Is the term "racism" being stretched too far, applied to too many things?

[gamerprinter]

I don't think there's any word or phrasing that is safe to use to describe the descendants of native Africans in America. Somebody's going to get tetchy over it no matter what.

Then there's situations like I recall Rumsfeld making a speech during the Iraq war and he used the word "niggardly" and caught hell for being a racist. Except the word "niggardly" sounds like a racial epithet, but its not. It might have been wiser to choose a different synonymous word like "cheap" or "miserly" on national TV, but the word is not racist, rather its sounds racist to an uneducated person. I thought all the hoopla was overblown, but that's because I know what the word means and what it doesn't mean (but I myself would never use that word, choosing something more common like "cheap").

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Then there's situations like I recall Rumsfeld making a speech during the Iraq war and he used the word "niggardly" and caught hell for being a racist. Except the word "niggardly" sounds like a racial epithet, but its not. It might have been wiser to choose a different synonymous word like "cheap" or "miserly" on national TV, but the word is not racist, rather its sounds racist to an uneducated person. I thought all the hoopla was overblown, but that's because I know what the word means and what it doesn't mean (but I myself would never use that word, choosing something more common like "cheap").

I remember something about that...and thinking he had just made a rhetorical "unforced error."

There have been several comedy skits that have covered that territory.

My one quibble here is the use of the word "uneducated". Commonly, that carries a negative connotation of being ignorant...because the word is too often used as a way to say that. It is also a bit overbroad- someone can be quite well educated and never have encountered the term "in the wild" as it were.

It takes more words to say it, but I usually try to spell out that I mean someone simply doesn't know the meaning of a word (or whatever) rather than saying that person is "uneducated".

 

[Joker]

This is true, but...

"Colored" has been a term of offense for 50+ years. At least in this particular case- as well as for other well-known epithets- there shouldn't even be a question of appropriateness of usage, except in the case of foreigners.

I see the PC crowd has pressured you again. Where we come from we say "offensive term" not "term of offense".

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I'm a Mac guy, not PC!

 

[gamerprinter]

This is true, but...

"Colored" has been a term of offense for 50+ years. At least in this particular case- as well as for other well-known epithets- there shouldn't even be a question of appropriateness of usage, except in the case of foreigners.

Honestly when I was a kid (8 years old and younger), I lived in Seattle where black Americans were in my school and we used the term "colored" not meant to be derogatory, but its what we used in discussion - in retrospect that was definitely with a negative connotation, but as a child wasn't making any such judgment (I didn't know it was wrong at the time, but then I was only 8). It wasn't until I moved to Illinois (8+ years) that different terms were used. I think I picked up the word in school, rather than from my parents or anything.

As an aside, my mother, who is Japanese, was pregnant with me, on vacation with my grandmother visiting Florida in 1962 and was eating at a small restaurant, when my mom wanted to use the restroom, but the sign said "Whites only" and my mother didn't know what to do. So my grandmother asked a waitress who stated that my mom wasn't black, therefore qualified for "whites only". Since our family lived in the north, my mom never encountered that situation until that point, but then she'd only arrived in American in 1960.

 

[Ryujin]

Then there's situations like I recall Rumsfeld making a speech during the Iraq war and he used the word "niggardly" and caught hell for being a racist. Except the word "niggardly" sounds like a racial epithet, but its not. It might have been wiser to choose a different synonymous word like "cheap" or "miserly" on national TV, but the word is not racist, rather its sounds racist to an uneducated person. I thought all the hoopla was overblown, but that's because I know what the word means and what it doesn't mean (but I myself would never use that word, choosing something more common like "cheap").

I'm quite honestly surprised that, given the audience, no one has pulled out the "Princess Bride" quote yet.

 

[Umbran]

"Colored" has been a term of offense for 50+ years. At least in this particular case- as well as for other well-known epithets- there shouldn't even be a question of appropriateness of usage, except in the case of foreigners.

I think you may underestimate how sheltered some people can be from the conversation that would inform someone of what is offensive, an what isn't.

I think you may also be overestimating how much self-editing people naturally do. Even knowing that it is offensive is not proof that it doesn't slip out. And we must allow for each other to be *human*.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I know that humans are imperfect and make all kinds of slips. That doesn't mean one shouldn't be challenged... Unchallenged, they never learn.

As the joke goes, "What do you mean, 'You people'?"

See also Cavanaugh, the racist in Porky's who kept calling Jews "kites".

I'll say that I bet most of the people who are 50 years behind on "colored" being a slur probably never got as far as using "colored" in a polite context.

Except those who aren't from the USA, of course. Like I said, foreigners- even those who speak English natively- are not going to be up to speed on the course of American pejoratives.

...just like Americans won't be up to speed on English or Australian (etc.) ones.

 

[Joker]

[video=youtube;xPxs0Qh72kY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPxs0Qh72kY[/video]

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Exactly! (Tropic Thunder was da BOMB!)

In another example, does anyone really believe this mayor is so clueless to think what he's saying isn't racist? Or does he think that we're so gullible as to believe him?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/washington-mayor-racist_55a71677e4b04740a3defd84