Racist slurs

Originally Posted by tactcom7

I have never really understood what monkeys have to do with black people and why calling a black person a monkey is deemed offensive? Can anyone shed any light on the link? I was always getting called a monkey of somesorts by my dad (as several other people have pointed out) and it never really bothered me...

as far as i know, its saying that the black man hasnt evolved like the white man has and they are still primitive apes.
which you can see why it would be taken offensivly if said with hate.

i think it has less to do with being a lacky or anything olong those lines.

What I hate is that you can make an innocent/joking comment both sent in jest and recieved in jest but if somebody else hears it and percieves it as racist then it's racist!!!

if foreigners want to come and live in this country -fine,it does,nt bother me.

what does bother me is they think they can come here and still live by their own rules
e.g
all the mosques which are built in this country,when money could be better spent elsewhere in the country.does anyone think for one second if loads of british people started living in pakistan/india etc they would start building catholic churches?.
e.g
if a woman from any country where your clothing is freedom of choice was in a country where it is,nt started walking down a street in a miniskirt and vest top,how long would she last before being thrown in prison or worse?yet they can come over here and wear their own style off clothes and nothing is said,get my drift?.

basically all i,m trying to do is point out that there seems to be a very bad case of double standards as far as racism goes.

Originally Posted by pencil shavings

as far as i know, its saying that the black man hasnt evolved like the white man has and they are still primitive apes.
which you can see why it would be taken offensivly if said with hate.

i think it has less to do with being a lacky or anything olong those lines.

ahh k makes some sense now, so surely to call someone an amoeba (or something along those lines) must be the worst insult of them all!!

[yorkie_chris]

The main thing that bugs me about this PC/anti racist culture is the fact that it's so one sided. It does happen both ways.

Other than that I think it's just do-gooders stirring the pot for their own ends.

[northwind]

Originally Posted by timwilky

Am I no longer allowed to refer to this trait in character as an "Inner Monkey"? as I will be racially abusing my own dog.

Then he said,

Originally Posted by timwilky

What I am trying to say and waffling too much, is the words don't matter. It is how you say them.

Skillfully answering his own question The context is everything. Nobody- anywhere- has said that it's suddenly not acceptable to use the word monkey to describe people, but it's always been a word that some people use as racist abuse, and it's never been acceptable in that context. What's PC about that?

I hate the term PC, it's become a weapon against common decency. You can say something like "I don't like black people... But I suppose that's not politically correct these days eh?" or "There's a woman working in that garage- it's political correctness gone mad!" and people everywhere will nod and agree because political correctness has become such a joke, and all of a sudden an idiot comment's being ignored.

What started the whole PC idea off was basically just good manners. You don't eat with your fingers, you don't push in a queue, you don't call a black person a monkey. It's not that difficult.

[Biker Biggles]

Yes thats right,and I know the anti PC case can be overdone (and I do),but there is no doubt in my mind that persuance of the PC agenda has been hijacked by an authoritarian element that is just as unhealthy as the old bad mannered element which ate with its fingers or blurted out unpleasant expressions.
I find it unhealthy that employers and politicians feel able to interfere so heavily in what should be basic social activity among free men and women.It reminds me of whitch hunts and religeous persecution from our history and is something to be on guard against.We accept the dictates of self appointed arbiters of right and wrong at our peril.

Originally Posted by northwind

Then he said,



Skillfully answering his own question The context is everything. Nobody- anywhere- has said that it's suddenly not acceptable to use the word monkey to describe people, but it's always been a word that some people use as racist abuse, and it's never been acceptable in that context. What's PC about that?

I hate the term PC, it's become a weapon against common decency. You can say something like "I don't like black people... But I suppose that's not politically correct these days eh?" or "There's a woman working in that garage- it's political correctness gone mad!" and people everywhere will nod and agree because political correctness has become such a joke, and all of a sudden an idiot comment's being ignored.

What started the whole PC idea off was basically just good manners. You don't eat with your fingers, you don't push in a queue, you don't call a black person a monkey. It's not that difficult.

Sexual, verbal, physical, mental etc - all adjectives to describe different types of abuse. Racial abuse isn't a type of abuse, it's the motivation for carrying out one of the abuses above. And there were laws to protect people from those kind of abuses before the advent of PC madness.

So the PC culture does little to protect people anymore than existing laws, leave people afraid of leaving themselves open to vilification for a simple slip of the tongue and further serve to eradicate any chance people have to exercise common sense. So quite frankly it's perfectly understandable that people hate the PC brigade. It has nothing to do with common decency, it has everything to do with pretentious arses in government thinking they know best.

Originally Posted by sv-robo

if foreigners want to come and live in this country -fine,it does,nt bother me.

what does bother me is they think they can come here and still live by their own rules
e.g
all the mosques which are built in this country,when money could be better spent elsewhere in the country.does anyone think for one second if loads of british people started living in pakistan/india etc they would start building catholic churches?.

If you had a clue before you spouted this kind of rubbish you wouldn't have bothered posting. For your information, there are millions of Indian and Pakistani Christians (2.4 million in Pakistan and 24 million in India) living in their own countries. They have their own churches, built alongside mosques and temples. Do you know who built those churches? The British did, when we walked in and took their countries over at the end of a gun and inflicted our way of life on whole nations who had no choice but to accept it....and you complain about a handful of immigrants who dress differently to you and want to practice their own religion.

I refer you to these wiki pages:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_in_Pakistan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_in_India

Originally Posted by sv-robo

e.g
if a woman from any country where your clothing is freedom of choice was in a country where it is,nt started walking down a street in a miniskirt and vest top,how long would she last before being thrown in prison or worse?yet they can come over here and wear their own style off clothes and nothing is said,get my drift?.

basically all i,m trying to do is point out that there seems to be a very bad case of double standards as far as racism goes.

What double standards? There are no double standards at all. If a particular country has a law saying women must not wear clothes that show their arms and legs then female visitors to that country should abide by that law. One law for residents, same law for visitors.

We do not have any such laws in this country, women can wear what the hell they like as long as they stay within the bounds of public decency. If a Muslim woman wants to wear a full covering then I don't see a problem with it - it's not against the laws of this country. Everyone in this country has rights, equal rights, this is why the UK is such a popular final destination for immigrants.

To come out with the rubbish you quoted is a sure sign of racism or absolute ignorance.

My 2p worth.

Calling a black person a monkey is not racist. Even in a supposedly racist context, ie: "F off back to where you came from you monkey", it's not necessarily racist. Stick with it and read on an I'll give you my example which explains why.

Co-incincidence this. I know someone who I greatly dislike (theres not many of those) due to his anti-social behaviour. An in-law of my brother in law. My wife laughs and says "he really winds you up doesn't he" and I say, "yes he bl00dy well does, I don't like him, he's a flipping primate, monkey is too nice, he's a chimpanzee, a gorilla." Gods honest truth those are the words I used to describe him after our last visit to France.

It's nothing to do with the fact he's French or the colour of his skin (he's white), it's his behaviour, his drunken sleering over every female in the room, loud abrasive voice, farting and burping, eating with is mouth wide open whilst trying to talk to you at the same time, etc, etc.

If he came to Scotland I'd tell him to "F off back to where you came from you Monkey", because he behaves like a monkey and I don't want to see him here. Nothing racist about it. Even if he was black, my comments would be for the same reason, as a result of my dislike of his behaviour and have nothing to do with the colour of his skin.

You see Monkey isn't racist in the slightest, in the above situation/context/intention "F off back to where you came from you Monkey" isn't even racist and it wouldn't be even if the guy was black.

A comment, phrase or word, such as Monkey, that is not specifically racist*, only becomes racist when it is being said it because of dislike of the colour of the persons skin or something else related to thier ethnic origin. If a black person takes offense to being called a monkey, maybe they've just misread the intention? Maybe they just talk with thier mouth full.

*(ie: nigger, WOG, paki are specifically racist and not acceptable unless you know the person well and know they will take it as a joke)

We are far too sensitive about these things. Unless specifically racist, or the person has a history of specifically racist slurs or is known to dislike other ethnic orgins, give the benefit of the doubt and don't take offense. You're not a mind reader. You don't know what the person was thinking when they said it or why they said it.