Some examples:

We are not allowed to call someone an Eskimo anymore...it's Inuit now. I'll bet with you that Inuits themselves probably do not feel offended by being called an Eskimo.

Way back in the day it was perfectly alright to call somebody Oriental. Asian is the term now.

I am partially African, so I have no problem with calling somebody Black! But since I don't look Black, people wiwll hush me and go, "You need to say coloured person."

Thoughts?

-------
Live. Love. Grow.

---

Black is only capitalized by racist nationalists or people who don't know the latter. Which are you?

---

A person who's main language is not english...and typically one captitalizes a race.

Post edited at 7:09 am on Feb. 11, 2008 by SusieQuestionu

-------
Live. Love. Grow.

In the US at least, speech codes have been successfully challenged as being unconstitutional.  

Don't be an ass to people, but don't be afraid to say what's on your mind.  Political correctness is censorship, only at the personal level instead of at the government level.

-------
[SIGNATURE]

---

Personally, I think political correctness is crap. It is a form of an informal speech code, and speech codes are a mild form of government-approved censorship. It's the old "slippery slope" argument: if some words are bad to say, then why not others? Then, why those words, and not others? Political correctness is well-intentioned, but as the saying goes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

In the US at least, speech codes have been successfully challenged as being unconstitutional.

Don't be an ass to people, but don't be afraid to say what's on your mind. Political correctness is censorship, only at the personal level instead of at the government level.

---

But I still believe that it should be kept at a certain point, of course there are some words you just do NOT use because they are very offensive...and meant to be. You will never hear the N word coming out of my mouth, but you won't find me saying, "F*ck," very often, either!

-------
Live. Love. Grow.

---

Quote: from holysaiyan1 at 4:12 pm on Feb. 11, 2008

---

Personally, I think political correctness is crap.  It is a form of an informal speech code, and speech codes are a mild form of government-approved censorship.  It's the old "slippery slope" argument: if some words are bad to say, then why not others?  Then, why those words, and not others?  Political correctness is well-intentioned, but as the saying goes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.    

 In the US at least, speech codes have been successfully challenged as being unconstitutional.    

 Don't be an ass to people, but don't be afraid to say what's on your mind.  Political correctness is censorship, only at the personal level instead of at the government level.

---

But I still believe that it should be kept at a certain point, of course there are some words you just do NOT use because they are very offensive...and meant to be. You will never hear the N word coming out of my mouth, but you won't find me saying, "F*ck," very often, either!

---

Well, sure, but not saying f*ck isn't political correctness.  That's called "not using foul language."

Calling the N-word the "N-word" makes it worse, because it's some kind of evil word that can't be vocalized.  If I wasn't afraid of being censored by the mods, I wouldn't be calling it the n-word.  Yes, it's a word that has a bad history, but black people say it all the time.  Must not be that horrible if they say it and use it in a positive sense, right?

I'm sure that if you went back and studied words' histories, almost every word has a bad meaning.  We'd be left with articles, but no verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs, or prepositions.

Sometimes people need to be able to take a little verbal abuse, and stop being so goddamn sensitive.  People are pussies these days.  

Censor me, mods, for using the word "pussy" as a perjorative.  I dare ya.  

-------
[SIGNATURE]

And if there's a tiny bit of fallout from this, if someone in some office somewhere gets in trouble for saying something because they weren't sure whether it was sexist, or racist then that's a small price to pay for the massive improvements in the quality of life for millions of people in my country today.

The whole 'political correctness gone mad' thing is just a way for the right, who control the media and international politics nowadays, to make people on the left who are worried about how people are being represented, look like killjoys.

-------
- لورين

bang bang bang bang bang

In any event, regardless of the name's origins, many Inuit people do not like the word "Eskimo" today
http://www.native-languages.org/iaq23.htm

It is worth remembering, though, that Oriental is not an ethnic slur to be avoided in all situations. It is most objectionable in contemporary contexts and when used as a noun, as in "the appointment of an Oriental to head the commission". In these cases Asian (or a more specific term such as Vietnamese, Korean, or Asian American, if appropriate) is the only acceptable term. But in certain historical contexts, or when its exotic connotations are integral to the topic, Oriental remains a useful term.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oriental#Derivation

and the people that tell you to say coloured instead of black are ignorant or racist

The use of term in this way is now considered archaic and offensive in most contexts; nonetheless it remains part of the title of the NAACP, a prominent African-American organisation, and has been employed by some members of the African-American community as a legitimate ethnic/racial label when intentionally self-chosen and used in a respectful manner.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coloured#Other_usage

---

In any event, regardless of the name's origins, many Inuit people do not like the word "Eskimo" today
http://www.native-languages.org/iaq23.htm

---

The thing about the Eskimo/Inuit term is - All Eskimos are Inuits, but not all Inuits are Eskimos, so to use Eskimo as a catch-all term is like calling all Native Americans Cherokees.

-------
- لورين

bang bang bang bang bang

---

Quote: from second account at 3:59 pm on Feb. 11, 2008

---

 In any event, regardless of the name's origins, many Inuit people do not like the word "Eskimo" today  
 http://www.native-languages.org/iaq23.htm

---

The thing about the Eskimo/Inuit term is - All Eskimos are Inuits, but not all Inuits are Eskimos, so to use Eskimo as a catch-all term is like calling all Native Americans Cherokees.

---

---

How did we get "African-Americans"?

---

Because not all black people are of African origin, is that your point? I'm not sure if that's used as a catch all term, I'm afraid I'm not responsible for the development of all PC terminology, so I can't really answer your question.

I personally, wouldn't say 'African-American' unless someone indicated that that would have they would describe themselves.

-------
- لورين

bang bang bang bang bang