Blaming Bluetooth For Racism?

from the misplaced-anger dept

We've seen way too many stories lately where it seems like the press is blaming technology for stupidity. That is, rather than focusing on the actual actions of individuals, they focus on the technology used for stupid actions. David Goldenberg from Gelf Magazine writes in with the latest example. There was a story making the rounds yesterday about a racist ringtone making the rounds in South Africa. However, many in the press had to point out that the ringtone was passed around using Bluetooth technology -- which seems entirely besides the point.
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  • identicon
    Jack, 18 Jul 2006 @ 6:13pm

    That's what responsible gun owners have been saying for years.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Len, 18 Jul 2006 @ 7:32pm

      Re:

      Are we seriously drawing parallels between deadly weapons and networking technology? Idiots.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        DittoBox, 18 Jul 2006 @ 8:47pm

        Re: Re:

        Are we seriously calling people with valid opinions names? How childish of you to, instead of making a valid arguement, simply slap on a label and walk away.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Fen1x, 18 Jul 2006 @ 6:15pm

    Bluetooth

    I mean the things people think of these days, I mean the word bluetooth is racist all in itself, of COURSE that had to do with the racist ringtone

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Adam, 18 Jul 2006 @ 6:16pm

    Who knew?

    Bluetooth is responsible for racism in South Africa. Here I was thinking it had something to do with apartheid.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    kyros, 18 Jul 2006 @ 6:20pm

    Of Course!!

    I mean, how could i have missed it, BlueTooth = the wireless technology of racist nazi's (african ones in particular), who coulda missed it?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Blue Man, 18 Jul 2006 @ 6:33pm

    You Racists

    You make fun of us blue men. How ignorant are you? What does our tooth have to do with this?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 18 Jul 2006 @ 6:45pm

    Jack,
    Has anyone ever mistakenly killed anyone with bluetooth?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Pete Rose, 19 Jul 2006 @ 10:22am

      Re:

      Jack, Has anyone ever mistakenly killed anyone with bluetooth? i did. But it was by mistake. Had I intended to do that, It would be an altogether different story.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Jon, 18 Jul 2006 @ 6:52pm

    Anonymous, has bluetooth ever saved someone's life? But either way, the point is still valid: stupid people do stupid things with technology. It's not the technology's fault.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Mike, 18 Jul 2006 @ 7:28pm

    If anonymous is saying guns could mistakingly kill, then is it possible bluetooth made a mistake as well.

    Although if we could get the gang bangers to carry bluetooth instead of guns the world would be a lot safer, just a little more racist!

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      John, 18 Jul 2006 @ 7:34pm

      Re:

      Imagine for a moment...this world without the white race. Chaotic isnt it.They would all kill and eat each other and die of AIDS in 100 years. Now Imagine if whites were the only race....Ahhhhh sounds like clear skies and sunny days. Utopian!

      TRUTH.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        daisy and Joey, 18 Jul 2006 @ 10:12pm

        Re: Re:

        Ahh human nature, it will find a way. Remember the Startrek episode with Frank Gorshin. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_That_Be_Your_Last_Battlefield_%28TOS_episode%29

        link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        John >= null, 19 Jul 2006 @ 12:33am

        Re: Re:

        I hate people who stereotype, they're all the same! (* joke *)

        link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        RJL, 19 Jul 2006 @ 8:36am

        Re: Re:

        Hmmm, I think both the Nazis and the Jews were white.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Mr Cakes, 22 Jul 2006 @ 8:05am

        John, Are you serious?

        (Response to Comment #10)
        Go back through history and see how death and destruction have been caused by ALL races. Rapes, murders, tortures, you name it, every race has done it.
        If your analysis is based on how things are in the world today, it has more to do with money, power, and religion than it has to do with culture. Your comment was horribly misinformed. Either that, or you actually believe it- in which case, I am saddened.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 18 Jul 2006 @ 7:36pm

    :(

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    :(, 18 Jul 2006 @ 7:39pm

    John, that's over the top. You are what makes me support the 2nd amendment.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Nick G., 18 Jul 2006 @ 7:51pm

    Um yeah, the world without people who have overabundandt melanin. How does that change anything, skin colour doesn't mean a damn thing.

    Seriously.

    God damn we all know colour doesn't mean shit, people just need a reason to pick on other people cause they feel small and insignificant.

    As for Bluetooth == Racisct... that's crap. Journalists have devolved into sensational celebutants.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    ian, 18 Jul 2006 @ 8:04pm

    bluetooth

    Do yellow tooth count? We have plenty of those here...

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Who the what?, 18 Jul 2006 @ 9:02pm

    Its true bluetooth is racist, I got my new headset the other day and it proceeded to tell me to slap my beaner ass.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Billie-Bob, 18 Jul 2006 @ 10:07pm

    Imagine

    #10, I am barely a fledgling racist, but I agree. And I don't hate anyone, but Anti-Racism is anti-science. Math is math and science is science and statistics is statistics. Why are all athletes one race and all nuclear physicist another race. Why are all predominantly white countries organized and civil. Yet no county governed by a minority (other than Asians who we are well accepted in US) is not corrupt and dirty and desperate.

    If you claim not to be racist, you are lying to yourself for one. For two, you only claim to be anti-racist, because you were told to be one, by television and media, (not your thoughts). It is based on a feeling, that life is a balanced devine place and humans by virtue of being human are devine or devinely created. That is an immature opinion without foundation except that it feels good. The cold hard unbiased statistics suggest otherwise. Life is wierd, anything is possible.

    Without hate or biased, I only choose to have my own independant thoughts. In my experience there is a statistical difference, that cannot be excused by environmental influences consistantly undefeatable over hundreds of years and millions of people.

    Basically everything you have ever heard has to be evaluated, critically. Is it your thought or are you trumpeting what you have been told is the "good" thought. What if it's wrong? Is it possible? Then you better think about it, otherwise what changes.

    Have you not watched the Chappelle Show? Didn't you hear what Bill Cosby said at the Naacp? http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/billcosbypoundcakespeech.htm

    Okay, I'm going to go run out and get a hobby.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    M, 18 Jul 2006 @ 10:41pm

    "Why are all athletes one race and all nuclear physicist another race. Why are all predominantly white countries organized and civil."

    Do you listen to yourself speak? Stop making generalizations, people come in a gradient of colors and behave a variety of ways regardless of what color their skin is. Your assumptions completely rule out any socio-economic factors. You've turned a blind eye to the corruption in countries you've deemed to be civilized. I find it sad that your ideas have led you to jump to so many ill conclusions.

    Take your own advice.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    :(, 18 Jul 2006 @ 10:51pm

    Billie-Bob I hope your hobby isn't burning crosses.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 18 Jul 2006 @ 11:04pm

    Skin color does not decide who is evil or good, great athelete or scientist. It never has. That said, culture does and the black American culture is harmful. You can blame economic factors but the truth is it IS the culture. If you succeed without representing you are a sell out or an oreo.

    I am not a racist although someof you may think so. I get angry when color is pointed out. The first "black" quarterback to win a superbowl. The first "Black" swimmer to win a gold medal. I am past that already. People are people, skin color means nothing to me. Race means nothing to me. We ARE the same. Culture is the problem. Asian culture is more academically oriented. Black culture is anti-society and is harmful to it's own people. Whites have NO culture, they mimic other cultures.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Agree!!!, 19 Jul 2006 @ 12:40am

      Re: "Skin color does not [determine]..."

      I think Anonymous Coward who said, "People are people, skin color means nothing to me. Race means nothing to me. We ARE the same. Culture is the problem." has presented the truth on any stupid debate regarding "race" or anyother trait by which people classify themselves.

      I don't think you are racist at all, Mr. Anonyomous Coward. I think that you are a lover of all humankind regardless of race ultimately. If everyone could see it so clearly, people would be able to communicate as humans and empathize with each other...and there would be less hatred in the R&R section of Craigslist.

      At times life is so difficult that it is so easy to hate people and alienate other humans who also are going through their own BS. Even potential "enemies" feel similar heartaches, disappointments, and love for family...

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    john sexy elder, 18 Jul 2006 @ 11:34pm

    wtf

    hmmm....thats stupidity for you.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    VPR, 18 Jul 2006 @ 11:56pm

    What a colorful topic.

    If anonymous is saying guns could mistakingly kill, then is it possible bluetooth made a mistake as well.

    The weapon is only the medium. It cares not what color, race, creed the operator is nor does it care how/when/why it's used. It's purpose is to simply function as designed.

    Bluetooth is no different.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 19 Jul 2006 @ 2:51am

    bluetooth

    Please, look up where they have taken the name Bluetooth from for this.

    When the telcomunication companies developed bluetooth, then they took the name from a Vikings leader to name it...

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    :(, 19 Jul 2006 @ 5:48am

    "Asian culture is more academically oriented. Black culture is anti-society and is harmful to it's own people. Whites have NO culture, they mimic other cultures."

    Wow, that stings. I know asians with gangster friends and poor grades, I know blacks that band together and protect one another, and I know white people that always have family reunions & vacations.

    This is not so cut and dry. But i'm sorry your life is.

    "Popular" culture is where the problem is based, and you my anonymous friend bought into it. Your diatribe was a list of stereotypes from a person self-proclaimed to be 'past that already'. If you were past that you'd realize that we all share the same american culture here. There are people of every color that fear people of their 'own kind', and altruism is not color exclusive. Yes, black culture has some growing to do, but don't point fingers and act like they're the only ones just because you got called an oreo way back when. We all go through something similar, and eventually you have to realize that those using the words are only looking for a bastion to hide their weak souls in.

    Race-specific culture isn't the root of the problem, it's the ideals that pervade all cultures in america. If the television says certain people are evil for decades, people have trouble trusting them and the so-called evil people internalize society's rejection of them. Perhaps if people didn't universally apply characteristics to specific skintones, this wouldn't be a problem.

    Don't tell me you've never seen a dim-witted asian, a scholarly black, a funky white, or a christian arab. You're only confessing that you haven't lived enough. People are what they are, unique. BTW, economic factors influence culture. You think soul food is popular only because it tastes good? Granted, taste is a factor, but blindly agreeing ignores price and education.

    Really, all of this is too complex for a techdirt comment but honestly, stop jumping to conclusions and go marry someone that looks different from you so we can put this behind us.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 19 Jul 2006 @ 6:55am


    Skin color does not decide who is evil or good, great athelete or scientist. It never has. That said, culture does and the black American culture is harmful. You can blame economic factors but the truth is it IS the culture. If you succeed without representing you are a sell out or an oreo.


    Even when that culture was devestated by another? I wonder just how different things would be if Africans invaded Europe, tore the people from their homeland, leaving it in shambles, and enslved them in a foreign country for about 400 years.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Raekwon, 19 Jul 2006 @ 7:43am

      Re: Coward

      Skin color does not decide who is evil or good, great athelete or scientist. It never has. That said, culture does and the black American culture is harmful. You can blame economic factors but the truth is it IS the culture. If you succeed without representing you are a sell out or an oreo.


      Even when that culture was devestated by another? I wonder just how different things would be if Africans invaded Europe, tore the people from their homeland, leaving it in shambles, and enslaved them in a foreign country for about 400 years.

      Black Culture, Affirmative Action, Racism? Tools of the government agenda to turn America back against other races.

      Affirmative Action is a form of control. If minority business owners get government jobs, they are resented for this. The governments agenda is to make minorities dependent on these plans because so many "Whites" will start to dislike them and the only jobs they'll be able to get are government jobs. Dependency, Control, Subjugation

      Hispanic Workers in fields now have the right to pay taxes, but now they cannot return home as they have defected from thier country, and our government denies them the right to have thier families live here. They are virtually, indentured servants, the new age slaves.

      Black culture is another corporate attempt at keeping minorities in the dark. Go ahead kill eachother, beat your women, and if your girl gets pregnant tell em it aint yours. Also, could you speak in Ebonics so no one understands you and we now have an excuse for not hearing your demands for equal rights. All this leads to is a weaker race, keeping them uneducated and out of control.

      A controversial ringtone is not going to change the face of the earth, or even how one person regards another race. If you have a racist ringtone, I assume you've been a racist for sometime, not merely with the introduction of this ringtone. This is just another distraction to take your minds off the real issues regarding racism.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Insaniac, 19 Jul 2006 @ 8:16am

        Re: Re: Coward

        just an observation, raekwon, but it seems that you may have been indoctrinated.

        hispanic 'indentured servants' are in the position they are in because of the decisions they have made. there is a legal route for them to begin legitimate lives in the US.

        black culture is hardly something that corporations have devised to keep the black american down. most corporations don't have any real influence in black culture whatsoever (a generalization, i know, but meant to represent the majority of corporations) the real culprit of the black american's plight is the leadership within that community. they should be encouraging the black community at large to stop the reciprocal hate toward those that unjustly hate them. and they should also encourage those that are deviants from the law to uphold it instead.

        it is the leadership's ineffectiveness at understanding and solving the problems of their people that has led to the decay of their culture. this is true with every group, whether by race, creed or ideal.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Insaniac, 19 Jul 2006 @ 6:59am

    wow

    things have gotten a little intense.....and for good reason. i think this issue is a little loaded because it has touched so many people directly. the race issue isnt just something that we ponder and address as an injustice that we've read about....it's an injustice many have felt. This is true for all races, by the way, whites included.

    I think a healthy approach is to back up from the racism front and examine what is actually happening.

    Humans are communal creatures. We like to exist in community. We develop friendships and relationships that we build and keep over decades. Because of this nature, we naturally gather into groups that we identify with. Any number of things can be criteria for these groups, whether it is geographic, language, race, religion, propensity toward a certain vice, or even political ideals.

    Unfortunately, a poor side effect of this system is that whenever someone identified with a certain group acts in a certain way, that action is attributed to the entire group. When a few republicans face charges on corruption, the entire party is suddenly corrupt. Or when one group of muslims decide to wage war on the entire world, all Islamic people are seen as ruthless and violent. When a few christian leaders commit adultrey, the christian community loses credibility. And when a white person is killed by a black person, all black people take the wrap.

    It is unfortunate, but it is true. Education and reform is the only answer. If the leadership in each sector of society would teach their respective followers to represent their group well amongst others, many stereotypes would eventually die. And even if they didn't, properly responding to ignorant stereotypes would only help to distance yourself from that misrepresentation.

    That is how i see it. I have been wronged by both white and black, christian and muslim, democrat and republican. I have been treated kindly by each as well. So, stop acting like ignorant fools and giving a bad name to those who look/believe like you do. And stop assuming that when one person betrays his own by speaking rashly or acting violently that his actions are representative of the whole.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Sea Man, 19 Jul 2006 @ 7:57am

    You know...

    It wouldn't be considered racist if it was called "Blacktooth".

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Sanguine Dream, 19 Jul 2006 @ 9:44am

    Although I have to ask...

    If this was a song about killing whitey would we even be having this discussion?

    BTW I'm the one that made comment #28, forgot to put in my name.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Charlie, 19 Jul 2006 @ 11:50am

    ringtone

    OK so we understand Racism now thanks
    BUT
    Has anyone actually heard this ringtone and knows what about it makes it racist?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Charlie, 19 Jul 2006 @ 11:53am

      Re: ringtone

      OK sorry I just followed the story link in the main article.
      I would guess that dragging blacks behind something and siccing dogs on them would fall into the racist realm.
      Continue calling eachother racist now :D

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    dennis parrott, 19 Jul 2006 @ 12:18pm

    I predict...

    ...that you going to see much more in the way of this sort of assinine "journalism" with respect to technology and its uses.

    you saw the press go after gun owners with a vengence in the last 30 years because, of course, if all those LAW-ABIDING people who owned guns didn't have them, why gun violence would just disappear (...and those same gun-toting folks wouldn't have a weapon to defend themselves or help take back this country from its greedy politicians and other assorted fascist, rights abusing slobs).

    now that same group of twits are going after technology because, we the people, can turn it against those Powers That Be who those people in the press happen to be in bed with. The very fact that INDIVIDUALS have access to the tech and can use it to make those Powers That Be uncomfortable is UNACCEPTABLE to those who wish to oppress.

    Tech is being singled out because it is part of the plan -- Keep blaming the tech so that "they" can stir up misinformed people to "demand action" to REGULATE IT. which means that all of us who use the web or bluetooth or whatever will probably become OUTLAWS.

    and as far as the ringotone goes, i hope those S. Africans who have it tell the Thought Police to shove it where the sun don't shine.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Mr Cakes, 22 Jul 2006 @ 7:58am

    Oh Goodness

    This is a response to comment 21, specifically
    I am not a racist although someof you may think so. I get angry when color is pointed out. The first "black" quarterback to win a superbowl. The first "Black" swimmer to win a gold medal. I am past that already. People are people, skin color means nothing to me. Race means nothing to me. We ARE the same. Culture is the problem. Asian culture is more academically oriented. Black culture is anti-society and is harmful to it's own people. Whites have NO culture, they mimic other cultures.
    Okaaay... I would bet a dollar that you're not truly "past it." Not knocking you. This is just my opinion. I could be wrong, but I don't think I am. (no offense intended) If you think that that 'Black culture is anti-society and harmful to it's own people.' you listen to too much radio. Stop watching MTV get to know some Black people. Seriously. We're not all like 50 Cent. As for your comment about White culture, I don't agree with that- I am pretty certain you are wrong there. And as for the Asian culture comment- wow. Come on, are you serious? Geniuses come in all shapes and colors. So do the 'not so smart' people. Smart people are not represented by one race or culture exclusively.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    :(, 26 Jul 2006 @ 7:26pm

    :) The majority are smart.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Pothan, 19 Apr 2007 @ 11:10pm

    Great Comment

    Everything is Racism? Even shitting is also is Racism?
    STUPID BULL SHITS!!!!!!!!!!!!

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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