Offensive, racist or an example of political correctness gone overboard?

Kmal said:
Sure, lets hear them.

So these people thought it wasn't worth fighting for? Or rather, what they could gain by not fighting > what they were fighting for? what does that imply?
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lol okay... i can list a few possibilities

- how much people think others will care about the way they react
(how much they have to gain/lose, or if they dont want to be excluded from social circles etc)
as in, their situation could get worse if they speak up about something
or it could improve
they could hold the offense against people and possibly get benefits by publicizing or threatening to publicize
or if they are in oppressive circumstances they could be reprimanded or lose benefits by doing so
implications within their own culture/circle/family for speaking up about such things (the individual's culture/background and people in it may prefer that they keep quiet or speak up about it, and will reprimand if not)

- upbringing, as in how much the person "expects" to be offended in their daily lives
what they see as normal or acceptable

- personal experience with all these things

- individual personality

____

The thing is, the way people react outwardly is different from whether or not they know if they are facing actual prejudice.

Umm I no longer know where you or I are going with this lol..

VH said:
Apparently, you do or else we wouldn't have the story about the two ladies on the plane. I'm pretty sure they assumed the stewardess was trying to be an a**hole. Otherwise, they wouldn't have gotten upset.

I once was at a movie theater. This dude wouldn't stop talking on his cell phone, so I told him to shut up. After the movie, he confronted me and accused me of being racist. Clearly, in a dark theater, I am able to discern the race of someone I can't even see. He was pissed off that I called him out, and couldn't come up with anything better than the race card to justify himself. When he realized I was standing there with my (at the time) Mexican girlfriend and our mutual buddy who is black (and has one of the most brilliant scientific minds I know), he suddenly had no leg to stand on. I proceded to explain to him that I don't care who you are, it's impolite to ruin the movie for everyone else who paid to see it.
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Yeah... I'm pretty sure these people just wanted to troll. Deep down they know that they haven't even been offended. They just want to rage. What I meant is that people do or SHOULD know the intents of others, but their overreacting is their own conscious choice.
 
The thing is, the way people react outwardly is different from whether or not they know if they are facing actual prejudice.

Umm I no longer know where you or I are going with this lol..
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that's where intelligence comes in (not education, more like common sense). [MENTION=708]VH[/MENTION] said it very well-- emotional hypochondriacs.
 
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niffer said:
Yeah... I'm pretty sure these people just wanted to troll. Deep down they know that they haven't even been offended. They just want to rage. What I meant is that people do or SHOULD know the intents of others, but their overreacting is their own conscious choice.
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I couldn't agree more that people should be aware of the intent of others, but unfortunately in most cases they simply don't.
 
What I meant earlier about more educated/experienced people was that they were less likely to unintentionally offend others. I wasn't referring to the "victims".

I haven't heard the stewardess story btw. Did she offer someone grape drink or something?
 
VH said:
Post #19 in this thread.
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Lol wow ok. XD I can see how someone who may have faced a lot of racist jokes/offense in their lives would have thought it could have been racist, especially in Southern USA, but I don't think they should have taken it to court. >_> It's a common child's rhyme. Some clarification from the crew would have sufficed. In this day and age in most places you shouldn't really assume that people are being intentionally racist.
 
niffer said:
Lol wow ok. XD I can see how someone who may have faced a lot of racist jokes/offense in their lives would have thought it could have been racist, especially in Southern USA, but I don't think they should have taken it to court. >_> It's a common child's rhyme. Some clarification from the crew would have sufficed. In this day and age in most places you shouldn't really assume that people are being intentionally racist.
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Unfortunately, there's the potential for money in it if an employee of a big corporation does something 'racist' (even as an out of court settlement), which I think adds fuel to the fire of these sorts of cases.

One of the biggest epidemics we have in America is our inherent sense of entitlement, and the many mechanisms we employ to validate it. Combine entitlement, indignation and the potential for profit - and it's a recipe for false accusation. As I stated, our current system encourages this, and it's a real problem because each such case reduces the likelihood that a legitimate case will be taken seriously.

Also, I'm from the southern USA, and I can assure you that black people use racial epithets profoundly more often than the white people. Sure there are some racist hold outs among the white people down here, but even in the south it's surprising when it happens and the rest of us all look at each other like the person is crazy. The stereotypes are not nearly what you would assume. The problem is that in the south we have a lot of poor and uneducated people. As any sociologist will tell you - being poor and uneducated (regardless of race) is the recipe for all manner of social problems including crime. While there is an abnormally high percentage of black people in jail in the south, there's also an abnormally high population of black people in the south - the vast majority of which are good law abiding people. The correlation isn't race or even racism. It's education and poverty level combined with population percentages.

black.jpg
 
In regards to that stewardess story. (or the now PC title Flight Attendant) My Mother used to recite that racist version to me when I was a toddler.
"Eenie meenie miney mo, catch a N***** by the toe. If he screams, let him go. Eenie meenie miney mo."
I am sure she was just repeating what she heard as a child growing up in the 20's and thought nothing of repeating it to me.
(She had me late in life)

Even though that rhyme has a history, as it was recited by the stewardess meant no harm. The Judge was wrong in my opinion to uphold the plaintiff's complaint.
 
Detective Conan said:
I'd honestly be more impressed at the fact the pot could yell at another object than offended about what it yelled, but I digress.

I personally think a lot of phrases or words have been turned to shit by political correctness. I got in trouble by one of my professors for describing a company as "being in the black" -_- like seriously? Last I checked, anyway, being in the black was a GOOD THING.
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Your professor is a loon. Being in the black as in black ink as opposed to red ink has nothing to do with race. It doesn't seem his education made him any smarter.

VH said:
This story proves that we need to ban Fi.
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Funny, that looked very Fe to me. ;)

Re: Wikipedia article on the term African American

Marcus Garvey was Jamaican not African. He was of African descent. He may have liked to refer to himself as African but he was born on Jamaican soil before our independence and so was a subject of the British crown.
 
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VH said:
This story proves that we need to ban Fi.
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VH said:
Two people chose to be offended, lash out based on how they felt about it, and refused to go along with how everyone else felt about it... that looks like Fe to you?

*rubs eyes and looks again*

Meh, maybe it's just F in general. I keep forgetting most F types are not known for their reasoning skills.
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:D F in general, I think.

niffer said:
What I meant is that people do or SHOULD know the intents of others, but their overreacting is their own conscious choice.
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That's the problem though. People don't know the intents of others unless they are told. We are just guessing and there is always the possibility of being wrong.

Maybe those women should have asked the stewardess what she meant?
 
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kiu said:
Re: Wikipedia article on the term African American

Marcus Garvey was Jamaican not African. He was of African descent. He may have liked to refer to himself as African but he was born on Jamaican soil before our independence and so was a subject of the British crown.
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Yes, yes, Marcus Garvey was Jamaican. The reason why I posted the article wasn't because of him, though. It was about the term.

Truthfully, it's nearly impossible to understand a different culture unless you live in it for an extended period of time. Ask someone who's lived in a foreign country for more than two years; they'll tell you that they have a lot more to learn than they thought they did.

Hearing about a culture is not the same as experiencing it.

On the topic, however, I think the women overreacted on the plane. But I can see why they overreacted, and that's the difference.
 
The most racist people I've ever met were from Massachusetts and Vermont. Parts of the country that don't have enough minorities for people to know them personally and where the civil rights movement never did very much tend to be the strongest bastions of racism, at least among the younger generation.
 
magister343 said:
The most racist people I've ever met were from Massachusetts and Vermont. Parts of the country that don't have enough minorities for people to know them personally and where the civil rights movement never did very much tend to be the strongest bastions of racism, at least among the younger generation.
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From our census here:




I have noticed a fair amount of racism around here but most of it seems to come from ignorance rather than hate. Here it seems to be a certain uncomfortableness about what can or can't be said and how to act because no one really knows and being that most everyone you meet here is white it's really easy when you see a minority to think "look a black person" or "look an asian person" and want to ask a slew of question about what being that race is like. (I've seen this happen quite a bit.) Which obviously people don't want to only be associated with their heritage but in a culture like that I imagine it's very easy to become known as "The black kid" in class and things like that because I've seen it happen. Myself, I try to avoid those types of things and just treat everyone the same I do seem to notice people that aren't white more though when in out and about in public.
 
Sali said:
I have noticed a fair amount of racism around here but most of it seems to come from ignorance rather than hate.
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When you say "here," do you mean the community you live in or this community with which you chose to be a part of while using your computer?
 
Sali said:
The area I live.
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Okay, I wasn't sure. But I thought that was what you meant. I would say the same was true 25 years ago. Most of the people were just ignorant. Do you know where 8th and Mc Donald is? I remember when I was about twelve, a black family moved in there. It was the first minority family to move into the neighborhood so it was exciting to me. But for others, there seemed to be something abrasive about it. Honestly, it makes absolutely no sense, but I think your right. It's rooted in ignorance.
 
[MENTION=2716]Norwich[/MENTION] I know round about where that is, yeah. I don't think there's necessarily really abrassiveness anymore too much (maybe a bit among the elderly.) More just like something different. Maybe I'm not making sense though. >_<
 
Sali said:
More just like something different. Maybe I'm not making sense though. >_<
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You are making sense to me.....I think. The attitude of gratitude acknowledges a difference. And for whatever reason, it is different enough. At times, it is enough to constitute some declaration from a lady wearing purple hair. Even though the purple haired lady is obviously full of it, she must still be honored. And with that comes a certain amount of respect, even if she doesn't seem worthy.
 
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