# The Last Socially Acceptable form of Bigotry **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 24, 2008, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-socially-acceptable-form-of-bigotry/461140 "2008-08-24T22:40:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Khampelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Khampelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khampelf)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2008, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-socially-acceptable-form-of-bigotry/461140/21 "2008-08-24T23:49:54Z")
Arabs are a semitic people. > **[Semitic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semitic)** > > Semitic most commonly refers to the Semitic languages, a name used since the 1770s to refer to the language family currently present in West Asia, North and East Africa, and Malta. > Semitic may also refer to: Hebrews and Arabs are like cousins. Persians are not a semitic people, which is why I said ‘Persians, _too_’. Anti-Arab feeling is anti-semitism, but it’s like a fnord. People see right past it. I percieve, as well as anti-semitism, a bigotry against Persian people (who are not semites). ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2008, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-socially-acceptable-form-of-bigotry/461140/22 "2008-08-24T23:50:28Z")
[QUOTE=Snarky\_Kong] Ok, so are you saying it’s bigotry because Howard Stern made fun of her or because nobody slept with her? [/QUOTE] No, not at all. If a black, fat, handicapped, gay, whatever person walked into your office, it would be thought rude to whip out your cell phone and snap a photo for curiosity’s sake. I maintain it would be acceptable for a person to take a snapshot of Ms Allen and perhaps make a witty remark. ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2008, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-socially-acceptable-form-of-bigotry/461140/23 "2008-08-24T23:52:43Z")
It’s not just differentness compared to the overall majority, but differentness as compared to individual majorities. And often in their calls of bigotry of others people can be bigots themselves. When anti-bigotry is the norm, people will simply be prejudiced against the bigots. I doubt we’ll escape from it any time soon. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2008, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-socially-acceptable-form-of-bigotry/461140/24 "2008-08-24T23:59:31Z")
[QUOTE=jayjay] Yes, anyone whose “different” is sufficiently off the normal curve is subject to this kind of thing. We like to think we’re “advanced” enough to have put most bigotry behind, but we aren’t. This just happens to be the upswing of a cycle where things that were socially unacceptable a couple of decades ago are now becoming socially acceptable. Other things that were socially acceptable a couple of decades ago are now becoming socially unacceptable (drinking & driving, sexual harrassment, smoking, wearing real fur). It’s a pendulum, not a one-way street. [/QUOTE] I’m not sure I follow this idea. Are you suggesting that, at some point in the future, the pendulum will swing back so that left-handedness will become unacceptable and drunk driving will become OK again? ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2008, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-socially-acceptable-form-of-bigotry/461140/25 "2008-08-25T00:03:14Z")
[QUOTE=Khampelf] Anti-Arab feeling is anti-semitism [/QUOTE] Antisemitism is the prejudice against or hostility toward Jews as a group. That Arabs are Semites is irrelevant. There was a thread about this recently. > **[How Did 'Antisemitism' Come to Apply to Jews Only?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=475852)** > > This is something I have wondered for some time now: the word Antisemitism. It means being antijewish. The only thing is, “Semite” doesn’t just mean Jewish. I have a dictionary in front of me now that says Semite refers to Hebrews, Arabs, Assyrians,... ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2008, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-socially-acceptable-form-of-bigotry/461140/26 "2008-08-25T00:07:46Z")
[QUOTE=Paul in Saudi] No, not at all. If a black, fat, handicapped, gay, whatever person walked into your office, it would be thought rude to whip out your cell phone and snap a photo for curiosity’s sake. I maintain it would be acceptable for a person to take a snapshot of Ms Allen and perhaps make a witty remark. [/QUOTE] Acceptable by whom? I maintain that it’s not acceptable to whip out a camera to take a picture of a stranger because they’re freakishly tall. Not any more than taking a picture of a stranger because they hold a record for being the blackest, fattest, most handicapped, etc. person. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2008, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-socially-acceptable-form-of-bigotry/461140/27 "2008-08-25T00:19:57Z")
[QUOTE=x-ray vision] Antisemitism is the prejudice against or hostility toward Jews as a group. That Arabs are Semites is irrelevant. There was a thread about this recently. > **[How Did 'Antisemitism' Come to Apply to Jews Only?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=475852)** > > This is something I have wondered for some time now: the word Antisemitism. It means being antijewish. The only thing is, “Semite” doesn’t just mean Jewish. I have a dictionary in front of me now that says Semite refers to Hebrews, Arabs, Assyrians,... [/QUOTE] Interesting. The [Wikipedia link](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Semitism#Etymology_and_usage) in that thread appears to affirm that the term “antisemitism” has always referred to Jews only (Marr, 1880)… yet the earlier term “antisemitic” referred to all Semitic races (Steinschneider, 1860). So while anti-Arab feeling is not antisemitism, it is antisemitic. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2008, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-socially-acceptable-form-of-bigotry/461140/28 "2008-08-25T00:38:54Z")
More to the point, Persians are not Arabs, and are not Semites. Somehow all this started with Persians. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2008, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-socially-acceptable-form-of-bigotry/461140/29 "2008-08-25T00:49:53Z")
Anti-Semitism means bigotry against Jews, and only Jews, plain and simple. Any other interpretation of this is either ill-informed, or an attempt to lead people down the garden path. You can argue semantics all you want, but it’s like saying that someone who’s the children of white South African parents should be identified as an “African-American.” ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2008, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-socially-acceptable-form-of-bigotry/461140/30 "2008-08-25T00:58:22Z")
I was going to pick ‘Rich people’ as the answer, myself. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2008, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-socially-acceptable-form-of-bigotry/461140/31 "2008-08-25T01:01:44Z")
[QUOTE=Terrifel] I’m not sure I follow this idea. Are you suggesting that, at some point in the future, the pendulum will swing back so that left-handedness will become unacceptable and drunk driving will become OK again? [/QUOTE] Not left handedness. You go to far. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2008, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-socially-acceptable-form-of-bigotry/461140/32 "2008-08-25T01:01:58Z")
[QUOTE=Argent Towers] Anti-Semitism means bigotry against Jews, and only Jews, plain and simple. Any other interpretation of this is either ill-informed, or an attempt to lead people down the garden path. You can argue semantics all you want, but it’s like saying that someone who’s the children of white South African parents should be identified as an “African-American.” [/QUOTE] Well, yeah. They’d be “African,” obviously. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2008, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-socially-acceptable-form-of-bigotry/461140/33 "2008-08-25T01:07:43Z")
They’d be “South African.” Africa is a huge continent. If someone who looked like Matthew McConnaghy went around calling himself an African-American and insisting that others identify him as such, he would be a laughingstock. There’s the minute technicalities of language, and then there’s how the majority of people actually interpret that language. The latter is what’s more important. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2008, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-socially-acceptable-form-of-bigotry/461140/34 "2008-08-25T01:10:17Z")
[QUOTE=Terrifel] I’m not sure I follow this idea. Are you suggesting that, at some point in the future, the pendulum will swing back so that left-handedness will become unacceptable and drunk driving will become OK again? [/QUOTE] No. But things that are considered unacceptable now will probably be acceptable in 50 years. And things that are acceptable now may not be. It won’t necessarily be the SAME things, but it will be a shift. And the thing is, we can’t tell right now what will and will not be acceptable. If you’d asked the average person-on-the-street in 1960 if someday homosexuality would be mostly accepted, they’d laugh at you (or have you arrested). For all we know right now, it may be acceptable in 50 years to hit-and-run as long as the victim is a homeless person. Or it may go the other direction and it will be considered acceptable among the impoverished majority to kill and eat the rich, who have gathered in their heavily defended walled communities for safety. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2008, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-socially-acceptable-form-of-bigotry/461140/35 "2008-08-25T01:11:36Z")
[QUOTE=Argent Towers] They’d be “South African.” Africa is a huge continent. If someone who looked like Matthew McConnaghy went around calling himself an African-American and insisting that others identify him as such, he would be a laughingstock. There’s the minute technicalities of language, and then there’s how the majority of people actually interpret that language. The latter is what’s more important. [/QUOTE] Maybe you don’t want to argue semantics. But the rest of us don’t have to listen to your anti-semantic bigotry. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2008, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-socially-acceptable-form-of-bigotry/461140/36 "2008-08-25T01:21:50Z")
The thread left the track, flipped over and began to burn. Thank you for your comments. I am heading to bed. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2008, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-socially-acceptable-form-of-bigotry/461140/37 "2008-08-25T01:24:03Z")
I blame the Persians. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2008, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-socially-acceptable-form-of-bigotry/461140/38 "2008-08-25T01:25:05Z")
No offense but I think the premise of the thread was somewhat flawed to begin with. Bigotry means making fun of or disliking a large group of people. There isn’t a large group of seven-foot-seven women. Making fun of one such woman might be in very poor taste, but bigotry it isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2008, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-socially-acceptable-form-of-bigotry/461140/39 "2008-08-25T01:25:23Z")
[QUOTE=E-Sabbath] I was going to pick ‘Rich people’ as the answer, myself. [/QUOTE] Yep. Bet that there’s someone in here defending it before the second page. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2008, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-socially-acceptable-form-of-bigotry/461140/40 "2008-08-25T01:25:40Z")
**Terrifel** , language should be used to communicate clearly and honestly. I don’t care what you want to call it, what you’re really doing is using language to communicate \*unclearly \*and _dishonestly_. It’s really that simple. \*You \*know what those words have come to mean, which is far more relevant than what they \*used \*to mean, or what their decontextualized components mean. You’re practicing Newspeak. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-socially-acceptable-form-of-bigotry/461140.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-socially-acceptable-form-of-bigotry/461140.md?page=3)