Who racism? I don't think so...

[PHD2B@VAX1.Mankato.MSUS.EDU]

WFang, you obviously have a great deal of knowledge regarding the band, 
perhaps more than anyone else, but I think your comments regarding fan's
(fans, sorry), in this group beign "offended" by Who lyrics that could be
racist are way off the mark. Your comment regarding Keith on LAL saying
"The Black Raper" doesn't even have anything to do with race. They were
referring to John (who often wore black) playing Ivor. Clothes color and
skin color are 2 different things. When Roger says "Big Black Bad Johnny...
at the end of Dreaming from the Waist on the 30 years box, he is backing
up my contention that "black" in this reference refers to John's dress.
(Unless you think Roger thinks John has black skin). Therefore I contend
that Keith was also referring to John's clothes in LAL. 
The Substitute line (I look all white...) has no negative conotations
regarding black people at all, it just refers to physical difference in skin
color (this is not inherently good or bad).
Also regarding STNG and blacks on the show...You know more about it than I do,
although for the sake of arguement I suppose one could point to DS-9 and the
fact that there is a black captain of the whole station. Not that I want to
get into a Star Trek debate w/you, but what ever point you were trying to make
about black roles on STNG are dubious in light of the roles blacks have on 2
direct spinoffs (DS-9 and Voyager), well, DS-9 at least.
Also, I can see your point regarding someone being concerned about spending
$1.99 perhaps being a bit cheap, but it's not such a big deal that you have
to keep bringing it up as a defense of an unrelated criticism being levied 
against you by that individual. Your generalization about his total 
judgement ability based on one decision that he seeked help on is an indication
that in fact you are the one who is showing poor judgement by overgeneralizing.
One poor decision doesn't mean someone has poor judgement. However multiple
poor decisions (i.e. making inflammatory racial remarks, defending oneself with
inappropriate and unrelated evidence of similar views on tv shows and song
lyrics, overgeneralization of someone else's personality) start to show an 
alarming trend...

Matt Scheel