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Beiber, Spalding, Hair Touching

IMO, this should be one of the least controversial threads I have ever started because it is based on common sense and good manners: keep your hands to yourself! It is too hard to tell what might set someone off, so keep your hands to yourself with people you don't know. Even with people you do know, it never hurts to respect boundaries.
 
From the vid, I don't think she found it offensive, and if she did she handled it like a pro.

I guess she might have been thinking 'poor kid doesn't know any better, I'll let him off'

I can't speak for Ms. Spalding, but observing some boundaries is just a great idea in general.

It will be funny if all of a sudden everyone is defending Beiber, considering how much hate he gets elsewhere on TB.:rolleyes:

The more important thing is that this post is not about attacking Beiber, it's about letting people know how hair touching can be seen by many Black women and men.
 
IMO, this should be one of the least controversial threads I have ever started because it is based on common sense and good manners: keep your hands to yourself! It is too hard to tell what might set someone off, so keep your hands to yourself with people you don't know. Even with people you do know, it never hurts to respect boundaries.

If that's what it said, it wouldn't be controversial. But it says, among other things:

DO NOT TOUCH A BLACK PERSON'S HAIR.

Your European-standard-issue brown strands might be "just hair" to you, but black hair is far beyond the average skull insulation. Black hair is sacred and almost mythical, both revered and abhorred by the head upon which it grows.

Touching a black person's hair without permission is a cardinal sin

It takes what you said and made it racial. That's why I thought it might be a joke.

I admit when I saw the video prior to your post it seemed rude. He should have asked. But entertainers are often touchy-feely types.

Either way, people need to lighten up. He's a kid. When I was helping out in youth group I got a buzz cut. The teenagers would come up and rub my head. My wife is blonde and when we've been to Latin American countries people wanted to touch her hair.

And I'm hurt the author doesn't think my hair i sacred and mythical.
 
I can't speak for Ms. Spalding, but observing some boundaries is just a great idea in general.

It will be funny if all of a sudden everyone is defending Beiber, considering how much hate he gets elsewhere on TB.:rolleyes:

The more important thing is that this post is not about attacking Beiber, it's about letting people know how hair touching can be seen by many Black women and men.

I don't really like my hair touched either to be honest. White or Black, messing with someone's hair is rude. Is this really a racial issue? When I had long hair, some Black gals I knew used to play with it - were they being racially insensitive?

Personally I'm thinking that neither party in this issue is important enough in the grand scheme of things to really care much about this. With people dying all over the Middle East at the moment, I think the world's got bigger issues to worry about.
 
Relic said:
I don't really like my hair touched either to be honest. White or Black, messing with someone's hair is rude. Is this really a racial issue? When I had long hair, some Black gals I knew used to play with it - were they being racially insensitive?

Personally I'm thinking that neither party in this issue is important enough in the grand scheme of things to really care much about this. With people dying all over the Middle East at the moment, I think the world's got bigger issues to worry about.

If absolute importance is your measure, you shouldn't even be reading OT.
 
I don't see why it's a racial thing, it's just a bit weird to touch someone's hair that you don't know very well... There's a guy in my bass class who keeps his head shaved and its so wonderfully smooth and shiney that it gets affectionately referred to as "the dome" and everyone wants to touch it and pat it... I still feel pretty weird about it though, I wouldn't just go up to him and start stroking his head! And I think it's quite a different matter for women as they tend to put more time and effort into maintaining a nice hair do.
 
If absolute importance is your measure, you shouldn't even be reading OT.

That response it a bit "out in left field" Doc.
My point is that it's a really silly topic, IMO of course. Maybe others feel differently. Then again you've got me posting in it, so maybe you're sneakier than I thought!

Person A is a "scoundrel" because he feels that touching person B's hair is no big deal, while person B feels that it's racially insensitive. Because her gender and race compels her to feel that hair is sacred, person A is completely at fault, while person B is totally scot free in ignoring the fact that according to person A's gender and race, the hair touching is trivial. So two people of differing race and gender do not see eye to eye on an issue.
Wow. Stunning.
 
Relic said:
That response it a bit "out in left field" Doc.
My point is that it's a really silly topic, IMO of course. Maybe others feel differently. Then again you've got me posting in it, so maybe you're sneakier than I thought!

Person A is a "scoundrel" because he feels that touching person B's hair is no big deal, while person B feels that it's racially insensitive. Because her gender and race compels her to feel that hair is sacred, person A is completely at fault, while person B is totally scot free in ignoring the fact that according to person A's gender and race, the hair touching is trivial. So two people of differing race and gender do not see eye to eye on an issue.
Wow. Stunning.

Exactly. It is just hair, no need to crap a brick over it. As for black hair being sacred, how is black hair any different than my hair? Sure it is curly an black, where mine is brown and straight, but they both grow out of a head. Now, if it were her short and curlys, that would be a different story.

lowsound