Racism, Sexism, Antisemitism and other things one can unwittingly be

"And just giving up does anything good?"

No it doesn't. Refocusing your priorities does. Do you realize how much progress could have been made if we (and I mean "we" as in the American Society, not "we" as in the people on this thread) hadn't used the time spent on pointless discussions about whether or not "nigger" is a bad word, and had actually addressed the reasons for modern day racism?

"We still keep fighting against it while hacking at the roots."

This isn't cutting at the roots, its picking off the pedals and being surprised when they grow back.

"Anything could be made positive, but not everything works in reverse."

It actually can. Gay used to mean "happy" and we turned into a derogatory word. We can turn anything into a derogatory word if enough people say it . Its a double-edged sword.

edited 27th Aug '12 5:13:05 AM by DeviantBraeburn

Yeah, but the majority of them would be Melanesian, not African. Either Torres Strait Islanders who are the other group of Indigenous Australians or from other places with majority Melanesian populations like PNG or Fiji. There has been a recent upswing in immigration from Africa to Australia, most from the Sudan but that's only been in the last decade or so.

Complicating this even further is there's been a lot of Tamil's seeking asylum in Australia and they and the other Dravidian people of Southern India and Sri Lanka are almost as dark skinned as many sub-Saharan African, Melanesian and Australian Aboriginal populations.

Assuming black = African is a bit naive in this neck of the woods. And truth be told it also comes off as typical American cultural short-sightedness.

No, it's not.

Anything can be made positive. It just doesn't work in reverse. And let's keep in mind we turned Gay into an entirely different meaning from Happy as well.

How do you turn Happy into a negative view? It's far easier to turn something good word-wise than bad.

And no, it helps hack at the roots, not the leaves. It's not pedantic or dumb to eliminate horrible word usage either. Both are time spent well because they both combat racism. One being better than the other does not make the other a bad idea. At all. The more tools we have to fight, the faster we get it done. Less effective tools does not make them worthless whatsoever. They both help to add more to the fight than one or the other alone. And always will.

To be honest, I will leave the discussion for now. Because these ideas to convince me just won't work. And since I can't add to the debate, it'd be silly to continue beyond this.

So I'll leave with this; The more tools we use to fight, the more powerful we become. More tools equal better, not worse.

List of ethnic slurs.

There's a lot of them. Good luck.

Moving on to more pressing (and non-futile) topics:

Why have some minorities (Jews, Asians) been so successful with integrating into mainstream society and others (Blacks, Latinos) have not?

Without any study or information about the matter, my guess would be one: money. Black people and Latinos usually don't have much money, Japanese and specially Jews do.

Trying to tackle words used in a racist fashion, regardless of how futile, is still nobel. I will always appreciate anyone who is willing to tackle it.

I was not raised in Ireland, even though I was born there. My parents left so they wouldn't have to raise their children amongst "the troubles". I was never called a M**k (the Irish n-word) in any other country I've been in except America. And yes, that word is loaded enough for me it's even hard to type it.

But I also know how hard it is to get those outside the ethnic history to get it. One guy thought he would impress me at a bar a long time ago by ordering me a Black and Tan. The look on my face gave me away. I tried to explain to him giving me a drink called that is like giving a African American a drink called KKK. He refused to see my point because Black and Tans are made with Guiness. Guiness is Irish so that makes it okay somehow. (Very much how rappers drop slurs so it can't b that bad rght?)

My instinct to racism has always been better education. Americans aren't tought anything when it comes to interntional or even their own Native cultures.English people have been taugh slightly better but also more skewed.

Again, if we want to aim for perfection, let's aim for legal and educational perfecion. Cultural perfection will follow.

"Without any study or information about the matter, my guess would be one: money. Black people and Latinos usually don't have much money, Japanese and specially Jews do."

Yes, we Jews do have a way with stealing legally earning your money.

But this raises a question, why don't Black people and Latinos have money?

edited 27th Aug '12 6:00:11 AM by DeviantBraeburn

Probably because those regions of the world (namely Africa and parts of Latin America) were subjugated by the more powerful civilisations of previous eras. European Imperialism, basically.

edited 27th Aug '12 6:04:24 AM by Talby

I don't follow.

History. Opportunity to ear money is not equal to everyone. People who already have money usually keep it, while people who doesn't never menage to get some.

Jews always had money*

Black people either descend from slaves or live or are from poorer regions of the world. Latinos descend from colonies which were mercilessly explored by European powers*

edited 27th Aug '12 6:06:14 AM by Heatth

Oh. Gotcha.

Sure, but South East Asians were subjected to European Colonialism and they are doing just fine.

And its not like you see Ethiopians and Liberians hauling ass, just because they escaped being colonized by Europe.

edited 27th Aug '12 6:11:30 AM by DeviantBraeburn

Historically, in Europe, usary (lending money with interest) was a sin. The same is true for the Middle-east and Islam. So, the Jews were the main group able to act as bankers until industrialisation (openly, anyway).

Africa and Latin America were subjugated by European powers in the Colonial Era, so it makes sense that people from those regions aren't going to be rolling in cash. Rather, the opposite.

edited 27th Aug '12 6:12:21 AM by Talby

Then where do Indians & Pakistanis fit into this then?

They, um... got better.

Actually, it might have something to do with India having a strong independence movement. I'm not sure about Pakistan or other parts of the region.

Edit: If you're talking about why people hate Indians/Pakistanis... well, I really have no idea.

Edit Edit: Although, how well-liked a certain group of people is really depends on the region. A lot of racist people in Australia do not have a high opinion of Asians.

edited 27th Aug '12 6:48:04 AM by Talby

No, but I expect it's the whole "taking our Jobs" thing.

I was actually noting the fact that Indians & Pakastanis usually have plenty of money — maybe it is something to do with a strong work ethic?

I think the reasons Latinos and Black people are doing bad in the money department, is poor education.

As demonstrated on this graph.◊

The question is why aren't Black people and Latinos poorly educated.

edited 27th Aug '12 7:03:26 AM by DeviantBraeburn

Bad education is often result of lack of money, though.

Because the entire point to the term "Black" was to prevent people from having said money, and has been for 300 years.

For Latinos, it has a lot to do with the fact that they leave everything behind in whatever country they originate from (typically Mexico) and come here to start new lives and find themselves as wage slaves.

Wait, what? I am fairly sure the point of the term "Black" is just indentification. Such as "white", "moor" or "Irish".

No. Irish is nationality. As in, a person from Ireland. Same with "Scottish", "English", "Japanese", etc.

"Black" was a term invented to summarize persons who were permitted to be enslaved and discriminated against. "White" was a term created to mean those deserving of equal treatment.

Interestingly, for a long time, Polish, Irish, Slavs, and some other Europeans were not considered "White". Jews, Roma, and Turkish are still not.

edited 27th Aug '12 7:34:40 AM by KingZeal

"Jews, Roma, and Turkish are still not. "

Depends on who you ask. You'll notice the option to pick JEW is not in the national census regarding race.

""Black" was a term invented to summarize persons who were permitted to be enslaved and discriminated against. "White" was a term created to mean those deserving of equal treatment."

Black was a term created to talk about people whose skin looked black. White was a term created to describe people who's skin color looks white (and because Peach-like doesn't sound good.)

edited 27th Aug '12 7:39:26 AM by DeviantBraeburn

True enough. It's slowly going away.

No it wasn't.

From Wikipedia:

The term "white race" or "white people" entered the major European languages in the later 17th century, originating with the racialization of slavery at the time, in the context of the Atlantic slave trade and enslavement of native peoples in the Spanish Empire. While first a social category, it has repeatedly been ascribed to strains of blood, ancestry, and physical traits, and was eventually made into a subject of scientific research, which culminated in scientific racism, before being widely repudiated by the scientific community.

edited 27th Aug '12 7:39:33 AM by KingZeal

I'm calling bull to a lot of this until provided evidence.

edited 27th Aug '12 7:39:14 AM by DeviantBraeburn