Why is "black" used to describe everything bad/negative? black sheep, black list, black mail, black hole, etc

Answer 1

How is a black hole negative? It simply is a force - An area of space-time with a gravitational field so intense that its escape velocity is equal to or exceeds the speed of light. Only you have made it a negative.
Black gold - oil - positive
Black box - simply a recording device to determine the actions of a vehicle, sometimes but not always a crash. Often used to PREVENT future accidents - positive
Black belt - high ranking in martial arts - positive
Black diamond - coal or low grade diamond often used in industry - positive
Blackened red fish - yummy & positive

I am sure there are many others.

Answer 2

I'm not sure why we use "black" to describe everything bad and negative however there is a really neat website that measures something kind of like this. You have to take the race IAT to see what I'm talking about. It provides insight as to how well ingrained some of this is into society and how much some people may actually believe it.

https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/demo/index.jsp

"This web site presents a method that demonstrates the conscious-unconscious divergences much more convincingly than has been possible with previous methods. This new method is called the Implicit Association Test, or IAT for short."

It's interesting to see how well it demonstrates the idea that "black" is associated with negative things while "white" is associated with good things.

Answer 3

It is very ancient biological instinct. Because we are not nocturnal animals we were more in danger during the night time. Many beast that were dangerous for early humans hunted during the night. Our most important sense is the vision and darkness makes this sense useless. This is the reason.

From here comes also the "dark vs light" symbolisim to religion.

The name of the black hole doesn't come from it being negative, it comes from the fact that it's gravity is so strong that no light can escape, thus it seems black.

Answer 4

Darkness is scary. Did you ever want a night light on so that it wasn't so dark when you went to bed? Black reminds us of night, of darkness, maybe even of death...wait, we don't die, we just "go to sleep".

Whereas the color "white" is the mixture of all colors; "black" is the absence of any color or light. Black holes for example are characterized by gravitation so strong that not even light escapes from them. Black is a nothingness, a void. It's also scary.

Unfortunately, we carry the negative connotation of black way too far. As D-money holla said, just look at the prisons.

Answer 5

In the Western world, black is most often used with a negative connotation. The reasons for this are various, but the most widely accepted explanations are that night is experienced by humans as negative and dangerous. A secondary reason is that stains are most visible as dark additions to pale materials.

Answer 6

It has nothing to do with race. And if people like FREE above me want to say its b/c of white people then why don't you go become president to contribute to society.

We use black for bad things b/c black has always been scary and ominous. Just the way kids are afraid of the dark.

Answer 7

I think it's just because black is the absence of colour and light. When it's so dark you can't see, you don't feel safe. It could be a problematic expression because of the association with "black" people, who are actually brown. I don't think people mix up the meanings though.

Answer 8

Well, in business, black is good. You don't want to be in the red. Stay in the black. You're making a profit

Answer 9

It all goes back to "light" and "darkness"......light being good, and darkness being bad or evil. The Bible describes God as light and Satan as darkness. When people do things in the light, it is plain for everyone to see while most crime is done in the darkness so that it will not be revealed so easily.

Answer 10

Because black is dark. Evil spirits like to gide out in darkness where they can sneak upon people. They're too coward to be in the light where they'll be discovered.