Social Question

Dutchess_III's avatar

What is this about?

Asked by Dutchess_III (46828points) November 28th, 2018

One of my lost boys, grew up and got married. I lost track of him for 20 years and just found him again a couple of years ago, thanks to a concerted effort by my daughter.
His wife is the most beautiful women I think I’ve ever know in real life! I’ve only been up to see them once so far, though.
They are black, and sometimes they post stuff that kind of confuses me (like videos of women violently fighting and getting all kinds of thumbs up and laughing emojis and stuff,) but I just scroll on by.

Well, his wife posted this today.

I said, ” I don’t get it…..”
She said, ” That awkward smirk. Lol”
I said, ” I saw that, but I don’t know what it means!”
She said, “Doesn’t really mean anything. White people just tend to be the ones that give the awkward smirk and other people find it weird.”
I said, “Oh. I read it as they all knew something that she didn’t know they knew and wouldn’t like it if she knew that they knew…..But they know.”
I kind of assumed, I guess, that they were all in the room when she walked in.

So..do you know what she is talking about? I mean, if I’m working and someone walks into a room, I’ll glance up with a small smile to just acknowledge them. Is that wrong? What am I missing?

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4 Answers

Zaku's avatar

It’s just about thinking that way of greeting people with a silent awkward smile/smirk is weird, and associating it (as the video header does) with white people. You can see in the many comments on that Facebook link you posted what the range of thoughts about it is.

It reminds me of a comment some people have made about some suburban people putting on an air of fake nice greeting when they meet a stranger but it not seeming authentic.

It’s just a case of different mannerisms and people reading into it and maybe being accurate or unfair in different cases.

kritiper's avatar

Some people seem to assume that some other people, who are somehow different from them, think all people who are not like them always think a certain way. You know it’s not true, and I know it’s not true. I believe they also know that it isn’t true. What it is, is discrimination. Be it plain old discrimination or reverse discrimination, it’s still discrimination. And too many people, no matter who or what they are, do it.

stanleybmanly's avatar

There’s nothing hidden from you. The clip is every bit as meaningless as it appears. You can torture yourself searching for the message universally receivable to all non white folks. It’s a crock. Kinda like scientology

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