Here's an interesting clip from This American Life about the fine line between fun put-downs, blatant insults, and the things some people have to put up with even in this "enlightened" day and age to keep afloat in this country. A little NSFW for language:
Thursday, July 24, 2008
That true feelings hidden underneath a veil of sobriety...
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While I'm sure some of it is true feelings unencumbered by inebriation, I think another component is simply "the madness of crowds," or what psychology calls mob mentality. It's the phenomena where people lose their sense of personal identity (and responsibility) and instead indentify with the crowd. It's one of the reasons people go birdshit during riots and do things under cover of anonymity that they wouldn't do if they knew they would be held personally responsible.
I don't think this would be such a big deal if it wasn't so segregated, blacks in the back serving the white customers. They way it is it smacks of "hey darky, demean yourself for my entertainment." I really think this a bad thing, in that it reinforces racial/economic separation, not just defacto but as an institution.
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