Thread: A black man and white man robbed a store last night..

It seems to depend on the news station, as in who's reporting or writing the scripts. They usually say "African-American" and either "White" or "Caucasian". Then there are the others which are simply Asian, Hispanic, etc. Though I did hear them say Black a couple of times.

It would sound ridiculous to say "yellow", "red" or "brown" lol. I can maybe see black, but white still doesn't make sense because no one's actually white. It's just easier to say I guess.

I'm not even sure if saying "African-American" is the best phrase to use. I once had a neighbor who was technically African because he was born in South Africa, but he was Caucasian.

So what word would replace African-American and Black? I think negroid or negro would be asking for a law-suit from Al Sharpton.

Since when did calling people black go out of style?

Originally Posted by Raphael

Since when did calling people black go out of style?

Blackey.

Originally Posted by Jeff777

What do you think the agenda is?

Selling papers.

Originally Posted by louie54

So what word would replace African-American and Black? I think negroid or negro would be asking for a law-suit from Al Sharpton.

It's kinda funny, but here it's actually gotten so far that really the only acceptable thing to say is "not ethnic Norwegian".

Originally Posted by Siиdяed

When people say Asians, they invariably mean...well, it used to be Middle Eastern, but these days just about everyone means Japanese/Chinese/Korean, etc.

Indians tend to be referred to as Indians. Such is the joy of their sub-continent.

But well done you for trying to be pedantic.

And what about Thais, Indonesians, Vietnamese, Filipinos, Malaysians, Burmese, Cambodians, etc. Sorry for being pedantic here, but the "people that say Asian and invariably mean Japanese/Chinese/Korean" in my opinion are just revealing a western media bias. So when you say "people", do you mean Caucasian people? Because (native) Asians in my experience don't think or talk that way.

People from India tend to be referred to as Indians, yes sure, but then people from China are also referred to as Chinese, people from Japan are Japanese, people from Vietnam are Vietnamese, etc. But they are all Asian and are certainly described that way inside of Asia.

Yes, I mean Western people. As in, the majority of the people on the forum here.

Did...did you really need to point out that Western media and everyday conversation can frequently be vague as to the specifics of continents that aren't American or European?

It seems. So obvious.

But well done for putting your hand up and saying, "I know about Asia."

Originally Posted by Seroquel

Indians are Asian.

India is in ASIA??

Go away.

Originally Posted by Jeff777

What do you think the agenda is?

Probably making people have a bias toward "blacks".
Especially in America so people won't care as much when they see that the arrest ratio for black:white is like 7:1 (assuming they don't know the fact that every "race" commits the same amount of crime).
Because they constantly see "black guy did this, black guy did that" but then when it doesn't say race (when the guy's white) they won't think about the race of the guy.
Confirmation bias I guess.

On the other hand, it could be a subconscious thing of the writers, possibly. If they're white, and didn't grow up around black people, they might automatically write "black guy".

Originally Posted by Jeff777

It's alright fellas. The thread title seems fine until you see the entire post, then hearing men referred to as yellow (asian) or red (indians) seems a little ridiculous and funny sounding. The terms "white man" and "black man" sound completely fine because they've become predominately acceptable terms of reference for african americans and european americans in american society.

It's meant to portray the absurdity of writing people off as particular colors by conveying it in a humorous light.

Except not in South Africa, you are not allowed to use the term 'black' so how do you describe the people? Honestly I don't know

I lump a lot of people in the "Asian" category because I can't distinguish one specific nationality/ethnicity from another. I've not had enough exposure, so they honestly almost always "look the same to me".

Originally Posted by tommo

(assuming they don't know the fact that every "race" commits the same amount of crime)

Why do you put "race" in quotes? Also, source for this?

Originally Posted by Raphael

Technically all American's can be referred to as African American, regardless of race; considering all humans originated from Africa 200,000 years ago.

That lable doesn't go off of your ancestery... just your country of origin. This is the problem I have with the Af-Am label. You can only have the X-Amer label if you've immigrated from your ORIGINAL country of origin. So someone who came from France to America and becomes a citizen would be considered French-American. However, the offspring would be considered JUST American because their country of origin is America

If what you said is the case, then I demand to be called an English-French-German-Irish-Swedish-Hungarian-American

This is the reason I will call blacks "black". 99% of you are American born and thus don't get the title

Here in So Cal I'm nore likely to see a Mexican-Am, than a true Af-Am

Back to the topic. Yes, most blacks are brown. I don't care. Also, Asians don't appear yellow to me. They look white. Except the south Asian counries... they're tan . Native Am look brown to me as well, as do Indians/ other Middle Eastern countries. Can't say I've seen a red Native American...

Originally Posted by Armistice

Can't say I've seen a red Native American...

Really? I've seen plenty of red, uh, native Europeans.

Originally Posted by Keresztanya

Why do you put "race" in quotes? Also, source for this?

Because I think "RACE" is a fucking stupid word to begin with, which is what parentheses mean in that context.
We say "human race" and then "black race" "white race" "asian race".
The only proper place it has is in "human race".

Why should some people be considered a different "race" when the only empirically noticeable difference is skin colour.
(Obviously scientifically there are other known differences, but they're things like sickle cell and heart disease risk etc. Not major differences)

As for the link....
Let me google that for you

Originally Posted by tommo

Because I think "RACE" is a fucking stupid word to begin with, which is what parentheses mean in that context.
We say "human race" and then "black race" "white race" "asian race".
The only proper place it has is in "human race".

Why should some people be considered a different "race" when the only empirically noticeable difference is skin colour.
(Obviously scientifically there are other known differences, but they're things like sickle cell and heart disease risk etc. Not major differences)

Actually I read an interesting article a few year ago about how the fear for racial discrimination has become an obstacle in certain fields of medicine, where it's believed the best treatment for the patient might depend upon his or her race. However they couldn't get a grant to research it.
Talking about races in humans is no more wrong than talking of races in dogs (though obviously the differences are much smaller). It's when you treat people differently based on it that a problem arises.

Originally Posted by khh

Actually I read an interesting article a few year ago about how the fear for racial discrimination has become an obstacle in certain fields of medicine, where it's believed the best treatment for the patient might depend upon his or her race. However they couldn't get a grant to research it.
Talking about races in humans is no more wrong than talking of races in dogs (though obviously the differences are much smaller). It's when you treat people differently based on it that a problem arises.

Did I not just say that different groups of people have different illnesses, or rates of illness?
It hasn't impacted research at all. They even have drugs which work better for certain groups of people.

I just don't like the word race. That is all. I agree that racism fear is stupid. You can't say anything to most people without them calling you racist.

Originally Posted by dajo

And what about Thais, Indonesians, Vietnamese, Filipinos, Malaysians, Burmese, Cambodians, etc. Sorry for being pedantic here, but the "people that say Asian and invariably mean Japanese/Chinese/Korean" in my opinion are just revealing a western media bias. So when you say "people", do you mean Caucasian people? Because (native) Asians in my experience don't think or talk that way.

People from India tend to be referred to as Indians, yes sure, but then people from China are also referred to as Chinese, people from Japan are Japanese, people from Vietnam are Vietnamese, etc. But they are all Asian and are certainly described that way inside of Asia.

Originally Posted by Siиdяed

Yes, I mean Western people. As in, the majority of the people on the forum here.

Did...did you really need to point out that Western media and everyday conversation can frequently be vague as to the specifics of continents that aren't American or European?

It seems. So obvious.

But well done for putting your hand up and saying, "I know about Asia."

Originally Posted by Zhaylin

I lump a lot of people in the "Asian" category because I can't distinguish one specific nationality/ethnicity from another. I've not had enough exposure, so they honestly almost always "look the same to me".

Lol I felt like I just had to throw this in there.

No you didn't....

saw that, i did Mmhmmm

Originally Posted by tommo

Why should some people be considered a different "race" when the only empirically noticeable difference is skin colour.

Because humans differ from each other biologically, and so we use this term race to denote genetically divergent human populations. That's not the answer you wanted though.

I find it frustrating when people get hung up on a certain words because they carry bad connotations. It's like when people used to be called 'colored', and that got a bad rap because of how it was used during a time when racism was prevalent. And so then we move on to calling people 'black.' Well it seems that word has also gotten a bad rap because of racism surrounding it. So now the accepted term is 'African American.' But now it seems like we're trying too hard to sound politically correct, which will probably backfire at some point; which is when we'll move on to the next politically correct term, and so on, and so forth...

The specific word isn't the problem, and constantly changing it isn't going to solve anything.

Originally Posted by Raphael

Because humans differ from each other biologically, and so we use this term race to denote genetically divergent human populations. That's not the answer you wanted though.

I find it frustrating when people get hung up on a certain words because they carry bad connotations. It's like when people used to be called 'colored', and that got a bad rap because of how it was used during a time when racism was prevalent. And so then we move on to calling people 'black.' Well it seems that word has also gotten a bad rap because of racism surrounding it. So now the accepted term is 'African American.' But now it seems like we're trying too hard to sound politically correct, which will probably backfire at some point; which is when we'll move on to the next politically correct term, and so on, and so forth...



The specific word isn't the problem, and constantly changing it isn't going to solve anything.

i dont do this very often on forums but i must

THIS.

Originally Posted by Raphael

Because humans differ from each other biologically, and so we use this term race to denote genetically divergent human populations. That's not the answer you wanted though.

I find it frustrating when people get hung up on a certain words because they carry bad connotations. It's like when people used to be called 'colored', and that got a bad rap because of how it was used during a time when racism was prevalent. And so then we move on to calling people 'black.' Well it seems that word has also gotten a bad rap because of racism surrounding it. So now the accepted term is 'African American.' But now it seems like we're trying too hard to sound politically correct, which will probably backfire at some point; which is when we'll move on to the next politically correct term, and so on, and so forth...

The specific word isn't the problem, and constantly changing it isn't going to solve anything.

Nah man. I totally get this. And I pretty much agree with you.

I just don't like the word "race" in particular. Sounds like we're calling them a different species. When we are almost exactly the same. It's probably just a personal thing though. Most likely other people don't have that same connection in their heads.

BTW I still call people black if they are. If I'm just describing someone. I see nothing wrong with it. Of course if there were mostly black people and you're trying to describe one in particular, you would probably use other terms. It's just an easy way to point out people or distinguish them or whatever.

So yeah, I think it's just that my idea of the word "race" probably isn't what other people associate the word with. I'm not politically correct in any way lol

Tommo is right though. "Race" is actually the same as "species" and would mean that we could not reproduce with another "race". Because we're the same race, we CAN reproduce

But yes, some people are more prone to certain diseases, ex: blacks and sickle cell

Originally Posted by Armistice

Tommo is right though. "Race" is actually the same as "species"

That's not true at all.

Well, actually race means "an actually or potentially interbreeding group within a species also : a taxonomic category"
"A group of people sharing the same culture, history, language, etc.; an ethnic group"

But I spose your post is evidence that I was wrong in my assumption that it's just a thing that I alone associated with the word somehow.

I suppose it's sort of like "landrace" plants. When a species has been breeding between themselves in one area.

Sniped....