Let me begin the blog with a modifier. We are not all as alike as the golden rays in the picture here.
And thank goodness for that.
People are diverse and unique and I do think that is wonderful but I also dream of a world where certain things and individuals do not have to be singled out with a modifier. As in first Hispanic female Supreme Court nominee. Or gay marriage. Or first black president of the United States.
Though I hope I live to see the day we have the first lesbian woman president not because of any personal bias but it will mean that we have come a long way as unbiased voters.
Not using (or feeling we have to use modifiers) to identify certain individuals is singling them out and showing that we are not totally accepting of them in that office or action or our lives. When we can say simply Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor she will be free to be the best supreme she can be without regard to race or sex. And we will be free to not add conditions.
I especially am repulsed by the racial modifiers to American. I loathe the term Anglo American. Who picked that? The Hispanic Americans? In this age of increasing ethnic diversity it calls for arbitrary judgments and usually on the part of people that haven't a clue.
And while we are dropping modifiers how about Liberal Democrat and Conservative Republican. Your guess as to what is the modifier here - first word or last word? I like the term Centralist because it usually is not paired with anything to belittle it.
So here is to President Barack Obama, Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor, and marriage between two individuals that want to share their lives together.
thought provoking blog.
ReplyDeleteWell said Lady J...a nasty little ploy used the world over by those who assume the right to tell us how and what to think.
ReplyDeleteWell said indeed.
Three cheers! Yes, wouldn't that be lovely?!!!!
ReplyDeleteI was watching a TV show from Germany the other day. The detective said to the young black man, what should I say, Black man, or negro. The young man said, "how about human being"?!!!
Kudos to the writers of that show. Enough with the differences being pointed out, lets point out the samenesses that we all have. (imho)
I don't know if "samenesses" is a word, but you know what I mean, right?!
ReplyDeleteYes, Raenie, the word definitely communicated. English expands more than any other language with as many as 50,000 new words every time they update the dictionary.
ReplyDeleteI was watching another movie the other day where how you knew it was a female president in this future world was just the pronoun "she."
And when I was taking sociology classes they did a study on first graders describing their friends in an mixed race class. Color of skin was almost always the last thing mentioned and often had to be drawn from the kids.
We teach these distinctions and I think one of the ways we do that is with modifiers. Shame on us.
So who makes rules? Those by whose names we put an x and instead of listening to the electorate who is after all, the employer, they use their position to impose their own views.
ReplyDeleteI don't know why there have to be modifiers. Who cares whether or not the US President is black (see the White Americans are claiming him as 'white!) so long as he gets the job done? Who cares if the Supreme Court Justice is Hispanioc as long as she gets the job done?
I saw last night that the word 'marriage' is being objected to in the case of a same sex couple deciding to make their union legal. I think in the UK it is known as a civil partnership. I had to look this up about two years ago as I was filling in a government form and had no idea what a 'civil partnership' was!
Well, gay Bishops have been appointed in the Anglican church in the UK and last week one was appointed in the Church of Scotland. Won't happen in the RC Church - not officially anyway!
When one thinks about all these labels, as a foreigner I have to smile because everyone in the US apart from the native Indians, came from Europe - so do you have Yiddish Americans, German Americans etc... or do they fall under 'Anglo'? Why is it that handles are only given to black, Hispanic and Irish Americans? I don't like the term Caucasian either.
As for the political handles - one is either Democrat or Republican or in the case of the UK Conservative or Labour! Full stop!
Or in the case of the third, unsuccessful party, the Liberal Democrats which came as a break away from the Liberal party
ReplyDeleteLatest evidence based on DNA mapping done by a special National Geographic program is even the "native" Americans are European.
ReplyDeleteBut then we can all trace or DNA back to two "Eves" from Africa - ergo black.
I bet the KKK really loves that
"Native" Americans are European! You lie!!!???
ReplyDeleteEthiopia I would think! Eat your heart out Texas!
the DNA project undertaken by National Geographic now proves that "native" Americans were most likely European and not Asian. And they are not native to this country.
ReplyDeleteAnd race is not a realistic term.
Hi, Jacqui! We surely agree on our disgust for the racial modifiers to "American". You are right on. Unfortunately, I think we'll have these for the foreseeable future: too many people have a vested interest in those modifiers.
ReplyDeleteAs a libertarian I agree with your comments on Liberal/Conservative.
My father was a second-generation American. He hated the term Anglo: his ancestors were Celts, not Anglos. He even said, "Please call me a gringo instead". As for me, just call me "John" -- most labels and modifiers just don't work for me.
I find that fact that 'native' Americans are in all likelihood European, fascinating.
ReplyDeleteI have just read that they probably came from Siberia by way of a a natural land bridge called Beringia which thousands of years ago linked Siberia and Alaska. "I can see Russia from my house"!!
Most anthropologists believe that Native Americans descend from Asian peoples who migrated into North America by way of this land bridge.
North Asia is a sub region of Asia and consists entirely of Siberia which lies in the Asian part of Russia. (Source: Economicexpert.com)