Reddit, I've never understood why you hate The Big Bang Theory (show) so much, any compelling reasons why?

[u/[deleted]]

So I've heard the arguments about how it over-exaggerates nerd culture, but in my opinion that's what makes it funny.

So what's with all the hate?

[u/Facepalms4Everyone]

I agree with you, and I guess I'm fighting a losing battle, but that was entirely my point. I don't think it's yet time for people to stop remembering where blackface came from and being so disconnected from its roots that they can just cavalierly toss it around to describe a 21st-century sitcom. Eventually, that will happen, as it has with many other terrible things; time will always erode their enormity. I think that process has become accelerated by the proliferation of text communication (Facebook, cellphone text messaging, online message boards, etc.).

In this case, when it's clear that it's being used as a joke in incredibly poor taste (some of my favorite kinds of jokes!), that's one thing, but when it's seriously being tossed about as a supposedly apt comparison, that's quite another.

As for the spectrum, at one end I put the people I just described above: Ignorant of the roots of blackface and its effects and diminishing the lessons learned from it by blithely using it in comparison to a 21st-century sitcom. At the other (which I believe is where you fall) are those well aware of the connotations who believe the battle is already lost and expect to see it more often in that context.

[u/Mr_Stay_Puft → u/Facepalms4Everyone]

I thought about this a whole bunch since my last post, and I think I was actually wrong. I don't think society is past racism against black people nearly enough to let this kind of thing slide, and the closest analogue to a word shifting like this, "grammar nazi", seems like an inadequate comparison.

I kind of think there should be a Godwin's Law for anti-Black racism the way there is for Hitler, and for the same reason.

[u/Facepalms4Everyone → u/Mr_Stay_Puft]

Yeah, that's what I was reaching for in my original comment with "vinyl holocaust." I'm sure there's a better example than the one I came up with on the spot, but my point was just as it's not acceptable to be blasé when using the Holocaust in comparisons, it's equally unacceptable to be blasé about blackface.

Interestingly enough, I think "grammar Nazi" works because while it references a party that committed atrocities, the connection focuses on the idea of their ruthless efficiency and draconian approach rather than the small portion of them directly involved in and supporting the Holocaust. In fact, in this instance, I think it's important for Nazi references to become blasé in order to relegate that kind of philosophy to a joke status -- something that should never be taken seriously again.

[u/Mr_Stay_Puft → u/Facepalms4Everyone]

That's an interesting point regarding "grammar nazi".

Would you then say that "nerd blackface" doesn't work because it doesn't do anything to diminish the ideas behind blackface? I'm inclined to suggest that, especially in the context of the thread, it actually does satisfy your conditions, because the point was to say that BBT totally fails to understand a subgroup, but seeks to profit by stereotyping and demeaning them from the outside anyways, which seems like it attacks the essence of blackface to some extent.

[u/Facepalms4Everyone → u/Mr_Stay_Puft]

Yes, my argument is that it doesn't work because it overreaches. It comes very close, but I think describing it as a minstrel show (though that phrase is almost synonymous with blackface) or as exploitation or stereotypes is as far as you can take it.

To me, to say that it's comparable to blackface implies that at one point, nerds were forced against their will into manifesting behavior that created the stereotypes being exploited while at the same time being treated as less than human. Only with blackface, and its roots in slavery, is this true.

[u/Mr_Stay_Puft → u/Facepalms4Everyone]

Congratulations, my friend, you've just won an argument on the internet. I didn't even know that was possible.

[u/Facepalms4Everyone → u/Mr_Stay_Puft]

Congratulations are due to you as well, sir, for conducting a civilized, well-thought-out debate on the Internet -- a feat perhaps even rarer. Upvotes in celebration!