The term "Racist" is overused

[The_root_of_all_evil]

but I still feel the spirit of the words is their greater definition.

Oh absoloutely, but all "laws" are made on the words themselves, rather than the spirit of the words.


You frusking pumpslider.

And there's also this (Which is TERRIBLY racist - but written equally by two people mocking racism)

 

[Gigano]

Undoubtedly.

Kind of takes time away from - and prevents forming a common front in - the fight against actual racism. Stopping unfair allegations of racism is of course equally important to stopping unfair allegations based in racism; so these hypersensitive puritanical types who'll throw the word out first chance are as much an enemy to common sense and decency as is the actual racists.

Never been accused by anyone of it myself though. Nor do I really pity those who are labeled so when criticizing Obama; it's not like the rhetoric or factual accuracy of allegations from the other side of the political spectrum is any better.

 

[Hive Mind]

but I still feel the spirit of the words is their greater definition.

Oh absoloutely, but all "laws" are made on the words themselves, rather than the spirit of the words.


You frusking pumpslider.

And there's also this (Which is TERRIBLY racist - but written equally by two people mocking racism)

That first video is bloody hilarious. I've always loved how the reverberated sound from one's mouth can generate so much anger in others. Simplistic of me? Yeah. But I still love it, lol.

I guess we will agree to our separate, but not unalike opinions

 

[Carlston]

I'd say for every ounce of criticism he's had he's either blamed Bush (the white guy) or whined racism over his skin, but since his reasons are "Well only whites don't like black's" he's a racist coward who just can't admit his own faults.

Every "other" president who's oddly been white can take their criticism with a grain of salt, why can't he?

 

[Robert Ewing]

I think it sucks that as soon as you don't like a black person or any non-Caucasian for ANY reason, you get labelled an evil racist. It seems that we have to be extremely friendly with all black people to avoid getting labelled racist.

And forgive me for sounding like i'm anti-social or anything, but there are a few black people that I just don't like. They constantly bully me, but I can't retaliate, because i'm freaking afraid that they will label me a racist, which will ruin my chance of gaining any friends.

It is far easier to retaliate to any white enemies that I may have, because I don't have this problem. It just seems sad that I'm literally afraid to bare a grudge against a black person, in fear that they will assume that I hate their entire race. I don't... I have just as many black enemies as I do white. I don't hate blacks, I hate the individual that happened to hate me as well.

I also hate that certain individuals use the racist card as a weapon. I'm sure you all know what I mean.

 

[Antari]

With Osama Bin Laden dead, the primary enemy now is political correctness.

 

[Furious Styles]

The main issue I have is the incorrect use of the term. Religions aren't races and neither are countries. Prejudice against Muslims isn't racism as Islam is not a race, it's a religion and a person of any race can be a Muslim. The same goes for Jews (you try telling me that Sammy Davis jnr and Mel Brooks are members of the same race) Christians and any other religious group. The same applies to nationalities. Disliking the French is not racist because the French are not a race. Disliking immigrants for reasons other than race is not racism, if anything its Xenophobia.

Prejudice against black people, asians, arabs, whites, aborigines, native americans and all other races or ethnicities is racist (provided their race is the reason for the prejudice), but racism is a specific term and is both over and incorrectly used.

 

[Trodamus]

In this thread: people of privilege and entitlement discuss things beyond their scope, education and understanding.

There are a few of you that doesn't apply to. So don't worry! I bet you're one of the smart ones.

But largely, I think the motivation for this kind of circle-jerk is the simple phenomena in that calling a white person a racist triggers the kind of reaction you'd see out of calling a black person a ******. You go nuts! You lose any ability to have a rational argument, scream about how it's unfair, racism is overused, people play the race card too often, etc.

When instead, the rational response would be to sit back and calmly discuss what is considered racist and why. Don't agree with the assessment? Well, you really aren't in a position to tell someone else when they should and shouldn't feel marginalized by your comments. But...that's obvious, isn't it? You knew that already.

 

[spartan231490]

How many of you here said you don't like Obama or think he is mediocre and are automatically called a racist. The term racist is starting to be used by people who are insecure to accomplish more for themselves. I am the not the slightest bit racist, i actually enjoy the company of many different races and i have many different friends spread across these races.I'm tired of being called racist by people themselves are In a way racist. I know many intelligent non-white races that think Obama is not a very good president. I don't have a problem with him he is just not the best president we have ever had and just because he is black does not mean he should be treated as such. Does anyone else deal with this or things like this, I honestly hate racists and I don't enjoy being called one. I see everyone the same except for deep rooted religious nuts.

It happens a lot, and it really really really . . . really . . . (3 hours later) . . . really pisses me off. It is the most irritating thing I have ever seen, when people project their own racist interpretations of your comments on you. They hear your comment, and interpret it as racist, so your the bigoted ass? Oh what was that, you have perfectly legitimate reasons for your negative comment about a black man that has nothing to do with the color of his skin? I don't care, you're being negative towards a black man, your a bigot! NO!
Going to stop before I type a 7 page rant on why people like this should be made surgically mute, and just say that I encounter it a lot, and that I hate it with an unparalleled intensity.

 

[Frostbyte666]

Yeah rascist gets thrown around a lot by idiots who are actually racist themselves and are projecting.

The thing with Obama always bugged me though with America going on and on about the 1st black president. My response was so what? can he do the job? Besides being from the UK we've already gone further by having a female prime minister. Again the main point is who cares? can they do the job?

 

[loodmoney]

Double post, very sorry.

 

[loodmoney]

In this thread: people of privilege and entitlement discuss things beyond their scope, education and understanding.

There are a few of you that doesn't apply to. So don't worry! I bet you're one of the smart ones.

But largely, I think the motivation for this kind of circle-jerk is the simple phenomena in that calling a white person a racist triggers the kind of reaction you'd see out of calling a black person a ******. You go nuts! You lose any ability to have a rational argument, scream about how it's unfair, racism is overused, people play the race card too often, etc.

When instead, the rational response would be to sit back and calmly discuss what is considered racist and why. Don't agree with the assessment? Well, you really aren't in a position to tell someone else when they should and shouldn't feel marginalized by your comments. But...that's obvious, isn't it? You knew that already.

I agree with this. If you are accused of racism, the accuser might be right, or they might be wrong. But to respond to an accusation by saying that "racist" is used too often is not a good solution. To limit the words usage to cases that you agree with might well limit how often actual racists are called out on their racism. This is not an acceptable result.

Not sure if I made myself clear just now, but basically: you don't get to define what is racist and what isn't. If someone says you are racist, ask what makes them say that.

(Another way to think about this: if the person calling you racist is part of a marginalised group, and "racist" is a term with some value that can be depreciated by ill usage, then simply assume that they know what they are doing. If it is a term that has currency, it is their currency to spend as they choose. Respect for other people's autonomy and all that, y'know?)

 

[pliusmannn]

If RE5 is racist, then why any other game (mainly shooter) is not racist? Crysis for example - you must kill Korean's, then more Koreans, then flying tentacle monsters...

 

[k-ossuburb]

It's a pretty easy thing to counter. If they call you a racist, just ask them if they were listening to what you said or if that's really the best response they could come up with. They've essentially proven your point if they can't think of anything positive to say about him themselves.

It's kind of like Godwin's Law. As soon as they say the word "racist" they've lost that argument since it's obvious they have nothing better to say.

 

[SenseOfTumour]

Here's my stance on the thing, if Piers Morgan and Simon Cowell were both black, I'd still call them c***s, I just wouldn't call them n*****s.

As for Obama, he's soo close to white, and that's why he made it. He's a well educated, middle class male.

Something I heard on the Bugle podcast that amused me, now Obama's released his full birth certificate, he should be allowed to demand personal details from Trump.

How about his financial records for the last year? or his internet history for just the last week? They theorised there'd not be any porn, just constant google searches for his own name.

I do believe racism can be too big an issue, I remember when Cheryl Cole (minor UK girl band member and 'celebrity' violently attacked a bathroom attendant in a bar.

Now, celeb punches defenceless woman in the face while drunk... what would be the biggest part of this event, overshadowing everything else?

She called her a 'black *****' while she was assaulting her, and apparently saying 'black *****' is a far greater crime than punching a woman in the face. At least according to the UK media.

 

[googleboy]

Don't care what anyone says the birther issue is only sponsored by racists because we know that no one would ask that to a white president

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and assume that you simply didn't know that every other president, willingly, released a certificate in the states where they were on the ballot. This one is unique because he chose not to. With that said, birthers are idiots.

I agree with the OP, racism gets bandied about far too much these days. Commenting on a persons clothes has gotten me accused several times. Look at the article here on the escapist about the 'black' actor from Thor. He is decrying 'racist' comic book fans.... really? Having seen the movie, he was bloody fantastic! Sorry, running off course. At any rate, I agree, I think many words are used far too freely these days.

 

[thylasos]

Ah... people bitching about unfounded accusations.

I was really hoping that this thread would be about the proper delineation of the terms xenophobia and racism.

 

[Ketsuban]

But we live in a world where RE5, which takes place in Africa, is racist for having mostly black enemies.

No, it's racist because it has black enemies in Africa depicted wearing grass skirts and throwing spears, not to mention the optional costume for the ambiguously-brown female sidekick which features a total lack of protection from the elements, bones as clothing accessories and war paint.

It is true. The various race of people on this planet are different sub-species of Homosapien.

For example, the Negroid race.

All modern humans regardless of ethnicity are of the subspecies Homo sapiens sapiens (as distinguished from H. s. idaltu [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_sapiens_idaltu]).

If RE5 is racist, then why any other game (mainly shooter) is not racist? Crysis for example - you must kill Korean's, then more Koreans, then flying tentacle monsters...

Because those games aren't using any offensive racist stereotypes, or attaching a different reward to killing people of one race versus another.

 

[pulse2]

There are people who automatically pull the race card in the same way some females will pull the sexism card, or religeous people will pull the infidel card etc. Most of the time these cases are unwarranted, but there is the few cases where this is apparent.

While I'm all for people deciding who they want as a political power, there ARE blatantly racist people out there who simply don't like Obama for who he is rather than what he is doing for America, whether or not he is a good or bad president. Its pretty obvious from all the hell he gets and questioning about his personal life, what has his personal life got to do with the job he's doing, we resolved all that before he got into power, why is it all coming back up again? To me that's nitpicking, and it certainly wouldn't have been an issue if it were McCain in power instead. Bush didn't get all that personal pressure and as far as I'm concern he was a pretty crappy president as well, glad he wasn't leading the UK, the last thing we need right now is more disarray by leaders who have no idea what they are doing.

I'm not particularly satisfied with the way Obama has controlled things so far either and I'm not even living out there, but I don't think the mounted personal pressure he gets is justified.

On to the case of RE5, old news though that may be, it wasn't so much the fact that the zombies were all black, its that there has never been a black hero in the game (until Shiva was suddenly introduced which I still beleive was a PR stunt), so to have a white hero going over to Africa of all places and shooting down some blacks, seems a little out of place :/ That's not to say games shouldn't take place in Africa and zombies can't be black, by all means they can, but for a game series made up almost entirely of white heros, it could be deemed offensive. Regardless, what's done is done, and I found I prefered RE4 anyway because RE5 just copied it too much.

Then we have the issue with Thor actor Idris Elba, and yeah, he may not be white as the comics stated, but why does that matter? This is the modern day people, wake up, its perefectly okay to have various races play as gods and superheros, I have yet to see a chinese or indian superhero (That isn't a sub character), why is that so taboo?

Then we have Beyonce who complained that Loreal lightened her skin for no real apparent reason a few years back.

Like I said, in most cases pulling the race card is pretty stupid, but there are situations where it IS justified, and I suppose its difficult to understand that concept unless you are in the driving seat looking at things from a different perspective.

 

[Saelune]

But we live in a world where RE5, which takes place in Africa, is racist for having mostly black enemies.

No, it's racist because it has black enemies in Africa depicted wearing grass skirts and throwing spears, not to mention the optional costume for the ambiguously-brown female sidekick which features a total lack of protection from the elements, bones as clothing accessories and war paint.

It is true. The various race of people on this planet are different sub-species of Homosapien.

For example, the Negroid race.

All modern humans regardless of ethnicity are of the subspecies Homo sapiens sapiens (as distinguished from H. s. idaltu [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_sapiens_idaltu]).

If RE5 is racist, then why any other game (mainly shooter) is not racist? Crysis for example - you must kill Korean's, then more Koreans, then flying tentacle monsters...

Because those games aren't using any offensive racist stereotypes, or attaching a different reward to killing people of one race versus another.

That may be true...but no one who called it racist got to those parts, Im willing to bet.