White is a racist term!

When you use the word white to describe yourself or a person aren't you being racist?

When I think white person I think of 2 things A Colonel Sanders like Gentleman sitting on the front porch in a rocking chair with his shotgun in his lap. While his slaves tend to his plantation.

I also think of white person as white trash. You know the mobile home person whose drinking beers from his lounge chair and eating road kill.

I do not want to be grouped with either of these people. Is there a good description of a white person? A reason to be proud to be called a white person. Have you ever been called a white person other than in a sarcastic way? Do you ever say the white person over there?

Is caucasion any better? What is a caucasian? What are the ethnicities that make up caucasians?


If you are in a group of all white people(for example) you can't say the white person over there. How do you identify a person in that group to your friend. Why would you not identify a person of different color in the group the same way. Is it because we are just lazy? Is it right?

bobhikes said:

When you use the word white to describe yourself or a person aren't you being racist?

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No.

When I think white person I think of 2 things A Colonel Sanders like Gentleman sitting on the front porch in a rocking chair with his shotgun in his lap. While his slaves tend to his plantation.

I also think of white person as white trash. You know the mobile home person whose drinking beers from his lounge chair and eating road kill.

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Then perhaps you are racist.

I do not want to be grouped with either of these people. Is there a good description of a white person? A reason to be proud to be called a white person. Have you ever been called a white person other than in a sarcastic way? Do you ever say the white person over there?

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I think the words "white" or "black" or "brown" are not racist. They describe a group of people with a particular skin color. They are descriptive.

Is caucasion any better? What is a caucasian? What are the ethnicities that make up caucasians?

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Yes, Caucasian, Negro, Mongolian etc describe ethnicities of our ancestors of whom we are descendants. so those terms may be used as well.

If you are in a group of all white people(for example) you can't say the white person over there. How do you identify a person in that group to your friend. Why would you not identify a person of different color in the group the same way. Is it because we are just lazy? Is it right?

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you say "that guy over there with the red t shirt and a glass of whiskey in his hand"

Prejudice is exactly how it sounds -to pre judge some one.
While it holds a negative conatation it is in fact how we operate in our world in how we percieve. when confronted with anything our judgements access the situation so me can respond aproperiately.
While racist tend to "catagorize" it is a unfair evaluation when a person is a person.
years ago through tribal standards & ways of life in cultural pockets it may have given you something to help your judgements.
We are too deversified in the melting pot to really support it in a wise way. Now a racist is a negative term as it does not let us see in a reasonable way & be of value.
If the very realities in life have let you see racisum is wrong than do not look at it that way. Unfortunately there are a lot of people who are taught it as if it can be useful to relate a form of opinions that lets you think you know a group of people you have never associated with.
In all the cultural realms of which it is still used I say they find it easier to fill in & steriotype than to actually investigate & know before they access!
Lokking at your questions it is best you consider the answers to them.
It is in fact your own set of judgements you depend on.
So while you weigh it out in the fashion that ponders over what is the best course of action to take I think you will find that once you have the answers the way you look at people & how you treat them will be in the out come of them.

FlyingTeaPot said:

I think the words "white" or "black" or "brown" are not racist. They describe a group of people with a particular skin color. They are descriptive.


you say "that guy over there with the red t shirt and a glass of whiskey in his hand"

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There is no person on earth and ever has or ever will be white or black.

As long as you use the same terms for the man of different color in the blue dress shirt drinking the Scotch.

elmarna said:

Prejudice is exactly how it sounds -to pre judge

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The issue as I see it. Is that we prejudge people all the time in ways we don't understand by grouping them into categories. We teach our children from babies to see the world this way. A Black or White man has no reference no valid description. No man is Black and No man is White. You could not even list all the ethnicities that should be considered Black or White.

I want people to understand when they identify a group of people by color they are enforcing Prejudices.

bobhikes said:

There is no person on earth and ever has or ever will be white or black.

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Okay! mauve and russet brown then! Purist!

As long as you use the same terms for the man of different color in the blue dress shirt drinking the Scotch.

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No, it is easier to identify them by their skin color if they are the only differently colored person there. Understand what the term racism means. There are dictionaries available online.

bobhikes said:

When you use the word white to describe yourself or a person aren't you being racist?

When I think white person I think of 2 things A Colonel Sanders like Gentleman sitting on the front porch in a rocking chair with his shotgun in his lap. While his slaves tend to his plantation.

I also think of white person as white trash. You know the mobile home person whose drinking beers from his lounge chair and eating road kill.

I do not want to be grouped with either of these people. Is there a good description of a white person? A reason to be proud to be called a white person. Have you ever been called a white person other than in a sarcastic way? Do you ever say the white person over there?

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Funny - I didn't peg you as a NOFX fan:

YouTube - ‪Don't call me white - Nofx‬‏

For me caucasian is a person who comes from the Caucasus.
If you feel better, you can call me pink.

Actually being called white, black, yellow, or brown are actually incorrect terms to describe people of different ethnic backgrounds, but its been used for so long people unconsciously address others this way. But to entertain the OP why is just using the term white racist? Why not black? Or being called Mulatto, Octaroon, Brown, colored, or any of these terms?

Political Correctness will destroy our diversity, our languages and our cultures.

All discrimination is discrimination.

I agree with AbdulMuhd, that Political correctness is a dual edge sword. We might now need to bite our tongue but at the cost of our identity, individuality, culture etc.

bobhikes said:

When you use the word white to describe yourself or a person aren't you being racist?

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Of course not. If you use the word male to describe yourself, are you being sexist?

These terms as simply methods of identification shouldn't be a problem and certainly aren't automatically discriminatory. Discrimination is when you treat an individual differently due to their membership of a defined group or presume characteristics of all members of the group (like your Colonel Sanders/white trash examples).

In examples of identifying one person within a mixed group, you should be free to use whichever characteristic is most clear. If there is one woman in a group of men you can say "the lady over there", if there is one person taller than the rest you can say "the tall guy", if there is one person wearing glasses you can say "the guy in glasses" so, if there is one black person in a group, why shouldn't you be able to point them out to someone as "the black guy over there"?

AbdulMuhd said:

Political Correctness will destroy our diversity, our languages and our cultures.

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Its not Political correctness that destroys diversity its our laziness and our need to fit it. Political correctness would actually support diversity. Call a person by name or accurate description not a made up one that has no true meaning.

HonestJoe said:

Of course not. If you use the word male to describe yourself, are you being sexist?

These terms as simply methods of identification shouldn't be a problem and certainly aren't automatically discriminatory. Discrimination is when you treat an individual differently due to their membership of a defined group or presume characteristics of all members of the group (like your Colonel Sanders/white trash examples).

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There is more than a slight difference in calling a male a male and an European a white man. The male is a male and can not change that. The European is a ????. He could be anything and he is most definetly not white in color.

I realize this is just a small thing that has been practiced for generations that doesn't make it right. If you can't define a word but you still use it you are making your own judgements. If I say white man you have an image in your head and this is a prejudice.

With my kids I had this discussion. I am of course white and my friend is of course black but then I asked what color there mom was (latina). I got ummmmmm! White.

If she was the only ethnicity of her kind at a party how would you Identify her. I betting not the white woman.

Its a judgement you are using so ingrained in you, you don't find it offensive or wrong.

Political Correctness is the thin end of the wedge for thought control.

AbdulMuhd said:

Political Correctness is the thin end of the wedge for thought control.

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I agree!

bobhikes said:

There is more than a slight difference in calling a male a male and an European a white man. The male is a male and can not change that. The European is a ????. He could be anything and he is most definetly not white in color.

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Obviously nobody is claiming white people are literally white (or black people literally black). It's a term defining a racial grouping, essentially Caucasian though as in all racial groupings, with lots of fuzzy edges.

I don't think those fuzzy edges automatically makes use of the terms "white" or "black" racist when used in appropriate contexts though, which was the opening question.

bobhikes said:

If I say white man you have an image in your head and this is a prejudice.

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You can name any grouping of people and create an image in people's head and yes, that's a form of (instinctive) prejudice. At that level it's unavoidable and not automatically a bad thing.

bobhikes said:

If she was the only ethnicity of her kind at a party how would you Identify her. I betting not the white woman.

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If she was standing among a group of people of African decent, maybe I would. It could be considered an incorrect definition for her, it might not even be the most socially acceptable method of identification but it still wouldn't be racist.

bobhikes said:

Its a judgement you are using so ingrained in you, you don't find it offensive or wrong.

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Why is it wrong though? I'm subconciously identifying people as being members of various groupings. I'm not treating those people differently on the basis of those groupings. It's just a matter of convinience.

Note that I'm describing how it should be. It's not so ingrained in my that I can casually idenfity people as white or black without the twinge of fear of being accused of racism or being otherwise inapropriate. It's the idea of the racial groupings as positive/negative that is ingrained in our society and it is that which creates the idea that calling someone white or black is saying anything more about them than a symbolic representation of their skin colour.

HonestJoe said:

Why is it wrong though? I'm subconciously identifying people as being members of various groupings. I'm not treating those people differently on the basis of those groupings. It's just a matter of convinience.

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I think I said this in another thread so if you read it already I'm sorry.

Groupings themselves are prejudice. We are Democrats we are different than you and you are not like us. Groups can be so focused on there identity that they cause wars(catholic IRA just recently). Yet in each group no individual is the same. If you except the grouping you are treating them differently. The catholics in Ireland are bad constantly causing war. Maybe you grouped them differently the Catholic IRA in Ireland should all be thrown in jail. The people who should be put in jail are the ones that did the crime. There are good people in the Catholic IRA as there are good Catholic's. Yet by grouping them together you can see that.

Same with Black and White. You know what Black and White are you have a personal definition. You take actions and make decisions based solely on these words. My brother inlaw went on a cruise. My sister was talking to a guy with tatoo's all over his body. My brother inlaw cringed did not want to go over there, hoped his wife would not call him over. He did not want to talk to this idiot. His words. She did he went they spent the rest of the cruise in his and his wifes company. My Brother inlaw said he was a great guy dispite his tatoo's

You make decisions based on what you think a White or Black or Hispanic or Asian is before understanding the individual and this is the definition of Prejudice and racism.

AbdulMuhd said:

Political Correctness will destroy our diversity, our languages and our cultures.

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Meh. Race is fictional anyhow. It's a societal construct.

For instance, until recently, an Irishman and an Englishman would've been considered different "races". Now, they're not - they're both just "white". Race is a fluid and poorly-defined (sometimes contradictorily-defined) concept.

That's not to say that people aren't subject to discrimination based on their appearance or their cultural background, but I think that trying to find the "right" term for a particular race is a bit of a snipe hunt, since you'd need to create a valid definition of "race" before you could properly put a label on one race.

If a group of people are standing together and there are several men of different ethnicities and skin tones, then if I needed to point him out, I would say "the white man" over there as it would be the easiest way to identify who I was talking about.

Frankly, if you connect the term "white" to slave owners and trailer park "trash" that is honestly your own psychological issue. You are the one with the issue. Not the word 'white".

I have no issue calling myself a white person. I mean, if you want to get technical, my skin tone is more of a really light peach freckled porcelain (Draka be really pale :yes: ), I really see no issue in being white. Why should I? Why should an 'African American' be able to consider himself "a proud black man" but a white guy should be ashamed or considered racist if he is even okay with being white?

Honestly Bob, do have any idea how absurd you sound?