Racists are stupid... and not for obvious reasons!

[Brazoo]

Just out of curiousity, is this racist group based in the U.S. or Europe? I didn't bother looking at the website.

This one was in the U.S.

[The Bat]

Given the fact that my spouse is two generations out of Ireland, and one generation out of Quebecois, and still identifies herself as both, it still astounds me that you might view that term as a negative!

Now how in the hell do you get from my "joke"...that I view my Irish heritage as a negative?? My Family came from Dublin in 1870, and I'm VERY proud to be Irish. In fact, there's two kinds of People in this World...those that are Irish...and those who want to be.

[Brazoo]

From now on I'm only going to refer to myself as an "Irish-American".

Given the fact that my spouse is two generations out of Ireland, and one generation out of Quebecois, and still identifies herself as both, it still astounds me that you might view that term as a negative!

But again... Melting Pot vs Mosaic.

I have to admit I didn't get why he thought that was a negative thing to say either.

What's your nationality? American

What's your background/race? Irish-American

It's the exact same for black people. I don't know of anyone who's suggesting they answer the question "What's your nationality?" with African-American. In that case it's just American.

But enyawd72 was suggesting that if he called to talk to his black friend Steve, and the receptionist said "I'll call him to the phone, what does he look like?" he's just going to say "he looks like an American". Makes no sense to me.

Nationality and race are two separate things - no?

[Brazoo]

Now how in the hell do you get from my "joke"...that I view my Irish heritage as a negative?? My Family came from Dublin in 1870, and I'm VERY proud to be Irish. In fact, there's two kinds of People in this World...those that are Irish...and those who want to be.

I think samurai and I both thought you were saying something like "if black people are going to call themselves African-American then I'm going to call myself Irish-American" as if that was an off-beat thing to say.

[Mikey]

Proper names to call blacks have changed so many times lately it's hard to keep up on what's proper today.

Years ago my old man used to call them negros ...

He wasn't being racist --- that was just the proper name at the time.

Being an old Polish Catholic, the only thing he was racist against was nazi's

[The Bat]

I think samurai and I both thought you were saying something like "if black people are going to call themselves African-American then I'm going to call myself Irish-American" as if that was an off-beat thing to say.

My point is simply that we're ALL immigrants in America, and that it's not necessary to add "Irish, African, Polish, Italian" or whatever in from of American. When I meet someone I don't introduce myself as "Irish-American".

[Brazoo]

My point is simply that we're ALL immigrants in America, and that it's not necessary to add "Irish, African, Polish, Italian" or whatever in from of American. When I meet someone I don't introduce myself as "Irish-American".

No - but I don't think black people walk up and say "Hi, my name's Bill, I'm African-American" either, so I'm still not getting it.

If there was a slang word for Irish-American that offended you, wouldn't your rather be called Irish-American? Well there are offensive terms for African-Americans, so they prefer to be referred to as African-American instead.

I don't get how this is controversial or confusing. Maybe it's a cultural thing.

[The Bat]

If there was a slang word for Irish-American that offended you, wouldn't your rather be called Irish-American? Well there are offensive terms for African-Americans, so they prefer to be referred to as African-American instead.

But there are offensive slang words for every race...so I guess we should all go by our heritage first, then American.

[Brazoo]

But there are offensive slang words for every race...so I guess we should all go by our heritage first, then American.

Wha? We're obviously not understanding each other.

Your nationality and your ethnicity are two different things - no? Why should that be different for black people in your country? I just don't get it at all.

If Cosby is standing next to 5 white American guys and your buddy, who just regained sight after being blind his whole life, says "I'd like to meet Bill Cosby - which one is he?" you say "Unfortunately there's no way to distinguish him from the group of people he's with, they're all American."

[saildog]

Aww, ****...if someone who wants to hate you can't hate you for your skin color, religion, ethnicity, nationality, political party, degree to which you are liberal or conservative within a particular party, sexual orientation, denomination, accent, grammar (be it disregard of correctness or insistence upon being correct), lack of or display of intelligence, socio-economic status..be it poor or rich (and that...like everything else, is always relative), then they will hate you for your poor choice of shoes or whether you prefer Superman over Batman.

Put a hundred human beings in a room and the first thing they will do is size up differences and split into groups and the longer they talk and divulge, the further they will split until you have a hundred people not talking to each other.

The more we focus on differences, the more we play to human nature. Human nature isn't to love or accept without question.....hell, studies with babies show that they make distinctions. History shows us that human nature is to make distinctions.

Acknowledge that there are distinctions, but choose to say, "**** it!".

[The Bat]

Let me see if I can put this in the simplest of terms for you. I just don't think the "add on" is necessary. I feel it's more respectful to refer to my fellow black, colored, African-Americans....simply AS Americans. Isn't that called equality?

[The Bat]

Aww, ****...if someone who wants to hate you can't hate you for your skin color, religion, ethnicity, nationality, political party, degree to which you are liberal or conservative within a particular party, sexual orientation, denomination, accent, grammar (be it disregard of correctness or insistence upon being correct), lack of or display of intelligence, socio-economic status..be it poor or rich (and that...like everything else, is always relative), then they will hate you for your poor choice of shoes or whether you prefer Superman over Batman.

Put a hundred human beings in a room and the first thing they will do is size up differences and split into groups and the longer they talk and divulge, the further they will split until you have a hundred people not talking to each other.

The more we focus on differences, the more we play to human nature. Human nature isn't to love or accept.....hell, studies with babies show that they make distinctions. History shows us that human nature is to make distinctions.

Acknowledge that there are distinctions, but choose to say, "**** it!".

Well said!

[Brazoo]

Let me see if I can put this in the simplest of terms for you. I just don't think the "add on" is necessary. I feel it's more respectful to refer to my fellow black, colored, African-Americans....simply AS Americans. Isn't that called equality?

But who's saying you shouldn't? That's what I don't get. That was my whole point! I've never heard a black person say "Don't call me American. That's offensive!"

Black people would rather be called African-American instead of racially offensive slurs. That's it. How is that wrong?

[The Bat]

I give up.

[Brazoo]

Aww, ****...if someone who wants to hate you can't hate you for your skin color, religion, ethnicity, nationality, political party, degree to which you are liberal or conservative within a particular party, sexual orientation, denomination, accent, grammar (be it disregard of correctness or insistence upon being correct), lack of or display of intelligence, socio-economic status..be it poor or rich (and that...like everything else, is always relative), then they will hate you for your poor choice of shoes or whether you prefer Superman over Batman.

Put a hundred human beings in a room and the first thing they will do is size up differences and split into groups and the longer they talk and divulge, the further they will split until you have a hundred people not talking to each other.

The more we focus on differences, the more we play to human nature. Human nature isn't to love or accept without question.....hell, studies with babies show that they make distinctions. History shows us that human nature is to make distinctions.

Acknowledge that there are distinctions, but choose to say, "**** it!".

I totally agree - is it coming across that I'm arguing against this? I don't see how.