CRex

February 10th, 2010 at 5:13 PM ^

As a Ginger, i'm calling bullshit on this. We're cold, heartless souless, killing and drinking machines. Except for the Notre Dame gingers. They're like the wusses that couldn't handle the real world and had to retreat to their little Ginger Compound. That whiny little brat up there is prime domer material.

Joined: 09/28/2009

MGoPoints: 9010

marlon

February 10th, 2010 at 6:38 PM ^

When I was a freshman at Michigan, in 2002, my best friend's 14-year-old sister hung herself in her bedroom closet. In her suicide note, she wrote about the relentless taunting she received because of her red hair; her peers had isolated her to such a degree that she believed taking her own life was preferable to living in a world in which she felt she didn't belong. Whenever I see posts like this (and I've seen several on this site), I am reminded of what happened eight years ago, and how it's tools like the OP that should be the ones voluntarily checking out of life. Comments about another person's appearance, to the degree that such comments make that person seem sub-human, are incredibly immature and serve no purpose other than making the commenter feel better about their own pitiful existence.

Joined: 01/21/2009

MGoPoints: 590

trumpetgirl

February 10th, 2010 at 6:55 PM ^

I'm terribly sorry to hear about your experience. Thank you for having the courage to share it. While I'm sure this is all pretty funny to the OP and others, as a "ginger" myself (I detest that term) and having dealt with a lot of the same ridicule growing up it really makes me sad to see this kind of stuff on this board, which I normally have a lot of respect for. I realize I'm inviting more abuse by replying but I'm not concerned about that. This is all pretty immature and likely demeaning and insulting to a large proportion of people who read this blog.

Joined: 08/28/2008

MGoPoints: 207

Dark Blue

February 10th, 2010 at 6:59 PM ^

Before I start Let me express how truly sorry I am for your loss. No 14 year old should ever have to consider suicide. It is absolutely tragic to take your life before it has even begun. That being said, getting teased and picked on is something kids go through growing up. Hell even to this day I have been known to get teased. You suck it up and move on.
I am reminded of what happened eight years ago, and how it's tools like the OP that should be the ones voluntarily checking out of life.
fwiw thats a pretty messed up statement. The guy was making a joke, which several people including myself thought was funny. I realize that you are coming from a different place than everyone else, but don't wish death on a guy for making a joke.

Joined: 10/02/2009

MGoPoints: -9388

CRex

February 10th, 2010 at 7:12 PM ^

Agreed. I feel terrible for the girl who killed herself, but taking shit and dealing with it is part of life. I had to put up with "carrot" jokes in grade school due to my red hair. It's amazing how uncreative kids can be, I heard the same carrot jokes from K through 8th grade or so. I'd imagine almost everyone here has taken shit for their hair color, racial makeup or some other lame thing people decided to rip on them for. Most of us move on. We laugh about it, we don't really get worked up that some douchebag is so insecure he needs to make fun of our hair color. Shortly after that South Park episode dropped with the "Daywalker" line about non-freckled gingers I started using it (I barely have noticable freckles). I was out at some house party and some drunken ass made some ginger comment, I shot back "No dumbass, I'm a daywalker, get it right." Everyone there burst out laughing and that was the end of all ginger comments. Ended up playing beer pong with the guy and it turned out he was fairly cool. You don't deal with this shit by getting worked up over it or getting all overly political correct. Just laugh it off and move on. The kid in the video up there doesn't get picked on because he's a ginger or overweight. He's picked on because he reacts. I'd imagine he's fairly easy to set off, real easy to push his buttons. I feel for the kid, but he needs to grow a skin.

Joined: 09/28/2009

MGoPoints: 9010

marlon

February 10th, 2010 at 7:39 PM ^

If the thread was titled "black people do have souls!!", it would not be tolerated on this board, even if it was just a "joke." But because the target is redheads, it's deemed acceptable. If I learned one thing from Heather's death eight years ago, it's that the poor treatment of others is too often overlooked, too often dismissed as simply teasing or good-natured ribbing. Well, teasing and good-natured ribbing have effects on people. I have a (male) friend who has red hair, and I can't tell you the number of times I've seen him subjected to derogatory remarks about it. Random people in the streets, not just drunks at bars or parties, will make insulting comments right to his face or within earshot. As just one example, we were eating at the lunch buffet at Madras Masala one day when a group of four Michigan grad students (I knew they were grad students because I worked with one of their professors) sat down at a table about ten feet away. Throughout the entire meal, the four of them were making jokes about his hair, pointing, and laughing hysterically. It was utterly humiliating for him, and he got up and left. Of course, that was just good natured fun, right? Well, no. Heather, Eric (my friend), and other people who are the targets of this torment don't see it that way. And we shouldn't either. This Board doesn't tolerate making fun of black people because of the color of their skin, Asian people because of the shape of their eyes, etc. In the same vein, this Board should not tolerate the sort of mean-spirited post involved here. It's not funny; it's wrong and it's hurtful.

Joined: 01/21/2009

MGoPoints: 590

BlockM

February 10th, 2010 at 7:53 PM ^

You have a great point about people just plain being assholes. It's hard to watch and near unbearable to go through personally. On the one hand, it sucks that people are willing to do that sort of thing, and on the other, it's important to find a way to just let it go. As others have said here already, just moving on is always the best option. It's easier for some than others, though, as is shown by the horrific situation with your friend's sister. However, if South Park had an episode about how Cartman kept saying black people don't have souls, and someone made a video like this one (still can't tell if he's being serious or not...), I honestly think we would see it in exactly the same light. There has always been a very fine line humor needs to walk, and it's often crossed, but I don't see posting this video, or the initial comments, as doing that.

Joined: 07/03/2008

MGoPoints: 40727

CRex

February 10th, 2010 at 8:17 PM ^

I'd cite the Chappelle Show as a point where popular cult was fully onboard with ripping on racial stereotypes/using them for comedy. You'll also catch references in the Simpsons (Apu can at times be pretty bad), Family Guy, Futurama and a lot of other shows. I feel you disarm a lot of racial stereotypes when you mainstream them. Then when some tries to tell some racial joke he ends up sounding like an unfunny ass trying to rip off a comedian, as opposed to actually sounding offensive. At least to me. This board will also gladly rip on Sparty, the Domers and the Bucknuts and by extension the denizens of East Lansing and pretty much the entire state of Ohio (worst state ever). It's all in good fun and most of them give back as good as they get. We're not all sweetness and light over here, and imagine how ugly this place would get if we have another two losing football seasons (not that we will baby, 10 win seasons ahead). For that guy getting ripped on by the graduate students, did you do anything to confront them or just let them run your friend off? A large part of abuse is social conditioning. Society is kind of like the government. Lots of stupid and randomly decided requirements that serve only to make your life miserable while you stand in line at the DMV or somewhere. You just have to learn to deal with it, how to roll with the the punches and deal with the stress. You can't change it, you have to cope with it. I don't mean to sound callous, but Emily didn't kill herself over red hair. For those kind of people it is inability to deal with stress/the shit life throws at time. If it hadn't been for the red hair, maybe she'd have let the stress get to her when she had trouble in school, when a guy she really liked broke up with her, when she lost her job during an economic downturn. The list of potential shit life will throw at you just goes on. You can't make it so everyone lives a happy and stress free life and never has their feelings hurt. You have to help people cope with it. People kill themselves over an inability to deal with stress of some form. On the same level that's why people tease. They're stressed out and feeling inferior for some reason, so to cope with with they run down others. They make carrot top comments, ginger jokes, or in some cases they'll just plain socially maladjusted. When your friend storms away from his lunch all he did was tell those grad students that what they were doing works and ensure they'll keep doing it. At the end of the day as an Irish-American and a daywalking ginger, I always remember how my ancestors dealt with it. At one point we couldn't get a job in this country, people hung out signs saying "No Irish Need Apply." Couple of decades later we had a powerful political machine, powerful enclaves in many major cities and our cultural is celebrated now. My ancestors didn't pull that off by writing angry rants about how the mean other people made fun of them for having red hair and crying. They did it by banding together, dealing with their unfair lot in life and making it better (and in some cases taking over police departments and beating all the non-Irish senseless, but we'll gloss over that little part of our history).

Joined: 09/28/2009

MGoPoints: 9010

M-Wolverine

February 10th, 2010 at 8:21 PM ^

You did NOT just equate the black person's experience to having red hair, did you? Somehow I think hundreds of years of discrimination and not being allowed to even drink at the same drinking fountains is a little bit worse than a badly animated character making fun of you or being asked if the carpet matches the curtains. Lighten up, Francis. I'm sorry for the loss of your friend, but it sounds like there were a lot of issues going on there, and not just red hair discrimination. The reason the humor above works is there isn't a subset of people who really believe those with scarlet locks really have no soul. No more or less than the rest of us at least.

Joined: 10/04/2009

MGoPoints: 42190

GOBLUE4EVR

February 11th, 2010 at 10:49 AM ^

i'm sorry if my thread and the video that i posted offended you in anyway... marlon i'm sorry to hear about what happened to your best friends sister, that is horrible... i've had 2 friends cut their lives short because they couldn't deal with the pressure that everyday life brought with it... but you have to take this for what it is, A JOKE!!! the kid in this video was reenacting a scene from a south park episode... could this kid have some issues that he might want to have looked at? yes... but for you to come on here and tell me that i should be the one killing myself is pretty sad... that could be one of the most morbid things i have ever read, and maybe YOU should be the one seeking help... everyone is picked on through out their lives no matter what they look like... i was picked on everyday at school, and verbaly abused everyday by a drunken step father at home... because of that i grew a thick skin and now i'm able to put up with a lot and just laugh it off... i'm not saying that everyone can just deal with it, but for ones that can't they usually get help to deal with their issues...

Joined: 01/09/2009

MGoPoints: 4273

umichzach

February 10th, 2010 at 7:56 PM ^

i think the problem is that the general populace is taking south park's jokes literally and aren't quite understanding their sense of humor. people just don't understand sarcasm anymore.

Joined: 07/01/2009

MGoPoints: 422

Michigasling

February 10th, 2010 at 8:28 PM ^

What happened to the good old days of "strawberry blonde?" When light red hair was considered gorgeous? So sorry Heather didn't have someone to let her know Ginger is Beautiful (to use the race comparison) and convince her to believe it so she wouldn't listen to the idiots, or at least to help her learn to how handle it, whether with humor or to understand that the name-callers are the ones with the serious personal flaw. Not to accuse her friends and family, by the way. No insecure kid will believe a parent telling her she's beautiful/worthy. She probably could have used a peer to stand up for her and tell the jerks off in front of her. The pride of having a public hero can take away much of the sting. And opens the door to being able to laugh about the nickname.

Joined: 11/21/2009

MGoPoints: 7751

MichMike86

February 11th, 2010 at 10:22 AM ^

Take this down. This is a bullshit post. I guess it's ok to make fun of someone because they have different colored hair. How about skin color then? You're a disgrace.

Joined: 08/04/2009

MGoPoints: -1424