Bigotry: what it is and what it is not (IMHO)

I think some members here will probably find this blindingly obvious -- sorry for that. I just wanted to put this here for discussion, because I've known a lot of people who seem to have the wrong idea as to what bigotry really means.

I remember seeing a story about a black man here in America who abducted, raped and murdered a young girl. I don't remember his name (and why should anyone waste neural connections remembering that kind of person's name?).

I would call him a piece of shit, a waste of oxygen, someone who deserved all the punishment he received. But I wouldn't call him a racial slur like the N-word.

Why not? Because that slur denigrates everyone with the same color skin as this piece of shit. He didn't commit evil because his complexion was dark, he did it because there was something profoundly wrong with him. Bigotry is associating the bad actions of an individual with everyone else who shares their ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, whatever. It's what makes people want to harm Muslims after terrorist attacks carried out in the name of Islam. I'm an atheist and you can bet your ass I wouldn't agree with anyone who kills in the "cause" of atheism.

Bigotry is not, as a few people I know seem to think, simply offering criticism of the actions or words of anybody from an ethnic, religious or sexual minority. To refrain from criticizing a bad person because they're identified as part of a minority is akin to bigotry, at least I think so.

I think it's almost as bad to sing the praises of someone who doesn't deserve it, simply because you don't want to seem bigoted, as it is to call someone a bigoted term when they do something wrong. Your thoughts?

I agree in principal  but I care less about racial slurs and more about the practical aspects like Education, employability. Social equality can exist with racial slurs (it does here) it just means all have to have racial slurs.  

If one group is too big then you split them up, like I would get called 'westie' (cause I'm white and live in Western Sydney)and I would call them 'Shire boy' (White southern Sydney coast) or 'Toffee Arse' (North eastern Sydney white, Tory like area) .

See it is Still Racial equal cause we can all tease each other. And 'Skippy' or something about vegemite is the generic for non whites to use against white aussies.

I too agree in principal but I've known, seen, heard and heard of people saying the N word and lots of other derogatory words purely in the heat of the moment through anger.

The N word, while some say it is racist and it has pretty much been turned in to an illegal word in the UK is just used as a slang word by many in the UK.

The same as the word gay, to mean rubbish. Most kids use it as that - they're not bigots are they?

As I've said before - the only way to know if somebody is racist is to know what they are thinking.

Good thread.

However, the thing is, if they continuous say things that are bigotted, and have done for years, then you pretty much know they are bigots.

As was said on another thread, walks like a duck, talks like a duck (especially if it talks for a long time) its a duck.

Sassy wrote:However, the thing is, if they continuous say things that are bigotted, and have done for years, then you pretty much know they are bigots.

As was said on another thread, walks like a duck, talks like a duck (especially if it talks for a long time) its a duck.

A perfect example of why the thread was created.

But will be completely ignored by some.

Codswollop, you wouldn't do what Ben said, you would say he was a piece of shit, but you would make sure you did lots of posts where all the shits were black and would avoid the ones that were white. The sneaky way.

BigAndy9 wrote:I too agree in principal but I've known, seen, heard and heard of people saying the N word and lots of other derogatory words purely in the heat of the moment through anger.

The N word, while some say it is racist and it has pretty much been turned in to an illegal word in the UK is just used as a slang word by many in the UK.

The same as the word gay, to mean rubbish.  Most kids use it as that - they're not bigots are they?

As I've said before - the only way to know if somebody is racist is to know what they are thinking.

Good thread.

it has more to do with context and intent than the actual word it self

Good point, veya, about the actual acts of bigotry being worse than the use of slurs. I feel the same way, obviously -- the fearmongering about "boat people" is obviously worse than calling them a name, but they are related.

I wrote the OP when I'd had a fair portion of this:



... that tends to prevent my thoughts from being as well-ordered as I'd prefer ...

Well its would, but it's fun!

the boat people thing is odd cause you cant visibly tell if someone came here by boat (it is stupid because most refugees come by plane and no one has a problem) so once they are off the boat and integrated in to the community no one says anything, regarding boats. We are getting a lot of Sri Lankans at the moment but there were already quite a lot here so they are integrating easily and can just expect the standard curry-muncher/cricket-related-insult.

actually FOB (stands for Fresh Off the Boat) is a term used but normally to describe Pacific Islanders that have just got here (not refugees, 100% allowed). its about 50/50 between born here (or NZ) and born on the islands and it is used more by their own people than an anyone else.