Racism and Language

Racism and Language - Transcript

Racism and Language Racism
We often hear people complain about how political correctness We has gotten out of hand It is said by some that it is impossible to know what words are offensive and inoffensive to others The implication is that society has become far too sensitive about identity
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Firstly can you give a good working definition of the term Firstly political correctness What does it mean to you Where and how did you come into contact with this particular definition What are the intentions behind this idea What was it trying What to do to

Racism and Language Racism


3 Now list as many words or terms that you know are perceived as insulting or 3 belittling to different social groups see Wikipedia for a full rundown of ethnic slurs Do you know the provenance of any of these terms Where did they originate and in what context are they used originate 4 Political correctness in its modern usage 4 Political the term political correctness is said to the have emerged in the 1960s It was initially have taken seriously as an idea by the Radical Left taken but its meaning mutated to the extent that it but became a means of self criticism and self satire



Racism and Language Racism


For instance T Bambara s The Black Woman argued that a man cannot be For politically correct and a male chauvinist too At this stage the term is taken seriously Personal behaviour was under scrutiny and was expected to reflect the individual s professed politics Fair enough you might say Pulling out Penthouse and expecting your partner to get the household chores completed whilst simultaneously defining yourself as a Feminist was not particularly consistent particularly



However as the term took on a different meaning it became a means of self satire a guard it against orthodoxy in progressive social movements against for instance in Feminism s criticisms of the antifor pornography movement E Willis pornography

Racism and Language Racism




However before elements of Political Correctness began to reflect on the power However of language it was routine to hear racist sexist homophobic and xenophobic language on a daily basis from buses and street corners to comedians journalists and politicians Question write done a list of emotions that might be experienced were you to be the subject of an insult that homes in on your race sexuality gender disability Why do these words have such an impact On the question of Prince Harry s and subsequently Prince Charles heirs to On the throne both do you believe the response to their comments was disproportionate Can such terms be seen as affectionate nicknames disproportionate

Racism and Language Racism


The journalist Riazitt Butt reflects on his experiences growing up in the UK in his the 1970s Growing up in the late 70s and 80s it was something that I often heard in the Growing playground It was something my dad heard at the factory he worked in And there was never any reply What do you say to someone who in two syllables has judged you to be second class dirty and disgusting Paki is the reason someone threw an egg at my brothers and sisters and me as we walked to school I can t forget the shock thinking someone had chucked a glass bottle at us An egg thrown from a moving car really hurts And what can you do when you re halfway between home and school with yolk running down the side of your face You wipe it off with your sleeve and keep walking It s a word that takes me back to my childhood a time of fear and prejudice when people could get away with racial abuse because it wasn t seen as racial abuse but as an acceptable term for a minority that looked funny and smelled funny In other words terms such as Paki are not inoffensive terms of affection They are often the prelude to vicious racist attacks

Racism and Language Racism


What kind of society accustoms itself to perceiving women as sluts dogs What bitches and regards such words as only a bit of fun bitches Such terms originate as unambiguously pejorative They are intended without Such irony or humour to undermine and dehumanise the individual Suddenly with the trigger of a single phrase the individual is reduced to a thing a sum total of stereotypes and caricatures S he no longer has to be confronted as a human being but as culturally backward criminal or less than human and thereby less deriving of the rights others take for granted The process of dehumanisation has been used to justify slavery and the Jewish The dehumanisation Holocaust Words work They lay the groundwork and offer licence to real political bigots





Words are simply the thin end of the wedge headlines like Words the one opposite serve simply to soften up public opinion the so that the groups targeted feel powerless and alone while so the rest of us feel under no obligation to offer support or the sympathy Why should we They are taking our jobs and sympathy bringing crime to our streets bringing

Racism and Language Racism






Can language be reclaimed Many black males call one another nigger a Can powerful word infused with racist meaning Hip hop music in particular is littered with its usage But many black people are Hip uncomfortable about this attempt to diffuse a term previously burdened with racist baggage Use of the word is now banned from stages around New York racist Gay men and women have also attempted to reconfigure the meanings of Gay queer and dyke queer But for Riazat Butt There is always talk when incidents like these occur of the But power that can be derived from reclaiming a word But I never associated Paki with anything positive Nobody could or should try to reclaim it with

Racism and Language Racism


In fact it is often the political Right who seek to police our thoughts and In language and from far more sinister motives than the empowering of marginalised social groups The ugliest forms of political correctness occur when there is a war on Then The you d better watch what you say D Williams you d In the aftermath of 9 11 any US citizen seeking to question the strategy of their In government left them vulnerable to attacks from powerful voices Dissenting ideas were labelled as treasonous by shock jocks such as Bill O Reilly A mood of fear and loathing overtook both the printed and visual media They became besotted with their own version of became political correctness Thou Shalt Not Question Anything political Thou



Racism and Language Racism


Critics of political correctness have been accused of showing the same Critics sensitivity to words as those they claim to be opposing and of perceiving a political agenda where none exists For example during the 1980s a number of news outlets claimed that a school altered the nursery rhyme Baa Baa Black Sheep to read Baa Baa Rainbow Sheep In fact the nursery run by Parents and Children Together Pact simply had the kids turn the song into an action and rhyme They sing happy sad bouncing hopping pink blue black and white sheep etc The spurious claim about the nursery rhyme was widely circulated and later amplified into a suggestion that similar bans applied to the terms black coffee and blackboard According to Private Eye magazine similar Private stories all without factual basis have run in the British press since first appearing in The Sun in 1986

Racism and Language Racism




So language and our use of words clearly have an impact They can be used to So unite and find common identities and values or they can be used to drive a wedge between people from diverse social groups They can confirm or they can diminish an individual s humanity and individuality But the controversy remains we should of course be able to talk to each other about any issue at all This is how people come to understand one another By talking we can identify common values Political correctness or whatever you wish to call it should not be about a simple censorship of words There are words and phrases which are designed to offend and intimidate But that should not stop us from discussing the subjects they often refer to gender sexuality race ethnicity class sexuality In what ways should people approach such subjects Can you think of In descriptive words that define how we might begin to open up and talk honestly about these subjects that concern us all about