Yes, the term "Wypipo" offends me.

[WillowTree]

Thing is, I'm not under the delusion so many others seem to be that I have some sort of Constitutional or God-given right not to be offended. So I just go on with my life. Would be nice if a lot of others would learn to do that, too. They'd probably wind up being happier.

JMHO.

[Bok_Tukalo]

1. It is a question of whether or not the group will tolerate a racial pejorative being used

... or even whether racial pejoratives directed at Caucasians deserve censure at all.

It has been an interesting debate.

[hunter]

3. I'm as white as a red bearded Irishman...

... and highly offended you'd call me Caucasian.

[gollygee]

13. I hate that term too

but I don't make threads about it. I can handle people using words for "white" that I dislike.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2008/08/do_white_people_really_come_from_the_caucasus.html

[hunter]

19. Who would have guessed that "Caucasian" had racist origins?

No wonder police departments used it with such enthusiasm.

[cynatnite]

2. Never heard of it until I saw it here at DU...

I don't get it all that much and frankly, I don't really care either. I'm not going to call anyone that when I barely understand it myself. Hell, I don't get the name-calling at all anyway. It's done so much nowadays and that does offend me.

[Blue_Adept]

5. That means you just need to get out of your white enclave more

Or so I've been told.

[flotsam]

4. Here's the thing

If I posted:
Brownpipo-not all of them, just the ones who love rice and beans, siestas, and mariachi music

Yellowpipo-not all of them-just the inscrutable kung fu ones

Thempipo-not all of them-just the ones who secretly rule the world

Do you think there would be one drop of discussion about whether or not it denigrated people or if it was OK because "they deserve it"-well, neither do whites

[Cuthbert Allgood]

7. Yeah. Because that's the same thing.

Sweet Jesus the lack of understanding the obvious amazes me.

[WillowTree]

8. I know.

And the fact that a subset of the DU group does find the term acceptable/justifiable tells me that those people are apparently not as 'progressive' as they'd like to think they are. But getting my undies in a bunch over it doesn't wreck a portion of anyone else's day but mine and I just won't give them that.

YMMV.

[Caliman73]

17. Actually, here's the thing...

I you posted what you wrote, what you would be doing is perpetuating the language that has ACTUALLY been used to oppress, segregate, and kill "those people" that you mentioned.

The reality is that wypipo is silly. When people of color talk about "White people" it is out of a sense of attempting to understand how the dominant group continues to think and not see what has been happening to people of color for centuries. Really, what the hell is "White People"? Who is "White"? All that White means is not Black, Latino, Asian, ect... Italians used to not be White, now they are. Irish used to not be White, now they are, Poles and Slavs also used to not be white and now they are. There is no "White" ethnicity, but certainly the model of being an "American" is wrapped up in having White skin.

There is a well documented history of language being used to oppress people of color. There is no documented history of people of color ever having the ability to use language to do the same to White people in this country. If and when people of color decide all of the societal norms, have most, if not all of the institutional power, wealth, and status; then we can have a discussion of how "wypipo" is equal to the terms you are using as your examples.

[phylny]

21. I feel the same when I see "Rednecks" or "Hillbillies" or "Bitch" written here on DU.

I've never, ever used a derogatory slur to mock others. In fact, in the 80s I wrote a typed letter (no computer for me back then) to Bryant Gumbel admonishing him for using the word "Redneck" to describe a group of people.If it's meant as a derogatory term, it has no place on DU.

[oberliner]

6. This is a discussion forum

Talking about things is the idea.

[NCTraveler]

9. The use of other slurs cements the foundation of oppression in society. People die because of them.

This one, not so much.

Feel good that it took this long to be offended at a phrase aimed at you(I'm assuming it is as your are offended by it).

POC have to fight for their lives. You are fighting to not be offended.

[WillowTree]

10. Love the condescending tone, though your reading comprehension could apparently use some work.

I'm not "fighting" anything in this discussion. I find the term offensive, but so what? I've been offended by a lot of things hurled at me because I'm white or a woman or a Christian or, in a few cases, because I'm not Hispanic. And having a discussion about the appropriateness of such terminology no matter who it's directed at is very good. All I've been saying is that I'm seeing posts from some people who who could benefit from a bit of a "Sticks and Stones" attitude, for their own good.

Then again, there's always the contingent who seem to perpetually addicted to outrage, so whatever.

[NCTraveler]

11. I don't think that was really condescending.

"I find the term offensive, but so what?"



"I'm seeing posts from some people who who could benefit from a bit of a "Sticks and Stones" attitude, for their own good."

Like not being offended at the insignificant. Again, .

"though your reading comprehension could apparently use some work."

I agree. It's a process. I continue to up my game. Have yet to reach perfection.

[WillowTree]

23. We don't really get to choose what does or doesn't offend us.

We do, however, get to decide which things are worth reacting to and which we're better off to just walking away from. I guess that's largely where I was going with this.

[flotsam]

14. Really?

In Liverpool, England, where many Irish immigrants settled following the Great Famine, anti-Irish prejudice was widespread. The sheer numbers of people coming across the Irish sea and settling in the poorer districts of the city led to physical attacks and it became common practice for those with Irish accents or even Irish names to be barred from jobs, public houses and employment opportunities.

In 1836, young Benjamin Disraeli wrote:

[The Irish] hate our order, our civilization, our enterprising industry, our pure religion. This wild, reckless, indolent, uncertain and superstitious race have no sympathy with the English character. Their ideal of human felicity is an alternation of clannish broils and coarse idolatry. Their history describes an unbroken circle of bigotry and blood.[22]

"The judgement of God sent the calamity to teach the Irish a lesson, that calamity must not be too much mitigated. …The real evil with which we have to contend is not the physical evil of the Famine, but the moral evil of the selfish, perverse and turbulent character of the people. ”
—?Charles Trevelyan, head of administration for famine relief during the Great Irish famine

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Irish_sentiment


Many whites have been more than offended. Read some history.

[NCTraveler]

16. Yes. Really.

Catch up on the current state of America.

[hunter]

24. I was hoping my "Irishman" post would provoke offense.

I had ancestors who were emphatically NOT Irish. Because they were.

They'd reinvented themselves the moment they jumped off the boats, as they were running into the wilderness. If they didn't get their inventions right the first time they'd move on and try again, pretending to be the finest sort of Anglo Saxon Protestant people, or failing that, Scots Irish.

Some of them paid hucksters who would find them very respectable genealogies.

My last immigrant ancestor was a mail order bride from Scandinavia to Salt Lake City. She didn't like sharing a husband so she ran off with a monogamous guy and they homesteaded some land that's still a long, long, ways from the nearest Wal-Mart.

There were no computer databases in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. Children were born at home. Records were lost. A white man was who he claimed to be unless by some misdeed he proved otherwise, and a woman was as vouched for by her man.

My own grandfather had three birth dates, years apart, one on his military service records (he was an Army Air officer in World War II), one for his Social Security, and one on his California Driver's licence. It was a hell of a bureaucratic mess to clean up when he died. My grandpa was Wild West. He'd run off to the Big City of Cheyenne Wyoming when he was sixteen, sixteen his age according to his sisters.

I might compare my Irish ancestors' experience to black people who were slaves and the children of slaves, but that would be wrong.

[Initech]

12. I'm offended that we're sitting here wasting time debating this shit.

When we have far more important things to worry about. Like the the fact that we have a traitor in the White House who's aided and abetted by a hostile foreign entity intent on starting World War 3, and the ruling party is complicit. So let's stop fighting about stupid shit and get to work defeating the traitors!

[LanternWaste]

15. last week a lot of people were offended because it was referenced that Sara Sanders has eyes

Well, last week a lot of people were offended because it was referenced that Sara Sanders has eyes. So I get the micro-martyrdom we often create for ourselves (though doing so does mean we have to ignore or deny the existence of context, nuance and in this case, even history).


I also get I'm not as progressive as the pure, the mighty, and the righteous are because my perspective is quite different than yours, as I find as that as a white person, pretending to be offended by something directed at the power base of history is tiresome, worn-out and without merit.

[beaglelover]

18. Agree 100%

[wellst0nev0ter]

20. It's. A. Twitter. Abbreviation.

And, yes, some blacks use the term to punch up -- just like when they use the full term "white people."

Some whites say the word is racist in order to use it to deflect their own racism.

Don't get caught in the trap.

[XRubicon]

22. I'm more disappointed than offended

I plan to let this one ride and move on.