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Old 11-23-2005, 12:25 PM
daryn daryn is offline
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Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Boston, MA
Posts: 2,759
Default Re: on the title.

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Just because you're not offended doesn't mean titles like this are fine.

I'm Asian, and I wasn't offended in the least. Play in any California card room and you'll likely see non-Asians use phrases like "ni han" while engaging in playful banter with Asians. There have been posts about how bad beetz, a white kid and poster here, regularly busts out Vietnamese phrases at the table. Everyone is friends with one another (or at least friendly), and it's clear no offense is meant, so it's all good.

But say, "I LELAISE" loudly to a tatted up Asian you don't know from Adam and you're liable to get your ass kicked, or worse. Fights have broken out over less.

Again, I wasn't offended by the title. I'm not a fan of political correctness in general. But I'm not a recent immigrant who can't pronounce "reraise." I imagine a high-school kid who gets made fun of because of his accent wouldn't feel too hot if he saw flawless' post. Are there such individuals on 2+2? Maybe. I don't know.

In 2001 Sarah Silverman told a joke on Conan O' Brien that included the word "chink." Various Asian groups complained but nothing really came of it. Now, I wasn't offended by the joke; in fact, I thought it was funny. But I was offended by Silverman's cavalier attitude toward the whole thing. She insisted that the joke wasn't in poor taste, when it clearly would've been had she substituted "nigger" or "faggot" for "chink." In a 2003 interview she revealed that--surprise, surprise--she didn't have any Chinese friends (in response to the question, "Did your Chinese friends give you hell for the infamous joke ...?).

An Asian kid who gets called "chink" every day in school sure as hell would be offended by Silverman's joke, even if she thinks it's completely harmless.

When it comes to matters of this sort, it's often difficult to discern the line between what's offensive and what's acceptable. I believe it's even more difficult for white people, as they simply have not had the experiences other groups have had. This is why many champions of super political correctness are white--they think things are more offensive than they really are.

But it works the other way, too. Just because you think something isn't offensive, don't go around proclaiming that you're in the right and that anyone who disagrees is a PC Nazi. You will almost never be the best judge of what's ok and what isn't.

Sorry to hijack this thread, but I felt obligated to jump in when tongni pulled the race card, a card to which a white person is hard-pressed to respond.

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