re: #296 reine.de.tout

Hrm. I’m not sure where I’m not making myself clear. Let me try to break it down:

A) If you’re using particular words to refer to a racial group (or other group), you should verify whether those words are actually sourced in racism. As I noted, “Brit” is a pretty inoffensive term for a person from Britain, but “Jap” or “Spic” are both racist words with racist roots, even though “Jap” is just a shortening of Japanese and Spic is just a shortening of Hispanic.

B) When you meet someone from a cultural group you’re ignorant about, common courtesy will get you through just fine. Hell, you can even go ask your Hmong neighbors, “So tell me about the Hmong.” I just meant that, to me, politeness means that I want whoever I’m conversing with to be comfortable, and to do so I’ll want to know their cultures taboos and interesting tidbits.

C) Intent does matter, and most people realize that. Some people don’t, and I think they’re tiresome. I’m just saying that a good intent is best shown by making sure your interaction is appropriate for whoever you’re talking to- and culture is part of that.

I’m careful not to say things on LGF that would cause offense that wouldn’t cause offense amongst subgroups of my friends. This isn’t because I think you guys are wilting violets, but because intent is harder to read over the internet and I don’t want to get bogged down explaining what I meant.