Quote:
Originally Posted by RichardCoulter
There was recently a case where a black child wore a T shirt with the words 'coolest monkey in the jungle' whilst modelling for H&M, which they had to apologise for:
https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/...-monkey-hoodie
His (black) mother said she didn't see anything wrong with it.
It was commonplace to call children of all colours a 'cheeky monkey's when I was a child, perhaps that's now deemed racist?? It could be argued that those who take offence are the racist people as they are alikening black children to monkeys!
---------- Post added at 14:51 ---------- Previous post was at 14:44 ----------
The word 'Paki' is deemed racist here too, but perfectly acceptable in America. IIRC an American politician used it over here in all innocence and shocked those around him.
So, it seems that it's not only who says certain words, but where in the world they are said!
I was taken aback when a group of black lads were calling each other Niggers in a bar, but when discreetly mentioning bit to the landlord he said that it wouldn't be ok for a white person to say it to them and that what they were actually saying was 'Nigga', I'm not sure what difference that makes though. To me either a word is acceptable or it isn't.
Some gay people refer to themselves as 'Queer' and justify it by saying that they have reclaimed the word. |
As I previously posted, context is all - as Charles M. Blow wrote
Quote:
MY father’s name is William Paul Coates. I, like my six brothers and sisters, have always addressed him as Dad. Strangers often call him Mr. Coates. His friends call him Paul. If a stranger or one of my father’s friends called him Dad, my father might have a conversation. When I was a child, relatives of my paternal grandmother would call my father Billy. Were I to ever call my father Billy, we would probably have a different conversation.
I have never called my father Billy. I understand, like most people, that words take on meaning within a context. It might be true that you refer to your spouse as Baby. But were I to take this as license to do the same, you would most likely protest. Right names depend on right relationships, a fact so basic to human speech that without it, human language might well collapse...
...A few summers ago one of my best friends invited me up to what he affectionately called his “white-trash cabin” in the Adirondacks. This was not how I described the outing to my family. Two of my Jewish acquaintances once joked that I’d “make a good Jew.” My retort was not, “Yeah, I certainly am good with money.” Gay men sometimes laughingly refer to one another as “******s.” My wife and her friends sometimes, when having a good time, will refer to one another with the word “bitch.” I am certain that should I decide to join in, I would invite the same hard conversation that would greet me, should I ever call my father Billy.
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Regarding the N word and the usage of the word Queer, have you ever considered that it may be the people who were denigrated by the usage of the term(s) taking back the word, and empowering themselves by using it within their groups.
You said either a word is acceptable or it isn't, but that's a very simplistic view - you would never have been called the N word or Queer as an insult (or probably in any way) as you are neither, so who are you to tell someone who has had it used against them how they should use it - I know lots of Yorkshiremen who call each their Yorkshire friends "you tight barsteward", but if someone who they didn't know from London said it, they might take offence.
As I said, context is all, and like life, not black and white - ymmv.