Women are now getting harassed in bathrooms because of anti-transgender hysteria

Discussion in 'Off-Topic Discussions' started by Abner, May 20, 2016.

Loading...
  1. Abner

    Abner Well-Known Member

    Yeah. It can get confusing sometimes. My black friend is married to a white guy. The article mentioned the Census. They did a presentation at my work. It baffles a lot of people. Anyway, I guess they have a box where you check "race", and another box that indicates "ethnicity". In a way, they kind of simplified it a bit. Basically, someone like me correctly checks the box the indicates race as "white", and then I check the box that says ethnicity as "Hispanic". Many Hispanics with dark skin are confused by this. Some will ask me "Hey Abner, this form asks for my race, I am Mexican (for example). I explain to them that Mexican is not a race. So I tell them to check the box that says "white". I think that sometimes people equate race with skin color. There is no other box for them to check. But for example, a dark skinned Sicilian, is still white.

    I crack up sometimes. People will sometimes ask me what I am. Some people assume that I am Jewish because of my first name. So I try to explain to them that my father is an American Spaniard. My mother is Mexican. This further complicates things because many people think they are the same thing. I don't know if they don't teach geography any more, but one country is in Europe, and one country is in North America. I told one lady at the Circle K that I have known for years, that I had returned from Spain to visit some family. She then replied, "Oh, you went to South America?". Ay dios mio! I said no "I went to Europe". Many times when people ask me what I am, I just say "American". It's funny because they just kind of scratch their head. But anyway, this is why I prefer to use catch all phrase of "Hispanic" in regards to ethnicity.

    Back to my home repairs. If I am lucky, I will get a tan since it is sunny outside. :smile:
     
  2. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    Hispanics are people from countries whose primary language is Spanish.

    Latinos are people from countries in Latin America. (Almost everywhere in the Western Hemisphere except the U.S. and Canada and a few Caribbean islands.)

    Thus, someone from Mexico is both Hispanic and Latino. Someone from Spain is Hispanic, but not Latino. Someone from Brazil is Latino, but not Hispanic.

    Race? Race is a b.s. concept. With a half-million years of human development and migration, it is almost meaningless. It is certainly a blunt instrument.
     
  3. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    Racism created race

    15.02.01: History of a Social Construction: How Racism Created Race in America
     
  4. cookderosa

    cookderosa Resident Chef

    my kids have always said "cash and prizes" which I find quite hilarious.
     
  5. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    Yeah, no one in my family answers these questions on forms, for the Census or otherwise. Problem solved.

    Adella was asked once what her "ethnic ingredients" were, so she said, "Fire, lions, and light." That was pretty much a conversation ender.
     
  6. Abner

    Abner Well-Known Member


    It's funny. When I go to Spain, they asked me what "Latino" meant. I'll be honest, I am confused by such terms, and really didn't know how to explain it. Terms like Latino are simply not used in Europe. To make matters even more confusing, I had to try to explain it in "Valencian" (Valenciano). Valenciano is an official language that is sort of a blend between Castillian Spanish, Italian and French. In Spain, there are various official languages depending on the region you are in. These are not dialects, like we have here in America.
     
  7. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    I'm sometimes asked if I'm latino or hispanic. My standard response is "no, but my father is."

    I simply don't identify as any race or ethnicity. Sure, it drives other people crazy (Sorry, everyone. I promise that I don't do this to try to be 'cute' or hipster.), but to be 100% honest I don't feel like I belong to any race and have no ethnic heritage other than American (and the eclectic nothingness that it entails) and it would it would feel disingenuous for me to claim any.
     
  8. Abner

    Abner Well-Known Member

    I appreciate that. I just think name calling ends rational discussion. I'll be honest, I don't keep track over what is PC, what is not PC, what is too little PC, etc. etc. etc. I tend to try to simplify things. I respect you as a man of faith. You believe you what you believe. You stated your position, just as Davewill stated his position. I also took note of the fact that people don't like to be called bigots, so I will refrain from using that term, because I know it offends people.
     
  9. Neuhaus

    Neuhaus Well-Known Member

    I was musing over ethnic identification the other day and a few interesting points struck me.

    1. If a black man, from Africa, came to the U.S. On vacation he would be identified by the police, a hospital or a variety of other institutions as "African American" even though he was in no way American.

    2. If a white person from South Africa came to the U.S., people would probably throw a fit if s/he identified as "African American" even though...well...

    3. I have no idea what ethnicity I am. My father is of German stock. My mother's parents were Italian but she was adopted. She "passes" for Southern Italian. But she could be Native American, Latina, of multiple races, it's really impossible to say. I am generally regarded as white. But when I went to RTC I found that even moderate exposure to sunlight caused me to appear much darker. Not talking tanning here. Whole body, not just the parts exposed to the sun, darkens. Hair too. And you know what? It doesn't matter. At least, it shouldn't.
     
  10. Abner

    Abner Well-Known Member


    Yeah, it is interesting if you think about it. I sometimes wonder what people think of me based on my outward appearance. I mean, it doesn't matter, but I am just curious. I have health coverage under a well known provider. The docs, or whoever its that keeps tabs on such things, describe me "Caucasian" Ethnicity "American". My birth certificate has me listed as white, the same as my parents. My wife is Irish/Italian. She and my mother in law lived with my wife's grand mother, due to a series of events that took place. So, she was raised in the Italian Catholic tradition. In essence, she was raised in the same fashion that I was raised. According to common wisdom, I am told I should refer to her as "white". This kind of feels weird to me, because I just think of her as being like me.

    Hmmm. Strange.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 5, 2016
  11. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    When Mark Shuttleworth, a white South African tech billionaire, paid to visit the International Space Station in the early 2000's, he wrote about the whole experience and the name of his blog was First African In Space.
     
  12. Steve Levicoff

    Steve Levicoff Well-Known Member

    So, speaking of bathrooms, the cast of the Broadway musical Kinky Boots just released a video that includes Cyndi Lauper and Harvey Fierstein, now going viral (to con an obnoxious expression), that addresses the whole choose-your-own-bathroom issue: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APeAXKmkVcI. (While amusing, I’m still with the governor of North Carolina.)

    And speaking of the theatre and the notion of a white African, several months ago the author of Mountaintop a play about Martin Luther King, went ballistic when a college theatre cast both a black actor and a white actor to alternate in the role of MLK. The trend toward color-blind casting has increased in the past few years, and even major actors such as Brian Stokes Mitchell and Audra McDonald have earned Tony Awards for playing traditionally white roles. See the full story at
    Playwright Katori Hall Expresses Rage Over 'Revisionist Casting' of Mountaintop With White Dr. Martin Luther King | Playbill

    In a related story, the author of Jesus in India pulled the rights to te play when another college cast three south Asian roles with white actors. Were they cast because of racism? Nope, they were cast because the rural college only has an Asian student population of 0.7% of 1%. Details at University Cancels Production of Jesus in India After Playwright Voices Concern Over Casting of White Actors | Playbill

    My take? Two playwrights who wrote mediocre works went bonkers because they’re against color-blind casting, which makes them racists. Period. In short, racism works in both directions, and is unacceptable in either direction. But bathrooms should still be determined by plumbing. Get over it.
     
  13. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

  14. Neuhaus

    Neuhaus Well-Known Member

    What I find interesting is how many people, who say they support smaller government, are keen with allowing a state government to tell private companies how to govern their restroom facilities.

    Regardless of the stance one takes on this particular issue the problem with bills like this is that there is no established framework for enforcement. You can call the police. And the police will respond and check some IDs and go from there, I suppose. That would really be the only "fair" way to implement the policy. Even then, what of the woman with the short hair who walks into the ladies' room and ends up being detained while waiting for this process to unfold?

    But more concerning are the number of yahoos who feel they are empowered by law to effect these citizen penis checks.

    Well, if their work is so mediocre then why are people putting on their plays? I don't feel inclined to read into the situation because, primarily, I'm not a playwright. I imagine that if a director took my work in a drastically different vision than I intended I might get upset particularly if I felt that deviation was drifting too far from my intended message.

    Would that make me whiny? Perhaps. But a play, a book or a script are all products of artistic expression. I can write a play intending to comment on Indonesian politics. If you take the play and turn it into a statement about gender issues I might be upset as well. And changes, even when they appear subtle, in casting can change the message of the play and can appear as though the playwright is making a statement that s/he didn't intend to make.

    I agree. I don't agree with the new definition of racism which, more or less, states that a minority cannot be racist against a majority because "racism" requires economic force. Racism, as the term was created and used for decades, can work in any direction and is, indeed, unacceptable.

    I recall from the Navy we had an LCPO (Leading Chief Petty Officer) who took the unprecedented move of writing up black sailors for using the N-word when addressing one another. He wrote them up for "extremist activities," the same charge a white sailor would have been slapped with for using the same word. The response was angry. At least two sailors threatened to sue alleging that he was a "self-hating black man." But that anger died down over a few weeks and that particular word fell out of use in the office which was, after all, his intended goal.
     
  15. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    Oops!

    https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/founder-of-conversion-therapy-organization-comes-out-as-gay-and-apologizes
     
    SteveFoerster likes this.

Share This Page