Quick question about political correctness...

[pgd3]

Thinking its racist is where you went racist.

Had this debate with a coworker the other day. The difference between being racist and working to hide it, or just being inappropriately incorrect by normal happenstance.


Of course with the whole Obama birth certificate fiasco my coworker tried to claim that if you make everyone comply the same its no longer racism. To which I replied, or is taking the time to ensure that everyone is treated the same in fact spending more time recognizing the difference?

Anyhow, I would use the word "descent". "Individuals of jewish descent" or perhaps, heritage.

But I would also not shy away from Jew as a noun for someone of the jewish faith. They are both correct.

Or if you want to be vague perhaps you could have a paper about jewlocks and jerrycurls?

 

[acidboy]

Originally Posted by Eason

nothing that your British-betters didn't teach you, charlie.

we had spanish-betters here, but we didn't have any interaction with them since both sides of my family were fobs from the old, uncolonized back country.

 

[Mr. White]

,,

 

[VelvetGreen]

If you want to, footnote the first use of the word 'blacks' with an explanation that it will be used as shorthand for African/Americans + whatever groups of people you are writing about.

A good method I would use is to word your sentences so that you use 'black' adjectivally - the black experience, black identity, black people etc. The same goes for Jews - the 'Jewish x or y' will also help underscore your typological distinctions rather than implying that 'blacks' or 'Jews' are self-explanatory terms, which in the context of an academic paper, is probably not true.

 

[Joffrey]

Originally Posted by Reynard369

I'm working on a paper and my professor isn't available, so I thought I'd turn to the wealth of knowledge that is the SF members...

The paper compares the experiences of Jewish people and black people in America and in literature, and I'm wondering if referring to the groups as "blacks" and "Jews" is offensive or if it's, forgive the pun, kosher?

I refer to myself as Black and I refer to other Blacks and blacks not african-american. I always cringe a little when I hear Jews or "the jews" instead of saying "jewish people".

 

[gladhands]

Black people is preferable to blacks. Jews is acceptable if you're referring to the ethnic group. As a faith, you should use Jewish.

 

[Piobaire]

Originally Posted by gladhands

Jews is acceptable if you're referring to the ethnic group. As a faith, you should use Jewish.

I do not understand this. For instance, and very roughly speaking, are not the Sephardim and Ashkenazi two very distinct ethnic groups?

 

[in stitches]

Originally Posted by Piobaire

I do not understand this. For instance, and very roughly speaking, are not the Sephardim and Ashkenazi two very distinct ethnic groups?

they are. but even amongst them the word jewish does enclude them all as a general term.

though jews sometimes makes people think of phrases like "kill the jews" or damn cheap jew" thats way it makes some cringe. but jewish is a ok.

 

[FLMountainMan]

Being from the South, I typically use "black folks", but in a formal paper, I'd say "black people". I think the idea of defining the term - Americans of West African descent or whatever, is a pretty good idea, depending on the length/formality of the paper.

"Blacks", fair or not, just seems to have a negative connotation. I think the only time I use it is when I refer to "blacks and whites", but I don't even do that much. My inner group of friends is at least 1/3 black, and I don't even think I've ever heard the term "African-American" used, even when we talk about race.

 

[redcaimen]

Originally Posted by pgd3

Thinking its racist is where you went racist. Had this debate with a coworker the other day. The difference between being racist and working to hide it, or just being inappropriately incorrect by normal happenstance. Of course with the whole Obama birth certificate fiasco my coworker tried to claim that if you make everyone comply the same its no longer racism. To which I replied, or is taking the time to ensure that everyone is treated the same in fact spending more time recognizing the difference? Anyhow, I would use the word "descent". "Individuals of jewish descent" or perhaps, heritage. But I would also not shy away from Jew as a noun for someone of the jewish faith. They are both correct. Or if you want to be vague perhaps you could have a paper about jewlocks and jerrycurls?
A noun, yes, but if you want to be scrupulously politically correct you will probably want to shy away from any uses of the word as a verb.

 

[gladhands]

Originally Posted by Piobaire

I do not understand this. For instance, and very roughly speaking, are not the Sephardim and Ashkenazi two very distinct ethnic groups?

Maybe I wasn't clear. They're definitely distinct ethnic groups. Actually, this helps explain what I was saying: You would refer to a person as an Ashkenazi Jew when discussing his ethnicity, but you would refer to him as Jewish when discussing his faith.

 

[Bradden]

To be PC you can use group A and group B. You can define the groups in the beginning or footnote.

 

[Neo_Version 7]

Someone from group B just walked by me with a fine ass.

 

[Harold falcon]

Originally Posted by Reynard369

I'm working on a paper and my professor isn't available, so I thought I'd turn to the wealth of knowledge that is the SF members...

The paper compares the experiences of Jewish people and black people in America and in literature, and I'm wondering if referring to the groups as "blacks" and "Jews" is offensive or if it's, forgive the pun, kosher?

What term has your professor used during the course of the semester in class?

Use that term.

 

[GoldenTribe]

Originally Posted by Eason

Whatever you do, don't say "african-american" unless they're ******* african.
+1 In Canada "black" is used universally as far as I know, and usually as an adjective ("black people") rather than a noun ("blacks" -- sounds uncomfortable to me, but we don't say "whites" either). It's always weird hearing US media refer to "African Americans" all the time -- what if they're Caribbean? What if their family was European or Canadian for a few generations before immigrating to the States?

Originally Posted by redcaimen

A noun, yes, but if you want to be scrupulously politically correct you will probably want to shy away from any uses of the word as a verb.
Is there any use of "Jew" as a verb other than the outright racist meaning to cheat/scam/steal? If not, you hardly need to be "scrupulously PC" to avoid using it.

Originally Posted by Neo_Version 7

Black is pretty offensive when you really think about it. A lot of people associate it with things that are evil, wicked, or dishonourable (see: he had a black heart; her soul is black as night).
Absolutely not. You are conflating entirely different concepts/uses of the word and it's equivalent to women (who spell it "womyn") bitching about how "history" is "his-story" -- so they call it "herstory" even though the two words share no etymological roots.

Associations by colour are entirely culturally rooted and therefore subjective anyway.