DISCUSSION - behaving around other races, political correctness

[lissie_pissie]

OKAY SO THIS IS EXCITING. lksdhdfsjkdfa. I'm pulling a response to THIS POST and opening up the first of many of these discussions.

question;
A white person describes a black person as articulate. The black person takes offense, because of the somewhat old stereotype that black people are not as educated and cannot express themselves in a clear,

Comments

[soulcanhope]

This is a really good topic!
But also really hard to respond to.

I mean, I've been offended by things people have said to me before, and at the time I was sure that they were saying something offensive.
But how well can you really know? Aside from someone blatantly telling me that they dislike me because of my race.
I appreciate when people try to be PC around me, but sometimes it can get ridiculous. Really, sometimes it's easier to just SAY what you're trying to say.
But I find myself conflicted too, because I'm not the type of person to get REALLY offended if someone says something stereotypical around me. I don't know if it's because I'm really only half black, or if I was just raised in an environment where I never felt targeted about my skin color.

...I don't know if any of that makes sense.

[foxestacado]

I agree with the previous poster: it is a lot about tone. My dad takes offense at just about everything, and so much of it he's making up in his head. If a person looks at him a certain way, if the waiter happens to bring our plates to us a little bit after another table who got there later than us...he thinks all of it is a conspiracy against his race. I am so sick and tired of it, because honestly, it's not. I'm sure there are perfectly, non-racially-inspired reasons for little things. If you look for it, you'll find things to justify your beliefs

[houseforlife]

once on a trip i did with other schools there were some NZ students and some of them were Indian, and we were discussing how stupid it is people get offended if you refer to them as being "black". Its just a frikin way to indentify one race of people, there's nothing derogatory about the word and connotes almost nothing but skin colour.

I think the line draws when you imply something negative by what you say or mean, its about the intention, cuz otherwise i couldn't give a damn about whether saying "black" or "african american" is politically correct. we aren't all politicians!

[houseforlife]

when i read this my mind went IMMEDIATELY to the office: Diversity day LOL.

[sangria_lila]

Oh for fuck's sake, it is never ever an offense to be called intelligent or articulate or whatever. PEOPLE NEVER MEAN IT AS AN OFFENSE STOP READING THINGS INTO IT PEOPLE. Even when people say to me, oh, you speak English very well, I don't really find that offensive even if it is based on a stereotype (a somewhat correct one) that people from China can't speak English. As long as the intention wasn't to make some snide comment, I like compliments. I'm vain. People are stupid, but individuals are rarely malicious.

Another thing that annoys me are blondes who feel the need to dye their hair in order to be taken seriously (I think OW is one of them, can't think of others.) And honestly? I don't think anything perpetuates the stereotype more than when blondes feel the need to change an attribute of theirs just to be taken seriously. It means you're believing the bloody stereotype.

[kris926]

Thanks for saving me the time to write out a response. =) Totally agree. Some people are just way too sensitive.

My uncle told me that I looked like I've lost weight and then he added, "Not that I'm implying that you needed to!!" like he was afraid that I'd bite his head off or something. If he hadn't said that I would have never even thought it.

[ex_bluebonn]

I complete agree. People are taking offense at everything. If I'm calling you articulate, I'm not implying that your entire race is usually inarticulate, and that you're the exception. THAT'S NOT IT AT ALL. It bothers me a great deal when people bring race into something where it's not even an issue. I was once riding the bus at 6:00am, and a black man boarded with a ghetto blaster (who even uses those anymore anyway?) and started blaring music from it. Several people, myself included, asked him to stop, and he called us racists. The whole situation was ridiculous (black guy with ghetto blaster on an early bus), but it wasn't about race it all - it was about wanting to ride the bus in peace at 6:00am without your awful music.

[icarus_abides]

Damn, I have to go to work.

My main question that I want to bring up here though is, does anyone else find it HYPOCRITICAL that at the same time that the African American community is trying to abolish the word, they are still using it in everyday language as a term of familiarity with one another??

I'm sorry, but this just really irritates me. Practice what you preach and all that.

[palmaceae]

My main question that I want to bring up here though is, does anyone else find it HYPOCRITICAL that at the same time that the African American community is trying to abolish the word, they are still using it in everyday language as a term of familiarity with one another??
AMEN. i have never understood why people think it's cool to refer to each other in incredibly racist/sexist terms. i guess they're trying to subvert the mainstream or something, reclaim the term, show they don't care? It really gets to me, when people go, hey bitches! and they mean it like 'friend' and i'm like, EXCUSE ME I'M NOT A BITCH THANK YOU VERY MUCH.