The USA and its Political correctness

Compared to the rest of the western world I've got the impression that USA inhabitants are a lot more limited in expressing their true feelings (by their own choise), because of this so called political correctness. For example, it is the only country in the world (to my knowledge) where negro's / black people are refered to as African Americans. I once asked an american colleague how he would describe a black person in e.g. Zimbabwe and he would still call this person an african american, because that is how it should be....He somehow seemed to be at a loss when I told him that most Africans have never been to the USA and that a lot of Africans just have a tan, compared to white people (aka Caucasians). Actually, calling any black person an African American is an insult to those who are not american, but happen to be black. So much for political correctness.
This forum happens to be the first american based one I frequent and the number of times I have been accused of stereotyping is just mind boggling. Is it so hard to read between the lines, is it so hard to understand/accept that on average there are differences between cultures?

For the most part, I feel that people who actively use P.C. phrases need to get a thicker skin, and stop walking on eggshells. Phrases like "differently abled", and "developmentally challenged" burn me up. When it comes to generally offensive phrases (darkie, the n-word) it's acceptable.


Kinda like how the Native Americans (Another thing, I was born here. Shouldn't I be a Native American?) don't seem to have a problem with the Cleveland Indians, but upper-class type people seem to get all up in arms about it. When was the last time you heard a N.A. complain about the Chicago Blackhawks, or the Florida Seminoles?


One more thing: midgets will always be midgets to me.

We've got the two extremes here -- those who worry way, way too much about whether a particular group is offended, and those who couldn't care less about anyone that isn't a "good ol' american" (aka white Budweiser-drinking NASCAR-watching deer-hunting country music fan). It's really pathetic to hear it from both sides.

Your american colleague really isn't out of the norm. People here are foolish enough to want to call African peoples (or black people in any country) "African-americans" just because that's what we're "supposed" to call black people. People are so afraid of offending others that their ignorance leads them to do so in an insultingly stupid way.

Maybe we should call the Daihatsu Midget a Daihatsu Little-Person!

aka white Budweiser-drinking NASCAR-watching deer-hunting country music fan

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aka RedNeck?

Yeah yeah, I know, I'm stereotyping again. I'm sure there are loads of rednecks who don't like Budweiser but prefer iced tea.

I'm the one that started it. I gladly stereotype others. In my experience I've found that one way or another, either stereotypes exist for a reason, or most people just insist on living up to them like some self-fulfilling prophecy. I can sit at work all day and predict with reasonable accuracy how each customer that walks in will behave, based on their race, age, and/or clothing.

What's foolish is to make note of stereotypes when interacting with someone (eg. greeting a Native American with "Hey, what tribe are you from?") or to believe that all members of a group embody the stereotypes of that group. Of course, if you truly believe in making such an absolute and sweeping assumption, you've got more problems than just being offensive.

So, um, why would any other country call blacks "African Americans?" They're not Americans if they live in another country! They'd be African English, or African French.

But seriously, I agree. I have yet to meet an "African American" who's ever been to Africa.

I've never understood the insistence people have of not offending somebody. Yes, the n-word is offensive. "Black" is no more offensive than "white." "Crippled" is the same as "handicapped," but "physically challenged" is just dumb, and "differently abled" is just plain stupid.

When I was a child I had a cousin almost my age with cerebral palsy, whose mother was Korean. While it would be incorrect to refer to my cousin as "the retard blind gook cripple," it's just as unacceptable to me to call her "a physically challenged visually disabled developmentally delayed Asian-American."

There's no lack of sensitivity in using a proper term for a condition. To me, the lack of sensitivity comes in trying to pretend the handicap doesn't exist. People use those terms because they are embarrassed, not to prevent any embarrassment in others.

I've spent more time in Africa than any "African American" I've ever met. Period. I call black people black people, just as I call white people white people.

Then again I'm not "politically correct." "Political correctness" is absolutely ridiculous.

hard to believe all of this started as a GAG written by a couple of guys.

wolf called it. the rednecks and the eth-necks (a la rednecks). a lot of it has to do with america's retention of "victorian morals". you know how annoying it is to hear everybody over fifty call everyone outside of the states "furriners"?

my only exception to the redneck thing is Bud drinking. i HATE beer. prefer some of the stuff Europeans make. smooooooooooooothe
(don't really hunt, either)

wfooshee

... the lack of sensitivity comes in trying to pretend the handicap doesn't exist. People use those terms because they are embarrassed, not to prevent any embarrassment in others.

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Well, that sums it quite well up. A statement that makes a lot of sense. 👍

TopHat

One more thing: midgets will always be midgets to me.

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Not to me, not anymore. Today I saw a "tipical" midget alongside another short person of the same hight. This "midget" has short non-straight legs and a relatively large upper body, they other person is the same height, but all is straight. So who is the midget? It is a funny thing, we all know what a midget is, but the first thing that comes to mind is the midgets height to explain the situation. A bit like explaining that you mean "Jon" or "Jane" by explaining their haircolor, type of clothing, car or favorite hobby, while saying "the fat one", or "the stuttering one" (that could have been be me), or "the alternative one" would suffice. Say it as it is, and don't beat about the bush.

I personally can't stand politically-correctness. I was quite shocked at how much more PC Michiganders are than what I'm used to out west, and sometimes even have to restrain myself from laughing at them about it unless I'm with my out-of-state friends.

When I talk about "different" people, I'll just call them what they are in a term that shouldn't be offensive. I don't feel the need to baby their emotions in any way. And then there's the ones I can't stand:

"Happy Holidays!" "Season's Greetings!" "Holiday Trees" and the Sea-Tac christmas-tree scandal. There's no need to call it something that will make the majority of the population uneasy instead of something that the minority probably didn't find offensive anyway.

Well "Happy Holidays" and "Season's Greetings" aren't too bad, I know people who say them as well as "Merry Christmas".

I don't have a problem expressing my viewpoints, opinions, and my feelings, but when I do, other people find it offending, and I seem to enjoy it in some odd way. I just thought of something I got warned for using "Japanese" in a thread on the very website.

Denur

Compared to the rest of the western world I've got the impression that USA inhabitants are a lot more limited in expressing their true feelings (by their own choise), because of this so called political correctness. For example, it is the only country in the world (to my knowledge) where negro's / black people are refered to as African Americans. I once asked an american colleague how he would describe a black person in e.g. Zimbabwe and he would still call this person an african american, because that is how it should be....He somehow seemed to be at a loss when I told him that most Africans have never been to the USA and that a lot of Africans just have a tan, compared to white people (aka Caucasians). Actually, calling any black person an African American is an insult to those who are not american, but happen to be black. So much for political correctness.
This forum happens to be the first american based one I frequent and the number of times I have been accused of stereotyping is just mind boggling. Is it so hard to read between the lines, is it so hard to understand/accept that on average there are differences between cultures?

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frestkd

I don't have a problem expressing my viewpoints, opinions, and my feelings, but when I do, other people find it offending, and I seem to enjoy it in some odd way. I just thought of something I got warned for using "Japanese" in a thread on the very website.

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So, you're not mainstream and maybe even a bit kinky. 👍

It took me a while to understand why the term "Japanese" could be offensive to anyone, but I think I understand now. In WW2 we used to refer to japanese prisoner of war camps as "Japanese camps" or rather "jappen kampen" in dutch. Those were not very happy days and I can understand that japanese people could be offended by those choise of words, more so, because that part of their recent history is conveniently left -out in their history books.

We've been over PC'ness before.

Japanese could be looked at as the equivalent of the n-word. That's why it's inappropriate, whereas refering to black people as blacks is no different than calling blonde people blondes.

Omnis

Japanese could be looked at as the equivalent of the n-word. That's why it's inappropriate

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I've never understood this - we can call British folks 'Brits', and Austrailian people 'Aussie's', but we can't call Japanese people 'Japanese's'?

Josh

I've never understood this - we can call British folks 'Brits', and Austrailian people 'Aussie's', but we can't call Japanese people 'Japanese's'?

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We can. I'm just reflecting the tactful way to refer to Japanese. Japanese can also mean Jewish-American Princesses.

Like "n****r," "Japanese" is unacceptable because it has a recent historical context in america in which it was used derogatively and out of hatred. For the same reason, though "n****r" is more recognized worldwide, I could understand if "Japanese" isn't seen as an insult in other countries.

bah bah rainbow sheep.... not bah bah black sheep...

His not black his white impaired. haha.

I couldnt care for PC'ness its just stupid.

To answer the African American vs African National thing, its more or less a matter of being polite. I'm not sure who exactly is American and who is not, but I may to refer to someone as an African National if I know they're "not from 'round these parts." The difference generally is that you're from the slave stock that was here before, or you're from Africa.

I don't think its people being uninformed or uneducated, they just don't want to offend people, so they choose the "safe" route.

===

Per Top Hat's question as to who is "Native American" and who is not, being born in the US does not fit the title. I'm an 1/8th Chippewa, and it came down from both of my parents. Definitely not the same thing...

You can't be an African National. Calling people that also makes zero sense.

We're all just humans with different aesthetics. Black, White, Tan, Blonde, Brunette, whatever.

Political correctness at its current degree is completely absurd; people who create these things are just looking for ways to be offended. The Afro is not affected by it, apparently.

Sniffs

wolf called it. the rednecks and the eth-necks (a la rednecks). a lot of it has to do with america's retention of "victorian morals". you know how annoying it is to hear everybody over fifty call everyone outside of the states "furriners"?

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If they come to the US then they are, aren't they? It wouldn't be a good way to greet someone, 'like hey foreigner', but that's what they are.

And I can't imagine myself saying African American. If I was pointing out someone in a crowd, and they were black, I would use that as a way to identify him. I wouldn't say 'the African American guy over there'.

One thing that caught me off guard when I moved up here to Maine is the whole Native American/Indian thing. In Georgia I referred to them as Indians, but up here thats wrong and inappropriate, they're called Natives or Native Americans in my area.

In Vancouver, Surrey, and surrounding areas, we had/have a funny and stupid habit of calling immigrants from India "East Indians." Because they are the "other kind of Indians", different from "Native Indians." Of course they get offended by this and want to be called South East Asians.

It's all Columbus's fault.

I personally think that the people who endorse political correctness are the source of the problem. They are the ones who are picking and choosing and deciding this name is bad, and that name is demeaning. When you decide that calling a retard a retard is mean, you're obviously stating it's bad to be retarded, and thus they become further seperated from the rest of us by being developmentally challenged.

I think one of the most obvious ones is calling gay people gay. I have a lot of friends who say I'm not allowed to call a gay person gay because it's demeaning. I tell them that they're the one who made it demeaning in the first place because they had a thought one day and didn't bother asking the gay guy if he himself took offense to the term. Recently I began calling it hypocritical correctness, just to be a little bit hypocritical myself.

I'm not African-American.
Any of my ancestors who made it here from Africa came against their will.
Plus, My paternal grandfather was half Southern Plains Indian, and my Maternal grandmother was half Cherokee.

I actually have friends that are indeed African American. They are white.
I think it's kinda cruel to refer to black people (who come in every shade from yellow to indigo) as "African American".
Yeah, now that we have civil rights let's use a "politically correct" title to remind black people that their heritage may be Africa, but they were still dragged forcibly from it.

I think that Garth Brooks said it best in his song "We Shall be Free" ...when there's only one race and that's "mankind", We Shall Be Free.

As for "rednecks" -- I like beer, racing, and country music. However, I am much more "deeply pigmented". Things that make you go "Hmmm"...

Gil

I'm not African-American.
Any of my ancestors who made it here from Africa came against their will.
Plus, My paternal grandfather was half Southern Plains Indian, and my Maternal grandmother was half Cherokee.

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I remember in class a while back, can't remember why the question was asked, but we were talking about slavery and everything, and a couple of the black students in class made the comment that they were glad their ancestors were forcibly brought to America, because if they weren't then they themselves would probably be in Africa with a lower quality of life then what they have in America.

That was a bit of a mind blow to me, mainly because it seemed valid. Not that it justifies what happened, because by no means does it, but it is an interesting view on that subject.

Political correctness blows. I blame it all on the parents!

I don't think people, by their nature, are politically correct. Corporations and government entities are (or try), merely for legal reasons. The United States is the proverbial "melting pot" or "salad bowl" of many different cultures, so someone is bound to get offended one way or the other; PC-speak is one way to mask it or attempt to sweep some of the ignorance away.

Denur

Compared to the rest of the western world I've got the impression that USA inhabitants are a lot more limited in expressing their true feelings (by their own choise), because of this so called political correctness. For example, it is the only country in the world (to my knowledge) where negro's / black people are refered to as African Americans.

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It was a bit awkward to hear the local news last June, after [wikipedia]Lewis Hamilton[/wikipedia] won the Canadian Grand Prix, proclaimed by the sports reporter as "...the first Formula One win by an African-American...": Ten seconds of research would have pointed out that he is actually neither one of those.

To be honest, I've rarely heard the term used by actual live people, both white or black (or anything else), except in media. For last year's Super Bowl, the media made quite a deal of "two African-Americans" coaching the nation's most prestigious sporting event. Nobody said a word about Tom Flores being the first Hispanic-American to coach as Super Bowl more than 30 years prior.

To me, the fact that race does not have to be discussed or is notable any longer is the true sign of removing ignorance, labels, and stereotypes we tend to attach to people.