Racism question (let Kickback decide...)

[A Boy Named Crow]

10 minutes ago, The White Cockade said:

"Play the white man" is about as racist a phrase that there is

Anything that uses race to make a point is by definition racist. That the racist nature of the phrases on this thread are even being debated probably speaks more to the age of your average kickback poster than anything else. My gran used to come out with some absolute shockers,  but she was of a bygone age...

[Captain Slog]

2 hours ago, Der Kaiser said:

You could try other colours

 

Paint me yellow and call me....no...wait maybe not yellow.

 

Paint me red and call m....no..no....same problem.

 

......

 

Got it

 

Paint me green and tell me to **** right off

Is it light green or dark green?

 

[davemclaren]

1 hour ago, A Boy Named Crow said:

Anything that uses race to make a point is by definition racist. That the racist nature of the phrases on this thread are even being debated probably speaks more to the age of your average kickback poster than anything else. My gran used to come out with some absolute shockers,  but she was of a bygone age...

Age is certainly a factor. 

[superjack]

3 hours ago, Ked said:

Had a wee rummage on Google about the word cracker.

Was used to describe unruly Scots/irish immigrants in the early days of America.

Its unclear the origins of the racial way black people use it.

I've never been called it.

Has anyone else?

Robbie Coltrane has apparently.

[Captain Slog]

2 minutes ago, davemclaren said:

Age is certainly a factor. 

Also, i think time is a factor,  Even in thirteen years since the post, the consensus has changed, we are now educated to the effects of such language, not so ignorant as then, and realise that, even if it is not intended, it's passive racism.

 

Indeed, I recall the opening phrase, even before the TV series.  But it was paint me black and call me Sambo.  I had a boss who used to say it all the time in an exaggerated African American deep south accent if given excess work or work he considered beneath him.  The fact that they changed it to Benson  shows even years ago they realised it wasn't right.

 

There have been a lot of positive changes to our language over the years  I have lived.  As a child, i referred to the Chinese restaurant in Uphall as a diminutive.  The local corner shop too, as a diminutive of Pakistan.  In that, etymologically i was correct, else we would now  call ourselves Scotlanders, but the term has become slur a slur now i'd never use it again.

 

Downs syndrome is another term we had words for, and that Glasgow Comedian girl lowlife who did adverts used a term for people with physical disabilities and rightly was cancelled, thank goodness most right minded have moved on from there,  I don't think people were spiteful, just didn't realise the harm words caused,

 

Interestingly.  Back in the seventies, gay was a similar derogatory term, though we had much worse (I'm so sorry Janes).  But through the amazing  work of Stonewall, it is now a very positive term.  My fathers best man was gay, when i was born and grew up and met him, he was referred to as a confirmed bachelor when child me  asked where was his wife.  Although, as an aside, I'm jokingly miffed they also took over all the nice colours like pink and the rainbow.  Pink is a masculine (in a classical giving context, not how hunky you look) colour, and the rainbow - all the Pentateuch religions should have first dibs on that. or even Greenpeace,

 

Latin for black is another one.  Again, republican types use it in a derogatory way.  But, African Americans use it, but insist whites may not.  Is semantic because i wouldn't use it - but this in itself is racist no?

 

And what about what we all ourselves.  Is Jock, derogatory.  Should i baaaa at my Aberdeen friends. are Morning side women middle lass and whores (fur oat and no knickers).

 

Glaswegians will be either side of an ersepiece forever though. unless a jag, don't try to educate me on that.

 

Midget gems - I initially thought why, but if people have been abused, I won't use the term - i didn't realise midget affected - so sorry.

 

Finally, i do realise there are those that say this goes to far, its woke.  I however do not think little changes in how we talk are too much to ask to protect someone's feelings, even if we spoke unintentionally.  I would say however, that all the cases above have no one that loses out if we change our attitudes.  But.  The whole trans debate changes the momentum.  I feel womens rights are being eroded, when all the letters after LGB attached themselves to stonewall it became a parody, and actually diminished the LGB community, and this will be very interesting to see how our language develops to protect women and the trans community - safeguarding womans rights but also allowing trans to feel safe and accepted

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Captain Slog]

And, last year, my wife @Dorothy was told thats very white of you in a shop, I think she pointed out she had been undercharged.  In Kansas.  She was in tears, as a shoolteacher, she has invested her life into teaching young kids of colour to make the most of themselves.  What chance do they have if others implicitly believe doing good is only done by Caucasians?

 

[Maroon Sailor]

8 hours ago, Der Kaiser said:

You could try other colours

 

Paint me yellow and call me....no...wait maybe not yellow.

 

Paint me red and call m....no..no....same problem.

 

......

 

Got it

 

Paint me green and tell me to **** right off

 

 

[davemclaren]

7 hours ago, Captain Slog said:

And, last year, my wife @Dorothy was told thats very white of you in a shop, I think she pointed out she had been undercharged.  In Kansas.  She was in tears, as a shoolteacher, she has invested her life into teaching young kids of colour to make the most of themselves.  What chance do they have if others implicitly believe doing good is only done by Caucasians?

 

That is shocking and very sad. 

[A Boy Named Crow]

It is interesting how these things work. Cantonese dpeakers refer to white people as "gweilo", which means "ghost man" or "devil man". It used to be a derogatory slur, but more recently, Cantonese speakers have decided it is no longer a derogatory slur and use it openly in conversation with zero push-back.

 

Now, imagine people decided darkie no longer had negative or derogatory connotations and started openly using it to describe afro-carribean people. There would, rightly, be an uproar!

 

Like I said, interesting how these things work...

 

Edited February 4, 2022 by A Boy Named Crow