12-10-2003 18:58									#31
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Most likely your arguments are not really arguments but pointing out that the other one is not using the rules of proper arguing. So that makes them look stupid, just make sure the ones judging are reasonable folks and not stupid, and know the proper arguing.
If they take up the challenge, you'll most likely win it. Now, you can bring up the question of them calling you a racist, and how serious accusation it is, and what are they going to do about it? I figure it's free beers and pizzas YEAH have one for me!

	12-10-2003 19:31									#32
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Was the entire family history portrayed in "Roots" untrue, or just parts of it like tracing his ancestry back to an individual African?

	12-10-2003 21:28									#33
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I believe the part that is untrue, is the author's false claim that this was based on his ancestors as portrayed in the novel and the film.

	13-10-2003 21:33									#34
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like always in situations where someone is accused of being a racist for something he said, both sides are wrong... one side for mis-speaking and not being more careful about what he said... the other for hyping up a minor mistake

the problem with this is that it de-legitimizes the fight against racism. this is what people make a big deal about? i guess there's nothing more important...

	13-10-2003 21:37									#35
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Roots is true!?

I did not know this.

Apologize to ya Niggaz

	13-10-2003 21:42									#36
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quote: Originally posted by Albert Speer like always in situations where someone is accused of being a racist for something he said, both sides are wrong... one side for mis-speaking and not being more careful about what he said... the other for hyping up a minor mistake the problem with this is that it de-legitimizes the fight against racism. this is what people make a big deal about? i guess there's nothing more important...

A blatant, false claim is hardly minor -- it is grossly unethical in my opinion.

The material and presentation of Roots was good, but the author went about its production the wrong way.

	13-10-2003 21:49									#37
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quote: A blatant, false claim is hardly minor -- it is grossly unethical in my opinion.

Well, it wasn't blatant, it was ignorant. Yet instead of trying to educate it seems they would rather slander, insult, and whatever to get the blood they want.

I agree that it was the production of Roots that makes all us Whiteys think it is fiction.

	13-10-2003 21:53									#38
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i thought vesayan said it was fictional because Kunta Kente was a fictional character? did he mean the conditions of slavery, etc. were fictional?

	13-10-2003 21:54									#39
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This is just like che calling us rapists when we don't support radical feminists

	13-10-2003 22:38									#40
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I can't believe some of you guys don't know Roots.

Although it was before my time as well. I have never seen it. But I have at least heard of it.

It was the biggest television event in history. so I'm told. I was too young to watch it.

	13-10-2003 23:17									#41
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Then I doubt I was born. And also on the wrong continent.

	13-10-2003 23:21									#42
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quote: Originally posted by Q Cubed yeah, some white south africans unknowingly offend some people by claiming that they're african-american.

When I was in the Army I worked with a fellow from Sierra Leone who'd get pissed off at black people who called themselves "African-Americans". In his view these people know nothing about Africa and most have never been to Africa so they should simply consider themselves black instead of African American. He even went so far as to say white South Africans were more deserving of the term African since they at least were born in Africa and had lived there.

	13-10-2003 23:27									#43
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Oerdin:

yeah and while an "italian-american" can still directly trace his culture and can say that his grand-parents are of the old country, a Black american can say no such thing unless his family immigrated post-slavery from Africa. that whole slavery, diaspora, and robbing of culture has made Black americans effectively different from Africans.

it's to the point where you can say Blacks, Africans, and Caribbean peoples are different peoples entirely. i know plenty of people act like they're real different.

	13-10-2003 23:42									#44
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Let me see. South Africa is in Africa. Therefore South Africans are African. So if some bloke from Cape Town moves to America, I guess he'd be an African American.
Same applies to Arabs and Berbers from North Africa. You don't have to be black to be African. Then why do you have to be black to be African American
It's just bloody semantics.

	13-10-2003 23:52									#45
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Why is this thread still going on? Didn't you pass Goodwins' 10/15 posts in?

	14-10-2003 01:18									#46
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quote: Originally posted by Dissident It was the biggest television event in history. so I'm told. I was too young to watch it.

Er, I think that would be news during the moon landing. Or the CMC. Or even the final episode of M.A.S.H. I live in the wealthiest majority-black suburb of the country and all I ever heard about Roots in school, or anywhere, was that it was about slavery and rather popular. I know more about that Beloved book that Oprah wrote. Or did she just push it a lot? I just remember the rough plot from press releases, which is more than I can say for Roots.

	14-10-2003 01:25									#47
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Roots was a really terrible film. About the only good thing that came out of it is when the Goodies took the piss out of it.

	14-10-2003 03:31									#48
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What was terrible about Roots -- either as the film, or in literature form?

I only saw the film version, and it was very revealing -- I thought it was good.

	14-10-2003 03:45									#49
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quote: Originally posted by Gangerolf Let me see. South Africa is in Africa. Therefore South Africans are African. So if some bloke from Cape Town moves to America, I guess he'd be an African American. Same applies to Arabs and Berbers from North Africa. You don't have to be black to be African. Then why do you have to be black to be African American It's just bloody semantics.

The guy from Sierra Leone didn't understand our semantics:

American inter-nationality= [land of ancestry]-American.

They weren't saying that they were African, they were saying they are Americans of African descent.

	14-10-2003 04:45									#50
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I didn't know that Alex Haley made up the entire family history he portrayed in "Roots". I find this particularily disconcerting since he made a point of the lengths he went to research his family during his much touted interview with Barbara Walters.

I liked the mini-series though. I believe that its portrayal of the experience of African Americans during the antebellum era is generally valid. When one takes into consideration the environment of the 1970s, a time when racial integration was still being hotly contested, I can understand why Mr. Haley "spiced up" the story behind his novel.

	14-10-2003 05:02									#51
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I've never heard that Haley made up the stories before.

	14-10-2003 07:31									#52
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quote: Originally posted by chegitz guevara I've never heard that Haley made up the stories before.

I hadn't either, though it may be a question of degree. It was historical fiction by and large, unless you believe that a lot of illiterate people managed to keep their intimate family history intact through the slavery era. Unlikely. So my expectations of just how exact the account was were very low to begin with.