Stupid Guest Tricks

But is Pirate in the Human or non-human spectrum? And where does The Doctor fit in?

Did you mean The Doctor in the Trek sense BW? In that case I believe the correct term of choice is "Photonic lifeform..."

Amphigorey wrote:That was probably an interesting discussion.

I'm not sure "exotic" is racist as such, but it certainly has the effect of "other"-ing people - that is, casting people in two camps: 'normal, everyday' and 'exotic.' In other words, Not Like You and Me. That fosters division, and makes people seem more different than they actually are. So, yeah, I think if you use "exotic," you should use it with care and good judgment.

As I read in one of David Eddings' books (quoting from memory here, so bear with me):

Silk:"You mean Good and Evil?"

Belgarath: "I prefer Them and Us. It allows us to clear away the excess baggage and get right down to cases."

It's so much easier to dehumanize, degrade, or otherwise mistreat people when we look on them as not like us, and therefore imply less than us, or simply wrong/evil/unfit.

February wrote:Did you mean The Doctor in the Trek sense BW? In that case I believe the correct term of choice is "Photonic lifeform..."

If I'm not mistaken he is talking about "The Doctor" from Dr. Who. At least that is the impression I got.

Like I said, human and non-human is the easiest way to classify people. It makes it much easier to deal with them and have interesting conversations!

I was born to Portugues and Brasilian parents. I think that my features mostly resemble my Brasilian background. People will often ask me:

Are you black? So you speak spanish? I then have to pass on the it's quite possible I have black ancestors speil. Or the We speak Portuguese in Brasil speil. And I take absolutely no offense to that what-so-ever.

I agree with Sarah in that we tend to generalize people when talking about them and I too will refer to someone as that asian, black, white, hispanic... etc... person. I don't think that it's a form of being rascist at all. And if someone corrects me, "I'm Korean not Asian, I'm Cuban not Hispanic" note taken, apologies are made and life goes on. And vise versa.

The reality is that we live in a multicultural society and as long as when you generalize when talking about someone a race or a culture you are not doing it in a derogatory manor I don't consider it to be racist at all.

I love you all and I just have to bring this up as an example, nothing more...
Off the top of my head I recall a thread about Brasilians being loud, rowdy and abnoxious... all those that posted in that thread don't REALLY think the entire population of the country as a whole is like that... do you?

GrUvGrL wrote:all those that posted in that thread don't REALLY think the entire population of the country as a whole is like that... do you?

I, for one, do not. Remember, we are dealing with Brazilian teens, and when you get any group of teens together in groups like that... it often turns out the same.

I guess I'll come out and say it. I guess I'm a little ageist. I expect that because you are a certain age, you may behave a certain way.

GrUvGrL wrote:... all those that posted in that thread don't REALLY think the entire population of the country as a whole is like that... do you?

Heck no! I have some Brazilian friends, and none travel in packs or break into chants. They're pretty boring really. ;)

Like BW said, I think it's more of an age thing. God help the image we'd give Brazil of America if we packed off a hoarde of cheerleaders or Pop Warner teams to their country.

Syndrome wrote:Heck no! I have some Brazilian friends, and none travel in packs or break into chants. They're pretty boring really. ;)

Like BW said, I think it's more of an age thing. God help the image we'd give Brazil of America if we packed off a hoarde of cheerleaders or Pop Warner teams to their country.

Hmmmm, maybe we should send some of them after Al-Qaeda?

No...wait..what am I thinking? that would violate even the CIA's daffynition of tourture!

Syndrome wrote:Heck no! I have some Brazilian friends, and none travel in packs or break into chants. They're pretty boring really. ;)

Like BW said, I think it's more of an age thing. God help the image we'd give Brazil of America if we packed off a hoarde of cheerleaders or Pop Warner teams to their country.

I think it's age plus being in a huge group plus the excitement of not being at home. IMO, the big group factor is the key there.

Amphigorey wrote:I think it's age plus being in a huge group plus the excitement of not being at home. IMO, the big group factor is the key there.

Just add a communication blockade and some cultural difference, and the witch's brew is complete. Not their fault as Brazilians, just them being teens.