Quote:
Originally Posted by Corybobory
^Actually I find it extremely offensive for Pakistani, because the only situations I have heard it in have been racist ones and the words makes me cringe...
|
Well, I looked it up on Wikipedia and I see that it's considered offensive in Canada and the UK... in the States I don't think it has any negative connotations at all. Kind of how "oriental" is considered quite ignorant in America, but it's completely acceptable in Great Britain.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Deneb
oh, btw is "JP" offensive in anyway? just incase  |
Nope. Look at the website ending code ".jp"
JPN is okay too.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Corybobory
The pen is mightier than the sword...
Words have great power to do good or harm. You can choose to not let yourself be offended if someone uses a racial slur against you, but really, if someone made a racist coment about me or said something in an inappropriate way I'd have a pretty good right to be offended.
Someone can say 'just words' to you, but it can have a huge effect of your life: your choices, your feelings...
So yes it's good to have a thick skin and not take everything personally, but I think it's our individual responsibility to use appropriate language so we dont accidentally ruin someone's day when we didn't mean to at all.
|
I understand and agree with what you're saying in day-to-day activities, and this website, but I think that we as a society should stop giving power to these words. There are a great deal of African American thinkers who are trying to start a movement to reclaim the N-word word and strip it of any power, and I think that would be great. If people stop letting simple words hurt them so easily, we could move closer to eliminating racial tensions altogether.