| NoMoreChess 2004-09-28, 6:49 am |
| ..
Nick-the-liar wrote:
quote:
>It could be said, however, that his choice of a title for this thread,
>"Was Emanuel Lasker a racist?", was perhaps unnecessarily provocative.
>It seems unrealistic to expect to have a civil and intellectually honest
>discussion of racism in rec.games.chess.politics, of all places, which
>long has been recognised as a de facto United States political newsgroup with
>many writers who are quite abusive and dishonest (if not sometimes racist).
quote:
>Kevin Croxen seems to have suggested (above) that most writers in RGCP may
>find it 'uncomfortable' to discuss a historical question about Emanuel Lasker
>and racism. In my view, it could seem sanctimonious for writers in RGCP to
>pronounce judgment on to what extent 'was Emanuel Lasker a racist?' when most
>of those writers evidently have been ignoring the racist subculture of RGCP.
>Very little, if anything, can be done today to address constructively the
>racism of one century ago, but something could be done to ameliorate the
>continuing racism of today.
>
>"Thanks for being my Nigger Nick."
> --Stan Booz (17 March 2004 in rec.games.chess.politics)
To put this into slightly better perspective, at the time that last comment
was written,
the "true identity" of Nick-the-liar Bourbaki was unknown.
True, one of Nick's cronies, Mark Trollsby, had often paid lip-service to the
idea that
his buddy, Nick, had somehow carelessly let slip a few revealing hints about
his identity,
somewhere on the net. But as to where or when exactly, no information was
given,
despite prodding from a few of Nick's many detractors.
I expect that most posters here, like myself, had no idea what Trollsby was
talking
about. No clues as to the "real identity" of Nick Bourbaki whatever, apart
from his
self-advertised "academic" connections.
I canniot speak for Stan Booz, or anyone else for that matter, but as for me,
I only
discovered much later that Nick claimed to be non-White, so to speak. I
learned of
this from a posting by Nick himself, in which he flatly stated that he would be
considered a member of a minority in terms of race. This was well after the
initial
brouhaha regarding Stan's nasty comment had already passed.
When I first read Stan's comment I was simply befuddled -- where had such a
strange
idea/insult sprung from? When I read Nick's complaints, I had no clue that he
was
doing anything more than just whining about general abuse. Nick has always
whined
about being "outnumbered" by Americans, by conservatives, jingoists, whatever.
He
roundly bashes Americans in general, and when some of them launch personal
attacks
"in retaliation," so to speak, he then whines about it -- as if he had been
expecting praise.
My only question now is how did Stan Booz get the jump on me? How did
someone
so utterly inferior, in mind if not body, find out that Nick-the-liar was
"Black," and thus
would take extreme personal offense at being called a "nigger"? My first
guess is that he
was reading some threads which I had ignored. The fact is, even Mark Trollsby
never
once mentioned Nick's race in the threads I was reading.
To sum up, Nick-the-liar is fully justified in his complaints of racism here
in these
newsgroups.
But he is grasping at straws to complain that no one rushed to his defense,
when in
fact his identity -- and likewise, his race -- were completely unknown at the
time of this
insult.
In fact, even now Nick's race is yet uncertain, given that we have only
Nick-the-liar's
own word that he is not "White." We can only speculate that, in this case,
Nick is
probably not lying (liars don't *always* have to lie), and that Stan Booz
somehow had
managed to discover Nick's race, and then posted his racist remark with
sinister glee.
quote:
>I have to say that it seems far more 'uncomfortable' for most people to face
>honestly the often complex realities of racism today than for them to
>condemn, at no cost or risk to themselves now, the more transparent racism of
the
quote:
>past.
Consider yourself lucky if you don't live in the United States. I do, and
racism has
been a significant problem in my life.
I worked for a time at a convenience store located in a downtown area, and
the
customers, employees and members of their families, and even the local police,
had
serious "issues" with racism. Even where I work now, racism occasionally rears
its
ugly head, though in a much more subtle fashion.
I also played chess where issues relating to race played a significant role.
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