A racist question

I love diving head first into controversial topics. I will talk openly and honestly about every subject under the sun and I will not shrink from what I perceive to be the truth. I know, without question, that I am not sexist, racist, or a bigot in any way. It doesn't bother me if someone calls me a bigot, they may as well call me a Smurf. I am neither a bigot nor a Smurf and my reaction to being called either would be the same. I strongly believe that the cultural issues in this world can only be solved through open and honest dialogue through ALL demographics. That INCLUDES my own demographic; single straight white guy who grew up in an upper middle-class neighborhood.

In short; just because I'm straight, white, and come from an upper middle-class background doesn't mean I can't share my opinions and engage in a dialogue about race, gender, religion, and sexuality. I simply choose not to accept any guilt for my perceptions.

So, to my blog...

I saw '30 Days of Night' on Monday, October 22nd. It was a good movie. I highly recommend it. It reminded me of a cross between 'Dawn of the Dead' and "John Carpenters Vampires'. It was a very cool movie.

While I was trying to enjoy the movie two fat black chicks directly behind me were loudly talking and laughing. This behavior persisted and I saw people all around them get up and either leave the theater or change seats. I, on the other hand, simply turned around and politely asked; "Could you please keep it down? Thank you very much."

My polite request went ignored for the most part. They stayed quiet for about 15 minutes than resumed being inconsiderate for the rest of the movie.

As I was leaving it dawned on my that I have had 5 bad theater experiences where people were so inconsiderate it disrupted my enjoyment of the movie. Of the 5 bad theater experiences 4 of those instances were the result of inconsiderate black people.

When I saw 'Phone Booth' a black family laughed, heckled, and talked through the entire movie. I asked them to be quiet and my request was ignored. When I saw 'Red Dragon' a black woman brought her 2-year-old into the theater. The 2-year-old began crying loudly, I politely asked if she could keep her daughter quiet. My request was ignored. When I saw 'Lord of the Rings; The Two Towers' a group of female black teenagers heckled and laughed loudly through most of the movie. When I politely asked them to be quiet my request was ignored. When I saw 'King Arthur' an extremely drunk white guy was talking loudly through the movie. I politely asked him to keep it down. He got up and left the theater.

So, my racist question is; why is it that 4 of my 5 bad theater experiences are the result of inconsiderate black people? Why is it that, after requesting some consideration in each of these instances, the only person to respond positively was a drunk white guy?

Of course I've been in plenty of theaters where everyone, black, white, purple, and neon behaved themselves. These bad instances are in the vast minority of bad theater experiences that I've had and I go to the movies fairly often. I don't consider them representative of racial qualities at all. I just want to know why.

According to Pittsburgh census data 68% of Pittsburgh is white and 27% is black. Shouldn't, statistically, 3.4 of my 5 bad theater experiences be the result of misbehaving white people? Only 1.35 of my 5 bad theater experiences should be the result of misbehaving black people. And .25 of my 5 bad theater experiences should be the result of an indeterminate race.

Anyone who could provide for me an answer to these questions gets a digital cookie.

Tagged with: 30 days of night, black, inconsiderate, movies, racism, theater, white