites in the slave trade, as if Euro whites didn't play a major role in the slave trade. Deplorable, but I really don't expect anything better from this country. Blacks and other minorities are told to shut up and accept what happened to them. Really just disrespectful rhetoric and whites act like they're angelic.

You even see the issue in regular joe white guy. Me Being of Indian decent, I may casually talk with other white people who feel they can confide in me with their racist viewpoints. Things like all blacks are just welfare recipients and they're the cause of all the country's problems. Just straight racism, but they think that since I'm brown skinned my views would align with theirs, which they don't and never will. White people are racist and will continue to be so.

I can agree with most of what you said here but this is contentious for me. If someone was not personally a slave or a victim of the holocaust then they really need to not harp on it. If it didn't happen to you personally then shut the **** up about it. Seriously it's enough. If you experience racism today then yes absolutely it's worth challenging and fighting against but to continually bitch and moan about something that you yourself never experienced is absolutely pointless. And before anyone gets the wrong idea, I'm not white and I'm not trying to justify any of the atrocities that have taken place against any ethnic group at any time in history. I'm just saying that acting like a victim of something you didn't actually live is pathetic and irritating.

[AndroidMan]

Smh a lot of ignorance in this thread

Agreed, this thread is atrocious. I believe some guy wants black people to absolve European whites in the slave trade, as if Euro whites didn't play a major role in the slave trade. Deplorable, but I really don't expect anything better from this country. Blacks and other minorities are told to shut up and accept what happened to them. Really just disrespectful rhetoric and whites act like they're angelic.

You even see the issue in regular joe white guy. Me Being of Indian decent, I may casually talk with other white people who feel they can confide in me with their racist viewpoints. Things like all blacks are just welfare recipients and they're the cause of all the country's problems. Just straight racism, but they think that since I'm brown skinned my views would align with theirs, which they don't and never will. White people are racist and will continue to be so.

I can agree with most of what you said here but this is contentious for me. If someone was not personally a slave or a victim of the holocaust then they really need to not harp on it. If it didn't happen to you personally then shut the **** up about it. Seriously it's enough. If you experience racism today then yes absolutely it's worth challenging and fighting against but to continually bitch and moan about something that you yourself never experienced is absolutely pointless. And before anyone gets the wrong idea, I'm not white and I'm not trying to justify any of the atrocities that have taken place against any ethnic group at any time in history. I'm just saying that acting like a victim of something you didn't actually live is pathetic and irritating.

I never claimed to be a victim and normally don't express these opinions. I just opened this thread and some of the comments pushed me to vent some of my opinions on this subject. I also believe that I have a right to express an opinion, regardless if I experienced it or not. I'm not Native American, but I do feel bad for what was done to them. I feel bad for Iraqi children that get murdered, as well as Pakistani children killed by drone strikes. Once again I'm also an Indian.

To understand hate against one minority group, that may not be your own, only helps one to gain a clearer representation of how one may be treated as a minority as well. In clearer terms, if white people feel this way about blacks and they treated them so wrongly and continue to do so, what do they think about me. I believe all minorities in this country share a bond, in that we are never really truly assimilated into white America. There's a discrimination bond we all share as minorities.

[BKAY]

Rather than being upset at Tarantino, realize that it's "disrespectful" that blacks sold other blacks to white men. It wasn't like they were "stolen" by whites, they were sold by blacks. He really needs to educate himself, man. Knowledge of history should be a minimal requirement before speaking on the subject. Idiot.

This dude just justified slavery. Nobel Peace Prize? Maybe they'll stop asking for repirations now

[BklynKnick]

With respect to the secondary thread concerning Europeans not "stealing" slaves because other "black people" sold their fellow "black people" into slavery... Wow, just Wow. I think you guys have gotten on those guys, particularly 91ser, enough for that, so no need to comment extensively, but I was kind of taken aback by the point he/she was trying to make and the fact that he/she thought it was either not well known (I've been hearing that for like 2 decades now, since I was in high school), or that it was even relevant to Spike Lee's point that the enslavement of Africans in the New World was a holocaust that shouldn't be trivialized.

The broader point I haven't seen mentioned (or at least deveopled) on this thread, however, is that it seems like Spike Lee wasn't critiquing the "Djanco Unchained" movie for its substance, and he did not purport to do so. I read another article about it which also mentions Spike's later tweet on the subject, and it explains that he was offended that Tarantino chose to make a film about slavery in this "spaghetti western" style popularized by Italian director Sergio Leone. It's a sub-genre of Western-style films from the 1960s that's heavy on irony, extremely violent and "fun" (i.e., senseless violent fun, like most Tarantino films), often tongue-in-cheek, and makes no pretense of being historically accurate. Seems like Spike didn't think that the subject matter of slavery lent itself to such a genre, and that's why he doesn't want to see such a film, because he thought the choice to explore the subject via that medium was offensive to the holocaust of the African slave trade. Not sure I agree with Spike, and I've been looking forward to seeing the film, myself, but I can respect that Spike has an opinion, and it's not unreasonable of him to hold it or to express it.

[RHODEY]

Smh a lot of ignorance in this thread

Agreed, this thread is atrocious. I believe some guy wants black people to absolve European whites in the slave trade, as if Euro whites didn't play a major role in the slave trade. Deplorable, but I really don't expect anything better from this country. Blacks and other minorities are told to shut up and accept what happened to them. Really just disrespectful rhetoric and whites act like they're angelic.

You even see the issue in regular joe white guy. Me Being of Indian decent, I may casually talk with other white people who feel they can confide in me with their racist viewpoints. Things like all blacks are just welfare recipients and they're the cause of all the country's problems. Just straight racism, but they think that since I'm brown skinned my views would align with theirs, which they don't and never will. White people are racist and will continue to be so.

I can agree with most of what you said here but this is contentious for me. If someone was not personally a slave or a victim of the holocaust then they really need to not harp on it. If it didn't happen to you personally then shut the **** up about it. Seriously it's enough. If you experience racism today then yes absolutely it's worth challenging and fighting against but to continually bitch and moan about something that you yourself never experienced is absolutely pointless. And before anyone gets the wrong idea, I'm not white and I'm not trying to justify any of the atrocities that have taken place against any ethnic group at any time in history. I'm just saying that acting like a victim of something you didn't actually live is pathetic and irritating.

I believe the ramifications of historical injustices are felt even today. I wasn't a holocaust victim but I have enough humanity to sympathize. I don't try to wipe it under the table or rationalize it. I don't tell descendants of holocaust victims not to mention it.

But when it comes to chattel slavery everyone and their uncle wants to rationalize, marginalize, and patronize.

Either way, I don't see one post here where someone is "continually bitch and moan". Instead I see people attempting to educate someone who doesn't want to be educated.

For the record I pretty much agree with Spike. I dont find "Dead nicca storage" jokes or black men men getting sexually assaulted/emasculated particular entertaining. I'll pass on any Tarantino films.

[Rasho Brezec]

Every time someone argues in this thread, Spike Lee thinks he still matters in the entertainment business.

[Fat Kat]

Every time someone argues in this thread, Spike Lee thinks he still matters in the entertainment business.

That's probably because he does matter to lots of people who enjoy his films. As for the thread, if you don't like it, stay out of it. Quite simple.

[Fat Kat]

As for the91ser, he's racially sensitive enough when it concerns his race.

why is this type of racism tolerated? can you imagine if eli manning came out with a visor for helmets that made the game easier for stupid black quarterbacks?

Ummm...because white people in this country haven't been systematically disenfranchised from their basic civil rights based on the false pretense of their supposed lack of athleticism.

Grow up and learn to take a joke. Lebron is a funny dude. I LOL'ed and would LOL again.

honestly, i dont think its a joke. i dont get why whites are always considered to be stiffs. when d lee slammed over amare was he an unathletic white guy? when birdman soars in for a putback jam is he unathletic? when steve nash crosses someone up and strokes a 3, is that not athletic? when gallo pulls the pistol pete dribble move that he does, i guess he got lucky?

i dont think its a matter of "growing up" or taking a joke, all i wanted to do with this topic is voice my displeasure with the bogus assumption that whites are unathletic and that lebron can just openly say something like that without anyone so much as saying a word about it

[prophet_of_rage]

My problem with Quentin Tarantino is for a White man who supposedly loves Black people and dates Black women he has an almost infantile love for the word "nigg*r." I'd type it out properly if I didn't think I'd get banned. Tarantino throws it in all his movies even the ones without Black people. It was said nearly twenty times if not more in "Reservoir Dogs" and there were no Black people in that film. "Nigg*r" is an offensive word. It should not be used lightly or senselessly. It means something. Forget the nonsense about "****" and the 'a' changing the word. It doesn't.

Tarantino is irresponisble with the word's use. I will not be seeing this film and I have refused to see any other Tarantino films since Jackie Brown. I find the word offensive in any form so there better be a reason for it. I'm a 40 year-old Black man. I was born right in the sweet spot when all of a sudden the word became "cool" in the 2000s. It was never cool. It never will be with me. And shouldn't be with anybody.

[Greenie]

i hope no one thinks im defending slavery hahah. im just saying spike is misinformed thinking that slaves were stolen from africa by euros. they were sold by other africans. its not an opinion either, thats what happened.

Some were stole, some were sold. Period.

[king billing]

Rather than being upset at Tarantino, realize that it's "disrespectful" that blacks sold other blacks to white men. It wasn't like they were "stolen" by whites, they were sold by blacks. He really needs to educate himself, man. Knowledge of history should be a minimal requirement before speaking on the subject. Idiot.

People always trying to rationalize something. "blacks sold other blacks to white men" does not rationalize the horror which happened against black people. You're making a mockery out of the situation.

[Greenie]

With respect to the secondary thread concerning Europeans not "stealing" slaves because other "black people" sold their fellow "black people" into slavery... Wow, just Wow. I think you guys have gotten on those guys, particularly 91ser, enough for that, so no need to comment extensively, but I was kind of taken aback by the point he/she was trying to make and the fact that he/she thought it was either not well known (I've been hearing that for like 2 decades now, since I was in high school), or that it was even relevant to Spike Lee's point that the enslavement of Africans in the New World was a holocaust that shouldn't be trivialized.

The broader point I haven't seen mentioned (or at least deveopled) on this thread, however, is that it seems like Spike Lee wasn't critiquing the "Djanco Unchained" movie for its substance, and he did not purport to do so. I read another article about it which also mentions Spike's later tweet on the subject, and it explains that he was offended that Tarantino chose to make a film about slavery in this "spaghetti western" style popularized by Italian director Sergio Leone. It's a sub-genre of Western-style films from the 1960s that's heavy on irony, extremely violent and "fun" (i.e., senseless violent fun, like most Tarantino films), often tongue-in-cheek, and makes no pretense of being historically accurate. Seems like Spike didn't think that the subject matter of slavery lent itself to such a genre, and that's why he doesn't want to see such a film, because he thought the choice to explore the subject via that medium was offensive to the holocaust of the African slave trade. Not sure I agree with Spike, and I've been looking forward to seeing the film, myself, but I can respect that Spike has an opinion, and it's not unreasonable of him to hold it or to express it.

well said

[Kampuchea]

Spike says a bunch of stupid things and tries to create racial problems when they don't exist

[sebstar]

---I dont need to add this, but to reduce the trans-atlantic slave trade to "blacks selling blacks to Europeans" is the very definition of ignorance. Africa is a continent, and made up of different countries with different cultures and agendas. Its kind of like saying the Holocaust was whites committing genocide against whites, making no distinction between Germans and Jews, and different Euro countries. This isnt even touching on the inhumane brutality that black slaves suffered through for hundreds of years, but obviously people who would make such a crude comment care little about such historical realities in the first place.

---If you read the actual quote, Spike didnt offer anything inflammatory. He simply stated that the subject matter makes him feel uncomfortable, so he's not going to see the movie. Period. But I understand that Spike is in that Jesse Jackson/Al Sharpton pantheon, where the mere mention on his name in any capacity sparks a pavlovian reaction from conservative whites.

[Greenie]

Spike says a bunch of stupid things and tries to create racial problems when they don't exist

Racial problems do exist though. pushing things to the side instead of confronting things head on only makes them worse, because it makes them seem acceptable.

Case in point the N word. It's being used so much so casually that other races actually use it as well. Fat Joe and any other Hispanic walking around New York thinking they "down"(whatever the heck that means) uses the word with ease. Now if that would have been put to a stop from the very beginning there would be no problems of people being offended now.

Spike does not think slavery was funny. It's not and never will be. He stated his opinion, get over that just how you want him to get over Quentin's film.

[Grinditout]

I'm curious if Spike has ever commented on comedians making light of slavery, or would this be the first time he has?

I'm reminded of Dave Chapelle skits with slavery in them and if it is reasonable to compare that to this particular movie. Why no outrage back then?

[Fat Kat]

I'm curious if Spike has ever commented on comedians making light of slavery, or would this be the first time he has?

I'm reminded of Dave Chapelle skits with slavery in them and if it is reasonable to compare that to this particular movie. Why no outrage back then?

Perhaps because Spike is a filmmaker and not a comedian.

[NoLayupRule]

I'm curious if Spike has ever commented on comedians making light of slavery, or would this be the first time he has?

I'm reminded of Dave Chapelle skits with slavery in them and if it is reasonable to compare that to this particular movie. Why no outrage back then?

Well to be faie Spike was specifically asked about this
Perhaps he'd have something to say about the comedy if asked

[nykballa2k4]

Okay, I agree, white people are all ignorant idiots. Seriously, white people should hang their heads every morning and avoid making any legal decisions regarding a man of a different color as well as making any movies depicting events of other cultures. It is also true that no "black" person would ever make a movie/skit about something that impacted other ethnicity.

Seriously, I am sick and tired of race as an issue. People love to use race to blame things. It is important not to be blind to race, because prejudice does exist, but those who are on the constant defensive are doing more to hurt their people than help. I am looking directly at Rev Al Shaptin when I say this.

Spike has every right to feel how he does, but it really is a shame that a man with so much power chooses to be a symbol of ignorance and freezing rather than someone who makes an effort to be progressive.

My opinion would be different if I had ever heard him speak poorly of an Af.Am person being racially insensitive.

[Loisl]

Agreed, this thread is atrocious. I believe some guy wants black people to absolve European whites in the slave trade, as if Euro whites didn't play a major role in the slave trade. Deplorable, but I really don't expect anything better from this country. Blacks and other minorities are told to shut up and accept what happened to them. Really just disrespectful rhetoric and whites act like they're angelic.

You even see the issue in regular joe white guy. Me Being of Indian decent, I may casually talk with other white people who feel they can confide in me with their racist viewpoints. Things like all blacks are just welfare recipients and they're the cause of all the country's problems. Just straight racism, but they think that since I'm brown skinned my views would align with theirs, which they don't and never will. White people are racist and will continue to be so.

Sorry Dude, but WTF is wrong with you? You have a right to be upset, but your statements are inacceptable. Right now, you are acting as racist as the people that you have surrounded yourself with. You might want to rethink your social dealings, instead of blaming the "bad" white people. The world isn't black or white, ironically.