The term "Racist" is overused

[Hero in a half shell]

I recently discovered the Black Panther superhero cartoons on Youtube. It is about a black African superhero, who rules over a small, incredibly advanced African nation. And the comments were filled with "ooooh this is so racist, because they portray black people as having some flaw or minor stereotype"
I was amused that the rest of the cartoon was a smorgasbord of other offensive stereotypical people, a dumb gung-ho American, a flamboyant French man (France surrendering is mentioned a few times), a radioactive Russian, the United Nations were bickering like schoolchildren, the Catholic church was secretly funding wars and usurping nations, but it is racist because the African characters have funny accents, and they showed tribal warfare.

The thing is, media like cartoons frequently rely on stereotypes for vitually every character, as it allows them to quickly introduce someone, and you get a good idea of their characteristics, due to their nationality. If stereotypes were racist, then every single depiction of an Irishman in film would be a racist act.

It's not racist to show a stereotype, it is just how we idetify different people.

 

[Hive Mind]

Besides, everyone's a little bit racist. Most are just afraid to admit it.

No.

If you find the womb from which someone came to be at all relevant, I am baffled and find the logic there flawed, immature and naive.

Race is as relevant as eye colour or length of nose.

 

[Hive Mind]

"Race" is itself a racist term. It assumes that people of different backgrounds were genetically different to the point of being what we would now call different species.

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

For example, the Negroid race.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Hater.
Socialist.
Nazi.
Fag.
Jew.
What do all of these words have in common? They're all thrown around like a ragdoll in today's language.

And none of them mean today what they originally meant.

 

[Griffolion]

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.

I can see what you mean. It's generally something used when people don't really have any other response to you, so they label you with that because it's high sensitivity in others' eyes SHOULD cause you to back down for fear of social reprisal. I guess it's the same with the concepts of homophobia and faith/religion in terms of high contextual sensitivity. I also suppose it's on the same lines as calling someone a troll, simply because they posted something disagreeing with your point of view.

Personally, I think president Obama should be judged off what he has done in his 4 years term, not based off his colour. If someone posts a coherent, logical explanation as to why they aren't impressed by him, that really can't and shouldn't be counted as racist.

 

[Hive Mind]

Hater.
Socialist.
Nazi.
Fag.
Jew.
What do all of these words have in common? They're all thrown around like a ragdoll in today's language.

And none of them mean today what they originally meant.

I'm fairly certain Nazi has always referred to someone aligning with the Nazi party. So to with socialist and... socialists. I'm also not sure of fag being used as anything but sticks and homosexuals -- you may say it to people you know are not homosexual, but that stab at their sexuality is an insult, not a change of definition. Jewish people have always been referred to as Jews - even by each other.

But I am no history buff, so.

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

Ideally it wouldn't matter at all. Unfortunately its often used as a crutch.

 

[Justanothergamer300]

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

 

[Aurgelmir]

Yeah...a lot of people dissing the president ARE racists, but most of them (including me) have actual issues with the way he does things. People should not automatically be labeled racists for saying such things, unless their previous actions clearly indicate a hatred for other races.

Besides, everyone's a little bit racist. Most are just afraid to admit it.

If religion was a race, I'm defiantly racist.

"Race" is itself a racist term. It assumes that people of different backgrounds were genetically different to the point of being what we would now call different species.

There are no different races biologically, and so the common definition in modern times of Race is ethnicity. The definition for ethnicity includes common religious heritage.

Thus, you are just as much a racist if you discriminate on the basis of religion as if you do it on the basis of skin colour or country of origin.

Race describe how a person Look, of which skin color is usually the most prominent one, But general facial features are also common. These features can be brought on to the next generation, ergo making them biological...

You are correct about Ethnitcity being about other factors, but discrimination is discrimination. But discriminating against religion is not racist, its religious discrimination... Racist is the term used to describe a person who discriminate based on race.

 

[SirDeadly]

I don't hate people of other races, I have nothing against them. I just think that if they can laugh at us we can laugh at them. I don't know if other countries have different views on racism but most of the Aussies I know don't care what race you are and will take the mickey out of anyone. I think I may have watched too many episodes of The Chaser's War on Everything... I hate political correctness and racism being so overblown... In my views, real racism is what the KKK did, not what happens now, that's just having fun.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Hater.
Socialist.
Nazi.
Fag.
Jew.
What do all of these words have in common? They're all thrown around like a ragdoll in today's language.

And none of them mean today what they originally meant.

I'm fairly certain Nazi has always referred to someone aligning with the Nazi party. So to with socialist and... socialists. I'm also not sure of fag being used as anything but sticks and homosexuals -- you may say it to people you know are not homosexual, but that stab at their sexuality is an insult, not a change of definition. Jewish people have always been referred to as Jews - even by each other.

But I am no history buff, so.

Ok, quick rundown:
Hater: Used to be someone with a fanatical disgust of something, now is just someone who dislikes.
Socialist: Original meaning - a follower of an economic system in which the means of production are publicly or commonly owned and controlled co-operatively - Modern meaning: Communist, a slur on Democrats, unwilling to support Capitalism.
Nazi: A follower of the Nationalsozialismus, the German National Socialist Party during the 1930s. Modern meaning: Anyone strongly in favour of a certain topic, especially autocratic.
Fag: Many differing terms - Colloqualism for a bundle of sticks/offal-based meatball, acting as a servant to another in private school, Colloqualism for a cigarette, homosexual and/or effeminate man, Stock trading slang. Modern meaning: Anyone who is there to be insulted.
Jew: Both the religious and ethnocentric denomination for the people of the Judah tribe in Southern Israel. Modern meaning: Anti-semitic slang for someone who trades in money, has a big nose - but who is actually a Jew is determined by tracing matrilinear birth or by conversion. It's both a religion and a race, but you can be one without the other.

 

[Gottesstrafe]

Yes, racism was all fine and well during and post civil rights movement, but now it's getting kinda stale. What say we revert back to classism, gentlemen?

Here, I'll start: Death to the Aristos!

Edit:

Does it make me racist for noticing the most racist people I've met are non-Caucasians?

Nah, it is like noticing how African Americans looted during hurricane Katrina but the Japanese didn't their recent disaster

Zing! To be fair, though, the news outlets reported the Caucasian looting of stores after Katrina as "reclamation."

 

[Hive Mind]

Hater.
Socialist.
Nazi.
Fag.
Jew.
What do all of these words have in common? They're all thrown around like a ragdoll in today's language.

And none of them mean today what they originally meant.

I'm fairly certain Nazi has always referred to someone aligning with the Nazi party. So to with socialist and... socialists. I'm also not sure of fag being used as anything but sticks and homosexuals -- you may say it to people you know are not homosexual, but that stab at their sexuality is an insult, not a change of definition. Jewish people have always been referred to as Jews - even by each other.

But I am no history buff, so.

Ok, quick rundown:
Hater: Used to be someone with a fanatical disgust of something, now is just someone who dislikes.
Socialist: Original meaning - a follower of an economic system in which the means of production are publicly or commonly owned and controlled co-operatively - Modern meaning: Communist, a slur on Democrats, unwilling to support Capitalism.
Nazi: A follower of the Nationalsozialismus, the German National Socialist Party during the 1930s. Modern meaning: Anyone strongly in favour of a certain topic, especially autocratic.
Fag: Many differing terms - Colloqualism for a bundle of sticks/offal-based meatball, acting as a servant to another in private school, Colloqualism for a cigarette, homosexual and/or effeminate man, Stock trading slang. Modern meaning: Anyone who is there to be insulted.
Jew: Both the religious and ethnocentric denomination for the people of the Judah tribe in Southern Israel. Modern meaning: Anti-semitic slang for someone who trades in money, has a big nose - but who is actually a Jew is determined by tracing matrilinear birth or by conversion. It's both a religion and a race, but you can be one without the other.

I don't think any of them changed really. Some of them changed in scope, but they all retain their meaning.

 

[xdom125x]

Yes, the term racist is overused and applied far too often, which is hurting the fight against actual racism. The definition has seemed to evolved to "any display of negative emotions directed towards any minorities".
For example, there are people that I hate that happen to be black but them being black isn't why I hate them. I hate because they act like asses. If I voiced this point, I would be called racist.

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

If I recall, one president had his birth certificate demanded because people thought he was Canadian.
I think birthers are pretty stupid and racist but the idea behind it (know that the president was born in the U.S.) is decent. However, once Obama showed proof of his citizenship, they should have stopped complaining.

 

[Booze Zombie]

Barack is kind of boring... but that's good! Been a while since we're had a boring, but functional president over in the states.

As for the racist thing... YUR AH RAHSIST!11 Okay, I am joking, before someone (I know someone might) responds.
It's just a really easy counter to pull and some just figure it's unbeatable in that function.
They're wrong, obviously.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

I don't think any of them changed really. Some of them changed in scope, but they all retain their meaning.

That's definition creep though, Hacker means "a person who delights in having an intimate understanding of the internal workings of a system, computers and computer networks in particular." - which is a positive view, but have you ever heard the word "Hacker" used in anything other than a backhand in media today?

Today we have Grammar Nazis (Autocratic personality who enforces "correct" use of language), Jew (which is offensive) and Jewish (which can mean anyone who purtains to be Jewish - regardless of ideology or ethnicity), Hater : a person who expresses intense feelings of hatred or spite, when the reason for this is perceived as unreasonable or spurious, newfags/oldfags (from the original private School version of fags - because I doubt all of 4chan are effeminate/homosexual), and racism; which is now a perceived influence on someone due to their perceived racial agenda - rather than the perceived influence of someone due to their ethnicity.

And most of the countries that have Racially charged political lobbies are those that have more stringent human rights than those countries that don't. That is why such countries have problems with mass immigration, because those immigrants are usually fleeing persecution in their own countries from issues including (but not restricted to) racism.

 

[Chemical Alia]

Meh, it happens. But racism is still very much alive in politics, as well. It's hard for some people to separate factors like race, gender and sexual orientation from policy. Closest I've ever been to that situation is having been called a close-minded racist by a couple of weeaboos for not appreciating or enjoying anime cartoons.

 

[Signa]

Do you people even know what RACISM means?

It's the irrational hatred (or intolerance) of a group (or individual) based solely on their RACE.

It's not a "white thing" and it's NOT a "religious nut-bag" thing OR even a political thing.

It's like when my supervisor called me a racist for calling him a "Stupid piece of SHIT".
I responded with "If SHIT becomes a RACE, then I'll apologise! Until then, GO FUCK YOURSELF!"

I stayed at that job for two more years before I quit, to work elsewhere.

That is the correct definition of racism, however, if you look at all the instances people cry "racism" you'll find that being "racist" is nothing more than identifying differences between sub-cultures, genetic features, or using a slur in a haphazard way.

I mean, I don't hate black people for having darker skin than I do, but when one acts like a jackass and I call him a ******[footnote]hypothetical situation here. I've never needed to do so. I will admit that I had a really nice black boss once, and I almost called him the N word when I was mad at him for having to lay me off when times were tough, but that just goes to prove what I'm talking about more. I didn't hate him for being black, I just was mad and wanted to hurt him verbally. You can't be racist for disliking one person, it's completely against the very concept of being racist.[/footnote], everyone will call me out for being a racist and disparaging an entire race. No. If you actually listened, I'm saying that individual is such a poor example of a human that he's disparaging his own race. Granted, I'd be pretty dumb to throw the N word[footnote]You'll notice I'm not actually using the word here. It's a taboo word that I have no problem throwing around to those that earn it, and no one has earned it here. The hypothetical person imagined above did. I thought I'd clear that up before some one jumps on me for talking like a racist[/footnote] around in front of a black person, but I think the N word is just being used these days as something for the blacks to dangle over the whites, in sort of a free-speech shackle. If I actually hated a person for a circumstance of birth, then yes, I'm a racist. Everything else is circumstantial of the situation and the people I'm engaged with.

 

[Saltyk]

Does it make me racist for noticing the most racist people I've met are non-Caucasians?

I don't think so. But, maybe I'm just racist like that.

In all seriousness, one of the most offensively racist people I have ever met in my entire life was black. He tried to hide it, but if you talked to him long enough, it became pretty obvious. I even called him out on his racism. His response?

You can't be racist if you don't have any power. It's only racist, if you can deny people something based on their race

Honestly, I was dumbfounded. He wasn't even denying his hatred of other races. Just saying that he wasn't "racist" because he wasn't in a position of power. So, I just called him a bigot.

It seems that some people use the charge of racism to deflect any counter argument. Even if you have a good point, the moment someone accuses you of racism, you are on the defensive. It doesn't even have to make sense.

 

[Hive Mind]

I don't think any of them changed really. Some of them changed in scope, but they all retain their meaning.

That's definition creep though, Hacker means "a person who delights in having an intimate understanding of the internal workings of a system, computers and computer networks in particular." - which is a positive view, but have you ever heard the word "Hacker" used in anything other than a backhand in media today?

Today we have Grammar Nazis (Autocratic personality who enforces "correct" use of language), Jew (which is offensive) and Jewish (which can mean anyone who purtains to be Jewish - regardless of ideology or ethnicity), Hater : a person who expresses intense feelings of hatred or spite, when the reason for this is perceived as unreasonable or spurious, newfags/oldfags (from the original private School version of fags - because I doubt all of 4chan are effeminate/homosexual), and racism; which is now a perceived influence on someone due to their perceived racial agenda - rather than the perceived influence of someone due to their ethnicity.

And most of the countries that have Racially charged political lobbies are those that have more stringent human rights than those countries that don't. That is why such countries have problems with mass immigration, because those immigrants are usually fleeing persecution in their own countries from issues including (but not restricted to) racism.

Mmm, I see what you're saying. You very clearly explain your position and for that I thank you. I still however must disagree. Sort of. Your points are all valid and I won't even try to rebuke any of them, but I still feel the spirit of the words is their greater definition.

If you would, I think the lyrics to a song (of all things) explain my standpoint perfectly;

"No defence against the indefensible. The space between words and things is once again total. No defence against the indefensible. The space between words and things is once again fatal. All naming is already murder: serviced muck on the killing floor. Soft-violence as pragmatic necessity: bullbaiting with the starved dogs of rhetoric. An arena sport like no other. Bring on the organ-grinders, carnival barkers, snake-oil paddlers, pork-barreling mouthpieces. Parceling out concerted blows of categorical reification. Deep bites with self-confirming payloads. Live seed for excessive entitlement and a snare for every congenital impulse. Absent a shot, we are condemned to be at war with words."

Inspiration: the function of representation comes to grief when words lose their connections with things -- in short, when language represents itself.
Mark Poster, The Mode Of Information​

To me, the exact words are not worth pointing out. The spirit of their definition is what matters. For example: a grammar Nazi -- clearly not what you (correctly) defined as a Nazi, but the idea of the word works.

I might not be making any sense at all. I find this very hard to convey in words. If it comes across as rambling, I'm sorry 'bout that. Hopefully enough of it made sense.