# List of acceptable racial slurs by political leaning **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [February 15, 2012, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-acceptable-racial-slurs-by-political-leaning/612901 "2012-02-15T04:50:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-acceptable-racial-slurs-by-political-leaning/612901/101 "2012-02-15T23:04:42Z")
That isn’t necessary. No one should be insulted based on his or her race, no matter what that race or ethnicity might be. Not even black conservatives. I think you have kind of put your finger on the issue, or part of it - that some posters can be insulted based on their race. That shouldn’t be, IMO. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-acceptable-racial-slurs-by-political-leaning/612901/102 "2012-02-15T23:27:24Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > Moreover, I’m in full agreement with Ta-Nehisi Coates, the writer, who argued that when Ralph Nader called Barack Obama an Uncle Tom he was being no different than D’Nesh D’Souza ranting about Obama’s “anti-colonial” background. There’s a big difference though. The “Uncle Tom” has a necessarily racial component, someone having an “anti-colonial” background does not. ONe has to do with how you were born, the other where you happened to have lived. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-acceptable-racial-slurs-by-political-leaning/612901/103 "2012-02-15T23:28:03Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > You think keeping track of everybody’s stated race and ethnicity would be simple? Unknowable, of course, but not a problem if racial slurs directed at another poster are a no-no regardless. ---
**Author:** ![FE3O4ENAIL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ba9def/32.png) [@FE3O4ENAIL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FE3O4ENAIL)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-acceptable-racial-slurs-by-political-leaning/612901/104 "2012-02-15T23:33:22Z")
Just to be clear, hate speech about a persons worldview is OK, since they can change that, but the unchangeable race must be protected? ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-acceptable-racial-slurs-by-political-leaning/612901/105 "2012-02-15T23:40:55Z")
NM ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-acceptable-racial-slurs-by-political-leaning/612901/106 "2012-02-15T23:44:53Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > There’s a big difference though. The “Uncle Tom” has a necessarily racial component, someone having an “anti-colonial” background does not. ONe has to do with how you were born, the other where you happened to have lived. An argument that could only be made by someone with no clue about the roots of post-war anti-colonialism. Hell, for all his idiocy, even [D’Souza](http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2010/0927/politics-socialism-capitalism-private-enterprises-obama-business-problem_print.html) seems to understand its roots: > [@](#): > > But to his son, the elder Obama represented a great and noble cause, the cause of anticolonialism. Obama Sr. grew up during Africa’s struggle to be free of European rule, and he was one of the early generation of Africans chosen to study in America and then to shape his country’s future. > > I know a great deal about anticolonialism, because I am a native of Mumbai, India. I am part of the first Indian generation to be born after my country’s independence from the British. Anticolonialism was the rallying cry of Third World politics for much of the second half of the 20th century. To most Americans, however, anticolonialism is an unfamiliar idea, so let me explain it. > > Anticolonialism is the doctrine that rich countries of the West got rich by invading, occupying and looting poor countries of Asia, Africa and South America. As one of Obama’s acknowledged intellectual influences, Frantz Fanon, wrote in The Wretched of the Earth, “The well-being and progress of Europe have been built up with the sweat and the dead bodies of Negroes, Arabs, Indians and the yellow races.” No racial component there, nosiree. Anti-colonialism was not merely a geographic ideology. It was expressly, in most cases, about how colonial domination had also been racial and ethnic domination, and had robbed the native peoples of their own wealth and resources in the name of enriching Europeans. Sure, not every colonist was white, and not every colonized person was black or brown, but issues of race and ethnicity were central to arguments about colonialism in the post-war world. ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-acceptable-racial-slurs-by-political-leaning/612901/107 "2012-02-15T23:57:18Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > You think keeping track of everybody’s stated race and ethnicity would be simple? Why would you need to? It would be a simple rule to say no racial insults. Besides if someone refers to another poster as “a house nigger”, it’s obvious that the person using the term is addressing a black person, or at least thinks they are. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-acceptable-racial-slurs-by-political-leaning/612901/108 "2012-02-16T00:13:10Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > Why would you need to? > > It would be a simple rule to say no racial insults. Is there a master list available for reference, or a cut and dry definition that everyone can agree to? ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-acceptable-racial-slurs-by-political-leaning/612901/109 "2012-02-16T00:20:54Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Is there a master list available for reference, or a cut and dry definition that everyone can agree to? What do you mean by “master”? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-acceptable-racial-slurs-by-political-leaning/612901/110 "2012-02-16T00:23:57Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > … a cut and dry definition that everyone can agree to… How about “insults based on race”? Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-acceptable-racial-slurs-by-political-leaning/612901/111 "2012-02-16T00:24:01Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > What do you mean by “master”? :dubious: And what do _you_ mean by **_Boss_tone**? :dubious:😃 ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-acceptable-racial-slurs-by-political-leaning/612901/112 "2012-02-16T00:26:18Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Is there a master list available for reference, or a cut and dry definition that everyone can agree to? It should be pretty obvious. Does anyone think Uncle Tom, House Nigger, and towelhead aren’t racial slurs? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-acceptable-racial-slurs-by-political-leaning/612901/113 "2012-02-16T00:30:57Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > How about “insults based on race”? > > Regards, > Shodan “I didn’t intend it as an insult” “How can it be an insult if they say it to each other” “The reference is to her/his ethnicity/country of origin, not her/his race” “It may be an insult in that culture, but it isn’t in this other culture” There are probably a few more excuses that exist. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-acceptable-racial-slurs-by-political-leaning/612901/114 "2012-02-16T00:31:59Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > It should be pretty obvious. > > Does anyone think Uncle Tom, House Nigger, and towelhead aren’t racial slurs? Is this your master list? ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-acceptable-racial-slurs-by-political-leaning/612901/115 "2012-02-16T00:35:47Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > “I didn’t intend it as an insult” > “How can it be an insult if they say it to each other” > “The reference is to her/his ethnicity/country of origin, not her/his race” > “It may be an insult in that culture, but it isn’t in this other culture” > There are probably a few more excuses that exist. Do you think excuses similar to this cannot be given in defense of _any_ insult, and therefore there is no way to tell if anything is insulting? Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-acceptable-racial-slurs-by-political-leaning/612901/116 "2012-02-16T00:38:12Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Is there a master list available for reference, or a cut and dry definition that everyone can agree to? Well, here’s [one reference](http://www.rsdb.org/) that came up on an initial search. Looks pretty comprehensive. If we used that as our list, then—just going by the first page alone—the terms “7-11,” “Abe Lincoln,” “African,” “Albino,” “Alphabet,” “Alcoholic,” “Amigo,” and “Ant” would immediately and forthwith be banned. Anyone else seeing a few potential problems with this proposed… ethnic cleansing, as it were? ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-acceptable-racial-slurs-by-political-leaning/612901/117 "2012-02-16T00:39:52Z")
Deleted ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-acceptable-racial-slurs-by-political-leaning/612901/118 "2012-02-16T00:44:20Z")
The “master list” is a cute ZOMG IMPOSSIBLE!!! device, yet we never get examples of which racial epithets should be hunky-dory and why. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-acceptable-racial-slurs-by-political-leaning/612901/119 "2012-02-16T00:49:15Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > The “master list” is a cute ZOMG IMPOSSIBLE!!! device, yet we never get examples of which racial epithets should be hunky-dory and why. Take a looksee at the list **Vinyl Turnip** found, and tell be you would have no problem banning all of those words. ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-acceptable-racial-slurs-by-political-leaning/612901/120 "2012-02-16T01:07:18Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > An argument that could only be made by someone with no clue about the roots of post-war anti-colonialism. > > Hell, for all his idiocy, even [D’Souza](http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2010/0927/politics-socialism-capitalism-private-enterprises-obama-business-problem_print.html) seems to understand its roots:No racial component there, nosiree. > > Anti-colonialism was not merely a geographic ideology. It was expressly, in most cases, about how colonial domination had also been racial and ethnic domination, and had robbed the native peoples of their own wealth and resources in the name of enriching Europeans. Sure, not every colonist was white, and not every colonized person was black or brown, but issues of race and ethnicity were central to arguments about colonialism in the post-war world. :rolleyes: I didn’t say there was “no racial component”. I said it didn’t necessitate the person being of a certain skin color. You even quoted me saying it. Then you even say yourself: “Sure, not every colonist was white, and not every colonized person was black or brown,…”. So, maybe you should pay better attention. Both to what people write and the thoughts sprouting in your brain. My point stands. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-acceptable-racial-slurs-by-political-leaning/612901.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-acceptable-racial-slurs-by-political-leaning/612901.md?page=7)