General/Off-topic |
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Here is a very likeable US President
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| 20. |
04 Mar 2007 Sun 03:20 am |
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| 21. |
04 Mar 2007 Sun 03:24 am |
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Quoting vineyards: Was that Keanu Reeves? I prefer Eyes Wide Shut though.
So what was the topic? |
Something about Linda Carter? Wasn't she Wonderwoman? 
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| 22. |
04 Mar 2007 Sun 03:28 am |
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| 23. |
04 Mar 2007 Sun 03:33 am |
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Quoting vineyards: When do you think the US will have a female president or a colored one? |
Well there is the potential to have one as the next president. How about BOTH - a african-american female president! I would give her about...ummm....4 weeks in office before some redneck assassinated her 
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| 24. |
04 Mar 2007 Sun 03:36 am |
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Quoting aenigma x: Quoting vineyards: When do you think the US will have a female president or a colored one? |
Well there is the potential to have one as the next president. How about BOTH - a african-american female president! I would give her about...ummm....4 weeks in office before some redneck assassinated her |
Sad but probably true given history...
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| 25. |
04 Mar 2007 Sun 05:37 am |
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Quoting vineyards: When do you think the US will have a female president or a colored one? |
No disrespect, but you really can't say colored anymore (since the 60's anyway). I think black or african-american are the only two accepted at the moment. Anyway, neither will win in my opinion. I think another will slip in at the end. Another white male. Obama maybe in 4 or 8 years. Bakalim...
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| 26. |
04 Mar 2007 Sun 01:21 pm |
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| 27. |
04 Mar 2007 Sun 02:46 pm |
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Quoting vineyards: With all due respect, it takes me one second to keep up with the most up-to-date American jargon no matter how my own language environment is pretty independent from that as my preferences favour intimacy to political correctness.
My emphasis here is on the time it takes for the American people to get used to the idea.
I adopted "colored" from Roger Waters lyrics which are usually from the early 80's. He is one of the most intellectual persons, I have ever listened to and I have no doubt about his command of English and sensitivity in this regard.
So, if we were living in George Orwell's world, Roger would browse the archives and correct all his past references to other races and claim:Hey, I have never said anything like that.
I find it really pathetic tokenizing a word first then questioning its politicall correctness and replacing it with another one which will soon become banished like the same.
There are some universal rules that apply to all languages.
Words do not mean anything on their own. They just have assigned meanings. Ethnic definitions may contain metaphors or color names. You may call a black person a black person or a negro because that person is black and that is what makes him look different from other races. The problem here is feeling comfortable with the idea of being black.
The name of my country is Turkey, and you eat Turkey on thanksgiving day. The UK newspapers depict Turkey the land as turkey the bird wearing a fez. Can you kill a stereotype? They actually attempted to do that. Responsible organizations from around the country wrote letters to their business counterparts in the UK, US and elsewhere asking them to refer to Turkey as Turkiye.
Those who had business with the country liked the idea as this would give them an edge in competition. On the whole however, it was such a ridiculous attempt. Can you prescribe what words to use to millions of speakers?
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You shouldn't take offense. You are overlooking the historical-social context that surrounds African-Americans that live in the United States.
For a refresher course...There was over 500 years of slave trade that brought Africans to the United States as forced laborers. Slaves were not allowed to practice their religion, language, cultural dances or maintain their cultural heritage. Their names were changed, their identity was stripped as well as their humanity. While you can point to your country and say I come from here or what I say today can be traced back to this point, place in the past, African Americans cannot! There is no remainder of the African past that can be said...this comes from this part of Africa. There are ONLY 'we suspect' it comes from here, or 'it's likely' that it comes from over there but no clear way to trace back the small remainders or cultural links that go back to any particular part of the African continent.
Following the abolition of slavery, ex-slaves were treated as others. They were denied voting rights, land ownership, even the peace of mind to just live as their lives were subject to beatings, torture and brutal hangings/lynching for the slightest provocation as 'looking at a white woman'. There was no justice and no one to complain to as justice turned a blind eye to these attrocities. In regards to identity ex-slaves now suddenly had to go from being 'Master Smith's boy/girl' to being idependent people. Who am I? Where do I come from? or even What am I? are identity questions that still plague the African American community today. If you have no way to trace back your roots, if you are a foreigner in a foreign land, if nobody is around to tell you what it was like before...then YES there is going to be an identity crisis. Not to mention that 'colored', 'boy', 'girl', 'negro' and the such were terms placed upon black people of african descent.
As African Americans have moved away from the dark dark period of slavery and the horrible decades that followed with brutal, deadly racism we have searched and struggled to define who we are. As of recent the term 'African- American' meaning being of some African descent while being born in the United States. It gives black people living in the U.S. a sense of history and ties to roots long ago lost.
So, my point, you shouldn't be offended by the correction! Please take the time to understand the history and you will see why that term is NOT just political correctness gone mad. There is a painful history, a long struggle for justice and equality that continues today that it is ever so tied to the term 'African-American'!
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| 28. |
04 Mar 2007 Sun 03:12 pm |
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| 29. |
04 Mar 2007 Sun 03:48 pm |
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Quoting vineyards: Let us think in simple terms:
I claim we must not be stuck with the meanings of words as words have no other meanings than those we assign to them.
Accordingly, whatever "right" word you may come up with is doomed to erode into some other meaning if you cannot change your (literal) mind set.
Let us center the discussion around the validity of this thesis.
Furthermore, I am not offended in anyway. I just wrote about something that I find illogical.
I might be more offended by your own article because there you invite me to stop and think, learn history, control my feelings, not get offended all too easily. Isn't this the kind of language used to hush hush others? Now that neither of us has an omniscient point of view, we must really keep it clean from such patronizing statements.
For my own part, I do not want you to learn anything other than what you freely choose to. Because I do not feel responsible for you. |
It's not about the 'right' word. It's about a group defining themselves! If you choose to ignore that then that is your business. I can't imagine from the comfort of your historical, political and geographical distance that you would in any way shape or form empathize, understand or even imagine for second what it is like for a group of people living so far from your world have experienced or have endured. It appears you are only concerned with being right. I only invited you to take a look at how that the term has come about. And you are very correct that 'African-American' will probably be changed over time. But it will be 'African-Americans' that decide! And I am glad that future generations will continue to evaluate who they are in light of changes towards social equality. Maybe in time there won't be a need for that term and all can say 'American' but I am afraid that will be a long time coming!
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| 30. |
04 Mar 2007 Sun 06:04 pm |
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