political correct

[Aqualung]

Can you really choose?

Um... yes. I don't go to jail for calling people *******. People are allowed to not hang out with you for whatever reason they want (freedom of association is a right, too), and they can easily choose to not hang out with you because of your speech. But it's not like they can call the cops and say "Um, sir, Cypress just called that black guy a ******! Put him in jail!" They would laugh.

 

[beenie]

That's the south for ya.

ummm, nope. i just registered five of my six daughters for school (one preschooler). all five packets had a mandatory ethnicity sheet with a huge bolded statement at the top that if you don't select an ethnicity, the SCHOOL will select one for you based on "observation". that's accurate. and i live in the Chicagoland area.

I agree with most people here that you shouldn't be racist or discriminatory. However, I consider this more about good manners than being politically correct. For example I would never use the n-word, or be hostile to gay people for their identity.

However I think at the same time political correctness goes too far when some people refuse to criticize things that are truly wrong with other cultures. Sometimes the Right can be politically correct too. Such as when they try to defend the catholic church's sex abuse scandals. Sometimes the Left is also politically correct when they brush Islam's propensity for violence under the rug.

i agree with your statement until the last sentence. it appears you will find any loophole possible to take a jab at Islam.

 

[Aqualung]

i agree with your statement until the last sentence. it appears you will find any loophole possible to take a jab at Islam.

Lol, I just read his post. That's hilarious how he just slid that in there like that.

 

[Storm]

See - I have a problem with the term "black." The reason that I do is that it's so often inaccurate. My children are often called "black," and they are varying shades of caffe latte - and a mix of many different races. They are offended by being automatically lumped into a racial category - and it offends me as well. To call them "black" in a sense denies them a large portion of their heritage and categorizes them inaccurately.

Something occured to me earlier: how is "black" any different from "African American?"

 

[ChristineES]

While I believe that no one should be belittled, harassed, harmed, etc for any reason, I think that political correctness goes too far. Vertically challenged sounds pretty stupid to me, too. Most short people don't mind being called short, etc.

 

[Cypress]

Something occured to me earlier: how is "black" any different from "African American?"

I believe the difference is that you can be a black American without any roots in African culture, whereas an African-American is by definition someone who migrated to USA from Africa and takes his/her African culture with him/her.

 

[Storm]

I believe the difference is that you can be a black American without any roots in African culture, whereas an African-American is by definition someone who migrated to USA from Africa and takes his/her African culture with him/her.

Well, that's what I said originally, and Kathryn objected.

 

[Tarheeler]

Well, that's what I said originally, and Kathryn objected.

I believe Kathryn's main objection (at least in her post you quoted) was that her children are multiracial and she has a problem with people forcing them to claim a single ethnicity. And, at least in that light, there would be no difference between the two terms; both would require a person to choose a single identifier rather than choosing an accurate description.

 

[Storm]

I believe Kathryn's main objection (at least in her post you quoted) was that her children are multiracial and she has a problem with people forcing them to claim a single ethnicity. And, at least in that light, there would be no difference between the two terms; both would require a person to choose a single identifier rather than choosing an accurate description.

Makes sense, but assuming you're right, I don't understand why she directed her objection at me.

 

[Kathryn]

Something occured to me earlier: how is "black" any different from "African American?"

Well, my kids don't much care for that phrase either, actually, but they prefer it over "black" because, well, they aren't and don't consider themselves to be "black." At least when someone calls them African American, the term is a bit broader and more nuanced. African Americans can be any number of combinations of races.

"Black" is just so either/or. You're either black or you're white. Except when you're both.

I don't guess we should resurrect the terms "mulatto," "quadroon," and "octoroon," - but at least they were more accurate! Sometimes as a private joke between my oldest daughter and me, I will ask her (out of earshot of the kids, of course) "So, how are all the little quadroons doing today? And what about that little slanty eyed devil you've recently acquired?" (Her adopted Korean son!)

So you can see that our family doesn't take offense too easily at this sort of thing. Heck, my dad calls my two sons in law "Mordechai" and "Ali Baba" (one is part Jewish and the other is not a drop of Arab, but he's part Sicilian, looks Arabic and his stepfather is Muslim - hence the Arabic nickname!).

So - we're not a very politically correct family but in a family that looks like a UN delegation, we may as well have a sense of humor about these things!

People of mixed racial heritage often don't like the feeling of being pidgeon holed or forced to identify with one race OR the other - when they are proud of their complete racial heritage.