What Does "Politically Correct" Mean?

I've seen burning crosses in my own neighborhood in Maryland in 1985.

 

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I agree with this part.

 

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You can say, "See that man over there." Or you can say, "See that black man over there." Or you can say, "See that nigger over there."

If you use #2 and he is the only man over there, I may wonder why you felt the need to point out his color.
If you use #3, I will probably think you're an idiot and that will color any future encounters I have with you.

But you have a right to free speech. Feel free to use any of the above.

 

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This is, loosely, the Fallacy of relative privation (the "not as bad as" or "you guys have it good so shut up" fallacy).

 

Maybe so. I meant to suggest that some of the posters to this thread have no real clue what racism looks like up close.

Screw the college whiners and their "safe spaces". I lived through a brutal and horrible time then. My father was an attorney and not racist, when those three civil rights workers were killed and buried in a dam in my mom's hometown.

There were many nights spent with members of CORE and other groups where he tried to tell them that a direct confrontation with the SOBs in Neshoba county would result in their disappearance as well.

Just sayin'...

 

If he is not the only man over there, is it okay to use his race as a description?

 

Godot

It was worth the wait!!!!!!!!

 

These are all conditioned reactions, like the steps of a dance. If I said the same three things, in another language, you don't know, you will not judge me in three separate ways, because you have not yet been conditioned. They are not magic words with secrets powers until you have faith in magic.

The word nigger actually stemmed from the mispronunciation of the Latin word for black, which is niger (like tiger). The term began as an uneducated mispronunciation of Latin for black; comical to the more educated person of the time. This then became conditioned to be associated with anger and hate, after the slaves become free.

One should not allow conditioned magic words to have magical power over your mind, heart and soul. All these conditioned poisons have antidotes. PC teaches us there are no antidotes, so run and hide from sounds. Or elect us as leaders, since we know how to fight these magic words. But don't try to fight them all by yourself.

There is a saying one can tell the soundness of a tree by the fruit it bears. Scared college age kids, in fancy schools, hiding from words is rotten fruit. This is not good. We need to teach these kids to be able to deal with magic noises. Picture scared 20 year olds becoming the leaders of the future? How do you say paranoid leaders?

I remember in the 1970's, the way these magic words were dealt with was with comedy. There were TV shows with characters like Archie Bunker (white) and George Jefferson (black) who were lovable bigots. They thought out loud in racist and sexist stereotypes, but underneath they both had big hearts. They were not monsters. This was a time nobody had to run and hide, because the bogey man was not scary. The fruit of this tree was laughter and friendliness. You could joke with each other, and laugh together. That was a much better world then the fear and anger fruit of PC.

 

Damn straight. Well done.

 

Now that's funny.

 

Hah. Took me a minute.

 

About time you showed up.

Use whatever words you think are needed to point out the correct person. Just remember that the words you choose tell me as much about you as they tell me about the person you are pointing out.

 

If a crime was committed by a black male, and only ten black males resided in your hometown, would it be reasonable to contact and question every black male in your town?

 

Sure, if the description was in fact reliable. (Same thing if the crime was committed by a one-armed man, or by a tall woman.)

 

What does it tell you? If I use someone's race or ethnic group as a description, would you think I was a racist?

 

No. Identifying a trait is not the same as employing it to make unwarranted deductions.

Identification is trying to narrow from general trait to specific person.
Racism is generally an attempt to broaden from specific trait to general people.

 

This should be fallacious. I think.

If one is, as you say, attempting to do the right thing to identify the correct person, then the only thing it should tell you is that they are ... doing the right thing. It would be dishonest to deduce otherwise.

 

No, sometimes physical and or cultural descriptions are useful and relevant.

But if you use words you know to be derogatory, I will probably think you are either ignorant or an asshole. Depends on the situation.

 

And there's the rub.

Is the act of saying 'he was black' a derogatory statement? It could be meant as such.

 

Did he die?