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Sep 16, 2017 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom
Guyanese tend to use both of the ‘C’ words and both of the ‘B’ words, as well as the ‘N’ in conversations but not in every conversation or by every person, every day.
If that were the case, instead of the war on bad manners there would have been declaration of a war on the use of these words since they would have caused a great deal of consternation. The words are used, true, but not with the regularity as with which ‘good morning’ is used in daily conversations.
So how does one know what constitutes the misuse of these words? How does one decide when the use of these words is derogatory, racial or racist? How does one decide when a racial slur becomes an insult or is pejorative?
You know the difference between a slang and a racist or racial rant by the context in which it is used. You have to ask yourself, What was the context involved? What was the purpose of the words in the way in which they were used? Were they part of joke or used to poke fun and for which no offence was meant?
Context is important because context decides the objective of what was said. Was it being said to praise somebody? Was it a compliment or was it a means of insulting or ridiculing someone?
Was it intended to put the person down or to give them a hiding? Was it demeaning or was it harmless? The context has to be examined.
It is not enough to say that these terms are used in ordinary conversation. They may well be but what are the contexts in which they are used ordinarily? Are they used to “cuss out” persons or are they used light-heartedly? The context determines whether the uses are derogatory, racial or racist.
The exact wording of the sentence or the phrase in which the words are used is equally important. A good way to determine whether the words were offensive is to repeat then in the manner in which they were used and then to ask yourself whether this was slang, compliment or insult?
Was it intended to stigmatise or characterise the group to which the person belongs?
Read the words, say them out as they would have been said in the conversation and decide whether they were intended to put the persons to whom they referred in favourable or unfavourable light or whether they were neutral.
Then you will have a sense of whether the use of the words is derogatory.
The word ‘racist’ infers an argument, whether implicit or explicit, of superiority. Was there anything which would suggest that the statement was used in the context of ascribing superiority or inferiority? Was it looking down on others? This is a very important test of a racist statement as distinct from a racial statement.
A racist statement is intended to suggest relations of superiority and inferiority. A racial statement, on the other hand, is intended to express prejudice, bias or dislike based on a person’s race.
The next thing is to ask, whether the use of terms was accidental or deliberate? Was it Freudian slip of the tongue or was it used deliberately? An accidental slip of the tongue is not hard to detect.
The other thing is to look at the rejoiners, that is, what followed. Were the terms withdrawn immediately or were they allowed to stay put? What was the reaction of the persons to whom the comments were directed? Did they protest or did they let sleeping dog lie?
Put yourselves in their shoes. Would you have been offended by the comments? All of these are considerations which can be used to decide whether we are dealing with an innocent slang or a derogatory slur.
Determining whether a statement is racial or racist or racially derogatory is not rocket science. It is quite simple and most people know how to decide this.
The defence that certain words are part of the local lexicon is no defense for statements which can create mistrust and hurt.
This brings us to the final test. How would an ordinary person dispassionate person receive the comments? Would that person have felt insulted or degraded by the use of the terms? Or would he simply feel that it was slang?
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