Quote:
Originally Posted by Salvanas
What will that change, in the long run? Nothing.
Another factor here, is that it depends on the person. A racist person will be racist, regardless if he knows or not.
A person who is not racist, will not be racist.
But what's the point, when you can just say one word, which describes your culture?
You didn't understand my point.
Nigger, negro and all the other ones like Caucasian and Hispanic (I don't agree to the last three being racist, but I'll agree with you for my example) are offensive. And I'll agree that they should be, let's say, banned.
Let's say they are. Again, people will still be racist, by using for example, American.
"He's an American." - This isn't racist.
"He's a fucking American" - This is racist.
People will still be racist, when you take away the slurs. It's all about how the person uses the word.
The only way to get rid of this, is to;
A: Ban words that say the Nationalities name. The problem is, people will then make up other words for being used as racist remarks. So...
B: Get rid of racism from people, as a whole. The problem with this, is it's just impossible, and futile, because as you said so yourself, we're all racist.
So in the end. You get no where. You go in circles.
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OOOOOH. I understand what you're saying now. Yeah, that's true. Racism will exist whether offensive words exist or not. To me, though, taking away offensive words is just a small step in the right direction.
Tenchu: I don't think you're being racist if you use the word caucasian. I think that, before reading the article, you were blissfully ignorant - how much of prefer to be, honestly. Now that you've read the information, and you know what it means, you can choose to make a change or ignore what you know. As I've explained before, I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing to ignore and not make a change. Taking words out of your vocabulary - words you've used since childhood - are a little difficult. It's like stripping away at who you are and all you know. Knowing that, I don't really expect anything from you.
burkhartdesu: Then why be in this thread? That's something I can't quite understand. Honestly, without getting into an argument, can you explain that to me? Why are there so many people who are "pissed off" at me, who only have negative things to say without actually responding to the topic at hand - who are really, very annoyed by everything I have to say - and why don't they ever leave this thread? Is it because they're attracted to negativity? Is it boredom? Seriously, I'm not trying to insult you or anything like that. I just want to see someone's POV on that, someone who is annoyed, because I can't begin to understand on my own.
SSJup81 (and
MMM, I guess): I absolutely understand where you guys are coming from. I do. I've argued this point before with MMM, and we've discussed this point already. I say that is a person in Japan were to ask me, "Are you related to Rihanna?" just because we're both black, that's innocence. Here in the USA, I'd be offended. In Japan, I know that there isn't the same cultural history.
Let's look at Japanese history, though. They've borrowed a lot from China, haven't they? They borrowed the ideas of Buddhism, writing, culture - and, though they've only borrowed those ideas, it became a part of Japanese culture.
Japan has now borrowed a lot from the USA as well. Entertainment, mostly. They've also, unfortunately, borrowed the ideas on racism. They don't know what it means. Yet it's become a part of Japanese culture. This means that, any child that has seen that videogame, will now associate black people with that picture. Anyone who has seen blackface will associate black people with that. I don't know about you, but when I look at blackface, I see the idea that a race can easily be portrayed by a little bit of makeup and some simple, stereotyped gestures. I'm sure that people understand stereotyping across all nations and cultures. I'm sure that people understand that it's wrong. So why is it that, in Japan, it's all right to stereotype an entire race through blackface? They may not understand the USA history behind it, but because they've borrowed it from the USA, they think that it's acceptable. They think that mock portrayals of black people is entertainment.
Ministry show, anyone?
This is why history should be taught: so that it doesn't happen again.
Seraphim: You're arguing for reclaiming the word, and it's interesting. That's just something I personally can't agree with. A word will always have the history behind of it.