Holy Crap! Blatant racism in my philosophy text book!

[Centaurion]

I was preparing for my philosophy exam when I came over an essay written by a professor at my philosophy faculty about David Hume (“An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding”). The professor is giving examples on what Hume meant by saying that the idea of a thing is derived by impression. He had several examples, but one was totally nuts. He writes (I’m translating from Norwegian to English) “A…negro (N-word) has no concept of the cultivated taste of wine”. I showed this to several of my study mates, and they all laughed their asses off.

I’m not black, but I feel pissed of such blatant racism in official text books at my university and by my peers. I thought that in this modern age people wouldn’t be as narrow minded.

 

[spider_007]

Write an annonumis letter to the school, and if they don't fix it, write another one to your local paper.

 

[comic_relief]

Write an annonumis letter to the school, and if they don't fix it, write another one to your local paper.

go with what spider_007 said.

comic_relief

 

[JohnJones]

I'm not defending archaic (and thus narrow or wrong headed, or even racist) language, but I think that the quote from Hume, as rendered in English at the time written (prior to 1776) is this:

"A Laplander or Negro has no notion of the relish

of wine. And though there are few or no instances of a like deficiency

in the mind, where a person has never felt or is wholly incapable of a

sentiment or passion that belongs to his species; yet we find the same

observation to take place in a less degree. A man of mild manners

can form no idea of inveterate revenge or cruelty; nor can a selfish

heart easily conceive the heights of friendship and generosity. It

is readily allowed, that other beings may possess many senses of which

we can have no conception; because the ideas of them have never been

introduced to us in the only manner by which an idea can have access

to the mind, to wit, by the actual feeling and sensation."

The point being, I dunno if he was trying to be racist, he was just limited by his time and insensitive writing (for all I know, he could have said the same thing about Americans of the time). Your book might have substituted an idiom that was over the top.

 

[DJDamage]

I suggest you also write them a letter saying that in today's modern language you shouldn't really pronounce Immanuel Kant last name the way it was suppose to be pronounced, because it sounds too much like slang for a female genitalia.

 

[Francisco d'Anconia]

...
The point being, I dunno if he was trying to be racist, he was just limited by his time and insensitive writing (for all I know, he could have said the same thing about Americans of the time). Your book might have substituted an idiom that was over the top.

You're right, I believe Hume referenced the work of John Locke from the 16th and 17th century.

 

[diplomatic_lies]

Dunno what its like in philosophy, but back at school, history classes had plenty of racist text. I mean, we had to study Nazi papers discussing the extermination/deportation of entire races, and a lot of ancient texts (ie. Egyptian history records) were pretty racist.

As long as the school isn't saying "what they said is perfectly correct", then there's no problem.

 

[G0gL2000]

why are white people so afraid of the n word these days? yet blacks have no problem saying cracker. get over it, its jsut part of the textbook

 

[Morphiex]

white people are afraid of blacks reaction to them saying it , while the blacks themselves say that their trying to diminish the words effect by blantently using it to reference each other as commen friends... wich in itself is stupid....
either let all people say the word freely or dont let anyone say it at all ...

and another thing blacks are actually becoming more and more racist then whites in todays society , yes they were enslaved , and they were/"are" being targeted for racists remarks, but themselves going around acting as all other races are inferior to them isent actually helping anything , they reversed the roles of the racisme and get a freepass because their ancestors were treated very wrongfully by some white morons in the century before....

You know what black people say about white people , they say that white people smell like dogs when they are wet...
they call white peopel cracker , crckerass , hunkey , and so on , and society lets them do so freely because their ancesters were treated wrongfully.

about the original topic :
are you offended by the use of the n word "neger" or the generalization that the professor makes ?

about the word neger , its derived from the negro word family , the american dialect word "******" is a offensive remark of a negro. they have no connection ...

Negro [ˈniːgrəu] noun — feminine ˈNegress; plural ˈNegroes
a name for a person belonging to or descended from the black-skinned race from the area of Africa south of the Sahara

in norwegian if you were to call a black person black using offensive term it would be "svarting" wich in fact is the racist slang word for "******" in norwegian not "neger" wich just means black.

 

[Desdinova]

History is riddled with racism, political incorrectness, and gender inequality, and we must realize that it's part of our history. If we could alter our history, books like The Bible would be taken out of existance.

 

[oakraiderz2]

about the original topic :
are you offended by the use of the n word "neger" or the generalization that the professor makes ?

about the word neger , its derived from the negro word family , the american dialect word "******" is a offensive remark of a negro. they have no connection ...

Negro [ˈniːgrəu] noun — feminine ˈNegress; plural ˈNegroes
a name for a person belonging to or descended from the black-skinned race from the area of Africa south of the Sahara

If anyone ever called me negro, or negro boy, id be in a rage. If someone used negro they would most likely be using it in an offensive way. This isnt the 50s anymore. You seem like youre trying to justify calling people ni99er just because SOME black people say cracker. I wish someone would bring that up and make it stop but people are stupid.

 

[Morphiex]

black3 [blӕk] noun

(often with capital: often offensive ) a Negro; a person of African, West Indian etc descent

------------------------

LOL this means im black O..o ?!?!

im from west india , punjab region ....

btw some imformation indians were enslaved too , we were shipped out to ****ing every part of the world , africa france , canada , spain , england... we got our women and children slaughtered by white people too , but you dont see us bringing it up every damn hour.... England took all of indias mineral riches goods and emeralds , and took it to brittain leaving india with nothin to trade...

My point is slavery existed for everyone , at ome point whites were enslaved by the muslims too , black and indian asian everyone hass been enslaved by others at some point . its stupid human superiority complex , you have to believe you are the center of everything therefore everythign else is made for you and you can do with it what you want... like christianity , god made adam and eve , and then he made everythign else for adam and eve to have... like now that humans think that animals are worth less since they arent as intelectual as humans ... we again put ourselves in the center , wich in the end i think will be our demise... religious people are now putting themselves in the center....

 

[Morphiex]

If anyone ever called me negro, or negro boy, id be in a rage. If someone used negro they would most likely be using it in an offensive way. This isnt the 50s anymore. You seem like youre trying to justify calling people ni99er just because SOME black people say cracker. I wish someone would bring that up and make it stop but people are stupid.

go to mexico or spain people will call you negro ... why the **** would i call you that , i know english , il call you black , if i speak norwegian il call you neger , if i speak spanish il call you negro ... they all mean the same black , but n i gger is offensive and i would never call anyone that , but you have to undertsand my point , why ban others from saying it when blacks themselves are the ones keeping the word alive....

 

[Francisco d'Anconia]

... If we could alter our history, books like The Bible would be taken out of existance.

Now that would be an interesting parallel to study.

 

[Skilla_Staz]

I think the whole "racism" thing is retarded.


So what if somebody says n*gger. It's the same thing in my book as saying f*gg*t, homo, lesbo, b*tch, etc. It's an insult directed towards your race, just as homo is directed at somebodys sexuality. I fail to see why it's "acceptable" for a black man to call a white kid a cracker, which is intended as a racist term, but for a white man to call a black man "n*gger", then all of a sudden it's an outrageous ordeal, and many students are "justified" in becoming violent over it.

I've seen instances where a kid gets called n*gger, and punches the student who said it. Who gets in more trouble? The kid who said it. Why? Because "it's wrong". Now, if a black kid called me cracker, honky, whitey, etc and I retaliated with force, then I'd be facing possible assault charges.

It seems that in the attempt to not be percieved as racist, many people today are taking the "reverse racism" role, and exempting many minorities from punishment based on their race. It seems to be a growing trend from what I've seen.

Another thing that bugs me, is the "It's because I'm black card" I'm not saying anybody here is using it, but I've heard it used way too often, and I'm becoming quite irritated with it. It's not because you're black, it's because you f*cked up.

 

[Demon]

Write an annonumis letter to the school, and if they don't fix it, write another one to your local paper.

What's an "annonumis letter"?

 

[Trojan]

I agree, write the letter to have it revised & if nothing happens write your local paper.

The thing with the word ni99er, ni99a, negro, should not be used by blacks nor white nor anyone else. That using the word it's kinda keeping racism alive in a sense. Not to say ridding of such ignorant words will stop racism or racist people from usung it, but to atleast show that blacks are willing to quit degrading themselves and there wont be as much double standard as who is able to say what racial slurs. I keep hearing blacks can say it so why not whites? My question back is why would white people want to say it anyways?

I actually agree with Bill Cosby trying to abolish the word all together, but that would mean nothing if blacks keeped using it. Ludacris said it best, "you dont hear whites saying "hey cracker hows business? Fine Honky, were diversifying" And what even more funny is that he uses ni99a in everyday life and its in his lyrics. lol WTF. Jews calling each other kike, Mexican calling each other wetbacks, ect. How retarted would that be. its no different.

You don't take a word that been deemed degrading your race and embrace it, change a letter and call each other it. That right there is another reason blacks arent as united as all the other races, besides a certain % of blacks who are uneducated and care nothing about changing the fact, killing and shooting each other for no good damm reason but you were on the wrong street and we don't know you around here wearing the wrong color, & thinking drugs will make you rich not dead. It's really a minorty in a minority that have little hope of sucessfully turning this thing around but it's always worth trying. I know it was a stupid black dude that started calling each other that and it started becomming cool or alright for it to be said to one another. I bet the white guy that 1st heard them say that probably shook his head and said we will always be in control with these people. I'm all for abolishing the word ni99er.

 

[diplomatic_lies]

You can blame Hollywood for that. Every movie involving blacks has them as a gangster, rapper, or ghetto thug. That creates a cycle where black kids think its cool to be like that.

Same with nearly every ethnicity. Look at the way the media portrays Asians, Indians, Europeans, etc.

 

[spider_007]

What's an ""?

It's; "Anonymous letter" spelled by a spelling moron.

Engeneers can't spell, didn't you know that???

 

[Francisco d'Anconia]

I agree, write the letter to have it revised & if nothing happens write your local paper.

And we should also petition to have the works of Plato, Shakespeare, Samuel Clemens and countless others from previous eras because they too have written things that could be considered offensive to people.