<p>I try to be, but sometimes it comes down to semantics with some people not being too sure on which is acceptable. I get tripped on race.</p>
<p>I sometimes use "black" over "African American" because there are "black people not from Africa" and not all black people in America are not "American" (i.e. just visiting). The most frequent incidence is people calling Nelson Mandella African American. And I think "black" is okay (i.e. Black History month)</p>
<p>I just feel awkward when referring to non-black and white races (brown, yellow, red; I never use those terms; only the general term like Hispanic, Asian-PI, Native American).</p>
<p>I also say "sexual orientation" but I always here "sexual preference" which I think is wrong because sexuality is linked to the "nature" side of the nature v. nurture argument.</p>
<p>I think they would prefer you not to think too much of it. I know negro is a respectable term but most african americans just prefer Black. Changing and paying too much to the term shows you're actually considerign race.</p>
<p>I'm only politically correct when it makes sense to be. I will never use him/her or non-standard English for political correctness, especially not in formal writing. And I won't use a politically correct term if I feel it marginalizes the groups commonly represented as oppressors (like white males). Basically, if it doesn't make sense, don't use it.</p>
<p>^^ I'm like that too. People that know me know I'm not racist and I've been on predominantly black basketball teams my whole life. I don't know any black person who has an issue with the word black, but generally I don't use race to say anything anyways so it's not an issue. I just hate that decades after MLK, we still have to tiptoe around the race issue.</p>
<p>um, i don't think there's anything wrong with "black." After all, if you say like "the green-eyed person" or "the blonde" it's not politically incorrect.</p>
<p>Haha, Negro is definitely not in use anymore, xolala.
Too much political correctness is bad but I think that sometimes it's a matter of respect and represents change in a society. Like you wouldn't use the n-word to describe a black person (you wouldn't use Negro either) but when it comes down to African-American v. black, either one is fine and dwelling on the use of one over the other is pointless. </p>
<p>Sometimes I think it's interesting to think about why certain racial terms came about. For example, I think it's interesting that people still use the word 'Indian' to describe Native Americans seeing as how it just represents Columbus's failure as an explorer.</p>
<p>and black and african american are fine, when in casual conversation you should probably just use black. But you should always say "black people" over "blacks". </p>
<p>And i think that to an extent PC is good. Think about it, its impossible to hold any high position job for very long if you're constantly messing up PC. So the only way to get a good job would be to appear the most PC. and the best way to appear the most PC, would be to not hold views that would force you to say non-PC things. </p>
<p>In the long run i think it'll help bigotry "evolve" out of our culture.</p>
<p>Well actually, I feel PC for the sake of "equally representing" certain people when it's not like that makes me sick. Our school has 2398 white students, 1 Asian student, and 1 Hispanic (grossly exaggerating, but you get the point). One of the mandates on the school paper was to represent the different cultural heritages of the students so the Asian guy and Hispanic girl are in every picture at every open school function.</p>
<p>Political Correctness in the original and correct sense of the word means using non-value attributing language when talking about groups of people or arbitrary cultural practices. For example, the n-word in most contexts is a disparaging term, and should be avoided, because it pollutes rational discussion with an emotionally loaded term. Black and African-American are fine and generally don't assign a value to the group in question, and "African-American" is most pertinent when discussing the position of black people in America.</p>
<p>However, political correctness has ironically become a disparaging and emotionally loaded term itself, and is used to manipulate arguments by people who use it as an insult without knowledge of what it actually means. Political correctness does not simply mean any kind of social norms in discussion, nor does it mean anything a person uses to avoid controversy when speaking. It sometimes overlaps, but is not the same thing. And sometimes people use criticism of political correctness to avoid the actual facts. For example, when people get mad about criticism of Christopher Columbus in history books or on the holiday. Saying Columbus actually caused a great deal of harm to Native Americans is not political correctness; it's just correctness.</p>
<p>If i said "negro" at my school, you'd see me on the local news channel as bloody pulp.</p>
<p>I think black is a very general term, just like white is a term for anybody who has light skin. To be PC is almost impossible unless you know where the person is from.
A white south african can technically be an african-american, but s/he isn't black.</p>
<p>Yeah, I think its OK to call black people black because black people call me white.
But don't call asian people Chinese if their not and don't call Hispanics Mexicans. Thats just ignorant.
But I hate political correctness. Since when have we had to tiptoe around what we actually want to say.</p>
<p>One of my best friends is actually from South Africa and she has an accent and everything and so she wanted to join and African-American club, but they wouldn't let her because she wasn't physically black. Maybe they should rename the club?</p>
<p>no, the club shouldn't be renamed, the people should be more intelligent and realize you dont have to be black to be an "african-american"</p>
<p>I'm kind of curious now, how a white south-african is going to fill out a job application/survey/anything? Is s/he gonna mark down African-American or white? They're gonna be surprised if they find out she's white, but then again, she really is african-american. That's why people need to start using black or something else.</p>
<p>It's been my opinion for a while now that honestly, the people that are the most politically correct and vehemently anti-racists are white people, because everyone expects them to be racists so they have to try harder to prove they aren't. I know many more racists Latinos or Asians then I know racist White people (in fact, I don't think I know any). I go to an incredibly diverse school where white people are the minority (maybe like 1 or 2 white kids out of 10), and here, everyone throws around "nigga" like it's nothing, including Latinos, Asians, and yes, even some White people. The way it is used is like, "this one guy" or "my friend" or "dude" and is not associated with any sort of hate. It's so common in my school's vernacular that no one bats an eye at the word. Words are just words; they only have power when you give them power.</p>