Except one instance when "black" is all lowercase, the article capitalizes the first letter of the word "black" every time and "white" is never capitalized. I wonder why. I'm not trying to make some point either, I genuinely am wondering why.
It's a modern style of a lot of publications that want to appear progressive or fear appearing insufficiently progressive.
Black people (specifically this means people in the US who have dark skin and whose ancestry is in the US) have a unique identity based on a shared history that should be dignified in the same way we would write about Irish or Jewish people or culture.
There is no White culture, however, and anyone arguing for an identity based on something so superficial as skin colour is probably a segregationist or a White supremacist. American people who happen to have white skin and are looking for an identity group should choose to be identify as Irish or Armenian or whatever their ancestry justifies, or they should choose to be baseball fans or LGBTQ allies or some other race-blind identity.
You're arguing that "Black" is an identity in the US because the people thus identified share a common history within the US, even though their ancestors originated from different regions and cultures before they were enslaved and shipped to North America. Yet in the next paragraph you argue that "White" is not a valid identity, because their ancestors originated from different regions and cultures, even though they share a common history within the US. How do you reconcile this double standard?
Edit: In case you're only paraphrasing a point of view which you don't hold yourself, it would probably be a good idea to use a style that clearly signals this.
> You're arguing that "Black" is an identity in the US because the people thus identified share a common history within the US, even though their ancestors originated from different regions and cultures before they were enslaved and shipped to North America. Yet in the next paragraph you argue that "White" is not a valid identity, because their ancestors originated from different regions and cultures, even though they share a common history within the US. How do you reconcile this double standard?
The ethnic, cultural, linguistic, familial, etc., identities of enslaved people in America were systematically and deliberately erased. When you strip away those pre-American identities you land on the experience of slavery as your common denominator and root of history. This is fundamentally distinct from, for example, Irish immigration, who kept their community, religion, and family ties both within the US and over the pond. There’s a lot written about this that you can explore independently.
I’m not actually a fan of “Black” in writing like this, mostly because it’s sloppily applied in a ctrl+f for lower case “black”, even at major institutions who should know better, but the case for it is a fairly strong one.
>Black people (specifically this means people in the US who have dark skin and whose ancestry is in the US)
So dark-skinned Africans aren't "Black"? (But they are "black"?)
Why not just use black/white for skin tone, and African-American for "people in the US who have dark skin and whose ancestry is in the US"? Then for African immigrants, we can reference the specific nation of origin, e.g. "Ghanaian-American".
I don't know if I agree in this instance. While I agree that Black people completely have a shared identity and culture - the article is clearly talking about skin colour and it's doing a comparison between how AI represents two skin tones, so I would assume that by your definition it should use lowercase in both cases.
If it's comparing a culture vs a 'non-culture' then that doesn't sound like for like.
That's a very American-centric viewpoint. The rest of the world also has a lot of different cultures of black people, and relative to the rest of the world the US 'white' culture is extremely distinctive, no matter that the members themselves quibble about having 1/16th Irish ancestry or whatever it is.
I don't think the OP was agreeing with this stance, only describing it. It seems they probably disagree with it as this is clearly sarcasm given what was just described: "anyone arguing for an identity based on something so superficial as skin colour is probably a segregationist"
Thanks for writing this; this was my take as well (op was full on -mocking- the take being described) and I was surprised to see people think it was arguing for a very clear double standard.
My take: I think that whiteness is not a lack of culture. It is the dominant culture, which makes it feel like an absence of culture to most within it. Like a massive white (pun intended) wall, which makes other cultures clearly visible in front of it.
I would also guess that most people saying that are centrists/moderates cosplaying a different political ideology, making it even harder to see any distinct features or a sense of community and belonging.
Lost my job on new year's day, 2020. Have not worked since. I am not considered skilled enough for the kind of work I imagine most readers here do, meaning no degree or certifications and I've never worked in tech, mostly worked food service and manufacturing, plus odd jobs. So my context might seem irrelevant to some who frequent this site.
When I say I have not worked since, I am only referring to taxable income. Helping my mom put down mulch for her flower garden didn't require a W-2 or I-9 but I still was paid. That's mostly how I have been getting by, odd jobs for family members and friends, with a bit of reselling junk I find on the street as art.
I also live in a very low cost of living area and am very fortunate that my landlord has never increased my rent. My rent is considered shockingly low, even for this poverty dense area. I am by nature very frugal, to extremes at times, like with clothing (all from a thrift store, frequently repaired myself with needle and thread) and furniture from the side of the road.
I always wanted to work in tech. College did not work out for me (I've tried 5 times at 3 different schools) thanks in part to ADHD/bipolar/autism/whatever they call it now, with the closest I've come being a job at a call center. At this point I'm too old for food service and was never good at it anyways, too old and not strong enough for local manufacturing jobs and there are not many opportunities around me for anything else.
I keep a spreadsheet of applications I've turned in and the results of followups. There are just shy of 400 entries currently, most never get a callback or any progress from followups. I've landed 6 interviews in that time, none worked out. It's been close to a year since I added a new entry, I've pretty much given up. I'll call it retirement for a laugh but I'm only 43.
I was a huge gamer for years but quit playing them as a new years resolution (along with watching TV and movies) the same day I lost my job, so I could improve myself and learn more.
I've learned how to install Linux. I haven't used Windows since September 2021.
I got my amateur radio technicians license 2 years ago.
I've programmed "Hello world!" in 14 different programming languages, because that takes about the same amount of time as I can maintain my focus. I've only written a few programs outside the Hello World ones, most of which do not work.
I've built every computer I've owned that I've used regularly (3 total) and feel llike I have a better understanding of them than the majority of people I know (non tech types mostly) and occasionally make money or end up with hand-me-down parts, by helping friends pick out compatible parts and assisting with assembly of their builds.
I've penciled out and/or made somewhat tech-related things, like costumes and props that use simple robotics (moving hand for Halloween) and LEDS ('magic' wands made of wood that light up from the inside with certain movements).
One project currently in progress (i have 100's in progress) is a little box that has sensors for weather, an RTL-SDR to pick up aircraft and a raspberry pi in a 'hopefully' weatherproof case, with the goal of data collecting from locations near me.
I make a ridiculous amount of directed graphs and diagrams.
I have a memory map like a wikipedia of my own life and knowledge.
So yes, I am interested in a little bit of everything, possibly to a fault.
i've been using https://presearch.com/ for a little over a year roughly. it's a search aggregate, which pulls from a custom list of search engines. you can set it up to include or exclude engines from their list of about 100 large sites or add your own.
when i do a search, i scan the initial results page and if nothing pops out immediately, i click an icon for a more specific search on the appropriate engine, like wikipedia, reddit, stack exchange, etc.
there's some kind of cryptocurrency reward thing too but i couldn't care less about it and it seems a bit scammy but all crypto seems like a scam to me.
there's usually an ad or two for the first result. it's clearly marked as such. annoying but i've been trained to ignore the first couple results by google already so they are basically invisible to me.
i'm sure this sounds like i'm shilling for them, so i'll add that i do not work for them. i do not work for anyone right now. have a nice day.
I have an incomplete set of rules in this life which I've developed over the past decade, after spending one decade being raised Roman Catholic, then 2 decades as a die hard atheist. I now consider myself an omnitheistic solipsist. I use that term because it sounds cool and usually gets religious recruiters and cultists to leave me alone. The idea is that all things, not just religion based literally everything imaginable and more, has already happened, is currently happening and will continue to happen indefinitely. Sentient beings each live within their sphere [or other shape or even shapeless] of reality. Their reality is theirs, their beliefs are true for them so long as they believe it. When interacting with other sentient forms, the realities mingle. Shared beliefs bring agreement, conflicting beliefs repulse but both are still truth for each entity until one truth overwhelms the other and a belief is changed or they part ways and continue existing in their own reality. Time is a fractal recursing, your future may be my past, my dreams could be a past life in my future. Each and every being, as well as those which are considered lifeless to humans, are made up of many 'points', which I use the term 'philote', shamelessly stolen from Orsen Scott Card's Ender saga. They are not a score nor are they sharp. They are like the mathematical point on a line or in a graph. These philotes exist as part of reality as we know it, or perhaps a smidge beyond our abilities to detect right now. They form clusters within living things, planets, everything, every animal, plant, rock, molecure, atom etc. They cannot cease to exist. That is the primary rule, they are never destroyed. Yes, that breaks the 'already happened, will continue to happen' statement made earlier, if you're still with me this far, just keep going. If one ever appears to be destroyed it is actually shifting orthogonally through time and reality to its next existance. Some move backwards through what we know as time. Some spring forward and backwards in a spiral. There is chaos and there is order. It is all part of 'the big bang and the big suck'. As humans currently exist we are in a post-bang era. As the universes expand black holes grow larger and over a long time will eventually grow, consuming each other until all that is left is a singularity, all mass and all of the philotes joined into one. The black hole inverts, becoming the next big bang. This cycle is endless and each time it expands it is doing so simultaneously as the opposite contracting. An infinite number of these cycles are all infinitely occuring. When you meet someone and instantly become friends or when you see a stranger and kow for some unknown reason that you don't like or trust that person, that is your philotes within you remembering or recognizing other philotes from their past or their future. Or they see their path and want to take a different one. Remember, at some point all was one, this was all part of a big plan, except it is not planned at all. It is a story being told in every way, an act of boredom brought on by the singularly, wanting to experience it all. Or the inner turmoil it felt of wanting to feel happy while kowing it ust feel sad to do so. It is a spinning yin-yang, a lemniscate to the infinite power angled an infinite degrees. At times our philotes guide us, at times they let us take them to a new experience. You have already mapped out your life, from a different existance, tweaking events to push you in the direction you think you need to go to properly understand the later lessons in your current life.
To continue slightly less abstract, I also have made more low level rules for my current run. They are based off the rules all religions I know of have, the most important being a variation on the Golden Rule. "Treat everyone as if they were a friend or close family member." That is all most should ever need. I still made more, a work that is still in progress which I hope to never complete and probably will never publish. I wont even share them all here, since I doubt many have read this far and because of self doubt. "Always look out for #1 and always be prepared for a #2." Yes, there is a poop joke in there. There's enough ambiguity as well to allow for multiple interpretations. "Plan ahead, don't wait; take care of your needs, before it's too late." That's the other wording for the same rule. "Only desire what you require. Create more than you consume." A rule made when I quit watching the news, TV and movies and quit playing videogames. "Lift people up before taking anyone down." It helps to gather an army first but more important, if you lift enough people up, there's no one left at the bottom. Lower the bar. "Electric chairs for billionaires. They only time it is theft, is when the victim needs it more." Emphasis on "need" and if you aren't a billionaire, you are a victim. "If an opponent angers you, you've already lost. Any enemy can be defeated with unconditional love." That one probably needs more explaining. Instead, I'll try to end this existentialist madness. My first post and/or comment ever on this site.
To answer the initial question: Left, indented once if "your existence" starts the first sentence of a paragraph. Centered if it is the topic or chapter title. To anyone who read this entire thing, thank you and I hope you have a nice day.
