Well, technically, Nevada and California were Union States, so people from there would have a whole different issue with being called Confederates. And, now that I have the means to actually write something and do a little refresher research, I think I was mistaken on the Mason-Dixon line reference, and it's simply (or more complexly, however you look at it), a Union v Confederate thing from the Civil War (and, in that case, you would be considered a Yankee, as Michigan was a Union state).
But, nitpicking aside, I agree, using blanket terms and whatnot just reinforces the use of stereotypes. I think that's the core problem with such things as the term "black." It's not just used to describe a person's color, but is also a blanket term for various stereotypes ("you're not 'black' enough"). If we could get rid of the "blanket term" segment of the word black, then I think we'd be a lot closer to getting rid of some of the prejudices and racial tension (at least between blacks and whites).
I agree, too, that people are too touchy and overly defensive. If people didn't get so defensive about some of the dumber things, then they'd lose those "offensive" meanings.
I remember one time, I was describing a coworker to another coworker (because I forgot his name, I'm terrible with names), and my description went something like this:
My coworker looked at me slack-jawed and bug-eyed because I used "Middle Eastern" in my description of him. "Well, he's from India!" was the response when I asked what the problem was. What she seemed to completely miss was that by using the term "Middle Eastern" among the rest of my description, she knew exactly who I was talking about (otherwise, she wouldn't have known who I was talking about, since there were several people in the office who could have fit that description sans "Middle Eastern"), because the phrase comes with it a particular set of characteristics (dark hair, darker complexion, maybe an accent, etc). Could I have used a better term? Perhaps, though, to me, it's not much different than using the term "Asian" to describe someone with a particular skin tone, hair color, and eye shape. No, I didn't get the exact country right, but that's not really possible when I don't know what country he was from (our office had something between 1/3 and 1/2 that were from the Middle East or India, and pretty much the rest are white, with a handful of people of various other ethnicities, and they may or may not be American citizens), and therefore my goal was to get the ethnic/"skin tone" region right. I also find it awkward to spend ten minutes trying to describe a skin tone that's something along the lines of a mocha color (or other such shade that isn't as simply described as "black" or "white" or "tan" or whatever) in such a way that it would actually be reasonably accurate in describing the color.
My phrasing was meant to be nothing more than to act as a single term to describe half a dozen characteristics that wouldn't have been otherwise very easy to describe, but because she interpreted as something else, it was offensive to her.
(On a side note, it's interesting to observe my feelings about whether or not to post my little story, because of fear of offending someone for whatever reason.)
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branchandroot
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Date: Feb. 2nd, 2010 07:32 pm (UTC)But, nitpicking aside, I agree, using blanket terms and whatnot just reinforces the use of stereotypes. I think that's the core problem with such things as the term "black." It's not just used to describe a person's color, but is also a blanket term for various stereotypes ("you're not 'black' enough"). If we could get rid of the "blanket term" segment of the word black, then I think we'd be a lot closer to getting rid of some of the prejudices and racial tension (at least between blacks and whites).
I agree, too, that people are too touchy and overly defensive. If people didn't get so defensive about some of the dumber things, then they'd lose those "offensive" meanings.
I remember one time, I was describing a coworker to another coworker (because I forgot his name, I'm terrible with names), and my description went something like this:
Somewhat tall, slender build, Middle Eastern, well-dressed...
My coworker looked at me slack-jawed and bug-eyed because I used "Middle Eastern" in my description of him. "Well, he's from India!" was the response when I asked what the problem was. What she seemed to completely miss was that by using the term "Middle Eastern" among the rest of my description, she knew exactly who I was talking about (otherwise, she wouldn't have known who I was talking about, since there were several people in the office who could have fit that description sans "Middle Eastern"), because the phrase comes with it a particular set of characteristics (dark hair, darker complexion, maybe an accent, etc). Could I have used a better term? Perhaps, though, to me, it's not much different than using the term "Asian" to describe someone with a particular skin tone, hair color, and eye shape. No, I didn't get the exact country right, but that's not really possible when I don't know what country he was from (our office had something between 1/3 and 1/2 that were from the Middle East or India, and pretty much the rest are white, with a handful of people of various other ethnicities, and they may or may not be American citizens), and therefore my goal was to get the ethnic/"skin tone" region right. I also find it awkward to spend ten minutes trying to describe a skin tone that's something along the lines of a mocha color (or other such shade that isn't as simply described as "black" or "white" or "tan" or whatever) in such a way that it would actually be reasonably accurate in describing the color.
My phrasing was meant to be nothing more than to act as a single term to describe half a dozen characteristics that wouldn't have been otherwise very easy to describe, but because she interpreted as something else, it was offensive to her.
(On a side note, it's interesting to observe my feelings about whether or not to post my little story, because of fear of offending someone for whatever reason.)