Do you find this offensive?

[Meeting]

The Theatre Royal Stratford East is putting on a show and have blocked out 2 dates as "Blackout" nights where they encourage (but I don't think plan to enforce) that only black people may attend these performances.

I saw them discussing it on Piers Morgan and neither of the guests advocating for it were able to convince me that this type of segregation was at all beneficial.

Does anybody think this is a good idea? Personally I think segregation based on skin colour has no place in society, no matter who benefits from it. But I'm interested to hear from others who might away it differently?

Why can I not wish for a safe space?
You can.
Just you must think everyone is fucking stupid if you genuinely believe that they'll fall for that's what your post was doing..

@HeartBrokenWife So if it was redefined to ask those races who (using theaters term) don't identify as Caribbean, African, Oceanic, etc, etc, to consider coming a different night, based on your answer you wouldn't have an issue?

Blimey! Do you want to see my academic qualifications if you are calling me stupid? Are ad hominem attacks all you've got in your meagre armoury?

Can you rewrite that please? I've no idea what you're trying to say.

Ah, but now you've introduced the concept of 'identifying' so that's changed the question.

If white people were actually banned then yes its offensive.

They aren't banned.

Even if they were though, would you think a decent man (for example) should be offended if a theatre was putting on a play with feminist themes and wanted to have an 'all female audience' night once in a run of 30 nights, including a Q&A discussion after the play?

If a man said he was offended by that concept, would you think he was being reasonable or unreasonable?

No I didn't introduce it, it's been in the theaters request the whole time.
But you're free to take it out of the equation, I said in my original question no one can identify in or out of race, just pass, or lie, either for survival, or race faking.

@HeartBrokenWife To avoid all possibility of confusion,* *So if the request was redefined to ask those races who aren't Caribbean, African, Oceanic, etc, etc, to consider coming a different night, based on your answer you wouldn't have an issue? True or False?

I think the original concept of Black Out as it was done in America was much better. Rather than having a public performance but maybe it clear non-Black's were implicitly not welcome, they had a private performance and sent invitations to community groups, college and university societies which represented the people they wanted there. It feels to me a much better way of achieving the same result. It just feels less about exclusion and more about inclusion.

Yes this , good comparison.

I see what you are doing here. I see you.

But there’s still inconsistency.

You think that spaces for black people perpetuate racism, but don’t have the same view about spaces for gay people perpetuating homophobia.

Why is the latter ok but not the former?

Ok, so are the black voices who don’t agree with you wrong?

Really? I’ve no idea what you mean but good for you anyway 👍🏻

Due to the historical oppression of gay people through the statue book, which black people have had to face in America but not in this country, and therefore to remain consistent with Critical Race Theory premises.

As a South Asian I regularly attend South Asian only club nights, one of the reasons I attend them is because I can guarantee I won’t be racially abused. When I attend mixed clubs I would say I experience racism at least 50% of the time. If we didn’t have South Asian nights I wouldn’t go out a great deal as funnily enough being racially abused doesn’t make for a great or safe night out.

So let’s get it clear.

You're fine with a ‘religion bar’. You’re fine with a ‘ ‘sexuality bar’ but not with a ‘colour bar’.

Of course this is not a colour bar, just as people of the same faith gathering isn’t a religion bar and gay people gathering isn’t a sexuality bar. But you’ve still not explained why you think racial minorities in particular should not have the sort of spaces you have no problems with religious or sexual minorities having.

@HeartBrokenWife "It is ridiculously simple to understand what I am saying." It isn't actually because of what else you've said, and I'm asking a true/false question that would remove all doubt and clarify a lot.

To avoid all possibility of confusion: So if the request was redefined to ask those races who aren't Caribbean, African, Oceanic, etc, etc, to consider coming a different night, you wouldn't have an issue? Is that True or False?

Why do you think only statutory oppression matters?

People of colour have faced racism in this country, just as gay people have faced homophobia. Why does the fact that the latter was statutory give rise to greater acceptability of gay spaces?

And if we take your point to its natural conclusion, then spaces for gay men would be ok but not for lesbians. After all, lesbians did not experience statutory oppression.

Do you object to lesbians having their own spaces?

Yep, same

@BodgerLovesMashedPotato

@Catchasingmewithspiders

I'm giving one last chance to clarify if there is anything genuine in amongst the game playing, but yeah...

I just hate, with a passion, the thought of a colour bar for public performances. I have no objection to anyone with various religious beliefs gathering in a church, mosque or temple, or lesbians wanting to socialise in bars or clubs with other lesbians, or pupils attending faith schools and so on, but I genuinely don't want to see the re-introduction of the colour bar where people are refused entry to public events due to skin colour. It truly horrifies me.

So gay people voluntarily grouping, making straight people the minority is fine. And religious people voluntarily grouping, making other/non-religious people the minority is fine. But if POC want to voluntarily group, making white people the minority, this is not fine and shouldn't be allowed and horrifies you. Yet you have no objections with white people grouping, which make (some) POC not want to see this show.

You don't care that it is the POC who will miss out as long as no one tries to make it fair.

But you're not racist, apparently.

Firstly, for practical reasons I think that a play that only opened once per night for small, discrete racial demographics would struggle to make any money and wouldn't actually stand a chance of breaking even, certainly in this country.

That having been said, it's good to be a bit more in nuanced one's arguments and I have had to think about my answer to your question before typing out my full response. I wouldn't have a problem with a privately funded play being open to any single given demographic and excluding others, no. I also wouldn't see it as problematic if a particular audience segment who'd been viewing a public performance went to a private venue (excluding others) to discuss the play afterwards. My objection to a publicly funded play, put on in a public venue excluding anyone based on the colour of their skin still remains though.

It's been good discussing this with some of you, not all of you, but some of you. I'm bowing out for this evening at least because I'm going out now.

Ok, having just seen that you are also being insincere AtchinTan I rescind my thanks 😟 I suspected you were just baiting me and virtue signalling for all you were worth and now I know. Shame, but I like to give people the benefit of the doubt, unlike most of the sheeple people. Enjoy your purity spirals everyone and I hope you all sleep smugly (sic) tonight!!