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Race- Privilege, Relations, Racism, etc.

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First thing's first: KEEP. THIS. SHIT. CIVIL. If you can't talk about race without resorting to childish insults and rude generalizations or getting angry at people who don't see it your way, leave the thread.

With that said, I bring you to what can hopefully be the general thread about race.

First, a few starter questions.

  • How, if at all, do you feel your race affects your everyday life?
  • Do you believe that white people (or whatever the majority race in your area is) receive privileges simply because of the color of their skin. How much?
    • Do you believe minorities are discriminated against for the same reason? How much?
  • Do you believe that assimilation of cultures is better than people trying to keep their own?
  • Affirmative Action. Yea, Nay? Why or why not?

Also, a personal question from me.

  • Why (in my experience, not trying to generalize) do white people often try to insist that they aren't white? I can't count the number of times I've heard "I'm not white, I'm 1/4th English, 1/4th German, 1/4th Scandinavian 1/8th Cherokee, and 1/8th Russian," as though 4 of 5 of those things aren't considered "white" by the masses. Is it because you have pride for your ancestry, or an attempt to try and differentiate yourself from all those "other" white people? Or something else altogether?

edited 30th May '11 9:16:04 PM by Wulf

yoneld Thus speaks yoneld: from Haifa, Israel Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
Thus speaks yoneld:
#10651: Apr 20th 2016 at 1:32:59 AM

[up][up] I'm not saying Israel is a bastion of racial tolerance (it's definitely not) but the fact is that people aren't hurt by word usage. Not that there aren't tensions; but nobody is going to get offended if you call them a certain word. I don't get offended when someone uses the word "Ashkenazi" or "Jew" in that context; I do get offended if someone actually means to deride Ashkenazis or Jews.

Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself.
LeGarcon Blowout soon fellow Stalker from Skadovsk Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
#10652: Apr 20th 2016 at 1:35:51 AM

Well then Israel just has different slurs than we do. There's malice and hatred behind the word Jew here. You'll know it when you hear it.

Oh really when?
vandro Shop Owner from The little shop that wasn't Since: Jul, 2009
Shop Owner
#10653: Apr 20th 2016 at 1:42:44 AM

But your slurs are really weird and overbroad, like we in spanish still use Occidental and Oriental interchangeably with East and West, calling someone "el judio" or "el chino" or "El asiatico" "el negro" "el indio" "el indigena" "el rabiblanco" is not in any way despective, unless it's intent is obviously malicious.

LeGarcon Blowout soon fellow Stalker from Skadovsk Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
#10654: Apr 20th 2016 at 1:44:24 AM

Well yeah, they are.

America is a really fucked up place and you can make a very strong argument that racial hatred is at the heart of almost every problem we face as a society here.

Oh really when?
yoneld Thus speaks yoneld: from Haifa, Israel Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
Thus speaks yoneld:
#10655: Apr 20th 2016 at 1:46:26 AM

It's not that Israel has different slurs - it's an entirely different mentality. Israelis in general places a lot less importance on words than on the actual content; a lot of Israeli politicians are Cluster F-Bombs, and people don't care about that. That's also why Israelis are considered by many to be rude; we just say what we think, and we don't bother to cover it up with smiles, because there's no point if you see through it anyway.

edited 20th Apr '16 1:47:14 AM by yoneld

Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself.
vandro Shop Owner from The little shop that wasn't Since: Jul, 2009
Shop Owner
#10656: Apr 20th 2016 at 1:47:58 AM

Tone policing the racists hasn't worked though. Why cling to that method so fiercely?

LeGarcon Blowout soon fellow Stalker from Skadovsk Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
#10657: Apr 20th 2016 at 1:50:26 AM

Because quite bluntly they'll probably start lynching non white people and shooting cops if we try anything serious.

And we don't wanna have to do that again.

Oh really when?
TheHandle United Earth from Stockholm Since: Jan, 2012 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
United Earth
#10658: Apr 20th 2016 at 2:41:11 AM

Why would racists shoot cops?

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
LeGarcon Blowout soon fellow Stalker from Skadovsk Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
#10659: Apr 20th 2016 at 2:44:43 AM

Because racists go hand in hand with the types to refuse to recognize the legitimacy of government.

Thought I probably should have specified feds instead of cops. Local cops will probably write a lynching off a suicide. In fact they did about 20 minutes from my neighborhood.

Oh really when?
TheHandle United Earth from Stockholm Since: Jan, 2012 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
United Earth
#10660: Apr 20th 2016 at 2:54:03 AM

Holy shit.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Greenmantle V from Greater Wessex, Britannia Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: Hiding
V
#10661: Apr 20th 2016 at 4:55:53 AM

@ yoneld: Sounds a lot like a military mentality. Unsurprisingly.

Keep Rolling On
wehrmacht belongs to the hurricane from the garden of everything Since: Dec, 2010 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
belongs to the hurricane
#10662: Apr 20th 2016 at 5:46:59 AM

I have to confess it's a bit weird that "jew" is used as a slur while "jewish" is perfectly fine, but I've seen what Garcon is talking about many times.

Kostya (Unlucky Thirteen)
#10663: Apr 20th 2016 at 5:52:25 AM

Jew is a slur now? Everybody I know uses that to refer to Jewish people.

MousaThe14 Writer, Artist, Ignored from Northern Virginia Since: Jan, 2011 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
Writer, Artist, Ignored
#10664: Apr 20th 2016 at 5:55:52 AM

It depends on the context and the person using them. It's weird.

Oh and since we breezed by the N word thing and I am an actual black person I... Don't really exercise the so-called privileges. I was raised in a manner where I would never use the term in any situation. The majority of reclamation of the term seems to come from people who are in less privileged positions and don't know any better or those trying to relate to a more, I guess "gangsta" lifestyle. In many ways I'm just as outside of the culture as a lot of you guys are. I find it confounding that people keep using the term.

But I also don't do much cursing either.

The Blog The Art
NativeJovian Jupiterian Local from Orlando, FL Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: Maxing my social links
Jupiterian Local
#10665: Apr 20th 2016 at 7:24:51 AM

I have to confess it's a bit weird that "jew" is used as a slur while "jewish" is perfectly fine
Generally speaking, referring to someone as a descriptive noun (eg, "a Jew") is considered more offensive than using the adjective form of the same word (eg, "a Jewish person") because doing so reduces them to that one aspect of themselves. Using the noun implies that that's the only thing you need to know about them, while using the adjective reinforces the fact that they're people and presumably have more to their identity than the one single trait that you're highlighting.

Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.
AngelusNox Warder of the damned from The guard of the gates of oblivion Since: Dec, 2014 Relationship Status: Married to the job
Warder of the damned
#10666: Apr 20th 2016 at 7:54:53 AM

I've seen my share of "Jew" being used as a offensive slur, not directly against myself, but I've dealt with a lot of Anti-Semites while I was participating of the Skeptic Project conspiracy theory debunking.

In Portuguese black is either "preto" or "negro" and I've seen both being used to describe black people but both also being used as a self description and as a slur. Mostly varies with the context and tone.

I wouldn't mind being referred as a Jew, but the tone sets de intention of how respectful it is.

Inter arma enim silent leges
Greenmantle V from Greater Wessex, Britannia Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: Hiding
V
#10667: Apr 20th 2016 at 9:04:44 AM

To call someone a Jew is an insult. Usually means you're cheap or greedy.

Here it'll get you labelled as an anti-semite. smile

Keep Rolling On
unknowing from somewhere.. Since: Mar, 2014
#10668: Apr 20th 2016 at 12:09:49 PM

"the problem is they don't really ask why they're in that situation"

is one of this situation that people just happen to see, like muslim being extremist or italian and the mafia, it just pop out of nowhere.

Now about slurs, here in venezuela can get weird, we have things like calling the person less white "negrito"(blacky) but as other said its done in playfull and somewhat ignorant matter, I dont know in other place it but here in latinomamerica we have this resistance to speak of racism in anyway, frame it as something else is......weird.

"My Name is Bolt, Bolt Crank and I dont care if you believe or not"
Imca (Veteran)
#10669: Apr 20th 2016 at 12:48:13 PM

I cant exactly talk much, were still devided on wether "forigner" is a slur or not....

._.;

edited 20th Apr '16 12:48:44 PM by Imca

AngelusNox Warder of the damned from The guard of the gates of oblivion Since: Dec, 2014 Relationship Status: Married to the job
Warder of the damned
#10670: Apr 20th 2016 at 1:26:42 PM

Well, some dipshit in here in Brazil traveled to Japan to get a tattoo done by a Japanese artist. Long story short, after the tattoo said individual took pictures to brag about it and one of his Japanese speaking friends told him what was actually tattooed on his back: Baka Gaijin.

Inter arma enim silent leges
Imca (Veteran)
#10671: Apr 20th 2016 at 1:30:32 PM

Baka is the main insult there though.

Well at least as far as I am concerend on the mater, I mean we have much worse words for insulting forigen people and forigner is an easy descriptor.

On the other hand, I can see why thats a probelm too....

So yea, I am foing back to the confusion corner.

Edit: For the curious, Dojin and Yabanjin are much worse.

Ikokujin is worse then Gaijin but not as bad as those two.

edited 20th Apr '16 1:34:47 PM by Imca

TheHandle United Earth from Stockholm Since: Jan, 2012 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
United Earth
#10672: Apr 20th 2016 at 1:55:39 PM

He should have brought his kanji ready-made.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
RBluefish Since: Nov, 2013
#10673: Apr 20th 2016 at 5:01:19 PM

Late reply, but...

What's wrong with "Oriental" ? Seems no more or less sucky than "Asian" or "Asiatic".

In my mind, the term is vaguely equivalent to "colored" or "Negro." That is to say, a term so antiquated as to be mildly offensive. It isn't as bad as, say, "chink" or "gook" or "Jap" or what have you, at least not to me. There are, however, many Asian-Americans who consider it an outright racial slur, one equivalent to the N-word, so yeah, in the US it is much worse than "Asian."

Now, I also know that in many areas of the world (including the UK, to the best of my knowledge), the word doesn't carry the same offensive connotations and sees relatively common usage. But if you're in the US, or talking to someone from the US, I would strongly advise against using the term "Oriental."

"We'll take the next chance, and the next, until we win, or the chances are spent."
TheHandle United Earth from Stockholm Since: Jan, 2012 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
United Earth
#10674: Apr 21st 2016 at 1:03:11 AM

Just do like Trevor Noah did in that bank. Check the "White" box.

edited 21st Apr '16 1:08:48 AM by TheHandle

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
hellomoto Since: Sep, 2015
#10675: Apr 21st 2016 at 5:07:10 AM

I've seen a lot of restaurants serve dishes named Oriental Salad or the like.

In Asia.


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