talkmagic.co.uk

Hi

I was speaking to mandrake last night, and the subject of black tiger decks came up. We were discussing whether these could be classed as racist or not, and wondered what your opinions are on this.

I only ask this because if the subject of racism arises in a show because of the use of these decks i wouldnt know how to respond

Best Magical wishes

Mark

i am being serious, some people may take it offensively.

This isnt meant to be a funny post. Im just asking for your opinion on what to do if someone does take it offencively

a regular deck is racist as it keeps the blacks and the reds seperate, wereas a tiger deck is multicultural as it mixes all the crads and only the singled out card becomes diferent.

so you see its not rasist at all.

I think Tom's spot on. I honestly can't imagine a spectator taking offence to Black Tiger cards.

Racism is an issue to consider at all times when preparing and performing shows, but the Black Tiger Deck is merely a magic 'prop', 'accessory' or 'tool', not a political statement or a prejudiced viewpoint.

In no way could these be considered racist...

but my Silver Jubilee cards featuring The Queen might offend my American friends though

Hi

I know the definition of a racist incident is

“ A racist incident is any incident which is perceived to be racist by the victim or any other person”

The important part is any other person.

Although I think the situation with the cards is taking it a bit far, black taxis are not racist.
If you used them in a trick with a black white superiority theme it would depend on how it was portrayed but could be seen as racist.

George

It is a shame that you have to be so careful with this issue, unfortunately there are people out there who want to find racism embedded within the completely innocent, but the fact of the cards being black could surely not be taken to be racist.

I shouldn't worry. On the offchance you do encounter some frothing loony who thinks your black cards have a racial agenda, the chances of people taking him too seriously aren't that great. And let's face it, you'll encounter loonies no matter what you do (the religious zealots are much more fun).

Puts me in mind of the hilarious anti-racism video we were shown at school, which, amongst other things, criticised Stars Wars for having racial agendas because Darth Vader was black. I swear I'm not making this up; this was in the heyday of over applied political correctness in the national curriculum (a lot of books were banned from school libraries around this time over piddling issues of "sensitivity"), it was also the heyday of rubbish educational videos being made for schools.

So we learnt that wearing an all black costume and mask as a villainous character was to make a racist statement. Well, I'm glad we got that sorted out. Then we pointed out that all the stormtroopers were white. The teacher didn't have an answer for this, but then he probably found the video as daft as the rest of us.

The dark side of this sort of nonsense is that the real racists feed off it, because it trivialises the case against them.

And in all the old Cowboy films, the baddies wore black hats but the goodies wore white ones. Except Hoppalong Cassidy who wore black but was a goodie!

The conversation with Mark was mainly along the lines of how refreshing it is to see that we can use references to colours, positive and negative images etc yet nobody thinks that this applies to people. We've had some good exchanges in the past on TT's and how they may or may not match the performer's skin colour yet we all know the TT doesn't have to be completely disguised - it's how you use it which is more important. In many other aspects of modern life there would have been some racist comments long ago so perhaps it's because we all know it doesn't matter a flying fez as long as the magic is good? PC attitudes as mentioned are only the tip of the iceberg in many respects so I'm chuffed that there is still one area where we are all sensible enough to take no notice and get on with entertaining people with magic. A lesson for the rest of the world there, perhaps?

Dear Boy Wonder,

I can't believe I just read that. Could a Tiger Deck be racist. Oh please!!!
I hope you re-read that and realise how crazy it sounds.

Yes, people should think before they do anything that might cause offense to anyone - for whatever reason. And yes, the country seems to have gone over the top with political correctness.

I'm sure cinema 'baddies in black' and 'goodies in white' stems from the stereotype of heaven and hell - or innocence v death. Or how bout this? White is a light colour. Black is dark. The same simple difference between a major and a minor chord. One sounds happy - one sad. Good or bad.

Nothing whatsoever to do with race.

The world's mad enough without you trying to double guess things.

Chill out fella. Enjoy your magic. Enjoy your new pack, which would've been as distintive if they were printed dark blue. What's the difference?

I don't complain when England get 'white-washed' at cricket. Which is often.

Anyway, I'm not white. I'm sort of pale pink-ish.

To recap: Life's too short. You're a long time dead.
Let's drink to world peace, and have fun doing great magic.

UB

I think this is a valid question to be asked, as we are after all performers and strive to entertain and not to offend. Sometimes it is all to easy to offend even when we are not aware of it so it never hurts to ask the question.

My personal view on whether or not Tiger Decks are racist is a big "NO WAY". It is true that the odd person may find them as such, but I would think this very unlikely.

I would say though that there are probably some people that may be offended if you use these cards with a "Satanisml" type of theme. Some my find it Sacrilegious, but racism? I don't think so.

The white and black, good and evil comparison has probably been around since day one and personally I see it as just using the two extremes of the colour spectrum. White representing putity and black being the complete opposite, represents the complete opposite. I personally believe that black and white used to represent good and evil has never had anything to do with the colour of anyones skin.

However, in saying all that - it wasn't wrong to ask the question., but in this case I would be surprised if anyone would accuse them of being racist.

Right, just to varify:

I DO NOT think that tiger decks are racist, but SOME people may take offence to them and who gets the stick for using the tiger deck? The magi will because he is using them.

And on that note, I think we ought to move on to other topics folks.