Here is a thought experiment which describes a situation I find myself in every couple of weeks.

I'm walking through the shopping centre and get approached by a dark skinned beggar, who hits me up for money and cigarettes. When I politely refuse to give him anything, he calls me a "White "C" word" and takes a step towards me.

It's not nice experiencing, for a moment here and there, what others experienced for centuries... and situations like you've described do give us unexpected opportunities to reflect on that :( Given how it really has just been a handful of decades, if that, for the legal framework (recognising that) to be put in place, we're still, unfortunately in the "hangover" phase I think.

Who has the most right to feel "oppressed" and "offended" in this situation, the beggar or me ?

T.A.

In this situation I would say you. I expect he would disagree purely on the basis you said no to him (it clearly is a word he has a problem with).

May I ask you a question now T.A :) purely out of curiosity? Would you have felt less "oppressed/offended" if you'd just been called the "C" word?

Rude is rude to my mind - but having said that... I'm going to go away and ask myself whether I find being called "stupid" more or less offensive when it precedes my gender. I think I feel more slighted - because a personal accusation of stupidity can be ignored, refuted or accepted according to the circumstances :) but one that drags all the other women in the whole world into the frame is a lot of sudden pressure and if I have genuinely been stupid, I won't stand for anyone else to be shoved into the frame with me just because we share some physical characteristics. No I won't :)

I agree with Es...

if you treat people with respect around you that you will get better results.

... when it's not reciprocated... I console myself with the thought that the person may be having a worse day than I am (and depending on my mood will add a sympathetic :( or a pleased :) after the thought) With regards your beggar... he's possibly been having a string of them... *choose emoticon according to mood*........

our use of the words "dark skinned" could be perceived as a form of oppression. You appear to be automatically connecting "Dark skinned" and "beggar". Couldn't you have made your point by saying "...approached by a beggar"?

My point is that there is lots of oppression to go around. Nobody seems to have an exclusive claim on it anymore.

OMG. This is exactly what I'm talking about when I say how meanings have been stretched. There is no way I was inferring that "all beggars are dark skinned" or that "all dark skinned people are beggars" and if you think either of those terms was what I meant you really need to detune your sensitivity. That is exactly the sort of PC BS this thread is about.

Or maybe you need to retune your sensitivity. Go ask a black person what they make of your statement. I bet their take is different from yours. I'm not being PC here, I'm just trying to help us middle aged white guys not look so bad in the eyes of others.

It was an accurate description of the beggar in question and no, I couldn't have made the point without giving a description of said beggar

But you have clouded the discussion with colour terms, and hidden what (IMO) is the real issue. This happens to me too here in Canada, with beggars of all colours. The real issue is how should we deal with economic differences. When a white guy starts talking colour, a lot of people tune out from what could be a meaningful discussion. I'm not being PC here either. I'm striving for truth and accuracy, and trying to have a discussion with people who are different from me in a lot of ways.

The reason I used the term "dark skinned" was to demonstrate why the beggar used the term "White c***"". If the beggar had been white, he would have just called me the name without the adjective.

T.A.

See? You could have made the point without mentioning skin colour. That again is not being PC. It is striving to start and maintain an important discussion.

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I've Noticed 'In The World' The Two Words, 'Discussion' and 'Respect' are Used Exponentially More in Last Couple Decades, than Ever Before.

And 'Everything' has Gone Exponentially to Shat, since.

Seem dA mO Syllables Used, dA Worst Thangs Get.

' '

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May we All have a METAMORPHOSIS. REASON. GOoD JUDGEMENT and LOVE and ORDER!!!!!

I've Noticed 'In The World' The Two Words, 'Discussion' and 'Respect' are Used Exponentially More in Last Couple Decades, than Ever Before.

And 'Everything' has Gone Exponentially to Shat, since.

Seem dA mO Syllables Used, dA Worst Thangs Get.

' '

The world has not actually got worse. Its got better. We just now know more about the nasty stuff that goes on.

Ignorance is bliss I guess.

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Reality Internet Personality

Your use of the words "dark skinned" could be perceived as a form of oppression. You appear to be automatically connecting "Dark skinned" and "beggar". Couldn't you have made your point by saying "...approached by a beggar"?

My point is that there is lots of oppression to go around. Nobody seems to have an exclusive claim on it anymore.

OMG. This is exactly what I'm talking about when I say how meanings have been stretched. There is no way I was inferring that "all beggars are dark skinned" or that "all dark skinned people are beggars" and if you think either of those terms was what I meant you really need to detune your sensitivity. That is exactly the sort of PC BS this thread is about.

It was an accurate description of the beggar in question and no, I couldn't have made the point without giving a description of said beggar

The reason I used the term "dark skinned" was to demonstrate why the beggar used the term "White c***"". If the beggar had been white, he would have just called me the name without the adjective.

T.A.

They will accuse you, because you were the last one to speak it, when clearly it was the beggar who started the name calling, you just responded in kind.

Reminds me of a beggar who harassed me a couple times in a fast food joint. He wanted a quarter. Called me many derogatory racial and appearance terms when I said no and ha also wished me to choke on my food. Well, when all you have on you is plastic, you don't have a quarter to give. I think after the third time an employee ushered him out with a no trespass warning and I haven't seen him again. (Once in a while an employee there will grow a spine)

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It doesn't belong in either thread..because...this may surprise you...humans are not chimpanzees.

What I find odd is how often you fail to post articles about our other closest relative, the Bonobo.

Since a bonobo is a chimpanzee ..........

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It doesn't belong in either thread..because...this may surprise you...humans are not chimpanzees.

What I find odd is how often you fail to post articles about our other closest relative, the Bonobo.

Since a bonobo is a chimpanzee ..........

Not really.

http://www.eva.mpg.de/3chimps/files/apes.htm

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Reality Internet Personality

It doesn't belong in either thread..because...this may surprise you...humans are not chimpanzees.

What I find odd is how often you fail to post articles about our other closest relative, the Bonobo.

Since a bonobo is a chimpanzee ..........

Not really.

http://www.eva.mpg.de/3chimps/files/apes.htm

Very interesting :) Thanks ES :) and Gary too, for the link that prompted the discussion :)

Or maybe you need to retune your sensitivity. Go ask a black person what they make of your statement. I bet their take is different from yours...

Here in Oz, the local "black people" (how come it's not wrong when YOU refer to skin colour ??) would have agreed with me (that the man was "dark skinned"). The sensitivities over here are not as finely tuned as over there.

But you have clouded the discussion with colour terms, and hidden what (IMO) is the real issue. This happens to me too here in Canada, with beggars of all colours. The real issue is how should we deal with economic differences. When a white guy starts talking colour, a lot of people tune out from what could be a meaningful discussion. I'm not being PC here either. I'm striving for truth and accuracy, and trying to have a discussion with people who are different from me in a lot of ways.

And in the midst of all your high and mighty handwaving you seem to have forgotten that my OP was about "colour terms" and not economics. Remember, it was ME who was the subject of a racist attack !! In your own way you are being as racist against me as he was by using twisted logic and points irrelevant to the post to shift the blame onto me.

The reason I used the term "dark skinned" was to demonstrate why the beggar used the term "White c***"". If the beggar had been white, he would have just called me the name without the adjective.

T.A.

See? You could have made the point without mentioning skin colour. That again is not being PC. It is striving to start and maintain an important discussion.

Oh great guru. Please enlighten me as to how I could have made the point that I was racially insulted, without describing, in polite terms, the gentleman that made the insult.

BTW. If I was going to be offended by the incident, it would have been because of the noun, not the adjective (after all there is no way I can deny that I'm "pale skinned", the noun however I do dispute). As it was, I grinned to myself, because, if the situation had been reversed and I was the one who slurred him, people like you would have sprung to his defence and I could have finished up on a "Racial Vilification" charge. As it was nobody batted an eyelid.

T.A.

They will accuse you, because you were the last one to speak it, when clearly it was the beggar who started the name calling, you just responded in kind.

Just to clarify, I did not respond in any way, manner or form, I just kept walking.

T.A.

They will accuse you, because you were the last one to speak it, when clearly it was the beggar who started the name calling, you just responded in kind.

Just to clarify, I did not respond in any way, manner or form, I just kept walking.

T.A.

Here, not then and there.

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As posted in another thread.....

@Terror Australis I don't know if you have ever feared that you would be killed by your partner but I know plenty of women who did.

One in three women have experienced physical or sexual violence violence from partner

Indeed I have. My first wife was bi-polar and there was one occasion where she attacked me with a knife and I literally had to fight for my life. There were many nights when I went to bed wondering if I'd wake up in the morning.

She later admitted that she used to get a carving knife and draw patterns on my chest with it while I was asleep, knowing I was completely at her mercy and all she had to do was push down and I'd be dead.

She also said to me that because she was a registered mental patient, that if she killed me, the worst she could expect was a few years in an Asylum until she could convince the "Shrinks" she was cured. Then she would be released scot free.

This is what REALLY p*sses me off about "Political Correctness".

I have posted this story many times in various forums (not here) and each time I've done so, it has been moderated out because it does not fit the current PC view of mental illness. i.e. That "Depression" is the only form worth worrying about and that it can all be fixed with "a little white pill".

Meanwhile, Schizophrenics, Manic Depressives (sorry "Bi-Polar" sufferers) and others slip through the cracks because it is NOT "PC" to mention that these people can be a danger to themselves and others. Police cannot act until the sufferer actually harms someone, no matter how much the relatives or carers feel "at risk", because it is a violation of the sufferer's "rights" to be pre-emptive. It makes me wonder, is this really concern for the sufferer's "rights" or a cost cutting measure by governments in denial ?

In the meantime people die.

T.A.

As posted in another thread.....

@Terror Australis I don't know if you have ever feared that you would be killed by your partner but I know plenty of women who did.

One in three women have experienced physical or sexual violence violence from partner

Indeed I have. My first wife was bi-polar and there was one occasion where she attacked me with a knife and I literally had to fight for my life. There were many nights when I went to bed wondering if I'd wake up in the morning.

She later admitted that she used to get a carving knife and draw patterns on my chest with it while I was asleep, knowing I was completely at her mercy and all she had to do was push down and I'd be dead.

She also said to me that because she was a registered mental patient, that if she killed me, the worst she could expect was a few years in an Asylum until she could convince the "Shrinks" she was cured. Then she would be released scot free.

This is what REALLY p*sses me off about "Political Correctness".

I have posted this story many times in various forums (not here) and each time I've done so, it has been moderated out because it does not fit the current PC view of mental illness. i.e. That "Depression" is the only form worth worrying about and that it can all be fixed with "a little white pill".

Meanwhile, Schizophrenics, Manic Depressives (sorry "Bi-Polar" sufferers) and others slip through the cracks because it is NOT "PC" to mention that these people can be a danger to themselves and others. Police cannot act until the sufferer actually harms someone, no matter how much the relatives or carers feel "at risk", because it is a violation of the sufferer's "rights" to be pre-emptive. It makes me wonder, is this really concern for the sufferer's "rights" or a cost cutting measure by governments in denial ?

In the meantime people die.

T.A.

+1
Who invented the term "Political Correctness"?
I call it oppression!

+1
Who invented the term "Political Correctness"?
I call it oppression!

Exactly! It was invented by the right wing to silence people who called for respect and equality. The term is definitely oppression and should be seen for what it is.

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Reality Internet Personality

+1
Who invented the term "Political Correctness"?
I call it oppression!

Exactly! It was invented by the right wing to silence people who called for respect and equality. The term is definitely oppression and should be seen for what it is.

I dont think that only the right wing is responsible to PC.
I would say all politicans sometimes hide behind the term.
It's a very easy way to avoid complex issues.

Political Correctness gone berserk..

Pooh Banned From School Playground

Reminds me of the kerfuffle over the Teletubbies a few years ago. It also makes me very concerned about the mentality of the people who make such things an issue. How repressed they must be and what are they suppressing ?

T.A.

Political Correctness gone berserk..

Pooh Banned From School Playground

Reminds me of the kerfuffle over the Teletubbies a few years ago. It also makes me very concerned about the mentality of the people who make such things an issue. How repressed they must be and what are they suppressing ?

T.A.

I Mean, what sort of person bothers to look at a stuffed toy's crotch ???????

Particularly if there's nothing there........

T.A.

Political Correctness gone berserk..

Pooh Banned From School Playground

Reminds me of the kerfuffle over the Teletubbies a few years ago. It also makes me very concerned about the mentality of the people who make such things an issue. How repressed they must be and what are they suppressing ?

T.A.

Next target for PC peoples are Donald Duck.
I mean he is always half naked.

+1
Who invented the term "Political Correctness"?
I call it oppression!

Exactly! It was invented by the right wing to silence people who called for respect and equality. The term is definitely oppression and should be seen for what it is.

The term "Political Correctness" seems old:)
An example is James Wilson's post in the US Republic in 1793:

The states, rather than the people, for whose sake the states exist, are frequently the objects which attract and arrest our principal attention... Sentiments and expressions of this inaccurate kind prevail in our common, even in our convivial, language... ‘The United States,’ instead of the ‘People of the United States,’ is the toast given. This is not politically correct.

+1
Who invented the term "Political Correctness"?
I call it oppression!

Exactly! It was invented by the right wing to silence people who called for respect and equality. The term is definitely oppression and should be seen for what it is.

The term "Political Correctness" seems old:)
An example is James Wilson's post in the US Republic in 1793:

The states, rather than the people, for whose sake the states exist, are frequently the objects which attract and arrest our principal attention... Sentiments and expressions of this inaccurate kind prevail in our common, even in our convivial, language... ‘The United States,’ instead of the ‘People of the United States,’ is the toast given. This is not politically correct.

Wikipedia actually has quite a good section on the term: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_correctness

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Reality Internet Personality