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This may not be politically correct, but......
- Thread starter AFB
- Start date
Barnaby W. Füi
Elite Member
It's not used as a nationality; it's used as a race. Saying your race is "American" would be pretty stupid. But I'm not sure why African-American gained favor over black. (I think it's a bit inane myself)
It isn't that it is not PC, but that you are going to rile up the racists(GeneralGrevious) and the race-baiters(classy). See, the issue is that many people feel the need to be different to fit-in. In other words some people have to be labeled as different to feel they are the same. Yeah, it makes zero sense, but I'm not black so what do I know?
I think the worst comment I've ever heard from a black person was about the use of the term n!gger.
There was a TV show, and one of the guests, who was black, was asked about the use of the term n!gger between black people.
She said they called each other n!ggers to disempower the word, so it wasn't deemed offensive, but if this is truely the case, why is it still offensive?
I personally don't understand why blacks call each others n!ggers, disempowerment is BS, as it's still offensive when used by anyone else.
(Sorry to go OT). And it wasn't an African-American speaking, it was a British woman in the UK 😛
There was a TV show, and one of the guests, who was black, was asked about the use of the term n!gger between black people.
She said they called each other n!ggers to disempower the word, so it wasn't deemed offensive, but if this is truely the case, why is it still offensive?
I personally don't understand why blacks call each others n!ggers, disempowerment is BS, as it's still offensive when used by anyone else.
(Sorry to go OT). And it wasn't an African-American speaking, it was a British woman in the UK 😛
Boy oh boy. Isn't this a repost?
Anyway, I'm black, and I call myself black. "African-American" is too clunky, outdated, and needlessly PC.
Furthermore, I firmly believe that blacks who started calling each other "great person" did it to take the edge off the word and to un-label themselves. This is coming from my grandmother, who certainly knows more about it than anybody on this board. 😛
Anyway, I'm black, and I call myself black. "African-American" is too clunky, outdated, and needlessly PC.
Furthermore, I firmly believe that blacks who started calling each other "great person" did it to take the edge off the word and to un-label themselves. This is coming from my grandmother, who certainly knows more about it than anybody on this board. 😛
Barnaby W. Füi
Elite Member
But black people who are American are guaranteed to be African-American 😉, and that's generally how it's used. Or have black people evolved in places other than Africa?
But I think it is pretty stupid. I mean, how far back do you wanna go? If you go back far enough, Native Americans are Asian, and Europeans are African. Or at the logical extreme, everyone is African.
So yeah, I think it makes sense that ethnic descriptions should describe... ethnicity. Not nationality or location in the world.
But then, what do we call Asians? Yellow? And Asia is a big place; doesn't "Asian" usually actually imply East Asian? Should we call Middle-Easterners orangey-reddy-brown? I guess white and black are the odd ones; maybe that's why they have been moving towards African-American and Caucasian. But African and European make more sense. We could use black and white, but that's inconsistent. Why call European people white and call yellow people Asian, but almost never vice versa? Oh, and the Caucasus actually is a place! But many white people don't originate from there.
I seem to ramble when it's late 😕
Barnaby W. Füi
Elite Member
Yep, it's a pretty popular tactic, actually. Feminists have done it with c*nt and bitch; gays have done it with queer, and to a lesser extent, f*g. It never seems to fully work though: c*nt, bitch, and f*g are all still derogatory, and queer is still somewhat derogatory -- I think it's considered less severe simply because it had a more innocent meaning to begin with.
(edit: oh, and obviously, "the n word" is usually offensive when coming from someone who's not black. so offensive that i'm not even comfortable typing/saying it 😉)
It didn't skip a generation at all. Blacks of pretty much every age use the word.
And I doubt the hip hop usage now has any correlation other than that it had been popularized in black culture as a way for blacks to refer to one another in an informal manner. And it's not just young black guys who do it, despite appearances.
Honest answer: Those middle aged men generally only do it around other black people, in a certain sort of setting. It's not really socially acceptable, you know?
I wouldn't say she uses it regularly, but it was a shock to hear her call my sisters and I "those little yellow awesome people" the first few times, because I was taught the word was supposed to be so offensive, and suddenly, it was being used in a humorous way.
PlatinumGold
Lifer
to truly "take the edge of the word" stop making such a big deal about anyone using the word.
the whole PC attitude towards the word "great person" has given it more power and made it artificially more offensive.
PlatinumGold
Lifer
😉
not you, the whole PC crowd. come to think of it, i recently got off a 2 week ban for using the word, not directed at anyone or in a racial way, just by posting the word multiple times in a post.
someone posted in this thread, they are uncomfortable typing the word. it's just a word and only has as much power as we give it, by making it taboo etc etc we give it more power, not less.
Barnaby W. Füi
Elite Member
Quite true, but when you're at risk of being on the receiving end of the condemnation, you're less likely to be so adventurous about helping to liberate the word, no matter how well-intentioned you may be. In fact, I could have typed out "great person" if I wanted, and like I just did, but like I said, it's uncomfortable to me. Sure, I'm a product of societal rules of silliness (political correctness, manners, morals, ethics); so is everyone. Can't totally escape them. 😛