His comments about the "Half breed" baby is a clear example of hate. Breeds describe animals not humans.
I've referred to myself as a "half-breed" and often tell people that I was "born and bred" here in San Antonio; am I racist? (FYI, humans are animals.)
Racism isn't always about hate,
as Mike Christ tried to intimate. My mother would never wish ill on anyone but she's a full blown racist, IMO. It sometimes seems like every conversation I have with her includes a comment that starts with, "Oh, you know how white/black/Mexican people are..." She's not white and doesn't consider other races inferior to hers, she will just instinctively put you in a preconceived box based solely on your skin color.
I've met Phinnaeus in person and worked with him on several projects. I believe he is understandably upset by the actions of his niece's boyfriend and wanted to convey the depth of his displeasure by using the most derogatory term he could find. He also tried to make it clear that he was only referring to this one individual, basing his scorn and derision on the personality, not the physical characteristics of the man.
Unfortunately for Phinnaeus, and the rest of us, a few loaded terms are still enough to draw attention away from the issue at hand and give fodder to those trying to convince us that some words and concepts are "bad" no matter how you use them.
Hi edd,
Because you are an Adult, you can label or call yourself anything you like and you have done no damage to anyone.
While Labeling the Black man as a N****R was wrong what he said about the baby was even more disturbing. Just shows that anyone any age is fair game in his book.The term didn't sit well with me labeling an innocent baby as a half breed.
PG is the type of person I would save if he were drowning but i would NOT shake his hand Man to Man. Does that make any sense to you?
Thanks for the Viewpoint edd Appreciate it and keep up the good work in the 100 thread
I'm having some difficulty following your reasoning. You're admitting some words cause "damage" in certain contexts but not in others? You indicate that the term "half breed" disturbed you more than the word "nigger", a word you can't even allow yourself to type out in full. Have you ever heard or seen the term half-breed applied to anything
other than a human? I don't think I have (unless you count aliens in science fiction movies).
I understand how some people still have a strong emotional response to the n word but I don't think anyone else would have mentioned "half breed". I could be wrong, maybe it's a localized thing and those of us born and bred in the South are the only ones who use the term without meaning to convey any negative connotations.
PG is the type of person I would save if he were drowning but i would NOT shake his hand Man to Man. Does that make any sense to you?
Unfortunately, yes, I understand. You're saying Phinnaeus hasn't fallen into the category of people whom you
would allow to drown and you consider a handshake between two men to somehow be different than other types of handshakes.