Half cast, is that racist ?
Discussion
I have alway used the term Half cast for any one who was of mixed race. I have been told recently that it is really bad to say that. Is it ? or where they just being Very PC, i don't want to offend anyone but I genuinely didn't think of it as being bad at all.
I am 25 year old man who has male and female friends, some gay, some religious, some indian, some black etc. i would consider myself to be reasonable open minded, but would hate to be that bloke who walks round calling black people "darkies" becuase thats what they were call back in his day.
Offensive or Politically incorrectivness gone to far ?
I am 25 year old man who has male and female friends, some gay, some religious, some indian, some black etc. i would consider myself to be reasonable open minded, but would hate to be that bloke who walks round calling black people "darkies" becuase thats what they were call back in his day.
Offensive or Politically incorrectivness gone to far ?
Well how are you to describe them?
If someone is white, they are white, black, black, so on and so forth.
Half cast I suppose may be offensive as you are "generalising" them into the usual black/white mix, which is perhaps the classical use of the term.
Suppose if you had a south east asian and an icelandic origin person, they would look very different and still be half cast, so perhaps they don't like to be generalised into such a wide open term.
Ah well, never fussed the lass I went out with when I described her as half cast to people.
Dave
If someone is white, they are white, black, black, so on and so forth.
Half cast I suppose may be offensive as you are "generalising" them into the usual black/white mix, which is perhaps the classical use of the term.
Suppose if you had a south east asian and an icelandic origin person, they would look very different and still be half cast, so perhaps they don't like to be generalised into such a wide open term.
Ah well, never fussed the lass I went out with when I described her as half cast to people.
Dave
Neil_H said:
Actually it's 'caste' and yes it is considered an offensive term, as it's a derogatory reference to the Caste system.
Mixed race is the generally accepted term.
Is it borne out of the caste system? I had always thought it was cast.
But yes, mixed race is what you should be replacing it with.
The nature (racist or otherwise) is nothing to do with the words, it's to do with the perceived way in which they are said.
To call someone "Black" as a simple description is OK. To call someone "Black" with an undertone of it being an insult or in any way derogatory is not OK.
The problem comes when you say it one way and people think you have said it another way. Of course, it is impossible to prove it either way, so as the white bloke, you get the blame.
To wit, it used to be OK to call people "black". However, the word "black" then gained negative connertations, so you had to call them "coloured" instead. This was fine for a while, but then this was deemed to be wrong, and you had to call people either "black" (again) or "of colour".
Ridiculous? Of course.
Oli.
P.S. Don't get me started with the phrase "of ethnic origin." Everyone has an "ethnic origin", it's just that some people's "ethnic origin" is different to others. Ridiculous? Of course.
To call someone "Black" as a simple description is OK. To call someone "Black" with an undertone of it being an insult or in any way derogatory is not OK.
The problem comes when you say it one way and people think you have said it another way. Of course, it is impossible to prove it either way, so as the white bloke, you get the blame.
To wit, it used to be OK to call people "black". However, the word "black" then gained negative connertations, so you had to call them "coloured" instead. This was fine for a while, but then this was deemed to be wrong, and you had to call people either "black" (again) or "of colour".
Ridiculous? Of course.
Oli.
P.S. Don't get me started with the phrase "of ethnic origin." Everyone has an "ethnic origin", it's just that some people's "ethnic origin" is different to others. Ridiculous? Of course.
The last time that I checked we were all Homo Sapiens Sapiens (although we are not quite sure about Britney Spears and Kevin Federline). Therefor, I, hereby, propose that until we meet Andorians, Vulcans, Mimbari, Vorlons, or little green men from Mars that the word racist fall out of favour as one that has no proper definition.
Henceforth those that disparage people based on ethnic origin, religion, colour of skin, etc, etc should be called by a word that has true meaning.
We will just call them "idiots".
Just MHO
ErnestM
PS: I honestly believe that the term racist is used more these days by people that do have a reason to point out differences. Maybe it makes them feel superior in their knowledge that they are doing something to help out "the less priveledged". However, until they stop noticing the difference based on skin colour or other such bs, there will always be issues. Just treat people like people. If they act like idiots, treat them accordingly. Just my 0.02
Henceforth those that disparage people based on ethnic origin, religion, colour of skin, etc, etc should be called by a word that has true meaning.
We will just call them "idiots".
Just MHO
ErnestM
PS: I honestly believe that the term racist is used more these days by people that do have a reason to point out differences. Maybe it makes them feel superior in their knowledge that they are doing something to help out "the less priveledged". However, until they stop noticing the difference based on skin colour or other such bs, there will always be issues. Just treat people like people. If they act like idiots, treat them accordingly. Just my 0.02
Just looked up Caste system and it seems to be based on Indian culture
"The Indian caste system has been in use for many years. Still today the values of the caste system are held strongly. It has kept a sense of order, and peace among the people. There are five different levels of the system: Brahman, Kshatriya, Vaishya, Shudra, and Harijans. Within each of these categories are the actual "castes" or jatis within which people are born, marry, and die. They all have their own place among each other and accept that it is the way to keep society from disintegrating to chaos. This system has worked well for Indian people and still has a major role in modern India."
Why is that offensive to some one of mixed coloured parents ?
"The Indian caste system has been in use for many years. Still today the values of the caste system are held strongly. It has kept a sense of order, and peace among the people. There are five different levels of the system: Brahman, Kshatriya, Vaishya, Shudra, and Harijans. Within each of these categories are the actual "castes" or jatis within which people are born, marry, and die. They all have their own place among each other and accept that it is the way to keep society from disintegrating to chaos. This system has worked well for Indian people and still has a major role in modern India."
Why is that offensive to some one of mixed coloured parents ?
tampon said:
This system has worked well for Indian people
I think you might find that the members of the lower castes would disagree with you there. It's a divisive, autocratic system that keeps a large percentage of the Indian population in extreme poverty with no realistic way out of it.
tampon said:
and still has a major role in modern India."
In the same way that apartheid had a major role in South Africa a few years ago.
deckster said:If you look closely you'll see tampon merely copy and pasted.
This system has worked well for Indian people
I think you might find that the members of the lower castes would disagree with you there. It's a divisive, autocratic system that keeps a large percentage of the Indian population in extreme poverty with no realistic way out of it.
tampon said:
and still has a major role in modern India."
In the same way that apartheid had a major role in South Africa a few years ago.
I agree with your comments, though. Strange how India is on one hand the largest democracy in the world, with good levels of education and literacy. On the other, it has the perpetuation of the caste system, limiting the options of huge percentages of its population due to birthrights
tampon said:
Just looked up Caste system and it seems to be based on Indian culture
"The Indian caste system has been in use for many years. Still today the values of the caste system are held strongly. It has kept a sense of order, and peace among the people. There are five different levels of the system: Brahman, Kshatriya, Vaishya, Shudra, and Harijans. Within each of these categories are the actual "castes" or jatis within which people are born, marry, and die. They all have their own place among each other and accept that it is the way to keep society from disintegrating to chaos. This system has worked well for Indian people and still has a major role in modern India."
Why is that offensive to some one of mixed coloured parents ?
mmm who wrote that PC load of tripe.
worked well for india did it? well perhaps if you were in the top caste.
In times of natural disater in indian areas where the caste system is still in operation aid will be distributed according to status i.e lower caste get nothing. jolly good
oh and if you in teh UK and you want to run for government people of different castes will not vote for you.
yep works really well.
Had a chat earlier with a good mate of mine who is Half caste..Mixed race, he is in his late 30's and doesnt mind the term half caste although in this day and age he feels Mixed race is more appropriate,one thing he did say was these days there are not so much half castes as say quarter caste or eighth caste if you want to be fussy about skin tone so probably the best term is mixed race..the term can also apply to any other mix other than white/black.
Gassing Station | The Pie & Piston Archive | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff