Pflagler, Sunday Morning and Playing the Dozens...

The recent episode with Father Pflagler's sermon seemed to cause a lot of head scratching and condemnation among many of those "hard working Americans" out there. Even President Bill, who should know better, expressed some bitterness about the incident today. The good Father seemed to be out of pocket, as it were, but why the reaction from the congregation? Are they mean evil people?

Well, although there have been apologies a bunch, maybe a little perspective can cast a little light on all the heat.

There are distinct differences in the communication styles of Blacks and Whites.  Most of the times these differences are ignored or go unnoticed.

Of course the chief reason cultural differences are ignored is that blacks and whites assume they are operating according to identical speech and cultural conventions and that these are the conventions the socially dominant white group has established as standard. This assumption - besides adding to the disruptive capacity of cultural differences - speaks to the general public failure to recognize that black norms and conventions in these areas differ from those of whites. Blacks and Whites: Styles in Conflict, Thomas Kochman,University Of Chicago Press (August 15, 1983)

I

n Black and White Styles in Conflict (1981), Kochman maintained that:
The modes of behavior that blacks and whites consider appropriate for engaging in public debate on an issue differ in their stance and level of spiritual intensity.  The black mode--that of black community people--is high-keyed: animated, interpersonal and confrontational.  The white mode--that of the middle class--is relatively low-keyed: dispassionate, impersonal, and non-challenging.  The first is characteristic of involvement; it is heated, loud, and generates affect.  The second in characteristic of detachment and is cool, quite, and without affect.

In the main, when cross cultural communications occur nowadays, the standard communication style of the majority is adopted in most instances. But when blacks are communicating with each other, or in a black cultural context, the use of black conventions are adhered to. Which brings me to Father Pflageler's sermon...

There is unlikely to be a more "black" cultural context than that of the Black church. It is the place where black people can speak of their fears, frustrations, prayers and hopes within the family, and normally away from the critical eyes of non-community members. It's when we can be real and totally unshielded. But it is also a time when we can talk in cultural shorthand, cause everybody present, of a certain age, understands the historical and cultural context.

And one such cultural context is "playing the dozens". Playing the dozens (aka ranking, signifying) is a cultural game that blacks engage in which consists of literally insulting each other. But not just any insults, they have to be clever and relate to the subject at hand and the more personal or intimate the better. A skilled "playa" will take a personal characteristic, trait, or incident and exaggerate it, the more wildly the better. The effort is to make the recipient lose his cool and express emotion. The goal of the recipient is to withstand the insult hurled with total aplomb and return an even more cutting one in exchange. The best insult delivered with casual coolness wins. If you get mad or upset, you lose.  A gentle insult would be something like... "your girlfriend is so ugly, she has to sneak up on a glass to get a drink of water"... or "your momma is so fat it takes a week to measure her waist"... etc. The dozens is normally played in front of an audience, the audience's role is to egg the players on, or signify.

It is game that has been played in the black community as long as living memory serves. (I was taught that this game stemmed from the need of black folk to be able to withstand all manner of insults to their dignity once they left the community).

So now you have Father Pflager playing the dozens with Sen. Clinton. He combined a touch of reality with gross exaggeration - as is frequent in the dozens - and the audience signified.

There is no collary ritual in the white culture, a fact that black comedians have often commented on. Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy, Martin Lawrence, to name a few have done some pretty funny riffs on white folks and the dozens.

The point is, this is one of those areas where the impact of the Father's comments are not taken with the same seriousness by Black folk as it is by folks outside of the community such as the MSM. To most black witnesses, it would have been a funny incident, to be applauded for the skill of the commentator, but not taken seriously as either an insult to Sen. Clinton or as political commentary.

The Dozens...