But if “aceplace is not the dumbest fuck in that thread” and I am the only other one named doesn’t that imply that I am the “dumbest fuck.” I suppose you could be pedantic and point out that you never explicitly stated that I was “dumbest fuck.”
Don’t make me go get my New Oxford again.
How was I disingenuous? Did say anything that suggested that the term “colored” is not considered offensive in modern times. I even offered examples of why it would be considered offensive. Did I say that the term “person of color” is offensive? No, but I did point out that there might be some people that didn’t “get the memo” that could be confused by the term and feel offended.
You are probably right about the dumbfuck part though.
Your argument essentially comes down to you thinking people who are offended by derogatory racial terms are being silly.
Anyone who remembers “Bloom County” from 32 years ago would at least know that term should not be used.
Thanks. I vaguely remembered reading that strip.
The Caddyshack clip is even older.
If you’re less progressive than Steve Dallas was in the 1980s, there’s something wrong with you.
Anyone else feel an ocean breeze and hear barking noises, or is it just me?
Brown is not an acceptable term around here, unless it’s a brown person using it. I don’t see it used outside of that. It’s kind of like yellow. Not a great choice for describing Asians.
The English language is often illogical and derogatory racial terms are often illogical as well. If you want to interpret this lack of logic as “silly” that’s OK with me. But it is not the offended people themselves that are being silly. You would expect them to be offended because the use of the terms has evolved into those terms always being considered offensive. For the most part, it is the intent of a derogatory racial term that makes it offensive, not the term itself. Nonetheless, people speaking and writing in the public media should damn well better know what these terms are and know when they shouldn’t be used.
On the other hand, there are probably a few racial terms (neither “colored person” nor “person of color” fits in this category) that are inherently derogatory. For example, suppose that the American slang term for people from the totally fictional country of Elbonia was “goatfuckers.” That term is derogatory on its face. Can anyone think of a real life example? If you can, do not consider this a request to actually post it.
Suppose that somehow all derogatory racial terms were magically forever eliminated from the English language. Some mean-spirited person would soon come up with a new derogatory racial term. Maybe the new term sounds very nice and unoffensive but it is only used with intent to demean and belittle a racial group. Then it is still wrong no matter how nice it sounds.
As promised earlier, here we go:
A couple of years ago I was in a public pool at a gym somewhere other than “the South.” The pool had two sets of noodles. A noodle is a long foam cylinder used for water exercises and for little kids to bop each other in the head with. There was a set of colorless (white) noodles for formal exercise classes and a set of noodles of various colors such as blue, pink, orange, yellow, green, etc. for use by the general public. The noodle bins were not labeled so I guess you just had to know this. An African-American lady arrives and takes one of the white noodles and enters the pool. The lifeguard shouts across the pool, “Ma’am, you can’t use the white noodles. You have to use the colored noodles.” The African-American lady responds, “Oh, OK.” and exchanges the white noodle for a colored noodle. There would have been no point in me getting involved in this so I just filed it away in the “that was weird” part of my brain.
No one cares.
Ahh, there’s the key to being a civilized human being (my bolding).
I salute your ability to stay silent until you learn what’s best to say.
If only my family could do that…
(I was raised by White Supremacists that love to play the "Whaaat? I just used a harmless label…" game.)
As someone who spent time living in Australia and England, at times and places where those epithets were in pretty common use, it’s worth noting that at least some of the people who used terms like this did, in fact, believe that they were simple, non-derogatory shorthand.
I’ve heard English people in Lancashire and Yorkshire say “let’s go Paki” when discussing what type of take-out to get for dinner. I’ve heard Australians talk sympathetically about how “the abos have had to deal with a lot of racism.”
I think there’s no doubt that these terms have their origins in ideas about racial superiority and inferiority, that they persisted even among well-intentioned people as a type of condescending paternalism, and that they’re definitely derogatory and unacceptable to our modern ears. But, to the extent that intent matters, not everyone who used them intended them to be derogatory, just like not everyone who continued to use “negro” or “colored” after those words fell out of favor necessarily did so as derogatory terms.
There does come a time, though, by which everyone should have received the memo, and that time has long passed.
I’m just sad that I can’t have fun with outdated stereotypes without sounding racist. We were painting on the plywood over store windows during the protests, and no one thought I could get away with drawing a cop chasing a “Perky Pickaninny” or saying “I’ll get them pesky negroes!”
So you’re sad that you can’t use racist stereotypes without sounding racist?
Wow, yeah…that’s the sort of unexamined self-own that should result in self-reflection but apparently doesn’t.
Um, guys? You might have been whooshed, there.
If that was the intent, then yet again, irony does not easily translate to the screen.