The Blackface of Attention

Dear Bloggers,

Happy Monday!  I'm sorry for taking a small hiatus!  But, let's start right back with where I ended my last post, addressing desperate, attention seeking people.

I have to warn you that I might be in a more bitter mood discussing this today, due to the fact that Halloween is coming up and with people dressing up to go to Halloween parties (my daughter went as an elephant, and I, myself, went as a concerned parent who wanted candy).

Usually my eye rolls were reserved for the women in the overly sexual costumes.  But now, I feel like I really need to address why "effers" (sorry I try not to use profane language in my everyday life... even though it features prominently in my inner monologues) still feel the need to use blackface to make a costume.  I'm really baffled, and as much as I try to make rhyme and reason out of it, I'm still at a loss for words.

Could the allure of gaining attention be worth that much to offend an entire race of people?  Now I understand that fame is something that many people want, but is something that is alluded for most.  Therefore, some people go down the path of attaining infamy, because at least people are talking about you.  

I think, usually for me anyway, the sad attempt of "but I'm not racist" that comes along with it once the backlash comes is what stings the most.  Usually this comes when they upload their own photos in a brazen attempt to prove that:  "It's my Facebook/Instagram, I can do whatever I want to on it.  If people don't like it, they don't have to look."  But when it all comes back, there's that argument of "I had no idea."

Me personally, I can't buy the bunk that you're trying to tell me, because I refuse to believe that you weren't grinning from ear to ear, like a cheshire cat, while you covered your face in black shoe polish and giggled internally about the anticipated negative attention you were going to get.  People are rarely as smart as they think that they are and as dumb as they like to play when they get caught.  I feel as though I can't be convinced that their motives weren't to cause a stir, and to live in that one moment of infamy repeatedly as they tell two different stories to two different audiences.  One story of remorse and cluelessness ("Really, I had no idea that it would be offensive.  It was just a costume, and I was trying to be funny,") and the other story of pride and misused indignation ("I mean, I don't understand what the problem is.  They need to just get over it.  Slavery and racism has been over.  I mean, you can't tell me what to do to my face.  They need to just get over it.")

But no, it's not over.  It's staring us in the face when we log in on our social media sites and people who we believed were friends have now helped to issue us back hundreds of years when we were mocked and ridiculed, and treated as less.  You did this when you picked up the shoe polish and decided to engage in a socially offensive costume.

But you're right, you should be proud in the attention that you received.  Because just as brazen as they are to put the pictures up, protestors and people who refuse to sit back idly and be offended independently are now rising up.  The role of #TeamStupid is to help aid in their own demise, and they're just making it easier for their friends, schools, and jobs to know what despicable pieces of trash that they are.  In the case of recent Trayvon Martin Halloween costume incident, one person has allegedly lost her job.  Now, we're just waiting for the rest of you.  So, keep on posting, because you wanted/needed to be seen.  So don't stop people from seeing your ignorance illuminated on your social media accounts.  You earned that attention, and all the repercussions that come along with it.

Stay Stupid.