Why do people put so many emphasis on the word black?

Answer 1

"I see a red door and I want to paint it black, no colors any more I want them to turn black." With this lyric The Rolling Stones have perhaps answered, if not best then most poetically. Black is the color which absorbs all frequencies of light. Blackness stands in stark contrast to light and while we all look for lights at ends of tunnels it is far too often easier to let the light from within die out and let the darkness consume us than it is to keep the flame of light lit. While there are some who would argue that the color black is a hueless or achromatic color it is one of the colors of paint, of cats that cross paths, of adders and beards, and of skin. Although it is not in the color of skin no more than white is, there is the distinction between African and even Egyptian descendants referred to as black and there are those of Nordic and Celtic and European descent referred to as white. Such slogans as "Black is beautiful" and "Black Power" refer to skin color and yet the color black for many is beautiful and does hold power. There are the little vampire girls with their love of all things black and the little goth boys who chase little vampire girls who love all things black. There are the physicists with their black body radiation and the stoner dudes with their ultra violet black light bulbs and psychedelic posters. There is new technologies created from carbon nanotubes that purports to have designed stuff blacker than black which then gives new meaning to black as coal.

And yet, for all those that would place so much emphasis on black, there are those who favor other colors such as red. Imagery such as blood red and fire engine red or cherry red have seen as much emphasis as black and then there is the feelings such as red with rage which can of course lead to such dark places as black. There are songs about red houses, red rain, red balloons and little red corvettes. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and red red wine. There is the color blue with a sky blue sky and ocean blue. Blue Mondays and Blue Suede shoes, Blue Moon's and Blue Christmases and, of course, there is The Blues. Yellow with images of sunlight and saffron and Spring. There are songs about Mellow Yellows and Yellow Brick Roads, Yellow Roses of Texas and Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikinis. There is the color green with its imagery of envy and sickness and its politicized movement with imagery of ecology. There are songs such as Green Green Grass of Home and Green Shirt and there are bands who revel in green such as Green Day and Weezer with their beloved Green Album. There are imageries of purple that pretend to be royal and bands who pretend to be deep such as Deep Purple. There are songs about purple such as purple mountains majesty, Purple Rain and even Raspberry Berets. Songs such as Purple Haze and even Purple People Eaters.

But it is black that keeps coming back and it is black that we fear and love so much as we fade out of the blue and into the black. It is black that is formal it is black that is morose and it is black we wear when we mourn. Black baby black is the color we share and when we are dark it is black we adore. As the Stones like to say: "I look inside myself and I see my heart is black, I see my red door and it has been painted black."