PC gone mad

Caleb · Post by **Caleb** » 07 May 2007 17:10

Since I live in the ghetto in between the avenues of Vice and Sin, I like to sometimes go out of my way to help kids and give them a positive message about life. I regularly go to the inner-city middle school's basketball courts and play around with the kids there. Sometimes show them some footbag and talk about how a determined person is capable of anything. I even gave some of my old computer books and old computer out recently. It felt pretty good.

Anyway, (beyond the background of how I got into this situation) I made the mistake of saying that one little guy was the most colorful kid I've ever seen. It was a joke. He was african american, had a plain black hat, plain black t-shirt, black jeans, and black boots. Somewhere in the conversation, a little girl on the sidelines yelled at me for saying that he was black. I felt bad and apologized.

However, I was really confused. I had no idea "black" was off-color these days. I can't even keep up with what is politically correct anymore. And the fact that PC'ism gets in the way of someone who is generously giving to children just disgusts me......but that's beside the point. Anyway, saying someone is "white" is still very accepted though. You even see it on standardized forms.

Race (check one): o White/Caucasion
o African American
o etc.

That makes absolutely no sense to me. So anyway, just because I was curious if this would work, I went to the main Engineering office the other day and applied to form "The European American Male Engineers Society" which was swiftly rejected. Haha. I'm sure I could be an asshole and fight it but I just wanted to see what would happen. There's a society for every group of people but us white boys.

So I guess, two part question.....Was I out of line to use that word to describe someone of African American descent? And if so, does this seem very hypocritical to anyone but me?

The Actual Sized E · Post by **The Actual Sized E** » 07 May 2007 18:37

I think the term African American and the way it's used is ridiculous. If your attempting to describe someone's race, why would their (assumed) nationality be included? How many times have you heard white Americans, in an attempt to be PC, refer to black Europeans or Africans (from Africa!) as African Americans. So automatically if you have dark skin you must be American

? People should just say what they mean and not some warped PC version that implies something they have no intention of saying.

So anyway, getting back to your question: I could see how someone could take offense to the joke you made, even though it seemed innocent enough to me, but the fact that you used the term black to describe his race seems perfectly acceptable.

Disturbedboy365 · Post by **Disturbedboy365** » 07 May 2007 18:39

i honestly dont know if you were out of line to use whichever word you used to describe the kid, but if you were, it is extremely hypocritcal. if a person of color called a white person white, it is expected to be just fine and noone is expected to get upset about it. however if a white person were to point out the other persons color, it would be expected for the other person to become offended. i just dont understand it. how come we dont have white history month? how come we dont have a fund for college scholarships for white students?

Jeremy · Post by **Jeremy** » 07 May 2007 18:46

I think South Park really summed it up well when Stan finally says he understands racism, and then he says "I don't get it."

If you haven't been subjected to genuine racism for a long period of time, you'll never be able to truly understand why it's offensive, or how offensive it is. Instead you can either accept that it is offensive, and not do it, or you can be offensive and see how people react to you.

I make jokes about races all the time. For example a common joke is when people ask my identical twin brother and I if we're related. We'll often respond with "no, we're not related at all" etc. and then say; "We just look alike because we're Asian. All Asian's look the same." However if somebody who I didn't know (who wasn't Asian) told me that all Asians looked the same, I would be insulted and I would probably never get on well with that person. Perhaps that reaction is irrational, but since when have emotional responses been rational? Racist comments from people I don't know always result in a negative emotional response, and I'm sure many minority races feel the same way. You can either accept that, and not offend people, or you can try to justify it to yourself and be offensive.

cammel · Post by **cammel** » 07 May 2007 19:09

Hmmm, I think that black is a completely PC term for people of African descent. In my textbooks on US history and US government they use African American and Black interchangeably. I have talk with black people and in the discussion we both used that term... I guess some people will find anything offensive but I don't think that the majority of people of any race in the US would find that term offensive.

BainbridgeShred · Post by **BainbridgeShred** » 07 May 2007 21:11

Call someone African-America, and they're liable to get offended for being considered African (How the fuck and am I African, I was born in Queens), or liable to get offended for being considered America (Man, how the fuck am I an American, I was born in Queensbridge where ambulances don't even come to). That's why I call them all black.

QuantumBalance · Post by **QuantumBalance** » 07 May 2007 22:42

QuantumBalance · Post by **QuantumBalance** » 07 May 2007 22:46

Once, a whiteboy was freestying with some black men, the gangsa type who say whatsup "my nigga". The whiteboy freestyles off the top of his dome and I quote:

"you my nigga / you my friend
don't even pretend / you dont know what i mean
we got the same hopes, the same dreams
we want the same thing!"

There was akward silence and then "Ohhhhhhhh!"!!

BenRea · Post by **BenRea** » 08 May 2007 02:53

it depends on what people want to be called because someone isnt always directly from africa (carribean, jamacain, ect) so you cant say african american, get to know the person and see what their friends say before you use any sort of term like that.

Iron Clad Ben · Post by **Iron Clad Ben** » 08 May 2007 07:02

Lo, I think there will always be people who are offended by stuff.

It sounds like you have been doing really good things in the community.

Someone took offense to something you said. You definitely meant no harm. Most black people if you called them black would not mind. One person got offended. What can you do? You can't please everyone.

Don't do the wrong thing and assume everyone generalizes backwards and all black people are offended by being called black. At the same time, if you know certain people are offended by it, then call them by what they like.

You can't please 100% of the people 100% of the time.

Don't sweat the small stuff.

Switch Kicker · Post by **Switch Kicker** » 09 May 2007 09:02

PC is garbage. You can't please everyone, so just please yourself. Say it how you wanna say it. If they don't like it, that's their problem.

I call my friend Brian, "Blacky" all the time. I tell my buddy Hoyvahn that he's a "fat asian" and that his house smells funny, all the time. And when my friends found out that I have some Soux Indian in my blood, they started calling me a "Nazi Crying Indian." (1/3 German.)

Like, among friends, there's no worry of offending anyone. At least where I live. But among those you don't know... well yeah. They don't know you're just messin' with them. And frankly, that's their problem, and they're just going to have to learn how to deal with it.

I work next to a truck stop. Some black dude from down south came in, and he ended up calling me a cracker. His tone, showed that he is racist against white people, and it pissed me off. But just last week, a black dude came in, had a southern accent. Called me a cracker, but he and I were chattin' a bit while waiting for his food, and I could tell, that he wasn't saying it in a racist... way... So much for my vocab today...[/code]

apoplectic · Post by **apoplectic** » 09 May 2007 09:20

i get called whitie all the time,yet if i get offended,im called racist.wtf?how does that make me racist?

Switch Kicker · Post by **Switch Kicker** » 09 May 2007 09:24

apoplectic wrote:i get called whitie all the time,yet if i get offended,im called racist.wtf?how does that make me racist?

I've seen that happen too. Every once in a while. You'll see someone assume that by defending yourself, or just getting offended by the fact that you are being made fun of by your race, that you somehow think that your race is better than someone else's and therefore it can't be made fun of, or something like that. That just what I think happens, lol.

Society's just so stupid these days.

Drew Hamilton · Post by **Drew Hamilton** » 10 May 2007 19:15

When do you ever have to even talk about race? You make it seem as if you walk you walk up to people on a regular basis and comment on their race, but w/e. I never really talk about people being white or black. I don't think it's really that necessary...

Guest_1 · Post by **Guest_1** » 10 May 2007 19:29

cammel wrote:Hmmm, I think that black is a completely PC term for people of African descent. In my textbooks on US history and US government they use African American and Black interchangeably. I have talk with black people and in the discussion we both used that term... I guess some people will find anything offensive but I don't think that the majority of people of any race in the US would find that term offensive.

In my textbooks they use the word Negroe

apoplectic · Post by **apoplectic** » 14 May 2007 10:20

im pretty much the only white boy in most of my classes.ohh,i get called gringo all the time too.gringo means foreigner,my family's been here for at least 9 generations(if you dont count the seminole in me)

Moxie · Post by **Moxie** » 17 May 2007 12:46

Caleb,
Your story was about kids, right? Since they don't necessarily have a lot of life-experience, many learn what's right and wrong, what to feel okay or not okay with from their parents. I think that as with most things like religion, politics, and race, it's hard for kids to have a good handle on what they believe and why. In this case, one person thinking that you calling someone black doesn't mean that "black" isn't right. Some African-Americans I know want to be called that (by me, a white person). But some black people I know want to be called black because their ancestors are from Jamaica not Africa, for example. But I knew a guy in high school who didn't want to be called black because he was from Jamaica, not Africa. He wanted to be called Jamaican as his race.

It seems like the terms race, ethnicity, and nationality are blurry for most people. So it's easy to understand how people can get upset at being called what they feel is the wrong thing. If you are still upset by this situation occurring, next time you are there with her, in a non-confrontational way ask her to define race. Don't be condescending, but try to have her explain it to you like you weren't clear on the meaning. Then maybe (if it's appropriate) ask her to explain why some ______ (whatever she likes to be called, African-American, Black, etc) people like to be called one thing and some like to be called another. Her answer might be weird, but it'll give you an understanding of why she got upset. If you can ask several people these sorts of questions, you can start to figure out why some people get so upset when you call them something other people insist on being called. There isn't one "right" answer.

I try to go with what it widely accepted and if I encounter people who feel differently I try to find out why and then cater to their specific wants when around them. It can be awful to be called a title that you don't identify yourself as, so I wouldn't want to do that to someone.

Caleb wrote:I went to the main Engineering office the other day and applied to form "The European American Male Engineers Society" which was swiftly rejected. Haha. I'm sure I could be an asshole and fight it but I just wanted to see what would happen. There's a society for every group of people but us white boys.

I guess when a group of people has been discriminated against, or when they want to be around people of their same cultural they find places to meet, hang out, and support each other. It makes sense to me that people generally like to be around other people who understand them and share similar experiences.

In my high school there were meetings for a black pride group. I knew someone who was really upset by that. "There are black pride meetings, but if we had white pride meetings we'd get shut down and called racist." Yeah, but I don't feel like I need a "white-pride" meeting group. I'm surrounded by white people, and my culture is more mainstream. I look on tv and the people giving me my news are white. I look at the majority of people on tv sitcoms and they're white. I don't feel like a member of a minority group, and I don't feel like I need a special meeting.

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 17 May 2007 13:00

Moxie wrote:when they want to be around people of their same cultural they find places to meet, hang out, and support each other. It makes sense to me that people generally like to be around other people who understand them and share similar experiences.

.

That's why the footbag community is 99% white and male.

gMoney · Post by **gMoney** » 17 May 2007 18:39

i heard somewhere that one school had a bunch of different clubs (an asian club, a black club, a hispanic club) and a group of white kids tried to start a 'caucasian club' and were arrested or something. although i'm not quite sure if this really happened or not and i dont have any sources to cite. i think it's off the wall. everything white people do nowadays is "rascist." and being called a redneck/hick/honkey/cracker/white boy isn't rascist in the smallest sense. wtf man. PC FTL

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 17 May 2007 18:45

I heard that they were arrested, then they were tortured, then the police did these experiments on them and one of the white kids mutated into a turtle. i'm not quite sure if this really happened or not and i dont have any sources to cite. i think it's off the wall.

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PC gone mad

PC gone mad

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