Don't you mean blackfiring? But seriously, is it just a tool for learning about black history and culture? If it is, I don't see it being too weird. Maccas has already branched into a few areas like this, with their Ronald McDonald House and Maths Online and stuff. Still... It doesn't make their food taste any better...
And to answer Fenix: Yes, this is indirect discrimination imo. White people don't need a ''365white'', for instance.
I just think it's weird. The part that made me laugh the most though, is if you click on 'About 365;, it talks about employment opportunities. Tsk tsk
the line: "meet real people who's life's have been touched by mcdonalds" made me laugh really ****ing hard
That's like saying hospital grade painkillers should be distributed amongst the general public, and not just to the people in the hospitals that need it. White culture is generally taught in schools anyway, simply because white culture has become so dominant that it's basically the cultural 'norm'. The fact is, all cultures, especially indigenous cultures, which I'm specifying not because I'm mistaking African Americans for being the indigenous Americans but because the indigenous culture of all countries that have been colonised, etc, is of noteworthy significance, should really be taught at the same level as that of white culture. Racial difference is still a pretty big issue, and it's not like Maccas is forging this separation themselves. In my opinion, the best way to combat racism is through understanding and education, as racists views are all hold either extremely misinformed or simply one-sided views. If this site helps the community gain a greater understanding of black culture, I fail to see how it's weird, yet alone indirect discrimination. One of the things it says on the site is this: Now my only knowledge of Black History Month comes from the American Dad episode 'Black Mystery Month', but I don't think too greater knowledge of it is required to know what it's aimed at, so my question is, if you think promoting 365BLACK is indirect discrimination, do you think Black History Month is the same? Maccas actually is a highly charitable company. While I still wouldn't be caught dead eating one of their burgers, after all, the burgers are better at Hungry Jacks, you've gotta have some serious respect for what they actually do as a company. Thinking otherwise is just ignorant.
Remarking the fact that someone is black, even with the intention of saying that discrimination is wrong, implies that there is any sort of significance behind color, which is utterly false. Color is just another feature and has no effect in the human persona. Imagine McDonalds creating a page called: 365blueeyed, and said something like this: At McDonald's®, we believe that Blue-eyed culture and achievement should be celebrated 365 days a year — not just during Blue-eyed Month. That's the idea behind 365Blueeyed.com. It's a place where you can learn more about education, employment, career advancement and entrepreneurship opportunities, and meet real people whose lives have been touched by McDonald's. Plus, you can also have a chance to win exciting once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. So make sure you visit often — you just might get inspired. Your reaction would probably be: zomgwtfbbq? I understand where you're coming from, and I agree that education helps. But this is not education, this is plain stupid. This is a company trying to show people they care, when they just care about money. If I was black I'd be offended.
Well I doubt it would be prohibited, but is there any reason to have it in the first place? I mean, I'm not prohibited from owning a Ferrari, but there's absolutely no reason why I would ever have one. @ Maelstrom. As I said, Maccas hasn't forged this difference themselves. It's one that already exists, and is quite inherent in society today. In theory there should be no need for anything based on race at all, but that's far from reality. As I said, is Black History Month indirect racism? And out of all the companies out there, Maccas is most likely one of the ones that does genuinely care. This isn't the first non-fastfood thing they've done. As I said, their work with the Ronald McDonald Houses is fantastic, and the same goes for Maths Online. Hating all their work because they were originally a poor-tasting, fat-filled, fast food service is as much prejudice as hosting something purely for the black community.
The fact that they do good things does not mean their intentions are good. With the sheer amount of money they make its easy to use a minusculous percentage of that money to setup a charity event and use that to gain public image which in turn translates to more revenue. Black history month should not be required. It probably was not meant to be racist, but the sole concept of it has an inherent racist nature, simply because i.e other races don't need ''months'', and as I said, It implies black people need special treatment which is false. If you want to erradicate racism then education is a good start like you said. But do that in history classes for example, teaching the whole thing and not just ''white history''. You can also talk about it in a philosophy class. Making a ''black month'' is rather pointless. Its a way for the government to say ''Hai we don't endorse racism'', which does not help at all to erradicate it.
The fact that they do good things does mean their intentions are good, because good things are being done because of what they intend to do. There's no ulterior motive, most costs are paid direct by the company, with no required costs to those who benefit. These are by no means minuscule charitable 'events' aimed at generating good will, and that's perfectly apparent by the fact that no-one actually knows they're doing this. They're not flaunting it, and they're not trying to pass themselves off as 'the charitable fast food line', meaning that, overall, with the total running costs of everything they do, I'd imagine they'd be making a substantial loss. How does this not translate to them having good intentions, and why can't a successful company do something charitable without it being for financial gain? And again, you're talking in idealistic terms, but those terms do not translate to reality. There was a similar issue in Australia with the Aborigines, where people protested against financial help for indigenous communities because people, white people, didn't think it was fair to give money to Aborigines just because they're Aboriginal. Sounds fair, and idealistically, it would be true, but the fact is that they do need help. Not giving them help is like denying hospital care, special provisions and services to the people who need them. They may not need them because they are of a particular colour, but that doesn't mean they all don't need help. For example, the life expectancy of indigenous Australians is ten years lower, and about thirty five percent less of the Aboriginal community graduates from high school than the non-indigenous. On top of that, their health, the number of homeless and the amount of substance abuse is much worse than other Australians, purely because there's so little they can do, because there's so little help they can get. Should these people not be helped, because giving them aid, while not giving non-indigenous Australians aid, is racist? Of course not. Not giving them aid would be what is racist, just as ignoring the indecencies of the past and the abuse the African Americans suffered in the past would be racist. Black History Month is by no means racist. You're right in saying that the education system should teach about black history as well as white history, which I'd imagine is the focus of what's being taught right now, but that's no reason to get rid of, or prohibit, Black History Month. While again, ideally there should be no need for it, in reality, there is a need for it, and until that need is no longer present, there needs to be things like Black History Month to remember what's happened in the past. Really, there's no real difference between stuff like it, ANZAC Day, Remembrance Day, etc, etc. Just because one of these is based on race, it doesn't mean it shouldn't be there. Also, you can't just bring everything up to par when dealing with stuff like this. Obviously, not everything's going to make it there, which is prevalent in today's society, so some things have to go above and beyond, and Black History Month is one of these. Not only does it help simply by being dedicated to black history, but it helps raise awareness and equality.
Ok Itza, I can tell you're the kind of guy that hates to lose an argument. So probably If I keep on rebutting you'll keep on re-rebutting and this will become a 10 page rant. So, I'll make one last attempt, and then probably I won't be commenting anymore about it. 'cause ultimately its a subjective opinion and if your arguments I disagree upon and my arguments you disagree upon, we're stuck. With that said.. let me start the quote fest: Umm that statement doesn't make much sense. Actions don't speak of intention. Actions are just that, actions. And although most of the time they do indicate an intention, this is not always the case, which can be quite misleading. For instance, I can give a present to my friend's girlfriend because I thinks she's a cool person and deserves it, or I can do it to try and ''steal'' her from him. The action remains the same yet the intention varies. And well, I've never head of black365 before, but there's one of those charities that was advertised in my country quite frequently. I specially recall an ad that said something like: for every big mac you buy a percentage of the money would go to a fundation. And If you go to any McDonalds store, you'll always notice some kind of flyer hanging on the wall describing some of the charities that McDonalds does. Its easy to be charitable when you have countless millions of dollars. You claim that I'm being idealistic. How? Is improving education in schools an idealistic thought? And even if It was, black365 is certainly not a good way of reducing discrimination. From what you're telling me, aboriginals in australia are having a hard time. It is understandable. Minorities have always had those issues. And poverty is indeed a very tough problem in many countries. Argentina in fact, has quite literally 50% of its population in this situation, and about 30% are ''indigentes'' (I think the proper translation would be delerict), basically people that can't afford to eat. But this is not an issue of race, its an issue of social indiference. In Argentina something very similar happens with the lower class. Most of them are black. Yet that's not the reason why they're poor. The reason why is because a- They don't get good education. Either because their families are very unstable, or because they get involved with crime, drugs, etc. b- They don't have good jobs. Well, that's kind of obvious. And the problem with that is that without education you can't get a job. And if you can't, you stay poor. This is not an issue of race, as I said earlier, this is a problem with the way society is designed. If you think that having a ''Poor people history museum'' is a good way of solving it .. then.. well, you're kind of wrong imo. And btw, I never said anything about baning or prohibiting black people day. I just think it's stupid that's all. Those other ''days'' you mentioned.. most of them I know nothing about. In my country, there's days like: ''Women's day'' which is just as idiotic as black people day (ever heard of Man's day? didn't think so). Finally.. let's be honest here. When there's a holiday in your country. They tell you: ''oh, guys, there's no school tomorrow, it's black people day (or something), do you really investigate on the matter? Does It help you raise awareness and equality as you say? For 99% of people, its just a day off. So I think that's a pretty lame approach to raise awareness. (note that in my country, all of these ''days'' are holidays... some countries might be different)
