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November 2, 2009

Shift Key Mission Creep

Several years ago, in between periods of a hockey game, a black player was being interviewed. The host referred to him as “African-American,” and the player corrected him, saying, “I’m Canadian.” Less than a minute later, the host repeated the error, and again the player corrected him. This happened at least twice more. The look on the face of the poor interviewer was one of abject horror: He knew that he was in a PC minefield.

Takes me back to one dinoblogger's effort to progressivize a Washington Post editorial on university enrollment by capitalizing the word "black".

Posted by Kate at November 2, 2009 3:35 PM
Comments

This is ridiculous. "The key to increasing minority enrollment lies partly in intelligent affirmative action programs; partly in awarding tuition aid on need, not merit; and ultimately in increasing the number of students ready and able to apply."

If they would like to award scholarships based on "need not merit" than what exactly qualifies as "ready and able to apply"? Being able to read?

As usual, it's everyone's fault except the underperforming minorities and their parents who don't give them the proper guidance.

Posted by: JH at November 2, 2009 3:53 PM

The only African-American I've ever heard of is Teresa Heinz Kerry. She was born in South Africa and is now a US citizen.

Posted by: atric at November 2, 2009 4:21 PM

I hate being called a "Caucasian" too! I can probably go back 20 generations in my family and not find a single one who ever even set foot in the Caucasus, much less lived there!

Posted by: Edward Teach at November 2, 2009 4:57 PM

If "black" is not accetable and "african-american" is preferred, does that make me a "european-american?"

Posted by: JH at November 2, 2009 5:02 PM

Life is harder for us Canadian-Americans than most people realize.

Posted by: Yukon Gold at November 2, 2009 5:11 PM

I like Anson Carter's version. "I'm Canadian." That's how my Asian-Canadian son describes himself.

Posted by: Two Yen at November 2, 2009 5:11 PM

That's how my Asian-Canadian son describes himself.

I heard Dr. David Suzuki, the geneticist, describe his own children as "bananas", yellow on the outside/white on the inside, in a CBC Radio interview once.

My jaw dropped.

Posted by: Oz at November 2, 2009 5:19 PM

"Life is harder for us Canadian-Americans than most people realize."

It's tough on us Celtic-Canadians as well.

I have a few black friends from England. They don't like being called African-Americans. They don't consider themselves African or American for that matter.

Posted by: gord at November 2, 2009 5:33 PM

Yeah Oz, but you gotta remember Suzuki is an asshole.
I have 2 Grandbrats that are half-"Caucasian" and half-"South Asian". They don't know from bupkis what they are, only that they are enjoying their childhood.
It's assholes like Suzuki that continue to categorize people, despite their claims that they are "ever-so Liberal" and somehow better than us when it comes to their multicultural wonderland.

Posted by: atric at November 2, 2009 5:38 PM

The real crime is the Man holding back Canadian hockey players! The same Man that made Captain Kirk American!

(just joking)

The real crime is not preparing students for university, black or otherwise. Inventing excuses is hardly helpful.

Posted by: Osumashi Kinyobe at November 2, 2009 5:51 PM

Well said, atric! And God bless your, um, grandbrats! :-)

Posted by: Dave in Pa at November 2, 2009 5:53 PM

Had a good laugh last year when my Philpino friend described himself as a "cocoanut". When asked by me what that meant he quickly replied with a wry grin "brown on the outside, white inside".

Let it never be said that Philipino's don't have a sense of humor!

Posted by: DT at November 2, 2009 6:01 PM

Had a good laugh last year when my Philpino friend described himself as a "cocoanut". When asked by me what that meant he quickly replied with a wry grin "brown on the outside, white inside".

Let it never be said that Philipino's don't have a sense of humor!

Posted by: DT at November 2, 2009 6:02 PM

Sorry about the double post!

Posted by: DT at November 2, 2009 6:06 PM

I consider myself Western Canajun, which makes me pay the freight for the ROC.

Posted by: cal2 at November 2, 2009 6:07 PM

I loved how fast the racist closed the comments on that article...heh

Posted by: Justthinkin at November 2, 2009 6:21 PM

white
male
50+
salary

Da Man Pay!

Posted by: puddin n pie at November 2, 2009 6:25 PM

I remember seeing photos of protests in California of visible minorities protesting the application of entrance exams (SAT). They felt the exams were discriminatory because you had to pass. They wanted free tuition and no SAT's for minorities. That's fine by me, it is called auditing. You don't get marked, you don't get funding and you don't get a degree.

Posted by: Speedy at November 2, 2009 6:41 PM

Thanks, Dave in Pa.
Nobody, but nobody screws with my GrandKIDS.
Their Dad and Mom make sure of that.
I'm always there to provide backup, if needed.

Posted by: atric at November 2, 2009 7:00 PM

"partly in awarding tuition aid on need, not merit"

That leads to abhorrent groups like ACORN.

Posted by: zilla at November 2, 2009 7:35 PM

We know that any human can be called a racist but can a machine be racist? A native friend of mine was having difficulty getting an automatic paper towel dispenser to spit out some fresh towel no matter where he waved his hands. His conclusion, "The damned machine doesn't read brown skin".

Posted by: Joe at November 2, 2009 8:00 PM

Automatic paper towel dispensers are not racist: They enjoy making everyone look foolish waving around their wet hands only to get a square as small as tp. They actually have a running bet with the auto-flushing toilets.

Posted by: Texas Canuck at November 2, 2009 8:06 PM

"I heard Dr. David Suzuki, the geneticist, describe his own children as "bananas", yellow on the outside/white on the inside, in a CBC Radio interview once.

My jaw dropped."

A lot of my close friends are 3rd and 4rth generation Japanese, and they all refer to themselves as bananas. My cousin married a former Chinese girl and he is an egg.

I wish Dr. David would just admit that he's banana's.

Posted by: Knacker at November 2, 2009 8:06 PM

Damn , what should I classify my 4 nephews and 2 neices as they be like French , English , Saulteaux , Greek , Scottish , Cree , Mennonite Dutch , Ukrainian , Icelander and possibly Sioux . I mean how many hyphens are you allowed ? then theres my cousins grandkids , all the above plus Asian , (Japanese i think ) and Irish .

Posted by: cantuc at November 2, 2009 8:18 PM

They enjoy making everyone look foolish waving around their wet hands only to get a square as small as tp.

Naw.
It's just a dodge to get people to dry their hands by waving them in the air to save money on paper toweling.

If I get frustrated, I use TP instead.
TP is more expensive than paper toweling and it saves me money on the skin cream I have to buy to fix my hands from being cracked because they were wet too long in the air drying process.

Being politically correct is expensive.
Who wants to get "gorilla palm"?

Human nature beats being PC most of the time.

Posted by: Oz at November 2, 2009 8:19 PM

cantuc

you must have lived in a port!!!!

just kidding , my kids and grandkid have similar genetic soup mix , without the saltines.

Posted by: cal2 at November 2, 2009 8:27 PM

I recall a past acquaintance who, in 1939, although pure laine, made history by being the first Canadian soldier listed as simply CANADIAN with NO hyphen...at his stubborn insistance.....it was a battle apparently.

Posted by: sasquatch at November 2, 2009 8:32 PM

don't be callin me oldest grand daughter afro anything, I hate that racist moniker and will express my displeasure rather loudly

Posted by: GYM at November 2, 2009 8:34 PM

I'm self identifying as a "Slightly Off Shade of Beige Euro Canadian"

Lots of opportunity to also self identify as a Victim of Something so the Government Owes Me a Lot of Money.

Wonder if they could just send cash ?

Posted by: Fred at November 2, 2009 8:42 PM

cal2 , nope mostly south central Manitoba , but familys been there for long enough to mingle a bit .

Posted by: cantuc at November 2, 2009 8:50 PM

An American friend of mine lamented, "When I was born I was a negro, then I was black, now I'm an African-American and nobody has ever asked me what I want to be called". He went to a Robbie Burns night wearing, wait for it, a Black Watch kilt.

I like politically incorrect people like that, regardless of their skin colour.

Posted by: Aviator at November 2, 2009 8:56 PM

Kraut-Russian-Canadian? Na,I just take my time.

Posted by: Bernie at November 2, 2009 8:58 PM

Actually, I'm more interested in the paper dispensers than I am the racist context. Why do they always install them just high enough to make the water run down to your elbows before dispensing the paper? (no matter your skin colour)

Posted by: larben at November 2, 2009 9:28 PM

When I was in graduate school, there was a poster put up during Black History Month entitled "Great African Americans". The poster included Nelson Mandela.

I saw a commercial for a drug which stated that side effects could be particularly pronounced for "African Americans." So I suppose the drug is perfectly safe for black Africans, black British, and black French.

Charlize Theron is an African American.

It's amazing how often people say "African-American" when they really mean "black".

Obama is called the first African-American president. He's not. He's the first African American president none of whose ancestors were ever enslaved in America.

I'm a European mutt, not the slightest bit interested in where I came from. I'm concerned about where I'm going.

My wife is half-Chinese, half-Japanese. Both sides of her family were in the US longer than mine. We're both Americans which is defined by the commitment to American values, not defined by our race or color or where your mother dropped your screaming butt into the dirt. I know naturalized citizens who are more American than people whose families were here since the Revolution.

Posted by: POWinCA at November 2, 2009 10:02 PM

used to assist at the Canucks oldtimers games....i was buds with the goalie see...

what great fun it was(larry cahan!)...anyway one of the players was named White...and of course he was a black man..

what ribaldry in the locker room...what fun on the ice!

but White was cool to it all cause he was just as 'white' as us....

it ain't race you see...it's always culture..

Posted by: john begley at November 2, 2009 10:15 PM

My daughter is 1/4 black, nobody notices, that makes her incognegro.

Posted by: Kyla at November 2, 2009 10:32 PM

Aviator said "He went to a Robbie Burns night wearing, wait for it, a Black Watch kilt."

About 30 years ago I took a trip up into the West of Scotland. You had to take a steam ship for several hours to get to one of these ancient old Scottish towns. As I came down the hill into the town the first person I saw was a black man in a kilt walking at full stride along the shore. I thought to myself "I like this place".

Posted by: gord at November 2, 2009 10:40 PM

My first language is Hungarian.

Does that make me a Hungophone?

Posted by: foobert at November 2, 2009 10:55 PM

"Incognegro" is really, really funny stuff.

Posted by: Sean at November 2, 2009 11:07 PM

The lefties are all for race-consciousness when it comes to "affirmative action" or "employment equity", but when it comes to looking at crime statistics, then suddenly they say race is a difficult concept to classify or to distinguish properly ...

Posted by: nv53 at November 3, 2009 3:37 AM

all people are Heinz 57
so lets just admit it and get on with life.

Posted by: lu lu at November 3, 2009 6:54 AM

"it ain't race you see...it's always culture.."

Trotskyist tripe, and massively contradicted by science and statistics, not to mention common sense.

Posted by: hank at November 3, 2009 10:18 AM

A sign in the California Academy of Sciences asserts that "we are all Africans."

Despite the dubiousness of our purely "African" human origins, I suggest we accept their assertion and declare race a dead issue.

Posted by: POWinCA at November 3, 2009 11:11 AM

Growing up I was the minority in my group of friends. I was most commonly referred to as "cracker", "pasty", “Casper”, "honkey" and commonly referred to by their girlfriends, sisters and moms as "daddy".

These names were in jests but I wouldn't reciprocate the friendly diggs with racially loaded digs myself. Bagg’n on moms is a much more effective tool anyways. Ironically, terms like "wigger" are often thrown around by whites who dislike their own kind hanging-out and identifying with others. These are the only people I felt vitriol from when issues of race every came up in discussion. I suspect these are the same people who've banned the word "black" and they are the same a$$holes accusing people of racism on behalf minorities out of empathy I suppose. I have yet to meet a black person who will get upset if they're described as black.

Btw, I concur with the praise of Philipino people, and would like to add that their women are beautiful. I’m curious what the Saskatchewan nurses union has against Philippines though.

Posted by: Indiana Homez at November 3, 2009 11:31 AM

I always thought Norman Spector was one of the less important mission creeps, but if you think he's key, I'll gladly shift him for you.

Posted by: ebt at November 3, 2009 3:12 PM

Very well said, Kyla. Many thanks!

Posted by: lookout at November 3, 2009 7:19 PM

"I’m curious what the Saskatchewan nurses union has against Philippines though."

I think it has something to do with the fact that they come to work, do their jobs, are generally happy with their wages and working conditions and don't spend a whole lot of time whining and bitching about being overworked and underpaid.

You can't cut it in SUN with this type of attitude.

Posted by: biffjr. at November 4, 2009 12:09 PM
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