why is the term black usually used for negativity..eg black box,black wednesday.black slave etc?

Answer 1

black is used for negativity due to a combination of history, spirituality and perceptions...and black isnt as common as white...so whatever isnt "common" ppl tend to dislike....not that i dislike black...ive got black nailpolish on now :)

Answer 2

It isn't -it's just that certain people like to make the word black out to be negative so they can get on their soap box and moan about how racist everyone is.
The word 'black 'is being used in that way because it is meaning' dark'.Black Wednesday was a dark day for a lot of people.Night is 'dark' is that o.k?
Please can someone tell me what is negative about 'black box'?????A 'black slave is called a 'black slave' because they were' black' and a slave.Please can we stop all this mumbo jumbo and just live together happily????

Answer 3

A black box is a box you can't see inside.

I would hope a mention of any slave - no matter what color - would be viewed as a negative thing.

And look at black friday - that's when stores stop being "in the red" (losing money) and start being "in the black" (making money).

Answer 4

Well, when things go bad, like fruits and vegetables they turn black. So the term reflects that reality.

Like having a black out, it is the absence of light. So it is a bad thing. Again, reality.

But sometimes it is referring to good thing like "in the black", for businesses, as opposed "in the red." Referring to the ink color. Red is used to show a negative. And black a positive.

Answer 5

I believe it goes back to our earliest history. Primitive man would have feared the night because that is when various predators would come out. I could imagined early man sitting in the dark around a camp fire, listening to the many strange noises of the night, fearfull of other animals out hunting, and telling frightening stories of things that had happened in the night like creatures coming out of the dark and attacking, kidnapping or killing people. I think the anxiety of the dark is still with us to this day. Night of course is associated with the colour black. It may also be related to illness and death. Various illnesses would leave black patches on the body,like the bubonic plague. Also, a dead body will eventually turn black after a prolonged period of time. So black is associated with fear and death.

Answer 6

Black is a dark shade
and dark is associated
with no light or no life
ie:The Dark one[santa]

Only Political correctness
or Racism Would try and
find a "subliminal message"
or see some sort of crypto-Fascist
conversion of its "true inner meaning"
(which incidentally it doesn't have one)
then turn it into something that's derogatory
or make it into to a new racial colour issue
whereas thank god anybody that is "normal"
or free thinking wouldn't even
go there !

Answer 7

You're confusing two uses of the word 'black'. One use simply refers to the colour e.g. the colour of the box; the other refers to the association of 'black' (the colour of night, darkness, scary things) with misery and woe - thus 'Black Wednesday' - a day when things went badly.

Answer 8

The Bible patronises this attitude with its white = pure and holy; black = evil and tainted. Earlier christians believed that black people carried the Mark of Cain - this was true of Mormons as recently as the 80's (not sure about now). Then you get black and white magic and black and white witches - once again one is seen as leaning to darker arts but this is once again santimonious Christian propaganda.

Answer 9

People are afraid of the dark and the unknown. Nothing to do with racism! Although I bet most answers here say that it is!

Black as a possitive - your in the black when you have money!

Answer 10

Because it is representative of the unknown.

An absence of light represents itself as "black" effectively, and in that absence of light the average person cannot see.... and thus cannot take in their surroundings, leaving them weak and vulnerable.... which is likely to inspire fear.

Thus black has come to represent such things as death in the west, since they are essentially the ultimate unknown.


Then again, in eastern lands the opposite is true, and white becomes representative of death. I have no idea why that is, but it probably relates somehow to winter or moonlight.

Answer 11

I thought a black box was good