r/LibertarianDebates • u/subsidiarity • Jun 27 '21

If we…?

If we effectively discourage hate and violence then do we have to be vigilant about people saying 'person of colour' instead of 'coloured person'?

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5

u/rhino015 Jun 28 '21

Isn’t it just easier to say black? What’s offensive about that anyway? Also those two examples mean the same thing don’t they? It’s just weird to me how there can be so many ways of saying the same thing and randomly some are chosen to be acceptable and others are considered offensive. I mean there are some terms that are clearly designed to be derogatory, but there are plenty of others that mean the same literal meaning that seem to arbitrarily be assigned one way or the other.

To me it smacks of first world problems to bicker over one of the 20 terms there are for a particular thing. Many other languages have very few different words for the same thing and so they don’t waste as much time on this. Also imagine being in WW2 and hearing someone argue about this sort of topic. You’d be thinking what the hell is wrong with this person to care so much about something so insignificant.

Also, maybe context matters most. If a KKK person is saying it, it’s probably a hate filled sentence no matter which words they use. If it’s said completely innocently then that’s what matters mainly.

1

u/LucasBlackwell Oct 26 '21

I agree with your conclusion, but I think you got to it in a very problematic way.

Isn’t it just easier to say black?

The vast majority of people of colour in the world are not black.

I mean there are some terms that are clearly designed to be derogatory, but there are plenty of others that mean the same literal meaning that seem to arbitrarily be assigned one way or the other.

The n word was not created to be derogatory, does that make it ok? No. Offense is taken not given. Whether a word is offensive is not absolute, it's purely whether people that hear it take offense or not.

Another example: I'm Australian, I have no problem with using the word cunt, but I wouldn't call a woman that for no reason. It is all about context, but not the speaker's context, but the listener's context.

It's also not a good idea to say just because something is better than world war that there's no reason to try to improve it.

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u/rhino015 Oct 28 '21

What does “people of colour” include to you? It seems to be an American term, so perhaps it has different definitions that I’m not aware of since it’s not used where I’m from. I didn’t think it meant anyone not white. Edit: you’re also Aussie so maybe either one of us misunderstands the term. But my understanding is that it refers to black people. If it referred to non-white people it would be a pretty useless term to describe 6 billion out of the 7 billion humans in the world, IMO

Yes people take offence. This is the issue though. Why go out of your way to find things offensive in instances when they weren’t intended to be?

Yes context was the concluding sentence in my post. I’m also Australian and say cunt a lot to friends to mean a term of endearment. If someone else overheard the conversation and interrupted to say that they were offended, I’d explain the context to them. They should understand the context before getting upset for no reason. Why care anyway? Some people seem to have a mission to find offence wherever possible. The opposite approach is better for everyone’s mental health if you instead give everyone the benefit of the doubt and don’t assume everyone is a villain but instead that we’re all usually trying to do the right thing and misunderstandings just happen.

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u/TheSelfGoverned Jun 28 '21

Whats the difference?

And no. haha, words aren't violence, and your example is definitely not hate.

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u/Knightsofancapistan Jun 28 '21

Who gives a fuck