[carrie721]

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

Only race - and particularly black - gets people up in arms when white people refer to it in any way other than praise.

yeah. and this leads to often cringe-worthy over-the-top praise about people who look particularly "ethnic." not that people who look ethnic aren't beautiful, blah blah blah, but that overcompensating, over-the-top sh*t gets under my (again, pasty and white) skin.

For example, no one gets nearly as upset (if they get upset at all) when people refer to people as that "girl" over there, that "redneck" over there, that "old dude" over there, that "fat chick" over there,

I CAN HEAR YOU.

those "queens" over there, etc. Moreover, if someone said "that Asian girl was grooving at the concert," no one would have batted an eye. Yet, when HNY referred to this girl as black, he was branded by some as a horrible racist.

HNY also referred to her as being from West Philly. However, I believe the girl told him where she was from etc. Upon learning this tidbit, those attacking HNY never apologized for being dead wrong about automatically assuming HNY assumed, in a racist manner, that she was from there. That speaks volumes

In the end, true racism (a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race/racial prejudice or discrimination) is a vile thing. I think we as individuals and as a society should all go out of our way to eradicate it - the sooner the better. Yet, I can assure you that the people on here that took offense at HNY's clearly non-racist comment will think that I am a horrible racist for even bringing this up; they will refuse to believe I mean the first and second sentences of this paragraph. That is an example of how ridiculous our society has become.

Also, I used the phrase "common black vernacular" or something like that awhile back in a conversation where that point was relevant. I got SLAMMED publicly and privately as a racist. To me, that is ridiculous because what I said was a fact. There is such a thing as ghetto speak or whatever. Black people refer to it constantly as "going all ghetto" etc. Yet, when I say it in the non-racist way that I did - all hell breaks loose. People could not see the forest for the trees.

oh, don't get me started on attitudes toward black english vernacular. people want to deny it exists as a separate entity from standard english because it's deemed racist to even bring it up due to the common notion that BEV is "stupid" english. but if you study it, it is a separate dialect with its own distinct syntax. a syntax, by the way, that is so different from standard english that ESL techniques are often (but not often enough) used when teaching young inner city kids.

in fact, there is evidence that supports the idea that BEV evolved from a pidgin created when slaves from west african countries were first brought to the US centuries ago. when a pidgin is created, the dominant language provides the syntax while the secondary language supplies the lexicon. this would explain why BEV syntax differs from standard english.

i told you not to get me started.

So, in the end, unless a white person praises a black person, they are better off not mentioning anything about race no matter how innocent. That is how absurd PC has become.

ayep.

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

Bow me white bi*ch

You split tails are luck you got the vote

hey where's your lawn jockey, tweezers?