rolling "Is This Racist?" thread

This thread is moving rather fast, but re: not knowing the connotations of stuff like "uppity", I remember being told off for using "inscrutable" about someone who was Japanese - my mind was blown that this was a *thing* but I never used it again.

― emil.y, Thursday, January 19, 2012 11:44 AM (30 minutes ago) Bookmark

there def is a stereotype that east asians (and I don't know if this applies to ethnic east asians who were born in America and socialized as Americans) are reticent to show emotion/emotionless

Beeps and I have off-and-on been working on her very public acknowledgment of people we see and what color they are.

There was this rly interesting article last year somewhere about how kids automatically classify things by their differences, because that's how their brains are wired to learn about the world, so pretending that two people AREN'T superficially different is just confusing to them and logically more likely to make them feel that the difference is embarrassing, because no one will talk about it/adults go against what is obviously visible.

No kids, me, so I'm free to be completely fascinated by problems I'm never likely to run up against.

here's a line from saul bellow's herzog

It may be that guilt and sadness made me look Oriental. A morose, angry eye, a long upper lip-what people used to call the Chinese Gleep. It was beau to her.

Pretty sure the "beat up a 64-year old" takes precedence over "six black and Hispanic males" re: animal descriptor xp

yeah "inscrutable Oriental" is a thing. "inscrutable" by itself is a great word, though; i wouldn't chuck it completely.

My mother used the word "uppity" on phone w me the other day, in anger with a badly behaved kid in her class who also happened to be black and I was like, "Okay, let's go back to square one, here. I don't care what else you do with your life, as long as you never say that again." Tried to make the point that it has too much history to ever be a neutral word.

She got mad at me for finding fault with her AGAIN as she must feel like I'm always doing. :/

Me and my PC nonsense that only I care about, because no one else has ever corrected her, apparently.

"Oriental" shouldn't be used to describe anything except furniture and architecture afaik

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/InscrutableOriental

and orientalism, obv xp

Lol, 'uppity' was already discussed ITT (my only ref was to Mr Uppity as well, NV)

"Oriental" shouldn't be used to describe anything except furniture and architecture afaik

― houses of the holey (Ówen P.), Thursday, January 19, 2012 12:31 PM (36 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

yes, of course, but the racist archetype is "inscrutable Oriental"

Well, like I said earlier I never ever knew that it had that history so your mom isn't the only one.

if there's a black kid acting in such a way that would cause a white kid to be described as uppity, what do you use instead, just y'know out of interest

yes, of course, but the racist archetype is "inscrutable Oriental"

Never heard that either. Jesus Christ I am never saying anything again ever.

x-post - snobby? stuck up?

wow

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GermanicDepressives

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GermanicEfficiency

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AsianAndNerdy

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AsianAirhead

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AsianRudeness

this site is like a rabbit hole

nothing wrong with "inscrutable," like i said!

why are you yelling at black kids?

I probably wouldn't say uppity at all.

Snobby would work for me, despite the bike acronym.

I would just say 'snotty little brat' because ime that label applies to every single child who has ever existed

if you find yourself wanting to describe an Asian person as inscrutable, maybe examine your assumptions but lots of things are inscrutable in a non-racist way.

lol wgw

whiney, a white person should never be allowed to yell at black kids?

BTW 10 million xps but I knew about Agatha Christie's 'ten little... ' but I guess I was just shocked to see the word in a different book that was released obviously recently enough for the Kindle.

i shout at black kids because i can't catch them to batter them obv

"uppity" does seem like kind of a problem in all contexts. it means, like "acting above your station" which seems to necessarily imply some sort of fixed social hierarchy even if that hierarchy is not about race.

only one of the Mr Men is dark brown
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_K4ncs0BvIRA/TVGi-XAhviI/AAAAAAAAKIo/YW1GvdbX4H4/s640/mr_men_grid.jpg

Well in my mom's mind, that station is "I'm your choir director, and I'm higher on the food chain than you are" so fair enough. ;)

to use "snobby" or "snotty" in place of "uppity" would likely be more precise in most people's non-racist usage.

I would just say 'snotty little brat' because ime that label applies to every single child who has ever existed

― I am that young sis, the beacon, a yardstick (dayo), Thursday, January 19, 2012 12:34 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

wtf is OJ doing in there?

xp

or maybe "insubordinate," in your mom's case, Laurel?

True although I feel like people use it interchangeably (perhaps incorrectly) with snobby a lot? I've probably uttered that word like 5 times in my entire life. It's not something you hear very often and now I know why!

Not letting my kid anywhere near Mr. Snow or Mr. Bump.

i think you can act uppity without it being a social/racial situation tbh, not sure uppity is very far from entitled tbh

omfg I didn't even see OJ!

True although I feel like people use it interchangeably (perhaps incorrectly) with snobby a lot? I've probably uttered that word like 5 times in my entire life. It's not something you hear very often and now I know why!

― ENBB, Thursday, January 19, 2012 12:38 PM (15 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

they do, and language is a living thing; meanings change, but that word just seems inherently shitty to me still.

Oh the "true" there was a x-post to HS about it being problematic in a lot of contexts regardless of any racist connotations.

Yes - going by it's actual meaning you described above it does seem inherently shitty in most situations.

i mean, that's a connotation that i associate with "uppity." it's not in the dictionary definition i just googled. i feel like in america with the history of the phrase "uppity n*****" maybe it carries that connotation more intensely.

Yeah, "insubordinate" is a perfect analog but my mom's family are from Tennessee so she has "uppity" in her vocab already and it occasionally gets used. Anyway. She's not trying to make a statement, she just doesn't hear other words around her EVER because no one talks about race in her world, and casual racism that's based on not actually KNOWING anyone in the indicted group is just everywhere.

whiney, a white person should never be allowed to yell at black kids?

― I am that young sis, the beacon, a yardstick (dayo), Thursday, January 19, 2012 12:35 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I literally have never been in a situation where I had to yell at black kids, let alone one that requires me to inform one that he's acting snobby, ymmv

I used to tutor at a school where my kids were black - I should never have been allowed to yell at him, even if they did some shitty things?

http://i.imgur.com/iIWUO.jpg

pls be my special classroom guest

although i have never said snobby in a classroom

although i have never said snobby in a classroom

Oh wait - I thought Whiney was just kidding with that comment before.

Yes people's milage might indeed vary cause if you were actually being serious then I don't know about Darragh but I've personally had to yell at black kids, white kids, latino kids - all kinds of kids - a lot in various jobs over the years.

I yelled at a bunch of black kids last summer for throwing pebbles at other kids climbing on the playground.

I said, "KNOCK IT OFF, YOU INSCRUTABLE MONKEYS."