Today I learned +

[Thomas Shey]

Right, and if we use "Asian" and "African" and "European" to erase distinguishing cultural differences between the thousands of cultures of those places, that is also a downstream effect of racism and colonialism. It is an aspect of othering and dehumanizing people.

I think people are missing the important part of this -- using that terminology IN ORDER to erase those differences. "Asian" is innocuous when you use it to talk about "people that live on the continent of Asia." It is not innocuous when you use it to erase the difference between (just as an example) the people of Korea and the people of Mongolia (each of which, obviously, has its own diversity of cultures).

Intent here matters.

Well, the reason many people don't just call them "Americans" is to distinguish them, but not always in a good way.

Yes, but that doesn't make the term "colonialist". It makes some usage of it colonialist.

(Though calling the "European" usage colonialist gets a little odd--how far back are we talking at that point--the Romans?)

 

[Whisper-Kitten]

It's spread. You'll find the misnamed battle flag in pretty much every state now, and Confederate monuments in places that make no sense (thankfully a lot of these have come down in the past decade). The lost cause naughty word is very common with people of a certain age even in states that were never part of the CSA, I grew up around it in central Kentucky, where the only CSA presence was an invading army but had to listen to my dad and his cousins complain when the high school they went to stopped using a Confederate officer as a mascot.

You get that same attitude in parts of Maryland as well.

 

[Ryujin]

Yes, but that doesn't make the term "colonialist". It makes some usage of it colonialist.

(Though calling the "European" usage colonialist gets a little odd--how far back are we talking at that point--the Romans?)

Some people can't make it past Culloden.

 

[dragoner]

I don't know what it's like in other states outside of the South. Pennsylvania being the lone exception. I've been to Gettysburg. The war was fought here. There are battlefields and monuments all over. It's a point of pride. "The War Of Northern Aggression" "The South Will Rise Again" It's a black mark on our history. It probably had to happen for things to change, but it's not something to be proud of. The last time I was in Gettysburg was with a Palestinian man from Jordan. As we drove around I told him about the war and the battles that took place there. It dawned on him "You lost the war! " Being from Georgia, we did in fact lose the war. I think some around here think they're still fighting it.

I grew up in Texas mostly in oil country in the west. My Dad left and so my Mom remarried an Irish American from a Kentucky coal mining family, so I also went to the Catholic church. Schools was, I don't know the quality, and my English was bad, I learned a lot from RPG's and games. I don't always get everything still though, just nod and say yes. People talked about it, though I think I only really learned stuff reading the National Geographic Civil War book:

 

[Aeson]

You get that same attitude in parts of Maryland as well.

Maryland and Kentucky were slave owning states, so they probably had sympathies for the CSA. Just not enough support to join them.

 

[gnarlygninja]

Maryland and Kentucky were slave owning states, so they probably had sympathies for the CSA. Just not enough support to join them.

Kind of. The questions of "should slavery exist" and "should a state be allowed to secede from the union" were two separate political sliders, and while plenty of people said yes to the former (in Kentucky at least) the overwhelming response to the second was "no". Unionists had a huge majority in both houses of the state legislature and eventually the idea of "we should be neutral" was settled by the CSA invading and taking over part of Kentucky. Being under martial law for a time is not something a lot of local historians look upon fondly, but for some reason a lot of blame is placed on the Union and the confederate guerillas are viewed with a sort of romance. I actually played one for a while in a local historical rom com sort of play at a bed and breakfast.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I would say it is intertwined with racism, and colonialism, I don't know how you would separate it out.

I would say it’s a word with multiple uses, some of which are racist, some of which are not, depending on context (and occasionally, tone).

Think of the word “boy”, for example. There’s definitely neutral, factual uses, and there’s definitely racially charged ones. At 58yo, the number of people who can safely use it in my direction decreases annually.

 

[Whisper-Kitten]

Actually, both states had a fair amount of southern sympathizers for sure, but bold action by Marylands Governer and a miscalculation on the invasion in Kentucky caused both states to reject secession.

 

[Whisper-Kitten]

Kind of. The questions of "should slavery exist" and "should a state be allowed to secede from the union" were two separate political sliders, and while plenty of people said yes to the former (in Kentucky at least) the overwhelming response to the second was "no". Unionists had a huge majority in both houses of the state legislature and eventually the idea of "we should be neutral" was settled by the CSA invading and taking over part of Kentucky. Being under martial law for a time is not something a lot of local historians look upon fondly, but for some reason a lot of blame is placed on the Union and the confederate guerillas are viewed with a sort of romance. I actually played one for a while in a local historical rom com sort of play at a bed and breakfast.

Maryland tried the route of neutrality for a time, rejecting secession, but supporting neutrality. Of course Lees misjudgement in invading drove the state from that posistion.

 

[dragoner]

I would say it’s a word with multiple uses, some of which are racist, some of which are not, depending on context (and occasionally, tone).

Think of the word “boy”, for example. There’s definitely neutral, factual uses, and there’s definitely racially charged ones. At 58yo, the number of people who can safely use it in my direction decreases annually.

I've been called pinche huero million times. haha

We're the same age, slurs were used as noun, verb, and adjective; I myself besides not liking the idea, had a Slavic Dad who simply said if I used any he would slap it out of my mouth, and that was a typical Slav thing. In fact curse words, mat were illegal in the Soviet Union, esp racial slurs.